Newp: Spain Alfonso XIII 1898 5-pesetas (w/grading poll just for giggles)
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,895 ✭✭✭✭✭
Recently won this from "phantom50".
The coin looks great in hand, with nice colors and cartwheel luster.
It's one of those pieces where I can't really tell if the coin is lightly worn (AU58) or whether it just has a little "cabinet friction"
on the high points and is technically an UNC. MS62-ish, perhaps, as there are some small marks consistent with what one
might expect on a heavy silver-dollar sized piece. There's a rim nick at 4:00 on the reverse but I don't think it's as egregious
as the pictures make it look. I don't think it would be serious enough to prevent the coin from grading at a TPG, anyway.
If I remember correctly, Krause had it somewhere like $75 in UNC in the edition I have (which is a few years old).
Regardless, I think I got it at a pretty nice price, considering the attractive toning and eye appeal.
I hear you saying, "Well, if you like it, that's all that counts and who cares what anybody else thinks", but the fact is,
I bought it to resell, as this doesn't fit any of my active collections. Call it an impulse bid, 'cause that's exactly what it was.
The seller's pictures are a tiny bit dark and don't fully capture the ample cartwheel luster, but they're pretty good overall,
and a quantum leap beyond anything I could produce with my limited photographic skills and equipment.
I copied and pasted these photos onto a black background and shrunk the image down to 800x450 for this first picture.
Following are the seller's original obverse/reverse photos, cut out individually for more manageable posting size:
The coin looks great in hand, with nice colors and cartwheel luster.
It's one of those pieces where I can't really tell if the coin is lightly worn (AU58) or whether it just has a little "cabinet friction"
on the high points and is technically an UNC. MS62-ish, perhaps, as there are some small marks consistent with what one
might expect on a heavy silver-dollar sized piece. There's a rim nick at 4:00 on the reverse but I don't think it's as egregious
as the pictures make it look. I don't think it would be serious enough to prevent the coin from grading at a TPG, anyway.
If I remember correctly, Krause had it somewhere like $75 in UNC in the edition I have (which is a few years old).
Regardless, I think I got it at a pretty nice price, considering the attractive toning and eye appeal.
I hear you saying, "Well, if you like it, that's all that counts and who cares what anybody else thinks", but the fact is,
I bought it to resell, as this doesn't fit any of my active collections. Call it an impulse bid, 'cause that's exactly what it was.
The seller's pictures are a tiny bit dark and don't fully capture the ample cartwheel luster, but they're pretty good overall,
and a quantum leap beyond anything I could produce with my limited photographic skills and equipment.
I copied and pasted these photos onto a black background and shrunk the image down to 800x450 for this first picture.
Following are the seller's original obverse/reverse photos, cut out individually for more manageable posting size:
0
Comments
from baby till adult.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Gary
I love the toning on it, definitely natural, overall a very nice coin.
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Don
<< <i>Beautifull coin,lordmarco. I voted 58 NT , don't sell it, but collect them all, nice to see Alfonso get older,
from baby till adult. >>
Egads, man- that's all I need, another collection theme!
But you're right- that's one interesting thing about him- he ages on the coins, like some other monarchs, and dramatically so, since he's such a wee baby on the first ones. There's a nice looking series of Alfonsos you posted, though, Andres. It's a worthy theme.
I suspect if I were to collect realistic portraiture in an "age study" of "Dorian Grey" on coins, I might go for the Roman emperor Caracalla, since I'm more into the Romans these days.
This Alfonso was just too handsome to pass up, though, hence the impulse bid. I won it for considerably less than I expected to.
It's a beauty, LordM!
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BTW, my vote in the poll was a neutral "results only" vote, so as not to skew it one way or another with my as-yet unformed opinions.
great thread, almost made me to start collecting roman coins too.
I'll guess you want PCGS to grade and tomb that Alfonso coin ?
here are the grandmother Isabella II (kicked out of Spain) and the father (Alfonso XII) of Alfonso XIII
that Italian guy Amadeo was asked to become King of Spain, but after 2 years ruling Spain, he got back to Italy,
declaring: the spanish people are impossible to reign
I have a Spanish minor with that seated Republican-era figure on the reverse, on my Holey Coin Vest. If memory serves, it says GOBIERNO PROVISIONAL or something like that on it.
1/2 Cents
U.S. Revenue Stamps
Gary
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
I'll bet it was you, eh, Shroomdude? C'mon, fess up!
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Though likely a low MS, to me it has a lot of eye appeal. Perhaps it's the color.
so 21.21% of the members who voted were right and 78.79% wrong.
The seller's pictures are a tiny bit dark and don't fully capture the ample cartwheel luster, but they're pretty good overall,
Having the coin in hand, I'll say that it's an extremely difficult coin to image. The picture is good, but compared to the coin, I'd give it a 5/10 at best, due to the complete lack of luster, which like Rob said is ample cartwheel, and for the few members who voted AT, I would again have to post a better image that would have captured the colors and mostly the smooth change from one to the other, a good indication of NT according to Scott Travers, even though I don't know the series and I'm totally unfamiliar with the way they tone.
Here's the seller's picture again, so that you don't have to go back one page to remember it. The same design was used in most of the Latin American countries as one peso. It's possible that I'll have it imaged in the near future by one of our skilled members, in which case I'll post the image, because TrueView Paris costs $30.
Finally, the rim nick on the reverse at 4 o'clock, quite distracting for someone like me, has almost disappeared in the PCGS slab,
and even though it reduced the coin's grade by at least one point, excellent eye appeal made up for it and therefore it became a very desirable slabbed crown.
Thank you Rob for an flawless transaction and a beautiful addition to my sets.
myEbay
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Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
myEbay
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Say, Dimitri- who did that last shot? That's some sensational photography.
Oh, what I wouldn't give to have the ability and equipment to shoot pictures like that.