Love it or hate it: Reserved for Weiss pending approval..UPDATE:
Weiss
Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
UPDATE:
I just spoke with Mr. Berk on the phone. He had the coin in-hand and gave me a detailed description and offered some candid advice. Based on his judgement, I've decided to hold off.
He said the coin is well struck, most details are good, but the eye is flatter than other VF examples and there are several small planchet flaws that detract from the overall appeal of the piece.
And when you're looking for that one special coin, almost just doesn't cut it.
Oh well. Back to the hunt!
__________________________
Pre-Croesus electrum trite (Weidauer 86 [16]), Early 6th century BCE. Good VF, nicely centered, blah blah blah. I've been looking for a really good example of this coin for several years now, and I tentatively pulled the trigger on this one pending approval of the man, Harlan J. Berk himself, this weekend.
This coin is considered by many to be the first true coin ever made. The kingdom of Lydia (now western Turkey) created these coins out of lumps of raw electrum (the natural alloy of gold and silver, also the name of my company).
My icon is from the series directly following these trites, when the Lydians started producing pure silver and pure gold units.
There is a slightly more crude version (Weidauer 15), that might predate this one, but it is just as possible it was concurrent, or even later. They're probably not off by more than a couple years anyway.
Thumbs up or down? Should I keep looking for that ultimate, 97 to 100 out of 100 example, or should I go with this one that I consider to be maybe a 90 to 95 out of 100?
I just spoke with Mr. Berk on the phone. He had the coin in-hand and gave me a detailed description and offered some candid advice. Based on his judgement, I've decided to hold off.
He said the coin is well struck, most details are good, but the eye is flatter than other VF examples and there are several small planchet flaws that detract from the overall appeal of the piece.
And when you're looking for that one special coin, almost just doesn't cut it.
Oh well. Back to the hunt!
__________________________
Pre-Croesus electrum trite (Weidauer 86 [16]), Early 6th century BCE. Good VF, nicely centered, blah blah blah. I've been looking for a really good example of this coin for several years now, and I tentatively pulled the trigger on this one pending approval of the man, Harlan J. Berk himself, this weekend.
This coin is considered by many to be the first true coin ever made. The kingdom of Lydia (now western Turkey) created these coins out of lumps of raw electrum (the natural alloy of gold and silver, also the name of my company).
My icon is from the series directly following these trites, when the Lydians started producing pure silver and pure gold units.
There is a slightly more crude version (Weidauer 15), that might predate this one, but it is just as possible it was concurrent, or even later. They're probably not off by more than a couple years anyway.
Thumbs up or down? Should I keep looking for that ultimate, 97 to 100 out of 100 example, or should I go with this one that I consider to be maybe a 90 to 95 out of 100?
We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
--Severian the Lame
--Severian the Lame
0
Comments
As to buy or keep searching ... DO IT ... you could keep looking forever for that just perfect piece. Get while the getting is good.
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Shep
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I'll get one of the "first coins" someday
My OmniCoin Collection
My BankNoteBank Collection
Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
--Severian the Lame
Good luck as you resume the hunt!
I hope you live long enough to find it and still enjoy it!
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I hope you live long enough to find it and still enjoy it!
You know what they say about the boy who got everything he ever wanted? He lived happily ever after
--Severian the Lame