What's the most exotic item in your numismatic collection?
Weiss
Posts: 9,935 ✭✭✭✭✭
In terms of items that fall strictly within the parameters of the US Coin Forum, it would probably be my Lesher Referendum Dollar.
Lesher was a pioneer in Colorado. Among other vocations, he was a silver miner. He thought silver was trading below at its then roughly 65 cents per ounce value. So around the turn of the century, he began minting his own large silver coins, hoping to spur interest and business for the silver mines in the region. His earlier pieces were a full ounce, which he expected to trade at $1.25. The pieces made a year later were the same weight as a US silver dollar and bore a $1 valuation. He arranged for various businesses to exchange his pieces, the recipients of whom could either accept or reject the pieces as they wished (the "referendum" part of their name). He even allowed people to redeem the pieces at the local Victor, Colorado bank for "lawful" money in the same way a check was cashed. Interestingly, silver wouldn't reach his $1.25 target until 45 years after his death. Perhaps even more interestingly: none of the approximately 2,000 Lesher Referendum Dollars thought to have been made were ever redeemed.
But from my collection as a whole, it would probably be this large handmade, hand stamped woodblock print 100 Srang note from Tibet during WWII. The rough cut paper and colors are amazing, and it contains dozens of examples of Tibetan religious iconography. From Numistma:
Two holy men are seated under a lime tree. Two cranes, symbolizing longevity, and two deer symbolizing prosperity, lie on the ground in front of the Lamas. One holy man holds a magic bottle, which symbolizes fertilizing the Earth. Above are two flying bats, symbolizing felicity and fortune.
--Severian the Lame
Comments
That is a gorgeous Lesher!
But that Tibetan note is something else, for sure. Just Wow!
Thanks for sharing.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
A bust half dollar in an IOOF (International Order of Odd Fellows) medal.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
That would be a picture of my wife holding a $20 gold piece
I can't seem to find the picture
Matter of fact, I can't seem to find my wife OR the $20 gold piece!
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
That Tibet note is one you don’t see everyday. Very colorful and beautiful. I’m impressed.
Thanks for sharing it👍
I have exotic things and have ended up with quite a few, including a Lesher Dollar.
My more exotic item is probably a sutler counterstamping stencil tool. With all the counterstamping that's been done, this is the only tool I've ever run across:
Here's a 1862 Washington D.C. Emancipation Day token that matches the design and letter placement owned by @Dwight_M:
I imagine that Civil War counterstamping tool was used primarily to produce dog tags for soldiers. At the time, Civil War soldiers bought their dog tags from a sutler. The poorer soldiers just wrote their name and hometown on a heavy piece of paper before going into battle so they would know where to ship their bodies back to.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Civil War dog tags really bring us back in time to what the country was like and what going into a battle was like. Imaging buying one of those and going into battle.
Lots of fakes out there, so beware buying raw on this note. This is a piece that should definitely be graded by our hosts or ATS.
Incidentally, I bought the pop top of a version of this note, a 65 EPQ of Pick#11d (with one of the obverse seals printed upside down), on HA back in 2018 for what I thought was an absolute rip. I already had the example up top and figured I'd offload the 55 once the 65 arrived. But when I had a chance to compare the two side by side, I just wasn't thrilled with the 65. And the 55 spoke to me.
So I sold the 65 a month later to a dealer for nearly twice what I'd just paid for it
--Severian the Lame
That's awesome @BustDMs!
I've seen these struck on other coins too. It would be great to build a collection of these!
I wonder if we'll ever know who struck these.
It must have been one strange dude.
I have no clue where to begin.
The first thing I always asked for when I went in a new coin shop was to look at the dealer's box of stuff he didn't know what it was. In "payment" I could tell him what much of it was and he'd sell me the rest for a song usually.
I went to a lot of coin shops.
Of course now days you can just duckduckgo two thirds of it.
Since I did US "coin" and world currency, here's the crossover with bullion & darkside.
Annam (Vietnam) Nguyen Dynasty 24 Lang Bar
Circa 1883
29.5 troy ounces .999 pure silver
Ex. Opitz
Shown with the custom cherry and wenge wood presentation box I commissioned from Massachusetts woodworker Edward Jacob.
These bars were used in trade along the border between Vietnam and China in the 19th century.
--Severian the Lame
Extraordinarily cool!
I'll post something similar, although I don't have my notes handy to give a proper description..
Best I can offer is that these are Tigers Toungues and I believe they are from Laos..
These are poured from junk US silver and inspired by the above..
I will add that I have made several Wenge tables for clients and am currently making one for our house! Beautiful wood!
The Egyptian Magic Coin:
Egyptian Magic Coin (Actually a medallion)
Bronze, 32 mm, 10 gm
Obverse: Pharaoh seated on throne surrounded by hieroglyphs
Reverse: Sphinx with pyramids and sunburst
I first became interested in these items when I saw one in the 1946 David Selznick Western film "Duel in the Sun".
In the film, preacher Walter Huston gave one to sexy Jennifer Jones supposedly to keep her "pure".
I began researching them ten years ago and now I have more than 20 of them of different varieties and metals.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
As I have to collect on a limited budget, this one for me:
My YouTube Channel
My sharply struck 1917 Type I 25C.
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Great thread 😛
Cool exotics everyone!
