John Kamps

AV Solidus ND Constantine V with Leo IV and Leo III Syracuse Mint

Third Party Slabbing is an American invention. I find it entertaining, when lets say a Victoria YH Shield sovereign is graded as MS-65 (meaning GEM BU) comes up at Heritage Auctions. Everyone goes gaga, and bidding extends triple estimate.... Same coin, is later offered by Baldwins, described as a GOOD EF/slabbed as a MS-65..... Hammered material is even worst, Edward III Calais Noble, slabbed as MS-64/ now in Kunker auction, they grade it EF(Vorz) Slabbed coins are very over graded. That is why I get my material from Europe/UK where it is much stricter in grading. John

I always tried to obtain my coins in EF or better. In the end, perfect quality coins/banknotes are a VERY GOOD investment, second and most important they look stunning! Example a Henry VIII AV Sovereign sold for 345,000 UK Pounds recently, in 1970 same coin fetched 700 Pounds! I recently got a 1804 George III Half Guinea in mint state from DNW, it cost twice as much as the EF one....but it was worth it. I know, I am envious of all the "Big shots" out there that can buy mint state Charles I Triple Units/ perfect 5 Guineas/ Basel 20 Dukats....I once saw a collection of Roman Aureii....195 coins all FDC. Makes one cry! Here is an example of a mint state hammered AV Goldgulden Lajos I of Anjou or as we know him Louis the Great of Hungary from Buda Mint.

Nice Russian material. Here is a AV 3/4 Dukat 1745 from Imperial City of Frankfurt commerating the election of Franz I as the new Holy Roman Emperor. John

Here is my only piece from Valencia: AV Dukato ND (1514) Ferdinand II of Aragon FDC/ but very crude strike

AV Solidus ND Constantinople Mint (387AD) Emperor Valentinianus II

AV Solidus ND Constantinople Mint

AV 1/4 Dukat 1700 Nurnberg (Imperial City) ruled by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg. I have the 1/32 Dukat (smaller then AV Fanams) from Indian States. They went from the massive 10 oz. 100 Dukaten to 1/32 Dukat! Maybe the latter were the so called 99%, while the massive coins were used by the one percent. John

Here is my 1499 AV Goldgulden Swabach Mint ("Dogs Head" mm) from Brandenburg-Franconia Friedrich V Von Hohenzollern

Posting photos of my AV Quarter Stater ND

A Napoleon III 1862-BB (Strasbourg Mint) AV 100 Francs graded as MS-64. Nice coin! I have about 100 slabbed gold coins, rest (500) are graded by European Auction Houses. In technical terms what the Americans slab as MS-66/67 Europeans grade as SC/FDC/Stempelglanz Esp. with hammered material MS-64 = EF I saw a British 5 Guineas from William III/Mary graded by St. James as good EF....it looked MUCH better then a MS-64 example from Heritage Auctions! John PS: I was hopeing you ID my little Kupang!

The first 3 fotos got in by error, it is that tiny coin from last two fotos..... I cannot find any reference material on it. It came from Elsen Auction. Thanks John

obv./rev. John

AV Goldgulden ND Willem V of Bavaria circa 1330 The Hague Mint Reason Willem was called the "The Mad or Insane" was at a banquet back in Bavaria, a knight made a crude joke about the Count, at that moment Willem took his sword and loped off the offenders head!