TomGoodheart

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!

I've never really fallen for lustre. It's nice, sure. But it's darn difficult to photograph. And the tiniest mark .. .. so I'd go for grade too. All coins start with lustre. But not all are sharply struck, Grasshopper.

Sheesh. I mention Bolton AND it's a copper coin .. c'mon guys, I'm doing my best here!

I think I must have caught whatever's going around. I was picking through the trays of 'shinys' I've found in my change over the centuries and I caught myself thinking, "wow, this 20p is unmarked! Maybe I should send it to PCGS!" Seriously though, if anyone is missing (if such a thing is possible!) a decimal issue in nice condition I might have one. Even those particularly rare 50ps that don't commemorate anything at all!

Not mine, but a couple of oddities I chanced across. First money of necessity (I believe). Struck at Bolton's Soho mint for use in France: And the next .. er, dunno. Lead or tin apparently. For Bolivia. Presumably a medal, but using a familiar obv design: Anyone know any different, feel free to enlighten me!

I like the King, urging on his unicorns (?)! I guess the only problem I'm having so far is shipping costs have generally been equal to the price of the coin(s)! Which is fine if I factor it in. But it makes me hesitate to pick up the odd coin here and there for a couple of quid. Shame there isn't the equivalent of Amazon's free Super Saver dispatch. Or a way to combine purchases from several different dealers! And I was just wondering whether you, Scott and I can keep this thread going to the extent of the British New Acquisitions one? After all, only another 280 pages to go!

Et, un autre: Silver (well, 0.68) 20 Francs. 35mm and 20g, so a bit chunkier than the others. Didn't think just under £16 including shipping was too bad. Particularly as it's coming from the other side of the world

It was just the convenience of buying a few coins all at once Scott! As for rarity, I'm not too worried about that, I just want nice examples. Though buying 'away from home' is right. I was looking at Barber dimes and half dollars. They can be picked up for a lot less if you don't buy from the US!

Colombia, 1 Centavo 1952. Nickel clad steel, 2g, 17mm:

You should talk to Stuart. Apparently he just finds coins in his change! Who knew you could do that?!

I seem to remember that sixpences are slightly less common than the shillings. And it looks to be a decent example to me, so well done!

Well, my little selection arrived from France today and I'm generally pleased! Not bad for an order placed Wednesday evening. I guess my only niggle observation, in case it helps anyone else in future, is that cgb.fr use stock photos. I evidently missed the drop down for quantities when I bought. In practice that means that I received the Argentinian Dos Centavos I picked, as it was evidently the only one. However the TTB 54 1848 centime was not the coin pictured in the listing. While in the hand it looks decent, although it has a bit of original lustre there's a pinkishness to it that I associate with a quick clean. And there are a few more green spots visible under a lens than the one I thought I was choosing! Sadly, it was the most expensive, ... at £10. The 1939 2F has a tiny spot on the obv, also not on the photo for that grade. On the plus(er) side, the 1948 10F and 1992 1F are better than the photos with less bag marks! So no disaster and a lesson learnt. Now I guess I need to decide about what sort of budget I want to free up for future purchases!

Portuguese 20 Centavos. 23mm CuNi.

I think this (for me) satisfies in a number of areas. There's less opportunity for Wifey to say "but they all look the same!" There are different sizes and metals, but the 'theme' goes back early enough to include some coins that, like Georgian coppers here, were not a model of perfection even fresh from the mint. There's a bit of history to learn about. And as you say, so far it hasn't been expensive. That has to be a good thing!

I'm assuming that Chris (who was on earlier) has rearranged it! Oh yeah. He just said that!

Appears the resident expert agrees with an earlier poster that it is Gotarzes I 87-79 BC. "Reminds me mostly of my own example of Gotarzes I, Arsacid king of Iran, 87-79 B.C. 3.99 g, 23 mm, Ecbatana, Sellwood 29.1"

So if this is a test .. .. did we all pass?

So [sound of cogs whirring] .. you could buy a coin and sell it at a profit .. and then use some of the money to pay for your original purchase. Very interesting.

I just won $8 on the Powerball so I am moving in the right direction "To sleep, perchance to dream" WooHoo! the coins are on jaggy guys!!!

Ditto.

Did you see this link that was posted on that thread Rob? http://www.parthia.com/parthia_inscriptions.htm

LOL I think I'll pass on the 5ps for now thanks! It's not just French though, that's just where I started! It's Marianne. Or rather a female figure wearing (or carrying) a Phrygian cap. She's "an icon of freedom and democracy against all forms of dictatorship." Marianne typically symbolised Liberty, Reason, the Nation, the Homeland, the civic virtues of the Republic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne As such she's not just confined to French coins. She also appears on some Portuguese ones, as well as colonies such as New Caledonia, Polynesia. Plus there were many nations inspired by revolutionary fervour, so as well as the Argentinian Dos Centavos I bought there are ones from Chile and other Central American countries. The cap alone appears on Mexican coins. And of course, Marianne, as Liberty features on quite a few American coins. Depending on what I think of my purchases when they arrive I have my eyes on this: Or how about this? And I've been looking at US 'capped bust' cents too. I haven't decided whether to restrict myself to Marianne/Liberty. There are coins with a similar figure but on study she turns out to be Ceres or The Republic. And some coins have just the 'Liberty cap' .. I'm less inclined to include those, but ... Yes, I know it's no different from collecting coins with cats on or octagonal ones (do many of those exist?) but it has long been on my mind to find a cheap sideline collecting theme and suddenly this one occurred to me. I must be feeling rebellious in my old age or something! Vive la révolution! .

Yes, I like that art nouveau style. But the better grades and free of verd coins I saw were out of my price comfort zone so I left it for another day's searching! And a cob (ideally a 'piece of eight!') is on my 'maybe one day' list too!

See what a thread on predecimal can do? Perhaps we should add a safety warning! I didn't mention the worst bit. I've even started to mimic Rob a bit. One coin is nickel, two bronze, two CuNI (though I thought one was aluminium!) and an aluminium/bronze. I've even considered getting a proof! Eeek! Oh, and the coins (still seller's pics) closer to life-size: I think I did OK for €36 (€10 of which was postage!)