My US 1859 Half Dollar Copper pattern J-244 that used a Longacre's "French Head" obverse die combined with a regular Seated half dollar reverse die. However, this piece is unique as it was struck from a planchet which had an incused head of Washington on it – the type used for the Washington 5 Cent patterns of 1866.
This image just popped out at me screaming Roman numismatist.
Russian 3 rubles, only circulation platinum coins in world history
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Some really killer esoteric stuff here!
--Severian the Lame
That's really cool and exotic!
I didn't know there was only 1 circulation platinum coin ever!
Also amazing that 3 rubles is worth approximately 3.5 cents today.
Never thought of as exotic, but...
Or (R8)
Pressed wood medals are amazing.
It's really interesting to think about how amazing it was to create things at various expos, including aluminum medals, elongated cents, encased cents, and pressed wood medals.
In that era, it seemed medal technology were progressing every few years and the world was celebrating new inventions every few expos.
Someday I'd like to get the whole set. I believe there are 6 of them and have seen them in the original case/box.
My only token / only non-U.S. Mint product- everything else is pretty vanilla
Probably this one. We found it in a small change purse that was my Grandmother's. Her Grandfather came to this country from Ireland in 1845...
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Hmmm...I guess for me it would be these:
I think one thing that all coin collectors think about in the back of their minds is where has this coin been, and who has handled it?
Gus Grissom was one of the first US astronauts, the Mercury 7. He was the second American (3rd human) to fly into space on Liberty Bell 7 in July 1961. He carried 100 dimes with him aboard the capsule. The capsule sank in the Atlantic when it landed. While Grissom was highly thought of by NASA, they were less than thrilled with his souvenir dimes.
Grissom next launched as the Commander of Gemini 3, the first manned Gemini flight, which was a testament to how highly NASA thought of Grissom. Gemini 3 had one of the major firsts of manned spaceflight. It was the first manned spacecraft to change orbit (up until that point in time any spacecraft was going on whatever trajectory the launch rocket put it on). It was the first US major "firsts" in manned spaceflight. Up to that point the USSR had compiled all the major firsts of manned spaceflight.
Grissom's crewmate was John Young, a "New Nine" astronaut who wold go on to have one of the most storied careers ever as a NASA astronaut. Grissom only brought one dime with him on the Gemini 3 flight. After the flight, when Grissom and Young had some spare time, they were sitting around with Guenter Wendt, the German-American who was in charge of the White Room. The room was at the end of the gantry boom through which the astronauts got into the spacecraft. Wendt's job was to make sure the spacecraft was in tip top condition, and that the astronauts were properly plugged into the spacecraft just before the hatch was closed.
Grissom was using the tip of the survival knife that had been included in the Gemini 3 spacecraft to carve GT-3 (Gemini-Titan, the rocket booster was a Titan rocket) into the dime. Young asked Grissom what he was going to do with the dime and Grissom said he didn't know. Young said, why don't you give it to Guenter? Grissom agreed, and handed the dime over to Wendt. So, not only was this the only dime flown on Grissom's second flight, it also was handled by Grissom, Young and Wendt.
U.S. Type Set
Most exotic? Probably this rare 5 pfennig error I found in a parking lot in Germany.
Maybe this leather pouch that will hold any coin up to the size of a gold dollar
Sorry for the lousy photo, but there are leather dividers in it. Edit for spelling.
So Skyman ... is this the dime?, if yes - is it yours? and if yes - how do you know it to a true story and the actual dime. I like the over all story line and it does add a nice dimension to an otherwise common piece
I love this coin from 1215-1250, Nurnberg, 1 Pfg, Friedrich II, PCGS AU58+
Yes, it is the dime, and yes, I do own the dime. I have the hand written paperwork from Guenter Wendt certifying the dime, and aside from the written part there is also a picture of him holding this dime. For obvious reasons I'm not posting that stuff online.
U.S. Type Set
I don’t have a lot of what I would call exotic in my collection. It’s a good question.
Maybe this coin sword but it’s not US
WOW ... Have u thought about having someone like PCGS make a special slab for you? A great piece to have.
Thanks for sharing
Used to own this two headed magic Kennedy with nice toning that I found while CRH.
My pleasure, I'm glad you like it. With regards to slabbing it by a TPG, why pay money for something that won't increase the value of the item I own? The coin is protected in an openable plastic coin holder that is shown in the picture of Wendt holding the coin.
U.S. Type Set
Very nice Weiss. An interesting bit of numismatic history.
Hmmm, not sure if exotic but, it’s pretty cool and there’s only one.
When Ron recreated the 2014 "DOUBLOON" 2014 ANA "RL" BRASHER FANTASY .9999 GOLD, 26.4G PRIVATE ISSUE MS69
It’s his initials RL in the wing.
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
Anything Brasher is good with me. And that's a beauty!
--Severian the Lame
Not quite exotic but a little different and covers dual interests. These came as special insets in baseball card packs.
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Great piece Stef!
Here's my unique Brasher from Ron. Need to get it slabbed and TrueViewed one day
Beautiful
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You really should! It’s an amazing piece. And it shouldn’t get a net grade because it doesn’t look cleaned or pvc.
3 out of 5 graded of my WRNC 75th year and 100th year. The 1921 peace $ got net for cleaned and one 21 Morgan got it
for pvc. I didn’t see it but it’s soaking now and will resend.
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC