NEWPS sometimes coins are overlooked

Stork

I found a combined lot on a Heritage weekly auction...2 relatively modestly graded 50 sen coins of less than spectacular eye appeal but with cool varieties.

This one I have in a details AU/environmental damage (at the time and felt lucky to have gotten that one out of a Japanese auction). Never thought to get my mitts on an uncirculated one. It's a basic 62, better looking than my photos (I suck at luster and we have a new overhead light in the basement that is messing with my meager skills). So this one made me VERY happy.

Vs my old one compared to a short nen.

You can get an idea of the 'environmental damage' on the coin to the right. The short nen is a nice coin overall, with luster.

The other coins is an even tougher one. Several years have the direction of the stem cut facing up or down on the bottom left part of the field. Varies by year which is the oddball. For 1897, it's the 'stem up'. Never saw it before that I can recall. It's a relatively unattractive AU-58, but even in the lowest grades, this one has value. That is not always the case in the Japanese catalog.

So, sold as a lot, not the most exciting in terms of eye appeal, but oh so nice for the varieties!

neildrobertson

Very cool. Pursuing varieties is so much more satisfying outside of world coins. The premiums are lower and it really is 'just for fun'.

Stork

@neildrobertson said:
Very cool. Pursuing varieties is so much more satisfying outside of world coins. The premiums are lower and it really is 'just for fun'.

It is fun...and perhaps due to finding something others didn't see. Maybe that's how those VAM hunters feel? I think of my self as a type collector with little focus but somehow I've gone from the type set to multiple date sets, and now the stinkin' varieties. Then again, I have run out of the basic type coins. Maybe I should sell everything but the best eye appeal coins for a true type set again...then do a World Crown collection or something.