I've heard coins described as art, but not often literally

jonathanb

I'm pretty much a US-only collector, but I saw this and I had to have it. It started off as an 1890 Ecuador 1/2 centavo. Then someone planed down one side and created this tiny little painting of a farmer with three llamas on the road in front of a mountain. The main picture is enlarged to show the brushwork. There's even a signature, although I can't read it. The little images in the bottom corners are more or less actual size, depending on your monitor settings.

Does anyone know any more about this sort of thing? I don't even know if it's rare or if there are a whole bunch of them out there.

DesertRat

some of the ancient Greek coins are true works of art by noted artists.

lordmarcovan

I don't know anything about it in particular, but I suppose you could pigeonhole it under the same category as a love token.

That is a superb quality miniature painting, I would say, and because of its age (probably contemporary to the host coin) and its fascinating, unusual nature, I would imagine it is worth some money. How much? I don't think there is any way to accurately figure that out- it is the sort of thing that auctions decide, and depends on the buyer, of course.

Mind you, I am not suggesting it is worth a huge sum, but it's worth something, I can tell you that. In your small thumbnail picture it looks like the unpainted side of the host coin is of lustrous Uncirculated, perhaps prooflike quality. That is a plus.

What would I personally pay for something like this, if I felt the wild urge and had spare funds? I would probably try to grab it in the hundred-dollar range, give or take twenty bucks. I would not be surprised at all to see it fetch more than that in the right venue, perhaps as much as the mid three-figures?

Of course that is a wild guess, based on little to no experience with such items.

As it happens, my experience is not a total zero with painted scenes on coins, though. I had a high grade holed 1897 Indian cent on the Holey Coin Vest up until last year, when I gave or swapped it to a forum friend. I think I just gave it away, because I had several, and this one had paint on the back of it. I almost decided to strip it off with acetone, but I let my friend decide its fate.





He PM'ed me saying it was a neat scene on the back of the coin.

I said, scene? WHAT scene?

Turns out that beneath the oxidized old paint there was indeed a tiny scene painted on the back of the Indian cent- a snowy landscape with a church in it!






To the naked eye, I had never even made it out! I thought it was just random smears of paint.

It's a good thing that coin ended up with somebody who recognized the artwork and was able to conserve it without destroying it, as I would have unknowingly done.







This 1897 Indian cent was much more primitively done than the sophisticated job on your Ecuadorian coin, but I still thought it was neat. Funny how a lot of the coins I have sold off my Holey Coin Vest ended up being discovery coins after I sold them! (In the case of the new Overton variety 1806 half, it wasn't that funny- ouch!)

I'm just glad John recognized the scene for what it was. I came within an inch of plunking that thing in acetone and scrubbing the paint off.

Cool piece you have there. I can see why you "had to have it".

In a similar vein, I recently dropped fifty bucks at the Charlotte show, on another oddity.

It was a French 2-francs made into a WW1 US soldier's dogtag.

Another item that falls into the "who knows what it is worth but it is super cool" category. I flipped that dogtag piece at my cost to another member here, when I started feeling like I had paid too much. But maybe I hadn't. Who knows?

goldrush00013

I keep the one Rob gave me in a small capsule and often show it around. People find it very interesting and a cool conversation piece.
You can see the reverse of the IHC was never planed down like jonathanb's example.


jonathanb your 1/2 centavo is wonderful! Lots of detail to it!

farthing

An amazing work of art!

CoinAddict

Very cool piece. Thanks for sharing.

Rickc300

That is indeed incredible! I would also have to have it if I came across it in a shop somewhere. Thanks for sharing. Amazing detail for such a little canvas.
Rick

jonathanb

Thanks. FWIW, the reverse is hardly uncirculated. You're looking at the light blue-green color of a heavily corroded copper piece. That's not exactly a huge surprise, given that the other side has been in contact with who know what sort of paint for who knows how long, but it isn't the plus that it would be in pristine condition.

I like the Indian head church painting. I see why you missed it -- it took me a moment to realize what I was looking at, even after you told me. Bonus points on that one for being an American piece, from my perspective anyway.

I've seen dog tags on a variety of different hosts, but I don't collect them so I haven't paid too much attention. The most annoying one I saw was a WWII dog tag on a 1928 Peace dollar (for non-American collectors: that's a key date)

jonathan