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Important coins - from one type of collection to another

Just scored a major coin for the collection of Trade Coins with Chinese Chopmarks

The coin comes from "The Seki Collection", an incredible collection of Dutch trade coins assembled by a Japanese collector. It now joins a collection which I hope someday will be considered an important collection of Trade Coins with Chinese Chopmarks. Very different, but also related collections.

There are something like 12-15 of this coin out there, so it's tough with or without chops. Won it from the recent HA auction in Hong Kong for my max bid. Yikes!

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've dreamed of owning a VOC coin with chops.

    More info on the Dutch East India Company, also known as the “Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie” in Dutch, or VOC for short. A few highlights from Wikipedia tell an interesting story of this company:

    “The Dutch East India Company, officially the United East India Company was an early megacorporation founded by a government-directed amalgamation of several rival Dutch trading companies in the early 17th century. It was established on March 20, 1602, as a chartered company to trade with Mughal India during the period of proton-industrialization from which 50% of textiles and 80% of silks were imported, chiefly from its most developed region known as Bengal Subah.

    In addition, the company Indianised Southeast Asian countries when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. It has been often labelled a trading company (i.e. a company of merchants who buy and sell goods produced by other people) or sometimes a shipping company. However, VOC was in fact a proto-conglomerate company, diversifying into multiple commercial and industrial activities such as international trade (especially intra-Asian trade), shipbuilding, and both production and trade of East India spices, Formosan sugarcane, and South African wine. The Company was a transcontinental employer and an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment. The Company's investment projects helped raise the commercial and industrial potential of many underdeveloped or undeveloped regions of the world in the early modern period. In the early 1600s, by widely issuing bonds and shares of stock to the general public, VOC became the world's first formally listed public company. In other words, it was the first corporation to be listed on an official stock exchange. It was influential in the rise of corporate-led globalization in the early modern period.

    With its pioneering institutional innovations and powerful roles in global business history, the Company is often considered by many to be the forerunner of modern corporations. In many respects, modern-day corporations are all the 'direct descendants' of the VOC model.”

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    BillDugan1959BillDugan1959 Posts: 3,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nice coin, but what is the reasoning for thinking that the small graffiti is Chinese?

    Looks like a western "S" punch.

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @BillDugan1959 said:
    Nice coin, but what is the reasoning for thinking that the small graffiti is Chinese?

    Looks like a western "S" punch.

    You know Bill, if it were only the obverse marks I would agree. I was at first disappointed when the pictures were posted to just see the obverse 'S' marks, but then happy to spot the lone reverse mark between 8-9 o'clock on the reverse. It's similar in size and of a similar "simple" style to other Chinese marks I've seen on dutch coins. It's also possible the marks are Indian vs. Chinese, as some of the Indian rupees are found with marks like these, and Indian is just about as likely as Chinese for Dutch coins.

    The coin sold for about what it should in this condition. I didn't add any extra value to my bid, hoping the mark is Chinese. It's a neat coin with what are probably Chinese marks, but no guarantee.

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    sylsyl Posts: 906 ✭✭✭

    Wow! What a neat coin. All I have with chop marks is an 1870 US trade dollar.

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    BillDugan1959BillDugan1959 Posts: 3,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @OriginalDan Sorry, I missed the mark between eight and nine o'clock on the shield side. I would think it is a chop.

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    No worries Bill, I'm used to scouring a coin for marks, and that one is much less obvious on the reverse.

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    bidaskbidask Posts: 13,865 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @OriginalDan said:
    Just scored a major coin for the collection of Trade Coins with Chinese Chopmarks

    The coin comes from "The Seki Collection", an incredible collection of Dutch trade coins assembled by a Japanese collector. It now joins a collection which I hope someday will be considered an important collection of Trade Coins with Chinese Chopmarks. Very different, but also related collections.

    There are something like 12-15 of this coin out there, so it's tough with or without chops. Won it from the recent HA auction in Hong Kong for my max bid. Yikes!

    A big congrats on that score!

    Question is the VOC same as EIC ?

    Or is one Dutch and the other British?

    I manage money. I earn money. I save money .
    I give away money. I collect money.
    I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.




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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @bidask
    The VOC was the Dutch East India Company, totally separate (but very similar) to the British version, the British East India Company, or more commonly known as just the East India Company.

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    YorkshiremanYorkshireman Posts: 4,494 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Super toning and look, Dan.

