This place is a snooze-fest right now, post a coin story

SimonW

Literally anything interesting, an anicdote, limmerik or history about a coin that you find interesting.

TheGoonies1985

Well eBay is dried up like a desert (for what I collect). Seems like a slow slow summer. Sorry SimonW not much on my end.

Boosibri

I post things and the threads just drop like a rock

TheGoonies1985

This is my last purchase Rarity 4 variety per Yonaka now a Rarity 3. I collect Guatemala with holes only they are not cheap without holes. As for Peru 1 reales I have seen ZERO coins of any date 1751-1772 in almost 2 months.

TheGoonies1985

Your recent 1758 Guatemala 1 real purchase is better than mine why not post it?

Nap

The last 3 posts I made got a combined total of 1 reply.

Other than Latin American coinage, nothing gets much traction in these forums, most world and ancient coin discussion happens elsewhere.

Tibor

I've called the exterminator to control the crickets.

Tibor

A few weeks ago on the U.S. forum one of the members was celebrating his
birthday, anniversary and another event. Asked the readers to post coins with
those years. I don't have anything from the 20th or 21st century that's worth
a picture. Decided to post some 1400's dated coins. Got one like.
On this forum a couple of weeks ago the OP wanted members to list famous
collections that were specialized. I posted the upcoming Bruun Scandinavian
collection and not one "LIKE" or an "AGREE".

Boosibri

@Tibor said:
A few weeks ago on the U.S. forum one of the members was celebrating his
birthday, anniversary and another event. Asked the readers to post coins with
those years. I don't have anything from the 20th or 21st century that's worth
a picture. Decided to post some 1400's dated coins. Got one like.
On this forum a couple of weeks ago the OP wanted members to list famous
collections that were specialized. I posted the upcoming Bruun Scandinavian
collection and not one "LIKE" or an "AGREE".

I just liked your post so you feel better about getting likes on this one.

Tibor

@Boosibri Thank you!!

Coinlover101

Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa and this is where the mint was located at the end of the 19th century.

The Boer war occured in 1899 which saw the Boers (those of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State) fight the invading English army.

Once the English were close to Pretoria the Boers decided to take everything from the mint with them on their escape.

As you know coins are blank before they are struck. These blanks were also taken by the Boers and were used as currency for a little while.

Some of these blanks are still around in various denominations and I have a nice example graded by NGC.

You can read more here;
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces231219.html

Clio

A fascinating part of history that I often forget about is how the calendar changed over time. It's annoyingly apparent to me when OCTober is the 10th month and not the 8th. However I more commonly forget when reading about history. I think this is mostly because the year is mentioned and I don't give much thought to where the month was during that time. One of the best examples of that to me is on the Gunmoney series. Very rarely to we get to see such a clear example of the pre-Gregorian calendar in action.

March was the start of the new year so these two examples were struck just a single month apart from each other.

Clio

@Boosibri said:
I post things and the threads just drop like a rock

Wish I knew how to inject life into the forums. I make some posts which take quite a bit of time, and they have little engagement. Occasionally I have a new idea for a post, and I quickly get dissuaded.

SimonW

@Coinlover101 @Clio THAT’S what I’m talking about! Very interesting. I think a lot of times people assume everyone knows about the coin and its history. I rarely do unless it’s within my series (which is a pretty popular series.)

SimonW

This is the coin @PillarDollarCollector refers to.

This one I pulled off eBay not too long ago. It’s a pretty decent piece, well above average, certainly not one of the highest grades though, which I believe to fall in the “fine” range.

Guatemalan coins minted during the reign of Phillip, Ferdinand and Carlos 1733-1771 are particularly interesting. They just couldn’t seem to get their act together. Half the time they just struck coins on random clips of silver, but with dies made for round flans. The pillar coins look…interesting to say the least. In comparison to the craftsmanship of Mexico or Peru, the Guatemalan coins look like a five-year-old drew the idea with a fat crayon. They’re rough, poorly made and rife with variations. I enjoy the variation and primitive methods. The above coin is made better than most.

SimonW

@PillarDollarCollector

Did you notice the weakness in the crown on both of ours is quite similar?

TheGoonies1985

@SimonW said:
@PillarDollarCollector

Did you notice the weakness in the crown on both of ours is quite similar?

Now that you mention it yes strange since they are not the same variety based on Yonaka. Look at the letter N in Hispan how far from the top of the crown mine is compared to yours. Yours is G1-58 mine is G1-58d.

TheGoonies1985

@SimonW said:

This is the coin @PillarDollarCollector refers to.

This one I pulled off eBay not too long ago. It’s a pretty decent piece, well above average, certainly not one of the highest grades though, which I believe to fall in the “fine” range.

Guatemalan coins minted during the reign of Phillip, Ferdinand and Carlos 1733-1771 are particularly interesting. They just couldn’t seem to get their act together. Half the time they just struck coins on random clips of silver, but with dies made for round flans. The pillar coins look…interesting to say the least. In comparison to the craftsmanship of Mexico or Peru, the Guatemalan coins look like a five-year-old drew the idea with a fat crayon. They’re rough, poorly made and rife with variations. I enjoy the variation and primitive methods. The above coin is made better than most.

I love the look of the Guatemala reales like you said they are so primitive vs Mexico or Peru. Maybe because they minted so few they simply did not get the technique right (lacking practice).

BustDMs

Sometimes a part can be more interesting than a whole…..

FrankH

I offerred the last batch of world coins to an auction and they said they couldn't find ANYONE interested.
Soooo I listed it on Great Collections....and didn't lose TOO much value. (compared to prices I paid over time)

Darkside seems trending toward "meh" in quite a few places.
Other than particularly historic coins. Which was mentioned when I was told by a dealer colleague that he HAD a ....possible....buyer.
To quote him: ".there's some neat stuff you have
listed, but he's thinking of more historically connected
coinage.

If we're ....lucky.... the disinterest may confine itself to darkside...
But I wouldn't count on that.

My kids and grandkids have absolutely NO interest in coins. Which, to me, is pretty disappointing.

But to a scrap buyer....it should be a windfall.

threefifty

I've been following some upcoming lots and I feel like it has been "meh" so far... makes me wonder if people are saving up for Bruun or if the market was thin and has been satisfied with earlier offerings this year. Or, maybe just waiting until the live auction, which is probably most likely.

SimonW

@FrankH said:
I offerred the last batch of world coins to an auction and they said they couldn't find ANYONE interested.
Soooo I listed it on Great Collections....and didn't lose TOO much value. (compared to prices I paid over time)

Darkside seems trending toward "meh" in quite a few places.
Other than particularly historic coins. Which was mentioned when I was told by a dealer colleague that he HAD a ....possible....buyer.
To quote him: ".there's some neat stuff you have
listed, but he's thinking of more historically connected
coinage.

If we're ....lucky.... the disinterest may confine itself to darkside...
But I wouldn't count on that.

My kids and grandkids have absolutely NO interest in coins. Which, to me, is pretty disappointing.

But to a scrap buyer....it should be a windfall.

In my experience you're not likely to find another collector among your kids or grandkids. Maybe a mildly interested one, but a serious collector, no probably not. At least not until they get older. Collecting has always been a predominantly older man's game, not that others don't participate, but generally.

bidask

@SimonW said:

@FrankH said:
I offerred the last batch of world coins to an auction and they said they couldn't find ANYONE interested.
Soooo I listed it on Great Collections....and didn't lose TOO much value. (compared to prices I paid over time)

Darkside seems trending toward "meh" in quite a few places.
Other than particularly historic coins. Which was mentioned when I was told by a dealer colleague that he HAD a ....possible....buyer.
To quote him: ".there's some neat stuff you have
listed, but he's thinking of more historically connected
coinage.

If we're ....lucky.... the disinterest may confine itself to darkside...
But I wouldn't count on that.

My kids and grandkids have absolutely NO interest in coins. Which, to me, is pretty disappointing.

But to a scrap buyer....it should be a windfall.

In my experience you're not likely to find another collector among your kids or grandkids. Maybe a mildly interested one, but a serious collector, no probably not. At least not until they get older. Collecting has always been a predominantly older man's game, not that others don't participate, but generally.

Witter University?

Boosibri

@FrankH said:
I offerred the last batch of world coins to an auction and they said they couldn't find ANYONE interested.
Soooo I listed it on Great Collections....and didn't lose TOO much value. (compared to prices I paid over time)

Darkside seems trending toward "meh" in quite a few places.
Other than particularly historic coins. Which was mentioned when I was told by a dealer colleague that he HAD a ....possible....buyer.
To quote him: ".there's some neat stuff you have
listed, but he's thinking of more historically connected
coinage.

If we're ....lucky.... the disinterest may confine itself to darkside...
But I wouldn't count on that.

My kids and grandkids have absolutely NO interest in coins. Which, to me, is pretty disappointing.

But to a scrap buyer....it should be a windfall.

I don’t think you can categorize the entire world coin market as “meh” based on your personal results of coins of unspecified quality, rarity, series and auction venue. Can you elaborate more on the coins and the auction venue?

Every countries market is different and in different levels of strength and the best are always in demand.

FrankH

@Boosibri said:

@FrankH said:
I offerred the last batch of world coins to an auction and they said they couldn't find ANYONE interested.
Soooo I listed it on Great Collections....and didn't lose TOO much value. (compared to prices I paid over time)

Darkside seems trending toward "meh" in quite a few places.
Other than particularly historic coins. Which was mentioned when I was told by a dealer colleague that he HAD a ....possible....buyer.
To quote him: ".there's some neat stuff you have
listed, but he's thinking of more historically connected
coinage.

If we're ....lucky.... the disinterest may confine itself to darkside...
But I wouldn't count on that.

My kids and grandkids have absolutely NO interest in coins. Which, to me, is pretty disappointing.

But to a scrap buyer....it should be a windfall.

I don’t think you can categorize the entire world coin market as “meh” based on your personal results of coins of unspecified quality, rarity, series and auction venue. Can you elaborate more on the coins and the auction venue?

Every countries market is different and in different levels of strength and the best are always in demand.

I posted (and later deleted) all of them on here. Here's an abbreviated list.

GC 8 reales Bolivia cob 1678
GC 8 reales bolivia 1841
GC cuba peso 1934 star
GC Cuba 1935 abc
GC 2 marks 1913 toned
GC regenaburg 1775 city view
GC germany 1930 5 marks
GC great britain 1634 chas ii
GC half crown 1817 geo iii
GC florin 1849 gothic
GC crown 1889 victoria
GC crown 1895 victoria
GC gourde 1881 haiti
GC 5 franchi 1808 lucca
GC Mexico 1921 2 peso
GC russia 1764 cath ruble

No dogs.
Not a huge loss either.

neildrobertson

@FrankH said:
I offerred the last batch of world coins to an auction and they said they couldn't find ANYONE interested.
Soooo I listed it on Great Collections....and didn't lose TOO much value. (compared to prices I paid over time)

Darkside seems trending toward "meh" in quite a few places.

I generally assume that small places are only interested in items worth >$100 each. Larger outfits tend to get interested in the $500-1000 range. If I see smaller items in an auction, I assume they came in as part of a very large consignment.

neildrobertson

@Boosibri said:
I don’t think you can categorize the entire world coin market as “meh” based on your personal results of coins of unspecified quality, rarity, series and auction venue. Can you elaborate more on the coins and the auction venue?

Every countries market is different and in different levels of strength and the best are always in demand.

I follow German coins closely. It seems like auctions and dealers have finally come around to a higher price point on almost everything after the post-Covid price surges. In 2020-2023, I was finding better deals from dealers since their pricing strategies seem to lag. Dealers have caught up and now I'm back to getting better deals at auction. I think even the heat on auctions has started to temper a bit. It still hasn't cooled of yet from my perspective.