Very hard to pick one, but this would be in my "top 10" if I was forced to make a list:
A sentimental favorite so please excuse a small excursion. The first of these I saw was a solid AU-Unc in a Joe Lypzek (sp) auction in the late 1970s. Fortunately there was the annual fall coin show in STL so I was able to ask George Beach what he thought about it when Joe walked up to the table. I was favored with a nice chat about the coin. Both assured me that the coin wouldn't go past $500. George offered to bid on the coin for me and, since I had to have it, I decided I was willing to plunk down nearly a month's takehome pay ($800 + premium) for it. I didn't get it; it went to a strong European collector. Rats! I saw a few more over the years but all had flan flaws until this beauty fell into my lap in 2000 at less than half the cost. Not as nice as Joes, but a worthy placeholder until/if that au comes may way again.
Oh, its a 1/2 piastre of Innocent XII dated year 7 (~1698) and commemorates the Peace of Ryswick. And that is Noah's ark landing on Mt Ararat. Nifty details include the water pluming from each side and the little window on the roof where Noah released the dove to see if the waters had receded. Great bare headed portrait of the elderly and ailing pope and a wonderful reverse type. The artist is Ferdinand Saint Urbain (SV) one of the great medallists and designers of the late 1600s. And, its a good example of why I keep chasing - and keep spending way too much on - Baroque papal.
Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
A very nice coin...not often seen, as you noted. Coincidentally, I used to consign quite a bit to Joe in the early 1980's. A true gentleman and a scholar. Requiescat in pace.
Thanks, Roman, for holding out some hope. The images are on my PC, although I can upload them to various image hosting spots on the web. Would rather not, as most of them have daily bandwidth usage limits for download traffic. I can certainly disable my pop-up blocker.
Standing by for any help I can get...these things are usually pretty intuitive to me.
Best ~ Tom
I never pay too much for my tokens...but every now and then I may buy them too soon.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Tom - not sure if the PM worked (couldn't preview it first), so try using the Forum code tags, like so: [IMG]http://website.com/yourimage.jpg[/IMG] and you should be able to see the image.
Thanks, Roman...there will be more. Can't figure out how that HTML stuff got thrown in at the bottom of that reply. Will have to just use an HTML editor for my messages and then copy/paste it into the windows for the forums. Couldn't have done it without you! Tom {IMG]http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u60/themugster/waitangirev.jpg[/IMG]
I never pay too much for my tokens...but every now and then I may buy them too soon.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Apologies to all for the wasted space featured in my last couple of posts. Still trying to get the hang of making photos of "my favourite coins" appear in my messages. (Thanks, Roman!)
So this is a test:
Tom
I never pay too much for my tokens...but every now and then I may buy them too soon.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Thanks for your image tips, Roman...looks as though we're making a little progress.
Now I can see it too (the Waitangi crown), although I couldn't last night, about five minutes after I'd posted the message. This time we'll try for not one, but TWO real favorites of mine, one inserted as a URL, and the other attached to the reply. (So I'm still in test mode, just so you know should something go wrong with these image postings.)
The first is the reverse of a nice gemmy William IV FDC two-pounder, and the attachment (if that works) is a Griquatown penny pattern, also a proof but badly served by my scanner (or my skillls with the scanner, more likely) insofar as its lustre sort of disappears in this image..."washed out" is probably the technical term. The latter came to me from Ron Milcarek about 10-12 years ago, but I sold it to a South African exonumia specialist for a museum installation, I believe he said, about two years ago (tripling my investment along the way, as I recall). Here goes:
Just accomplished the attachment too, I think...nothing complicated about that, although not quite intuitive.
Great coins on this thread! Keep 'em coming!
BTW, note my handle for these forums, "Daltonista." That's the rare offshoot of the dreaded Conderphilia that kicks in after you've acquired about 800+ Conders and all the other ones you need cost really big bucks. So I switched to Dalton silver tokens as my main emphasis...now have plenty of new ground to cover, and pretty arcane stuff at that...a small number of colletors chasing after an even smaller number of available pieces in respectable condition. Even Spink seem to sell only a handful a year out of their stock.
Best to all ~ Tom
I never pay too much for my tokens...but every now and then I may buy them too soon.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Normally upload happens on the 15th of each month, however since 15th is Sunday - they are doing April icon upload this friday. You can find info in this post on U.S. Coins board.
Thanks for the tip on the icon upload, Roman. I have in the past done some coin photography with expert guidance from a friend who had the rig for it...sort of a superstructure into which a 35mm SLR camera was clamped, along with some special external flash apparatus. But I've moved far away, geographically, from that arrangement of yore and now have a couple of digital cameras that I haven't experimennted with very much...still working for a living keeps getting in the way of interesting stuff like this. So lately 've been doing all my imaging on my scanner, when it works. I'm searching my hard drive for a great scan I took a few years ago of a scarce-date wreath crown in PF-64, slabbed. Couldn't get a decent scan in multiple tries w/different settings, and then I had an idea that I should tilt the thing a wee bit to manage the light (and intense glare) a little better, perhaps...and amazingly I ended up with a few really good scans. Will post it here if I find it. Best! Tom
I never pay too much for my tokens...but every now and then I may buy them too soon.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Comments
A sentimental favorite so please excuse a small excursion. The first of these I saw was a solid AU-Unc in a Joe Lypzek (sp) auction in the late 1970s. Fortunately there was the annual fall coin show in STL so I was able to ask George Beach what he thought about it when Joe walked up to the table. I was favored with a nice chat about the coin. Both assured me that the coin wouldn't go past $500. George offered to bid on the coin for me and, since I had to have it, I decided I was willing to plunk down nearly a month's takehome pay ($800 + premium) for it. I didn't get it; it went to a strong European collector. Rats! I saw a few more over the years but all had flan flaws until this beauty fell into my lap in 2000 at less than half the cost. Not as nice as Joes, but a worthy placeholder until/if that au comes may way again.
Oh, its a 1/2 piastre of Innocent XII dated year 7 (~1698) and commemorates the Peace of Ryswick. And that is Noah's ark landing on Mt Ararat. Nifty details include the water pluming from each side and the little window on the roof where Noah released the dove to see if the waters had receded. Great bare headed portrait of the elderly and ailing pope and a wonderful reverse type. The artist is Ferdinand Saint Urbain (SV) one of the great medallists and designers of the late 1600s. And, its a good example of why I keep chasing - and keep spending way too much on - Baroque papal.
Thanks, Roman, for holding out some hope. The images are on my PC, although I can upload them to various image hosting spots on the web. Would rather not, as most of them have daily bandwidth usage limits for download traffic. I can certainly disable my pop-up blocker.
Standing by for any help I can get...these things are usually pretty intuitive to me.
Best ~
Tom
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
8 Reales Madness Collection
8 Reales Madness Collection
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"></SPAN> </DIV>
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Can't figure out how that HTML stuff got thrown in at the bottom of that reply.
Will have to just use an HTML editor for my messages and then copy/paste it into the
windows for the forums.
Couldn't have done it without you!
Tom
{IMG]http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u60/themugster/waitangirev.jpg[/IMG]
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
8 Reales Madness Collection
–John Adams, 1826
Apologies to all for the wasted space featured in my last couple of posts.
Still trying to get the hang of making photos of "my favourite coins" appear in my messages.
(Thanks, Roman!)
So this is a test:
Tom
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Now I can see it too (the Waitangi crown), although I couldn't last night, about five minutes after I'd posted the message. This time we'll try for not one, but TWO real favorites of mine, one inserted as a URL, and the other attached to the reply. (So I'm still in test mode, just so you know should something go wrong with these image postings.)
The first is the reverse of a nice gemmy William IV FDC two-pounder, and the attachment (if that works) is a Griquatown penny pattern, also a proof but badly served by my scanner (or my skillls with the scanner, more likely) insofar as its lustre sort of disappears in this image..."washed out" is probably the technical term. The latter came to me from Ron Milcarek about 10-12 years ago, but I sold it to a South African exonumia specialist for a museum installation, I believe he said, about two years ago (tripling my investment along the way, as I recall). Here goes:
Just accomplished the attachment too, I think...nothing complicated about that, although not quite intuitive.
Great coins on this thread! Keep 'em coming!
BTW, note my handle for these forums, "Daltonista." That's the rare offshoot of the dreaded Conderphilia that kicks in after you've acquired about 800+ Conders and all the other ones you need cost really big bucks. So I switched to Dalton silver tokens as my main emphasis...now have plenty of new ground to cover, and pretty arcane stuff at that...a small number of colletors chasing after an even smaller number of available pieces in respectable condition. Even Spink seem to sell only a handful a year out of their stock.
Best to all ~
Tom
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
So I'll link to it below.
Next question: How do I create and upload an icon to go with my handle?
Thanks in advance to all volunteers!
Tom
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
8 Reales Madness Collection
8 Reales Madness Collection
I have in the past done some coin photography with expert guidance from a friend who had the rig for it...sort of a superstructure into which a 35mm SLR camera was clamped, along with some special external flash apparatus. But I've moved far away, geographically, from that arrangement of yore and now have a couple of digital cameras that I haven't experimennted with very much...still working for a living keeps getting in the way of interesting stuff like this. So lately 've been doing all my imaging on my scanner, when it works. I'm searching my hard drive for a great scan I took a few years ago of a scarce-date wreath crown in PF-64, slabbed. Couldn't get a decent scan in multiple tries w/different settings, and then I had an idea that I should tilt the thing a wee bit to manage the light (and intense glare) a little better, perhaps...and amazingly I ended up with a few really good scans. Will post it here if I find it.
Best!
Tom
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
I'm not sure what my favourite coin is in my collection but my wreath crown is certainly in the running!
Collecting:
Conder tokens
19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm