It is the 4th of July here in Australia, so I think it is definitely time to start the additions post for this month! Here is my first addition to the collection for this month - a British 1827 half penny.
I purchased this one described as the scarcer 1827 penny, which was likely minted exclusively for use in the colony of Van Diemen’s Land. These pennies were supposedly sent over from Europe in wooden crates and sustained quite severe seawater damage on their journey, meaning many of them suffered some form of corrosion or damage. From memory, there are only 2 examples of the penny known in mint state.
As this was described as a penny and I received a half penny instead, I was refunded in full for the coin. The seller also generously let me keep the half penny as an apology which was nice, meaning my first addition was free for this month!
Older Canadian paper money is quite scarce and difficult to obtain in higher grades. This one is far from perfect but I agree with you that it still has good eye appeal.
For those who don't know the front shows the Prince of Wales who later became King Edward VIII.
I suppose the bronze seal + “J” series would help to narrow down the date of issue. The most competent “notaphilist” to answer this question is probably @Serial_Number_8 — hopefully he will see this!
Not a coin, but designed by the incredibly talented Pistrucci who designed, amongst many other things, the famous St George & the Dragon featured on UK gold sovereigns.
Pictured here is the Waterloo medal in Britannia silver (95.8%) at the original full size & as it was supposed to be presented as two “half-medals”. Final pic shows size next to a £2 coin.
It's colossal & beautiful. Every detail has a meaning, which I'll not go into otherwise this message will ramble on for ages. 😛
Here is my latest addition. I have been looking for an UNC example of the current 50 Zloty note. Got a sequential pair yesterday from an ATM, so happy days :)
One of my students went to Japan just before classes started. She brought back this for me. Unfortunately, the new notes hadn’t been released yet, but now I have the “old” 10,000 before they start disappearing from circulation.
Great stuff everyone. The Japanese 10,000 Yen is a good note anyway you slice it. Over $100 (NZ pesos) face value there.
Love the 1827 halfpenny, I have a shilling of that date.
The BP medal is amazing, post 1815 I think, has George III, Talleyrand, Alexander I and Prussian ruler I think (Or Count Metternich?).
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Thanks Camerinvs! That's a Bronze seal $2.00 (DC-26e with the J-1 beside the seal) with 8,000,000 issued. You're right- most Dominion of Canada (except some of the last 1923 shinplasters) are very tough to source in VF or better. In fact they're so scarce that Charlton notes “add 25% for Choice UNC & 90% for Gem” to the UNC BV of $4,000 for that note in UNC (my 2019 is quite dated so I'm sure its more $4500 or more for regular UNC60).
The Edward VIII note is pretty cool, it's interesting seeing a future monarch rather than the reigning monarch.
So far as I've noticed (which isn't a huge amount tbf), it seems like only Canada did this?
Nice on the sequential UNCs in Poland. Shame you then had to withdraw the money again as you kept the new ones. 😛
Been there, done that. Probably do it again sometime…
That 6 Vintens is awesome. Love the symmetry on the Maltese Cross side. Condition is outstanding.
I keep eyeing up Japanese notes. I can't quite put my finger on why. I think maybe it's because they look so old fashioned, almost like 1920s - 40s in their artistic style which I find pleasing, excluding the modern security holograms.
@Moneytane The story behind the BP medal is almost as good as the medal itself. Announced 1816, BP assigned to it in 1819 but didn't hand the finished matrices in to the Royal Mint until 1849 - thirty years later! By the time it was finished, everyone who was going to be presented with one was dead, barring Wellington.
The group of four is the monarchs; George (as Prince Regent, future George IV), Francis I of Austria, Alexander I (as you identified), & Frederick William III (As you noted, of Prussia). The plan was these four would receive gold medals.
The two gentlemen on horseback on the reverse are Wellington & Blucher; the Generals on the day. These two (+ maybe others?) would receive silver.
As far as I can tell, the medal was never struck for the intended cause (as relations with France had improved by the time it was finished, plus most of the intended recipients were deceased), so it lingered in the Royal Mint's vault.
I believe the medal I have was the first time it was ever struck in 1975 for the 160th anniversary of the battle. Paperwork on it is a little scarce so not 100% on that.
And a range of mixed Pound Sterling notes in decreasing value size. Should be another £50 on the way too. 😀
Nice selection of notes you have there. Are you also going to acquire the Scottish and NI £100 notes too?
Hi to whoever is reading this. Did you know that TYPEWRITER (on a QWERTY keyboard) is the longest word you can type using only the letters on one row of the keyboard.
Scottish ones, yes if I can get them at a price not too far above face value. I know that means accepting lower quality ones, but it's all my budget can really stretch too. Trying to avoid ones with writing on, but I can live with folds & dog ears.
