Egypt 1923H 10 Piastres, PCGS SP63

GOLDSAINT

Here is an interesting coin I picked up last week! Does anyone here collect more modern Egyptian? Perhaps someone can tell me more about this coin?

Egypt 1923H 10 Piastres, PCGS SP63

Dealers comment,

“A very rare 1923H Heatron Mint 10 Piastres of Egypt in a certified PCGS Holder A specimen 63. A very rare coin with mirror fields, of which only 5-10 coins were minted, very rare.”

lordmarcovan

Neat coin. I know next to nothing about 'em, though.

I can tell you that the Heaton Mint is in Birnmingham, England.

They produced a number of British and Canadian coins as well as some contracts like the one that obviously produced this Egyptian piece.

And that was made around the time King Tut's tomb was discovered.

newsman

Beautiful coin!

I think this is part of the first issue of Fuad as king, after Egypt became independent in 1922. Before that, he was sultan under the British protectorate.

GOLDSAINT

Thanks for your help!

newsman

What's interesting about Egyptian coins is that Egypt's tough antiquities law applies to coins as well, limiting the supply. That means any collectible coin not in a private hands when the law was passed in 1983 is the property of the government.

I'm not sure exactly how they define "collectible," but I know that coins from the kingdom and earlier count under the law.

You've got an exceptionally rare piece there. Very nice!

GOLDSAINT

You've got an exceptionally rare piece there. Very nice!"
Thank you


Due to my dedication to my certified Bust half set I just cannot develop any serious interest in working on any type of World set, so I just look for the strangest coins I can find.

I have been doing some an analysis trying to figure out where the “new world collectors” might go. Unlike the U.S. that has been so stable for so long, much of the rest of the world has been in turmoil.

I think the problem that many world collectors have with more modern material is that there has just not been much buying pressure in this area so its hard to get a feel for what to buy. It may be that as millions of new collectors enter the market lots of truly rare coins will finally shine.

For example, what would all of you suspect happened to the money supply in East block countries when the U.S.S.R. took them over? Do you think they just let the old money circulate or did they force down the throats of their new republics U.S.S.R. coinage and melt all their silver coins into bars?

The same holds true of India. Once the British took over most of the larger Indian stuff just went bye bye, and the Indians got King and Queen coins.

Then there is Vietnam, and some of the other smaller Asian countries. Have you looked at Korean lately, WOW?

Many of the countries that no longer exist are pretty meaningless to many of us, but many of these countries have large populations that will be interested in their own history just as we are in ours.

1jester

As for money supply in Eastern Bloc countries, it's well known that during WWII, there was a lot of plundering going on, and the Nazis ended up with a lot of rare things, such as art, and coins, and the Russians took a lot of that. I read about 7 years ago of many rooms of treasures (rare paintings, tons of diamonds and jewels, and tons and tons of ultra-rare gold coins) that had been sold off seruptitiously by the Kremlin. Ironically, the KGB was asking the FBI for help in arresting a few of its own members in LA who had apparantly gone off the reservation and the Russians wanted American help in bringing them to "justice". Personally, I've seen lots of Eliasburg-quality gold coming to market over the past 10 years in Eastern Europe and I can't help but wonder what the original source of the treasure was.

newsman

I understand pre-WWII Polish coins are scarce because of Nazi and Soviet plundering of precious metals. Isn't that right, Jester?

MY guess is that now the commies are gone, some of the "junk" East-bloc aluminum coinage might also turn out to be scarce.

1jester

Newsman, I'm sure you're right in guessing that many issues of Communist "junk" coins are rare, and it remains to be seen just how the market will price them in the coming years. If only Cladking knew much about these series... Actually, I think he just might know a lot about them. I have a lot of Polish coins, but nothing from the neighboring countries, but I'm up for swapping eventually.

Goldsaint, if you're interested in super rare coins, here's one at a terrific price: a top pop 1904 Swiss 10 Rappen specimen.