Recent aquisitions

[Coinery 926]

I confess, it does put a certain twist on things to realise the extent of business that the old SOHO mint got up to!

I merely jest...send me that 20p you!

[davidrj 194]

I think Boulton's ambition was to produce coins for the new French regime, they were however broke, hence the confiscation of bells from churches &c for coinage

The only Britts involved in minting the bell metal coins were the Alcock brothers who in 1769 had set up a button factory in buildings leased by the nuns of the Priory of Beaulieu in Riorges. Mintmark a D surmounted by two dots

Edited February 9, 2014 by davidrj

[TomGoodheart 373]

Another Brit connection. A Dominican Republic half Peso. If you look carefully you should be able to spot Thomas Hugh Paget's initials under the bust. This issue having been struck by the Royal Mint.




And yes, I know it's not Marianne! But ... well, it's a 'native princess' version of Liberty.

It's my collection. I get to decide the rules. And I liked it, so there!

Edit. Damn. Just noticed a little scritch on the rev. Oh, well. And there was me going on about looking carefully!

Edited February 9, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[Coinery 926]

Another Brit connection. A Dominican Republic half Peso. If you look carefully you should be able to spot Thomas Hugh Paget's initials under the bust. This issue having been struck by the Royal Mint.

And yes, I know it's not Marianne! But ... well, it's a 'native princess' version of Liberty.

It's my collection. I get to decide the rules. And I liked it, so there!

Edit. Damn. Just noticed a little scritch on the rev. Oh, well. And there was me going on about looking carefully!

That's a pretty enough coin, though...for a man wearing a feather hat, at least?

It's a decent coin, mark or not! Fun, fun, fun!

[TomGoodheart 373]

LOL And of course I meant T Humphrey Paget. It was late last night!

And see, this is where my lack of grading skills for modern stuff let me down.. It looks nice to me. Seems shiny (as in lustre, as opposed to polished). But it's not amazingly crisp, so .. does it still count as BU? It's just under half-crown size at 30.5mm. I know that doesn't affect the grade, but the size of a coin can sometimes affect what we expect in terms of detail, no?

I should have bought Derek's book when I had the chance. Though of course, modern stuff is a very recent interest .. so buying it made no sense at the time!

Edited February 10, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[Peckris 579]

LOL And of course I meant T Humphrey Paget. It was late last night!

And see, this is where my lack of grading skills for modern stuff let me down.. It looks nice to me. Seems shiny (as in lustre, as opposed to polished). But it's not amazingly crisp, so .. does it still count as BU? It's just under half-crown size at 30.5mm. I know that doesn't affect the grade, but the size of a coin can sometimes affect what we expect in terms of detail, no?

I should have bought Derek's book when I had the chance. Though of course, modern stuff is a very recent interest .. so buying it made no sense at the time!

Yes of course. That's why proofs exist - to show the amazing crispness of the original design. As for BU, just have a look at the Machin obverse design for EII contemporary with that peso above - it's as non-crisp as they come.

[scott 129]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Old-France-coins-/390755810989?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=pB5oDIE9zR9VtmKyOCsl628Yklw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

corrected my lack of double tournois purchases by buying these 3

one is Gaston of Orleans from other Louis 13

[TomGoodheart 373]

And I got this. Yes, I see the spot and dint on the cheek, but to me it's sharper than most. Particularly the obverse which just seems to be softly struck on other examples I've seen.

Yes, I could have got better. But for £30 more which, as I'm trying to stick to lower cost coins, I decided I couldn't justify to get an example of this design. Shrink it to the size of a shilling (23mm) and I'm hoping it will look quite nice.

Edited February 11, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[scott 129]

got a few of those in lower grades for 10p, nice coins.

[TomGoodheart 373]

got a few of those in lower grades for 10p, nice coins.

And they seem to have used pretty much the same bust only in reverse for coins of Angola!

It's been fun just looking for variations!

[davidrj 194]

Henri de la Tour D'Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon

Double Liard, 1614, Racourt mint

[bagerap 706]

French silver jeton de presence

[TomGoodheart 373]

Arrived today. KM 571 Portugal 20 Centavos 1920 CuNi 6g, 23 mm :

[scott 129]

[TomGoodheart 373]

Nice! I've still to pick an example of the Dupuis bust for my little collection.

Of course, I have lots of other gaps too!

[Peckris 579]

Arrived today. KM 571 Portugal 20 Centavos 1920 CuNi 6g, 23 mm :

That's gorgeous - looks almost like a clay model rather than metal.

[scott 129]

£4.30

[TomGoodheart 373]

Iron 5 cents from during the Spanish civil war. 20mm, 3.75g:

Edited February 20, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[TomGoodheart 373]

1 Peseta issued by the Basque government during the Spanish civil war. Nickel, 22mm, 4.2g. Struck in Belgium and only circulated briefly until Franco's Nationalists occupied the Biscay region.

[TomGoodheart 373]

Aluminium Bronze 20 Centavos of Argentina. 21.2mm 4.2g

[Coinery 926]

Nothing like embracing something wholeheartedly, TG!

Just out of interest, what's your primary source of reference for your new series? Also, have you located any finer reading that further details the rarities/dies etc.?

Comparatively, I would say Spink, North, BCW (if you know what I mean) as major ascending, with BNJ articles, etc. as supplementary.

[TomGoodheart 373]

Nothing like embracing something wholeheartedly, TG!

Just out of interest, what's your primary source of reference for your new series? Also, have you located any finer reading that further details the rarities/dies etc.?

Comparatively, I would say Spink, North, BCW (if you know what I mean) as major ascending, with BNJ articles, etc. as supplementary.

To be honest, since I'm collecting quite widely (country and date wise) there's no one source and a lot of it has been general image searches. Though there are specialist reference materials (such as leFranc for French coins) I've tended to stick to Krause (imperfect though it is) for general classification.

For collecting itself, when I started I found the cgb.fr site (which is French based, but does sell World coins too) helpful. That's where I bought the first five coins.

I also refer to a site called colnect.com which allows you to search by country and period, though it can be hit and miss on mintages or even basic details like diameter and weight! Coinfacts Wiki (which often shows images of sold coins and prices) and ngc's World Coin Price Guide have been helpful too.

But a lot of it is chance. Searches for republican coins brought up the Spanish Civil War issues which I had never heard of. eBay of course can be handy, though annoyingly in line with US policy Cuba doesn't exist, a bit of an awkward quirk.

But it's been interesting. I never knew anything about Liberia for example (even where it was!) (Did you know that Liberia is the only country in Africa founded by United States colonization while occupied by native Africans. Beginning in 1820, the region was colonized by black people from the United States, most of whom were freed slaves. These immigrants established a new country with the help of the American Colonization Society, a private organization whose leaders thought former slaves would have greater opportunity in Africa. African captives freed from slave ships by the British and Americans were sent there instead of being repatriated to their countries of origin for example? Thanks Wikipedia!)

And I've had to struggle with descriptions in Spanish, Dutch, German and Portuguese!

But on the plus side, apart from one big purchase, it's worked out less than £8 a coin, with many bought for under a fiver!

Of course, as I've gotten into it I've started to spot scarcer coins, which are pricier in the better grades I'd prefer. I've had to compromise (such as the Liberian Cent, which would be £70+ in nicer condition). There are also some pattern coins (often struck by the Heaton mint) which I suspect are out of my budget. As I think will be a US Barber half-dollar or Quarter, American coins being relatively expensive and again, I'd prefer not to drop my standards too far in terms of grade.

However the old principle that the further from 'home' you get, the less interest there seems to be in a particular series can sometimes help. I've currently got a bid in a Spanish auction for a coin that goes for $100s in the US. I'm hoping for rather less, obviously!

But then for things like the Spanish Civil War coins, eBay.es seems to be the place as they are easy to pick up there and relatively unknown anywhere else. Who knew there was a local issue from near Alicante, or even the Basque one I showed earlier? So it's taught me a bit of history and geography in the process!

All part of the adventure, eh?

Edited February 23, 2014 by TomGoodheart

[Fubar 71]

I shall have to look closer at my "collection" of world coins.

Mostly just thrown in a cabin drawer when leaving a foreign port then scooped up when paying off and consigned to the sock drawer at home for years.

[davidrj 194]

Krause is useful in that most illustrations are actual size. I did a similar exercise to Richard several years ago when I set out to find bronze and copper "pennies" worldwide

I too found coins and territories I barely knew existed, and there a few I'm still after like the German New Guinea 10 pfennig (pricey) and others that are very scarce only ever found in crap poor condition like those from Italian Somalia

However if you are a copper collector, the 1600s Krause book is very frustrating, most of the minor coins have no illustrations - so sideline collection number 2 - I now have a growing collection of single country catalogues.

Edited February 23, 2014 by davidrj

[TomGoodheart 373]

- I now have a growing collection of single country catalogues.

LOL I haven't actually bought any books yet. Krause is a bit pricey for a side-line, whereas the web is already paid for.

I did see there's an entire book devoted to local issue coins of the Spanish Civil War. No! I had to tell myself, no!

After all, I've only just embarked on a collection of literature related to the Charles I shillings. I can't afford to go crazy on Marianne of I'll not have the £50 (or possibly even more!) I'll need for that key shilling when it turns up.

I wish!