Just opened accounts with all the Scottish issuing banks that I wasn't already with so hopefully on my next visit over, they'll let me withdraw the new polymers at face value. Last time they turned me down as I wasn't a customer. Or they only stocked BoE notes 😕
NI, tbh, I've barely started on the lower value notes so a bit early to get the highest value ones. I suppose maybe if the price was right.
Same applies to Jersey & Gibraltar, since they also issued £100.
The Edward VIII note is pretty cool, it's interesting seeing a future monarch rather than the reigning monarch.
So far as I've noticed (which isn't a huge amount tbf), it seems like only Canada did this?
I think so. On the 1923–1925 series, George V ($1), Edward ($2), and Queen Mary (rare $5) were portrayed.
Then, the first (1935) Bank of Canada series was a gallery of the royals seen nowhere else:
I suspect the reason for this was that the Dominion wanted to assert its British culture and heritage against American political and cultural expansion.
So, yes, so far as I know, many of those royals were shown only on Canadian notes. And to this can be added the $20 Princess Elizabeth. No other country shows her on their notes before she became queen. I believe it's true also for her father, Duke Albert, who later became George VI.
The Edward VIII note is pretty cool, it's interesting seeing a future monarch rather than the reigning monarch.
So far as I've noticed (which isn't a huge amount tbf), it seems like only Canada did this?
Nice on the sequential UNCs in Poland. Shame you then had to withdraw the money again as you kept the new ones. 😛
Been there, done that. Probably do it again sometime…
That 6 Vintens is awesome. Love the symmetry on the Maltese Cross side. Condition is outstanding.
I keep eyeing up Japanese notes. I can't quite put my finger on why. I think maybe it's because they look so old fashioned, almost like 1920s - 40s in their artistic style which I find pleasing, excluding the modern security holograms.
@Moneytane The story behind the BP medal is almost as good as the medal itself. Announced 1816, BP assigned to it in 1819 but didn't hand the finished matrices in to the Royal Mint until 1849 - thirty years later! By the time it was finished, everyone who was going to be presented with one was dead, barring Wellington.
The group of four is the monarchs; George (as Prince Regent, future George IV), Francis I of Austria, Alexander I (as you identified), & Frederick William III (As you noted, of Prussia). The plan was these four would receive gold medals.
The two gentlemen on horseback on the reverse are Wellington & Blucher; the Generals on the day. These two (+ maybe others?) would receive silver.
As far as I can tell, the medal was never struck for the intended cause (as relations with France had improved by the time it was finished, plus most of the intended recipients were deceased), so it lingered in the Royal Mint's vault.
I believe the medal I have was the first time it was ever struck in 1975 for the 160th anniversary of the battle. Paperwork on it is a little scarce so not 100% on that.
Thank you A Collector by the compliment, indeed one of the best examples of this coin from that Era 😁
The Edward VIII note is pretty cool, it's interesting seeing a future monarch rather than the reigning monarch.
So far as I've noticed (which isn't a huge amount tbf), it seems like only Canada did this?
I think so. On the 1923–1925 series, George V ($1), Edward ($2), and Queen Mary (rare $5) were portrayed.
Then, the first (1935) Bank of Canada series was a gallery of the royals seen nowhere else:
I suspect the reason for this was that the Dominion wanted to assert its British culture and heritage against American political and cultural expansion.
So, yes, so far as I know, many of those royals were shown only on Canadian notes. And to this can be added the $20 Princess Elizabeth. No other country shows her on their notes before she became queen. I believe it's true also for her father, Duke Albert, who later became George V.
You are right, Australia showed King George V on some of its early notes, but only on all the notes after 1923. They had printed a proof for E8 on the £1 in Sep - Nov 1936, but was never issued. Fiji showed G5 and G6 on its early notes.
New Zealand was much more independent minded and individualistic. Its first series of 1934, it only showed a Maori King (Tawhiao 1860 -1894) on all 4 notes and Mitre Peak - a mountain on reverse (The same designs in 4 different colours/value). The second series of notes (1940 - 1967) only showed Captain Cook on the notes, with Historical scenes (10/-, £1) and scenic scenes (£5, 10, 50) on reverse.
A British royal did not appear on our notes until 1967 with decimal currency. After 1992, she was limited to one note and now its likely she will disappear from that in the next series as the woke left crowd want a Maori woman on the note instead.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
You are right, Australia showed King George V on some of its early notes, but only on all the notes after 1923. They had printed a proof for E8 on the £1 in Sep - Nov 1936, but was never issued. Fiji showed G5 and G6 on its early notes.
New Zealand was much more independent minded and individualistic. Its first series of 1934, it only showed a Maori King (Tawhiao 1860 -1894) on all 4 notes and Mitre Peak - a mountain on reverse (The same designs in 4 different colours/value). The second series of notes (1940 - 1967) only showed Captain Cook on the notes, with Historical scenes (10/-, £1) and scenic scenes (£5, 10, 50) on reverse.
A British royal did not appear on our notes until 1967 with decimal currency. After 1992, she was limited to one note and now its likely she will disappear from that in the next series as the woke left crowd want a Maori woman on the note instead.
That's quite interesting a fact. Obviously the Dominions were free to adopt their own policy. For some decades starting with the 1878 series Canada showed the Governor General and his wife on their $1–$2 notes, many of whom were royals.
Fun fact: Duke Henry, shown on the $100 1935 series, was not a Governor General of Canada but a decade later he became Governor General of Australia for two years (1945–1947). Of course very, very, very few people would ever get to see a $100 note, let alone hold one in their hands. According to the BoC Inflation Calculator, it's equivalent to $2243 in 2024…
It's absolutely beat up, but I still like it since I don't own any other coins from the Papal States. When adding it to my collection, I made sure to leave a public comment stating: “Looks like it was ran over by a car.” Added it as a ‘G’, but it's definitely PO1, maybe even PO½. But something that you can't see in the photo is the beautiful toning! It has almost all the colours of the rainbow except for green! Red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple!
Other than that, my additions were banknote-related.
This nice 100 złotych banknote from 1940, minted during the existence of the General Government. They had a nickname, the ‘młynarka’, named after the chef of the Polish Emission Bank, Feliks Młynarski.
Here, I bought two banknotes of the same type. That's because they are not that common and they weren't actually put into circulation. That's probably because the inflation was rising so fast, that it didn't make any sense to put them into circulation. The most common variant of this banknote is the one I bought, ‘Firmendruck, Series B, 6 numbers’. The one at the top has the usual watermark, while the one at the bottom has an additional watermark with a small ‘2’, indicating its position in the sheet.
Other than that, I bought some other common German banknotes.
British notes before the early 1960s look to me like two backs rather than a front and a back. Following up on our earlier discussion 👆👆👆 one wonders why they were so reluctant to depict the monarch, unlike several of the dominions and colonies.
EDIT — I was afraid it was lost in transit (purchased May 27th) but just arrived in my mailbox:
This is a bill of exchange for £100 from the small Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, dated 19th February 1866. The last signature on the back is that of C. A. Calvert, Secretary of the Colonial Bank. I already knew Calvert from documents relating to Port of Spain, Trinidad. He was Secretary for over three decades (1836 or 1837–early 1873).
I'm on a trip to the US, so I'm working hard to expand my 50 State Quarters collection (one of each state is my final goal).
Today's coin bin finds: Nebraska (2006) and Wisconsin (2004), both from Philadelphia Mint. Others from this trip included Iowa, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah and more. 15 states to go.
"Life is all about being too wrapped up in the now to care about the future. When the future becomes the past, you start to regret what you've done."
I haven’t been keeping track of this forum recently, those are some very nice additions from everyone. That Saint Vincent Bill Of Exchange from 1866 is an awesome piece!
Here is an item I received in the mail today - a Foy & Gibson Centenary Florin envelope. This is quite different from my usual purchases and is the first of its type in my collection. I have been chasing one of these bags for a number of years, so I am quite pleased with this example, despite the condition.
These bags originally contained one of the 1934-35 Melbourne Centenary Florins, which were issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of European settlement in the state of Victoria & city of Melbourne. 75,000 of these coins were struck to commemorate this event, and were sold for 3 shillings a piece (150% face value) at the Melbourne Town Hall on Swanston Street, technically making this Australia’s first non-circulating legal tender coin.
Toward the end of the celebrations, the majority of the 75,000 coins remained unsold, so in 1935, a local department store in Melbourne - Foy & Gibson - purchased 30,000 of these centenary florins (which would have otherwise been melted down) to give out in their customers’ change during the Melbourne centenary celebrations. These florins were distributed at all of their Victorian stores: Melbourne, Collingwood, and Prahran. These commemorative florins were given out in little paper bags, which are seldom seen even in poor condition, and often sell for more than the actual coin itself! In fact, no bag has ever been recorded to have been issued without having a centre fold, making them a true rarity of Australian numismatic history. It is estimated that no more than a few hundred of these bags exist today.
Here is the envelope next to one of the Melbourne/ Victoria Centenary Florins that were originally issued with the bag.
This last photo shows one of my 1934-35 Melbourne centenary florins in front of the original Foy & Gibson factory building in Collingwood, Victoria that is still standing to this day.