    Yorkshireman,Obsessed collector of round, metallic pieces of history.Hunting for Latin American colonial portraits plus cool US & British coins.
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    ChopmarkedTradesChopmarkedTrades Posts: 499 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Fantastic coin, the host type alone is a major rarity, especially with this level of preservation. Great score.

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ChopmarkedTrades said:
    Fantastic coin, the host type alone is a major rarity, especially with this level of preservation. Great score.

    Thank you for the moral support along the way. I really wasn't sure if I should pony up for this one, but you helped me understand what a historically important coin this is. I was trying to talk myself out of the coin and I couldn't. I guess that's the difference in my approach to collecting now vs. when I started.

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    PatARPatAR Posts: 347 ✭✭✭

    Lovely coin with wonderful history! The development and reach of the Dutch East India Company through history and through much of numismatics is fascinating.

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    TradesWithChopsTradesWithChops Posts: 640 ✭✭✭✭

    @OriginalDan said:
    Just scored a major coin for the collection of Trade Coins with Chinese Chopmarks

    The coin comes from "The Seki Collection", an incredible collection of Dutch trade coins assembled by a Japanese collector. It now joins a collection which I hope someday will be considered an important collection of Trade Coins with Chinese Chopmarks. Very different, but also related collections.

    There are something like 12-15 of this coin out there, so it's tough with or without chops. Won it from the recent HA auction in Hong Kong for my max bid. Yikes!

    This coin is very cool. I actually bid on it! First coin I've bid on with chopmarks that wasnt a US Trade Dollar. But, I didnt win - and I wasn't the underbidder.

    Glad that you were the winner, @OriginalDan

    Minor Variety Trade dollar's with chop marks set:
    More Than It's Chopped Up To Be

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    KkathylKkathyl Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭✭✭

    congratulations well done indeed

    Best place to buy !
    Bronze Associate member

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TradesWithChops said:
    This coin is very cool. I actually bid on it! First coin I've bid on with chopmarks that wasnt a US Trade Dollar. But, I didnt win - and I wasn't the underbidder.

    Glad that you were the winner, @OriginalDan

    I guess we should talk more! I'm always interested in who else is crazy like me, bidding on these "damaged" coins. Hope all is well, maybe we can meet up next time I'm back east again.

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Coin arrived and I shot a quick image. Tried to bring out the color without looking too cartoony.

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    EVillageProwlerEVillageProwler Posts: 5,859 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @OriginalDan said:
    Coin arrived and I shot a quick image. Tried to bring out the color without looking too cartoony.

    Very handsome!

    As an aside: how did you get the black border around the coin? I tried searching for it online and via photoshop but I think I’m not using the right search keys.

    How does one get a hater to stop hating?

    I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @EVillageProwler said:

    @OriginalDan said:
    Coin arrived and I shot a quick image. Tried to bring out the color without looking too cartoony.

    Very handsome!

    As an aside: how did you get the black border around the coin? I tried searching for it online and via photoshop but I think I’m not using the right search keys.

    I created my own photoshop action to script it. coins that aren’t perfectly round, like this one, take a little extra effort. I can send you the PS action when we get back from camping this weekend.

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    EVillageProwlerEVillageProwler Posts: 5,859 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @OriginalDan said:

    @EVillageProwler said:

    @OriginalDan said:
    Coin arrived and I shot a quick image. Tried to bring out the color without looking too cartoony.

    Very handsome!

    As an aside: how did you get the black border around the coin? I tried searching for it online and via photoshop but I think I’m not using the right search keys.

    I created my own photoshop action to script it. coins that aren’t perfectly round, like this one, take a little extra effort. I can send you the PS action when we get back from camping this weekend.

    Yes please and thanks!

    How does one get a hater to stop hating?

    I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com

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    ChopmarkedTradesChopmarkedTrades Posts: 499 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Coin looks fantastic. The difference in detail on the two lions is striking.

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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    .> @ChopmarkedTrades said:

    Coin looks fantastic. The difference in detail on the two lions is striking.

    Let me guess...no pun intended. :D

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    jt88jt88 Posts: 2,841 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very nice coin

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    rawteam1rawteam1 Posts: 2,472 ✭✭✭

    Wow, what a coin...

    keceph `anah
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    YorkshiremanYorkshireman Posts: 4,494 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That is a breath taking coin!!

    Yorkshireman,Obsessed collector of round, metallic pieces of history.Hunting for Latin American colonial portraits plus cool US & British coins.
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    OriginalDanOriginalDan Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thank you all for the kind words. I'm really liking this coin.

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