Anyone up on Tonga 2 Pa'anga pieces?

Weiss

Got this one out of my dealer's junk box today. Dipped it in acetone which got maybe 30% of the gunk off of it but it's clearly environmentally damaged.

However, the "Investiture 1971" on either side of the date was illegible before the acetone, and it doesn't seem to appear on the other examples sold recently on eBay.

That make it interesting, or is it still just fodder for my 3-year old?

7Jaguars

Looks silver plated. They also counterstamped some coins with oil exploration themes or some such. Not ANY demand that I am aware of and a damaged coin at that. Still, interesting...

MilkmanDan

I have no clue, but I feel sorry for the poor guy. Looks like his face is peeling off.

Weiss

Thanks, guys. These things are massive--one of the largest circulating coins I've ever seen. Dwarf the Churchill crown.

cladking

If the 1986 Krause is to be believed this had a mintage of 3000 in Unc and 1000 in PR.

It's funny how such a mintage has come to be percieved as enormous. It's also funny
that the combined mintages of the various counterstamped coins makes the uncount-
erstamped version one of the scarcer.

I don't know how these issues were all released but I have the sense that few actively
circulated.

ormandh

I had a few of them at one time. They were usually released in clamshells, however I do not remember if I took a picture of mine when I owned them.

-Dan

Weiss

Here's a size comparison with a US silver dollar (before conservation attempt):

7Jaguars

Delamination of the plating makes any more restoration tough though.....

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Anyone up on Tonga 2 Pa'anga pieces? >>

Not specifically, but I knew Dudley Moore Blakely, the man who designed Tonga's first coins.

In 1979, my parents decided to let me do a summer apprenticeship in some kind of art training; in this case wood carving. Mr. Blakely was of course a sculptor, among other skills. He was a friend of my family and so I was given a rare opportunity in this one-on-one informal "apprenticeship". Being 13 years old at the time, I didn't appreciate it for what it was, and I didn't turn out to be a master wood carver by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoyed visiting the Blakelys, though, and seeing Mr. Blakely's workshop. Their modest home was like a museum of the South Seas, with grass mats instead of carpeting, and wonderful paintings by Mr. Blakely throughout.

One memorable treat was when he took a box down from a closet and showed me a proof set containing all the gold predecimal coins which Mr. Blakely had designed. Not only were these Tonga's first coins... I was looking at the first strikes!

Mr. Blakely died suddenly, two years after that, and Mrs. Blakely had to go into a nursing home. Sadly, the person who had power of attorney over their estate supposedly embezzled much of it (or so I gathered from my parents' frustration at having to stand by helplessly at the time), and the whereabouts of those coins are now unknown.

Mr. and Mrs. Blakely are buried here on St. Simons Island, near my grandmother, Jean Norton Shinnick, who was also an artist.




PS- Weiss- regarding the coin in the OP, that's a nifty junkbox pickup.

Sorry it has some issues, and I don't think you'll ever be able to mitigate all of 'em, but hopefully you can improve it with a little TLC. Neat piece.

lordmarcovan

Oh- what's the other side look like? Any issues there?

I'm wondering if Mr. Blakely would have designed this one, too. As the host coin is from 1968, I'm thinking yes. Are there designer's initials anywhere? Are the Tongan coat of arms on the reverse?

I might be mis-remembering it, but I think when I was in his workshop, Mr. Blakely had the big (plaster?) models that I guess the hubs would have been made from. At least of the side of the coins that had the coat of arms. Or maybe I just saw a plaster sculpture of the coat of arms. But I seem to recall it was round, and might have actually been from the coin design process.

Oddly enough, despite my personal acquaintance with the designer of their first coins, I have never owned a Tongan coin. I'd love to have some of the gold pieces one day, though I'll likely never afford the proofs.

Weiss

That's pretty wild, Lord M

The reverse of my piece looks pretty awful. Dark blackish corrosion. But you can find clean examples on eBay. Some kind of coat of arms.

cladking

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

The pre-decimal designs are unremarkable but do have an understated beauty in their simplicity.

It's nice to make these connections.

1960NYGiants

Here's some links from google / eBay search:

Gold plated? version

From ATS

Krause

Set of 2 on eBay