Wow, some cool additions into everyone's collections so far. Mix of everything from tangibly related to some gorgeous notes & coins.
Good luck with the state quarters hunt.🤞
Always seems whenever there's a set like that, one spends an annoyingly long time to find. 😛
Got some more additions of my own.
At the top is the Houblon £50, which means I only need the Charles III £50 to have all of the Bank of England £50s excluding the really early white ones.
Then there's 3 x Gibraltar £5s, some sort of shiny reproduction of a 1797 penny, a Congolese Colonial lottery ticket (?), and some weird token for Shakespeare. Mixed job lot my friend bought for me.
He gets wine / beer from a country I've visited via work, he lets me post my online junk to him & occasionally buys random money-ish things for me. Apparently he's got “a big surprise of something I've wanted for a while”.
I haven’t been keeping track of this forum recently, those are some very nice additions from everyone. That Saint Vincent Bill Of Exchange from 1866 is an awesome piece!
Here is an item I received in the mail today - a Foy & Gibson Centenary Florin envelope. This is quite different from my usual purchases and is the first of its type in my collection. I have been chasing one of these bags for a number of years, so I am quite pleased with this example, despite the condition.
These bags originally contained one of the 1934-35 Melbourne Centenary Florins, which were issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of European settlement in the state of Victoria & city of Melbourne. 75,000 of these coins were struck to commemorate this event, and were sold for 3 shillings a piece (150% face value) at the Melbourne Town Hall on Swanston Street, technically making this Australia’s first non-circulating legal tender coin.
Toward the end of the celebrations, the majority of the 75,000 coins remained unsold, so in 1935, a local department store in Melbourne - Foy & Gibson - purchased 30,000 of these centenary florins (which would have otherwise been melted down) to give out in their customers’ change during the Melbourne centenary celebrations. These florins were distributed at all of their Victorian stores: Melbourne, Collingwood, and Prahran. These commemorative florins were given out in little paper bags, which are seldom seen even in poor condition, and often sell for more than the actual coin itself! In fact, no bag has ever been recorded to have been issued without having a centre fold, making them a true rarity of Australian numismatic history. It is estimated that no more than a few hundred of these bags exist today.
Here is the envelope next to one of the coins. I will edit this post and replace with better photos tomorrow, as it is currently dark here.
This last photo shows one of my 1934-35 Melbourne centenary florins in front of the original Foy & Gibson factory building in Collingwood, Victoria that is still standing to this day.
That is amazing, those bags are incredibly rare and I am not surprised, flimsy little paper bags from 90 years hardly ever survive that long. Great coin and bag dude!
I have the florin sans bag.
It also means over half of the surviving coins were bought by that store. 53,500 were left after the melting and if 30k were taken by that store, that means more of these bags could potentially survive - but given our disposable society most would have gone in the rubbish. No one really cared about environmental issues or global warming in the 30s, that really caught on only in the hippy era around 1967.
My florin anyway - some thought it was a fake, but its just a really bad image, I need to take a better one, one day. This one was only goodEF as well. Most are AU or UNC.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Finally bought some coins, the market has gone real quiet here and then when I finally bought these, the mail service was on a go slow, parcels that take 1 day, take 4 or 5 now!
These are 4 more decent pieces that complement existing collections and again sellers photos not mine.
1818 Russian Ruble (Alexander 1), this is a lovely coin probably close to VF, the black marks on the Obverse are not damage just darkening likely from Historic cleaning. You will notice the uneven strike too, the crown on one side is sharp, the other its basically flat with very worn lettering on the word Zolotin.
Its a nice coin though, the commonest date of the run, yet seldom seen here too. My oldest Russian silver coin by far (Next oldest was a holed 20 Kopek from 1861). Its actually a collared machine made piece (I honestly thought they were still screw press then, but realised that Napoleon gave a modern machine to the St Petersburg mint in 1807). I like this coin and its my second oldest Russian piece after a 1812 2 Kopeks.
The rest of the coins are all small silver pieces
1839 1½d UK, but minted for foreign (Mostly West Indian/Jamaican) usage. These coins were ½ the value of a tiny 3d, so are real tiddlers 12mm in size. This was a more common date of 760k minted. Introduced in 1834 and no longer issued after 1843 (Except 2 issues in the 1860s), it never caught on due to its size and general lack of value. this one is a high VF and great detail for such a tiny coin.
Last 2 are 2 better Barber dimes from the USA.
1910S dime - probably cleaned in past, high Fine (VF25 -30 US grading), this is a good coin and one of the scarcest dates of just 1.28 million minted, which is very low by Barber dime standards. Not the rarest or a key date, but definitely a semi key like my 1911S Half dollar.
