FRIDAY IS METAL PORN DAY. Tonight's episode: South of the border hoarder

Weiss

Continued on that buying spree on those mid-century Venezuelan gold coins.
This series is really unusual and there isn't much out there about it.
Long and short: A small group of artists and historians got together to produce a run of gold coins celebrating the 18 most famous tribal chiefs from the conflict between Spanish conquistadores and the indigenous people of what would become Venezuela.
The coins are each 22.2 grams of 90% pure gold. That's 20 grams of .999 gold.

With no way of knowing, and talking completely out of my butt, I'd estimate maybe 100 sets were made of which fewer than 20 survive. They re-struck the series a few years later in a proof like finish, and they made smaller versions of each, too.

This week's two additions: Chief Naiguata

And perhaps the most shocking bust I've ever seen on a coin in my 50 years of collecting, Chief Tamanaco:

Tamanaco fought fiercely against the Spanish, so much so that they had to call in reinforcements from around the Caribbean and even Europe. When they finally surrounded the injured Tamanco, they offered him a choice: Death by hanging, or a fight to the death against a huge fighting mastiff named Amigo. Tamanaco chose to fight and Amigo tore his head off. As gruesome as it sounds, Tamanaco became a hero of the Venezuelan people and people remember him like we would Davy Crockett and the Alamo.

The whole shebang, so far:

While I was researching this series, I found a small plaster bust of Chief Chacao by the same artists who did the coins:

Also picked up a dozen Onzas. My dealer doesn't like them and sold them to me at_ less than melt!_
I had bought them to complete a partial roll I have, but when I got them home I realized they were all BU condition from being in individual flips for the last 30 or 40 years. So I boxed them up and sent them to NGC. Maybe I'll get a few 64s out of the batch.

And I picked up this proof Libertad, again for just melt!!

WHEW! What did you pick up this week?

ricko

@Weiss .... Wow... You are on a roll..... Very nice pickups. I really like those gold coins.... However, I am wondering how the artist came up with the likeness for the chiefs? Are there old drawings? Or just imaginative creations from history? Cheers, RickO

Weiss

@ricko said:
@Weiss .... Wow... You are on a roll..... Very nice pickups. I really like those gold coins.... However, I am wondering how the artist came up with the likeness for the chiefs? Are there old drawings? Or just imaginative creations from history? Cheers, RickO

A good question. I'm sure much of it is just speculation, though there are some contemporary accounts. I've actually located one of the references written by the scholar, Antonio Reyes, who worked on this series. I don't speak Spanish, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to discern. But it's signed by the author and dates from the time these pieces were struck. It's en route from Spain:

ricko

@Weiss.... That looks interesting. Let us know what you can find in that publication. Cheers, RickO

asheland

Nothing new this week, but I love Mexican coins. I don’t have many, but they’re cool.
A few random pieces from the collection:

LukeMarshall

Cool tribal gold, can’t wait to see the rest of em’

Weiss

@LukeMarshall said:
Cool tribal gold, can’t wait to see the rest of em’

It's definitely an acquired taste. But it's just strange enough that I feel compelled to search for it.
The remaining dozen or so pieces are more difficult to find. So it might be some time before I'm able to catch 'em all!

LukeMarshall

@Weiss said:

@LukeMarshall said:
Cool tribal gold, can’t wait to see the rest of em’

It's definitely an acquired taste. But it's just strange enough that I feel compelled to search for it.
The remaining dozen or so pieces are more difficult to find. So it might be some time before I'm able to catch 'em all!

At least you have quite a bit to look forward to!

Looking forward to watching this unfold...