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European Vacation 2009 with a Swiss Numismatic Twist...got grades April 7, 2010!
coinlieutenant
Posts: 9,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hello from California!!
I recently was in Europe for three weeks, one for work and two for pleasure. Traveled mostly in West Central Europe...Germany, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland. I wanted to share some Swiss adventures with my light and darkside companions as it was very enjoyable.
The Swiss portion of the trip was towards the end of the vacation, but I was geared up and still quite energized.
My sister and niece took off from their home in Stuttgart on Monday Sept 24 and headed south very early. Got into Zurich around 9 a.m. where I used the Garmin to navigate to Marcel Haberling's shop. I had originally planned on going to his shop on Thursday, but plans had changed and he had told me a few months ago that he would be there the whole week. Unfortunately, my gamble did not pay off and he was not there.
Bummer!! I was very much looking forward to meeting him, but it was my fault for not coordinating better.
From Zurich we took the trip to Lucerne, which will go down in my books as one of the most beautiful and charming small cities I have ever seen. Very idyllic with lots of Swiss charm. I will say if you come to Europe, be prepared to bleed Euro. If you go Switzerland, prepare to spurt Euro from your jugular. Insanely expensive. We sat and had some fondue, which was excellent, and then toured around the town. I looked briefly for a coin shop, but to no avail. Plus, we were just making a lunch of it and needed to get to a smaller town on the way back home.
The trip to St. Gallen was gorgeous. Very green and lush, lots of chalets and cows.
I chose St. Gallen as it is the one shooting thaler that I have and I figured it would be interesting to see the town. It did not disappoint. Very quaint as well...very Swiss. The one spot we went specifically in the town was the abbey. It used to be the center of power in the town, and has a colorful history dating many years back to the Holy Roman Empire, wars with southern Germany and power struggles with the rest of the first Swiss confederation.
The Abbey was beautiful and has the oldest library in Switzerland as well. Definitely the most amazing and ornate library I have seen.
Inside the abbey was fantastic. Similar in manner to much of Bavaria and Austria, and differing from the cold gothic cathedrals of Paris that I visited.
All in all a good trip, although I wish I could have stayed longer in Switzerland. My niece was quite done with the day however and we had to get back for a class my sister was taking late that night.
Luckily, I was able to steal the car and go back down to Zurich on Thursday. Got to meet and have a nice long visit with Marcel Haberling and look through all of his goodies. His shop is much nicer and neater than the average coin shop in the states. Marcel speaks excellent English and was very pleasant and knowledgeable. I didn't have my coins with me, but I think that he got an idea of the type of coins that I like from my selections from his inventory.
I learned a ton, from toning characteristics on Swiss coins, to why most 20 Rappens won't tone (felt stupid on that one).
I ended up buying three coins for the type set. I grade each MS65 with the 20 a shot 66. They will be headed to the slab factory in the near future.
Hope you enjoyed the quick recounting and pics (below) of the coins!
John
Edited to add. Got grades: 4/7/10. Missed on all three. One gift, and one screw job.
5 Rappen: MS64. I graded 65
20 Rappen: MS66. I graded 65/66
Franc: MS67. I graded 65.
Marcel graded all Stempelglanz .
I recently was in Europe for three weeks, one for work and two for pleasure. Traveled mostly in West Central Europe...Germany, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland. I wanted to share some Swiss adventures with my light and darkside companions as it was very enjoyable.
The Swiss portion of the trip was towards the end of the vacation, but I was geared up and still quite energized.
My sister and niece took off from their home in Stuttgart on Monday Sept 24 and headed south very early. Got into Zurich around 9 a.m. where I used the Garmin to navigate to Marcel Haberling's shop. I had originally planned on going to his shop on Thursday, but plans had changed and he had told me a few months ago that he would be there the whole week. Unfortunately, my gamble did not pay off and he was not there.
Bummer!! I was very much looking forward to meeting him, but it was my fault for not coordinating better.From Zurich we took the trip to Lucerne, which will go down in my books as one of the most beautiful and charming small cities I have ever seen. Very idyllic with lots of Swiss charm. I will say if you come to Europe, be prepared to bleed Euro. If you go Switzerland, prepare to spurt Euro from your jugular. Insanely expensive. We sat and had some fondue, which was excellent, and then toured around the town. I looked briefly for a coin shop, but to no avail. Plus, we were just making a lunch of it and needed to get to a smaller town on the way back home.
The trip to St. Gallen was gorgeous. Very green and lush, lots of chalets and cows.
I chose St. Gallen as it is the one shooting thaler that I have and I figured it would be interesting to see the town. It did not disappoint. Very quaint as well...very Swiss. The one spot we went specifically in the town was the abbey. It used to be the center of power in the town, and has a colorful history dating many years back to the Holy Roman Empire, wars with southern Germany and power struggles with the rest of the first Swiss confederation.
The Abbey was beautiful and has the oldest library in Switzerland as well. Definitely the most amazing and ornate library I have seen.
Inside the abbey was fantastic. Similar in manner to much of Bavaria and Austria, and differing from the cold gothic cathedrals of Paris that I visited.
All in all a good trip, although I wish I could have stayed longer in Switzerland. My niece was quite done with the day however and we had to get back for a class my sister was taking late that night.
Luckily, I was able to steal the car and go back down to Zurich on Thursday. Got to meet and have a nice long visit with Marcel Haberling and look through all of his goodies. His shop is much nicer and neater than the average coin shop in the states. Marcel speaks excellent English and was very pleasant and knowledgeable. I didn't have my coins with me, but I think that he got an idea of the type of coins that I like from my selections from his inventory.
I learned a ton, from toning characteristics on Swiss coins, to why most 20 Rappens won't tone (felt stupid on that one).
I ended up buying three coins for the type set. I grade each MS65 with the 20 a shot 66. They will be headed to the slab factory in the near future.
Hope you enjoyed the quick recounting and pics (below) of the coins!
John
Edited to add. Got grades: 4/7/10. Missed on all three. One gift, and one screw job.
5 Rappen: MS64. I graded 65
20 Rappen: MS66. I graded 65/66
Franc: MS67. I graded 65.
Marcel graded all Stempelglanz .
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Comments
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I learned a ton, from toning characteristics on Swiss coins, to why most 20 Rappens won't tone (felt stupid on that one).
>>
No question is stupid. That said, what is the answer to above? is it because the coin is cuni or ni?
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
Member of Canadian Association of Token Collectors
Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
My Ebay
Great pictures and coins!
Collecting:
Conder tokens
19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm
The scale is amazing on those old chapels, and the craftsmanship was probably worth the trip just to experience. Thanks for posting.
World Collection
British Collection
German States Collection
Hey, the CHF is nearly at par now so it's easier to calculate the exchange rate.
BTW, beautiful NumisTravelogue; refreshing pictures of the villages and countryside. I think stone masonry was the major employer 400 - 800 years ago.......such artistry - amazing.
Love the 1911 also; you might get a 66+ from that one.....Nice!
The 5 rappen is nice too. I always liked the billon pieces.
Thanks for sharing!
Great. Just great. I arrived in Barcelona this morning and I'm off to Zurich on Friday.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Collecting:
Conder tokens
19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm
siliconvalleycoins.com
I really enjoyed your piece John-wonderful pictures.
It was also interesting to see Marcel Haberling mentioned.
Back in the early 80's I started to collect Swiss francs-high quality mint state-and tried to buy them in rolls when possible.
I got Marcel's name from some publication and gave him a call at about 9 p.m. one evening; thinking that
Switzerland was about 6 hours behind us.
As everybody but me knows, they're about 6 hours ahead of us; so I reached him at 3 a.m.
I still laugh when I recall his response after my 3 minute soliloquy describing in detail exactly what I was looking for:
"Yes, Yes I see.
Thank you very much- Good night"......
It's just that I got my PCGS grades.
siliconvalleycoins.com
The marks on the vert. portions of the shield are not sufficient to downgrade to a 64. I say it's a solid 65.
The 20 rp. works for me at a 66, and the franc is also a nice looking 67; only the tick on the shield, but all else (high points) looks pristine. Great color as well.
Can't beat that!
Jim
You frame them just right, not missing the top or bottom and with the proper balance of sky when it's there.
Amazing Switzeland. Marcel was in the mountains heh? What does his shop look like?
Great score on the 1911 ! Very undervalued in Krause.
myEbay
DPOTD 3