1916S Barber dime, last date for this type (And there are actually 1916S Mercury dimes!). At 5 million, this is a less common date but not scarce or rare, but still I bought this coin as its very high grade for type. Well into the EF grades (Looking PCGS Photograde, this is around a high AU50 to low AU53 grade) - I have never owned any AU Barber coins, so a real treat and reasonable at $42 ($26 USA).
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
I suspect a few of those yellow envelopes were used as page markers and might still be in pristine condition somewhere inside old books...
We have quite a variety of nice additions this month so far 👀 👍.
Thank you very much.
You would absolutely be right about that, there must be a few still ‘undiscovered’ inside of books. I suppose the envelopes had no real significance to the many of the owners at the time, and the bags would have been repurposed for things like bookmarks, shopping lists, etc.
Finally bought some coins, the market has gone real quiet here and then when I finally bought these, the mail service was on a go slow, parcels that take 1 day, take 4 or 5 now!
These are 4 more decent pieces that complement existing collections and again sellers photos not mine.
1818 Russian Ruble (Alexander 1), this is a lovely coin probably close to VF, the black marks on the Obverse are not damage just darkening likely from Historic cleaning. You will notice the uneven strike too, the crown on one side is sharp, the other its basically flat with very worn lettering on the word Zolotin.
Its a nice coin though, the commonest date of the run, yet seldom seen here too. My oldest Russian silver coin by far (Next oldest was a holed 20 Kopek from 1861). Its actually a collared machine made piece (I honestly thought they were still screw press then, but realised that Napoleon gave a modern machine to the St Petersburg mint in 1807). I like this coin and its my second oldest Russian piece after a 1812 2 Kopeks.
The rest of the coins are all small silver pieces
1839 1½d UK, but minted for foreign (Mostly West Indian/Jamaican) usage. These coins were ½ the value of a tiny 3d, so are real tiddlers 12mm in size. This was a more common date of 760k minted. Introduced in 1834 and no longer issued after 1843 (Except 2 issues in the 1860s), it never caught on due to its size and general lack of value. this one is a high VF and great detail for such a tiny coin.
Last 2 are 2 better Barber dimes from the USA.
1910S dime - probably cleaned in past, high Fine (VF25 -30 US grading), this is a good coin and one of the scarcest dates of just 1.28 million minted, which is very low by Barber dime standards. Not the rarest or a key date, but definitely a semi key like my 1911S Half dollar.
1916S Barber dime, last date for this type (And there are actually 1916S Mercury dimes!). At 5 million, this is a less common date but not scarce or rare, but still I bought this coin as its very high grade for type. Well into the EF grades (Looking PCGS Photograde, this is around a high AU50 to low AU53 grade) - I have never owned any AU Barber coins, so a real treat and reasonable at $42 ($26 USA).
Thanks, I am definitely quite pleased with the bag!
Those are some excellent additions Moneytane, your two new US barber dimes are wonderful. Those are certainly well above average. PCGS estimates that the survival rates for your 1910S and 1916S Barber dimes are 8,000 and 20,000 across all grades, respectively.
I love those obsolete fractional British pieces minted exclusively for circulation in the colonies, that ‘one and a half pence’ is really cool. Yours is quite well struck for such a small coin!
Lovely denaro - very well struck for that era too.
IM94 - How did you find those population numbers?
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Moneytane, you can find the population and survival rates on the PCGS website. I think they are there for most U.S. coins, but I don’t think there are any for world coins.
If you go on the CoinFacts part of the website that has the condition census for individual coins:
And then scroll down toward the bottom:
It will show the survival rates in all grades, MS60 or better, and MS65 or better.
Scale goes in quasi-logarthmic blocks (powers of 10 for the whole digits, but linear rather than logarithmic between, which seems unnatural at the lower levels of rarity):
1 = 1,000,000
2 = 100,000
3 = 10,000
then it stretches out:
5 = 1,000
8 = 100
then it compresses again
9.5 = 10
10 = 1
Presumably there is some kind of algorithm behind it all for the ratings below around 8.5 (initial mintage factored by age and loss/removal rate, etc.) Above that, there are probably countable examples.
SHould be applicable to modern world coins, too, if they would share the algorithm 😉.
I had some fun with the PCGS thing, it said some useful comments about each date and was quite critical of overly common dates like 1921 Morgan dollars. It said with 44 million minted and 4.5 million surviving, the 1921 was an unnecessary coin and will never be worth over melt. I am sure that would make any new collector with a gleaming 1921 Morgan dollar feel good! It was even harsh about my UNC 1885O Morgan, yet was helpful saying bags of them were released and spent in the 30s and again in 1962.
So not for the faint hearted.
I bought another USA strange denomination - despite being the commonest date, the PCGS people were kind saying around 20k survive of this date and type.
Its a 2 cent coin, first year 1864 with the common large motto. This coin lands between VF30 and 35. Not the rarest but my first 2 cent coin. It seemed in the 1850 - 1880s period, they wanted as many denominations as possible for small change with 1c, 2c, 3c silver and nickel, 5c nickel, 5c silver to 1873, 10c and even a 20c between 1875 - 1878. Yet by 1890 we just had penny, nickel, dime and so on up.
The word “WE” seems to wear off fast and is only clear on XF and AU coins upwards.
This dealer does not grade their coins, merely says if they are nice, worn or have defects like scratches, so you need to inspect the photo before you buy and most of the coins look better in person. This is an honest mid - high grade circulated coin.
Next are some more British small coins, the baby brothers of the 1½d coins were these ⅓ farthings made exclusively for Malta. They were somewhat larger than 1½d coins though and are 16mm (copper) and 15mm (Bronze from 1860). Called grains after the Italian word “grano” as they were known in Malta, they replaced earlier copper coins issued by the Knights of Malta (1500s - 1798). Almost the size of a 3d, but still small and buying powerwise - near worthless. Buying power of a penny in the 1800s was around 50 - 80 cents, meaning these were around 3c - 5c today.
The dates shown are 1827 (1st year of them - George IV VG), William IV 1835 (VF) and Victoria 1876 (EF). These coins were made in small quantities usually of 144k, 288k so on, this was only £100 or £50 worth, mainly as these teensy coins were 2880 to a pound! Even 12 of them made a single penny! Only issued 12 times between 1827 and 1913, I now have 6 dates of them.
The word grano or grain was never used but “On third farthing (Year)” - mainly as the British wanted the Maltese to become loyal subjects who spoke English and acted British. Even allowing a coin based on an earlier system was considered a privilege. The coins were not technically legal tender in the UK, but no doubt may have circulated there anyway. I am calling them grains or grano out of my respect for the Maltese people and their culture.
Despite their size and value, granos are very collectable and this AU 1884 grano (Just 144k issued) cost me $60.
They are not the smallest coin issued, a ¼ farthing was issued for Ceylon 4 times between 1839 and 1853.
Finally 2 small silvers
1907 Maundy fourpence of Edward VII. These were larger than 1800s groats and this one is very nicely toned and easily a AU/UNC piece. It was not cheap. Sizewise, these are the size of an American dime, but weigh much less (1.87grams).
1819 Sixpence, very darkened tone with a nasty gash on his head. Otherwise a EF/gEF coin. Again some great tone on this, the photo does not do it justice. The best thing is this 200+ year old coin is NOT cleaned. Because of the gash, this coin was quite cheap - $42 vs £100 in catalogue.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Fascinating to see all those weird little fractional / unusual denominations. Never noticed the US doesn't really do two cents before. Don't seem to like the $2 bill either as I understand it. Seems like they just don't like the number 2. 😛
Got a few more Scots notes on the way, including one from 1939 making it my oldest sterling note (and second oldest global) note.
In the meantime, here's some books I've picked up.
Shame they only released them for the Series E notes. They were a good level blend of the person's history and all the intricate details depicted on the note. Learnt loads from the ones I've read so far (£5/£50), hopefully get the others read next week. 😁
Would happily purchase these sort of things for every issue if they'd made them. But they didn't. 😔
And just arrived today, so hopefully this'll be a good read as well.
I bought another USA strange denomination - despite being the commonest date, the PCGS people were kind saying around 20k survive of this date and type.
Its a 2 cent coin, first year 1864 with the common large motto. This coin lands between VF30 and 35. Not the rarest but my first 2 cent coin. It seemed in the 1850 - 1880s period, they wanted as many denominations as possible for small change with 1c, 2c, 3c silver and nickel, 5c nickel, 5c silver to 1873, 10c and even a 20c between 1875 - 1878. Yet by 1890 we just had penny, nickel, dime and so on up.
The word “WE” seems to wear off fast and is only clear on XF and AU coins upwards.
it's a nice example, only lightly and evenly worn, uniform color. A sign that the economy (or inflation) was booming back then, when the half cent was phased out and these multiples phased in.
It's a very popular type coin, and I have to believe that far more than 20,000 survived (when I type “2 cent 1864” into eBay I get over 2,000 results, but I didnt try to check how many of those are duplicates, or not exact matches for the search term, which eBay loves to do.).
€41 in coins and I paid £27.99 so I think I got a good deal. EDIT: €26.40 extra to be used as spending money.
Hi to whoever is reading this. Did you know that TYPEWRITER (on a QWERTY keyboard) is the longest word you can type using only the letters on one row of the keyboard.
I'm on a trip to the US, so I'm working hard to expand my 50 State Quarters collection (one of each state is my final goal).
Today's coin bin finds: Nebraska (2006) and Wisconsin (2004), both from Philadelphia Mint. Others from this trip included Iowa, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah and more. 15 states to go.
Followup: I'd found two more in my change since then, Calif. (looks like it had seen some better days) and Pennsylvania. (Coincidentally, I got the Pennsylvania quarter in my change while buying eggtarts in Chinatown Philadelphia.)
Here's all of my new State Quarters since 5/6 in one picture:
Row 1 NE, NH, IA, AZ; Row 2 UT, MO, MN, CA; Row 3 TN, SD, WI, PA. 37/50 State Quarters in my hands. Also kept a 2013 series $10 star note, and am on the lookout for different Presidents on the $1 coins (thanks NYC subway!)
"Life is all about being too wrapped up in the now to care about the future. When the future becomes the past, you start to regret what you've done."
I actually keep a space for 2 of each state in my albums, mainly as I can show both P and D mint coins. I find the ones to 2002 much easier to get and the later ones 2006 onwards hard, as numbers issued declined from like 700 million per mint in 1999/2000 down to 80 million for some of the 2009 territorial coins. I have 42 different states and 4 of the territories but only 75 out 110 possible coins.
Meanwhile, this is a complete vanity purchase - but I know these have proved popular and heres hoping the seller eventually gets the 2024s. I love Morgans and Peace dollars anyway and have always wanted proof ones, getting 1800s proof Morgans is unlikely, so this will do.
Proof Morgan dollar 2023
Uncirculated Peace dollar 2023
Reverse Proof set, not so crazy about these, but possibly a reseller and new twist on the design.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
From the same auction as my nice Ferrara denaro, this sesino of the County of Desana, which I got not for the portrait of the count, but for the image of Saint Nicolas on the reverse.
Slowly opening up the mint sets that were sitting in Bombay over these last 6 months
first one from Hyderabad mint. Typically Hyderabad uses a star mint mark, but they introduced an H mint mark for theur proof coins which are only a recent phenomena
yhus one commemorates 100 yrs of the bank of Karnataka from the southern state of the same name. The 6 pointed star may strike you as jewish, but it has much historical in Hindu mythology as well
Another one from the Hyderabad mint. This one commemorates the 2550th anniversary of Mahaveer. Apparently there is another version out there with ”Mahavir” spelling. The one I have here is what was gazetted. Back in 2001, a Mahaveer coin was issued that commemorated his birth
Opened one more set… I like the logo of this organisation. I believe the Organisation bills itself as the oldest yoga institute in existence. of course Yoga is millennia old and the practice was handed down the generations through oral and apprenticeship tradition
The big, biannual show in my city took place a week or so ago and I'd like to share some of the notable things I got this time around. I focused mostly on Asian numismatics this time around with the majority of what I purchased being Chinese or Japanese, but I also got some stuff from British India, Cambodia, and Bhutan. The few coins I'm sharing are the highlights of what I got as pretty much everything else was just common bargain bin stuff.
The coin I was most pleased with finding this time around was this 100 Mon from the Kingdom of Ryukyo, at this point a vassal of the Satsuma domain but still nominally independent as it wasn't fully incorporated into Japan proper until after the Meiji restoration. I'd been looking for one of these for my type set of pre-Meiji coinage so I was very excited when I saw this at the show since these aren't something that's super commonly sold and I got it for a good deal, too.
Next are these three Chinese silver dollars, a 7 Mace and 2 Candareens type Dragon dollar, a 1927 Memento dollar, and a 1932 Junk dollar. These certainly aren't the prime specimens of their types but I don't mind cleaning or even some minor damage on coins if it means I can get a good price for them.
This Junk dollar has been cleaned and has a rather big scratch on the front but otherwise retains relatively good detail. I think the Junk dollar is my favorite of the Republican Era silver dollars produced. The Junk design is quite iconic and attractive.
Next is this memento dollar. While I think that Sun Yat-Sen's portrait on the obverse is quite silly looking, it's still an iconic coin. It's the first one of its type that I've gotten so it will be a spot filler until I can afford to upgrade.
Last is this 7 Mace and 2 Candareens Dragon dollar from Hupeh Province. Heavy cleaning and a small spot of surface damage on the obverse but otherwise an attractive coin in my opinion. The seller I purchased this one from was very pleasant and knowledgeable so I was happy to have done business with him. We lamented the recent spike in price of Chinese silver coins these past 10 years or so thanks to the massive new market of Chinese buyers as well as the problem of fakes flooding in from China. There's irony in there somewhere.
I also purchased a copy of Ma's Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Gold & Silver Coins from himwhich I'm sure will prove invaluable in my pursuit of learning about and collecting Chinese coins. On the topic of Chinese coin guides, does anyone have any recommendations for guides or catalogues pertaining to pre-Meiji Japanese coinage and Chinese copper cash coins? Both the traditional four character kind and the modern struck types of the late empire and early republic.
Overall I think this was an incredibly successful show and I'm very happy with these new additions to my collection.
On the topic of Chinese coin guides, does anyone have any recommendations for guides or catalogues pertaining to pre-Meiji Japanese coinage and Chinese copper cash coins? Both the traditional four character kind and the modern struck types of the late empire and early republic.
Without a doubt this would be David Hartill's Cast Chinese Coins and Early Japanese Coins, these are bar none the most essential for imperial cast cash and Japanese pre-Meiji coins respectively. Many years ago I got ahold of the first cat. for $50 and second for $15, though there are some PDFs of them floating around online supposedly.
Kenny
- Verifying your Asian and British-territorial coins everyday with the best quality photos and the best information.
Interesting coins everyone, for some reason I always think of Sintra, Portugal as Sinatra as in Frank Sinatra (Italian and the Iberian languages sound VERY similar).
Just a few tame coins here, again living in Christchurch now means I am further away from the North Island based dealers, I won these coins on Wednesday 24th July (Although it was late at night), yet only received the courier parcels today - July 30th. Last year I would have got them by Fri 26th at the latest and there were no public holidays.
First of are 6 of these Canadian proof Nickel Voyageur dollars, likely cut out of sets? Again these are all dealer photos, study now has made me a bit lazier.
Shown is a 1981, I got each year from 1981 to 1986 and all are stunning like this (The 1983 has a tiny carbon spot on the Queen's head). I showed you just one as they all look the same except the year is different on each coin. They look nice and contrast with the silver dollars and common nickel dollar commems in lesser condition. They all look cameoed as well! Great buying at under $10 per coin.
Next is this souvenir set of old and less old Irish coins. All are BU and UNC condition and the predecimal coins feature a 1968 penny and 1969 sixpence (Minted at Royal Mint, but unlike UK, coins were dated after 1967 for circulation). There is no halfcrown or halfpenny as they have been demonitised before decimalisation and the farthing was done away with in the 50s.
The set is easily openable and likely a frame bought and someone just added coins to it. Its not from 1971 though as some of the later coins are as late as 1978. Still for $30 a nice purchase.
Finally my biggest bargain, this 1965 Greek proof set. I only paid $44 for it. Just 4800 were issued and it features coins that were mostly not issued for circulation. All show King Paul who died a year earlier and it features the rare 1965 silver 20 Drachma. It was only issued in 1960 (Common) and 1965 (Rare). Again proof quality and a nice set. Online it seems these go for around 75 Euros a piece and many are tarnished, mine looks brand new.
The label is just silvered paper but looks nice as well.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
75th anniversary of the defence medical college in Pune from 2023. I like the design of this piece and feel like the proof frosted imagine contrasts well with the mirror background in this instance
On the topic of Chinese coin guides, does anyone have any recommendations for guides or catalogues pertaining to pre-Meiji Japanese coinage and Chinese copper cash coins? Both the traditional four character kind and the modern struck types of the late empire and early republic.
Without a doubt this would be David Hartill's Cast Chinese Coins and Early Japanese Coins, these are bar none the most essential for imperial cast cash and Japanese pre-Meiji coins respectively. Many years ago I got ahold of the first cat. for $50 and second for $15, though there are some PDFs of them floating around online supposedly.
Thanks very much, I'll be sure to take a look and hopefully get these as I'm sure they'd be incredibly helpful.
On the topic of Chinese coin guides, does anyone have any recommendations for guides or catalogues pertaining to pre-Meiji Japanese coinage and Chinese copper cash coins? Both the traditional four character kind and the modern struck types of the late empire and early republic.
Without a doubt this would be David Hartill's Cast Chinese Coins and Early Japanese Coins, these are bar none the most essential for imperial cast cash and Japanese pre-Meiji coins respectively. Many years ago I got ahold of the first cat. for $50 and second for $15, though there are some PDFs of them floating around online supposedly.
I tried to find a pdf of Hartill Japanese catalogue online, but had no success… If someone have it to share, let me know.
I have a Japanese catalogue of Kanei Tsuho that looks like this:)
There is also possible to find online this catalogue that contains a section for pre-Meiji coins, but it is in Japanese also
And returning to the topic, the last additions of this month are exactly from Japan, these are old (Ko) Kanei Tsuho - Kenninji-sen minted in 1653
and Shiba-sen (Yonsōten, 4 dots in cursive script) 1636-1640
