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"Numismatic Gladiator" VI (Musky1011 vs PatAR)
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
WELCOME TO NUMISMATIC GLADIATOR VI!
To see how the earlier competitions went, click here.
1. Both contestants agreed to purchase a single coin from the assigned category.
2. The coin had to cost no more than $20.00 US.
3. In order to avoid either contestant having an advantage, contestants agreed to buy their coins from the same public venue.
4. Shipping was not included in the $20.00 limit.
5. You can now vote on which coin you like best without knowing which coin belongs to whom. That will be revealed at the end.
6. The person whose coin receives the most votes gets bragging rights and a sigline trophy.
(And the cool coin they purchased, obviously.)
This cointest will run until midnight Eastern on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.
Vote for whichever coin appeals to you most.
This need not be the one that is more monetarily valuable. Catalog and/or retail value should be weighed into the decision, of course, but this cointest is about overall desirability - eye appeal, history, design, etc. It is much more about collecting fun than "investment" value.
The coins are presented here in chronological order, in similar sized images (though note that the actual coins themselves may differ widely in physical size).
***FINAL RESULTS*** PatAR was the winner, with Coin B.
Which item do you like better, for the money? (Total Votes: 27)
A- Spain: copper 8-maravedis of Philip IV, Trujillo mint, 1663, @ $20.00
11 votes 40.74 (%)
B- Spain: copper-nickel 50-centimos, 1949(62), Gem BU, @ $13.87
14 votes 51.85 (%)
C- I can't decide- they're both great for the money
0 votes 0.00 (%)
D- Neither- they both suck
0 votes 0.00 (%)
E- I'm totally neutral
2 votes 7.41 (%)
COIN A: Spain: copper 8-maravedis of Philip IV, Trujillo mint, 1663, @ $20.00 from eBay.
NGC/Krause priceguide listing
Commentary from LordM:
It is Philip (Felipe) IV of Spain, who ruled from 1621 to 1665. And it is indeed a cool early coin, struck off-center. I suspect in this case the off-center "error" is not worth much of a premium, because that's fairly common for Spanish minors of this period, at least in my experience. Nonetheless, it's neat, and the coin has decent patina. A cool type, and hey, 353 years old. Not a bad pickup at all for twenty bucks, I think. I had not heard of the mint in Trujillo before. If I did my Google searching correctly, it appears that the mint building in which your coin was struck is still standing!
COIN B: Spain: copper-nickel 50-centimos, 1949(62), Gem BU, @ $13.87 from eBay.
NGC/Krause priceguide listing
Commentary from LordM:
I really have nothing to add to that excellent summary, except a couple of Wikipedia hyperlinks. As it happens, I did write a little eBay guide about the "secret star" dates on Spanish coins a long time ago. As to this coin, I will say is that that's a neat design I've always liked, and a very attractive BU piece with some nice toning.
So there we have it, folks. 17th century and historically fascinating versus 20th century and pristine. Both have a lot going for them. Which do YOU prefer?
Hats off to our cointestants! May the "best" coin win!
To see how the earlier competitions went, click here.
1. Both contestants agreed to purchase a single coin from the assigned category.
2. The coin had to cost no more than $20.00 US.
3. In order to avoid either contestant having an advantage, contestants agreed to buy their coins from the same public venue.
4. Shipping was not included in the $20.00 limit.
5. You can now vote on which coin you like best without knowing which coin belongs to whom. That will be revealed at the end.
6. The person whose coin receives the most votes gets bragging rights and a sigline trophy.
(And the cool coin they purchased, obviously.)
This cointest will run until midnight Eastern on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.
Vote for whichever coin appeals to you most.
This need not be the one that is more monetarily valuable. Catalog and/or retail value should be weighed into the decision, of course, but this cointest is about overall desirability - eye appeal, history, design, etc. It is much more about collecting fun than "investment" value.
The coins are presented here in chronological order, in similar sized images (though note that the actual coins themselves may differ widely in physical size).
***FINAL RESULTS*** PatAR was the winner, with Coin B.
Which item do you like better, for the money? (Total Votes: 27)
A- Spain: copper 8-maravedis of Philip IV, Trujillo mint, 1663, @ $20.00
11 votes 40.74 (%)
B- Spain: copper-nickel 50-centimos, 1949(62), Gem BU, @ $13.87
14 votes 51.85 (%)
C- I can't decide- they're both great for the money
0 votes 0.00 (%)
D- Neither- they both suck
0 votes 0.00 (%)
E- I'm totally neutral
2 votes 7.41 (%)
COIN A: Spain: copper 8-maravedis of Philip IV, Trujillo mint, 1663, @ $20.00 from eBay.
NGC/Krause priceguide listing
Message from the gladiator who bought Coin A:
I really have no idea about Spanish coins. I thought this was a cool very early off center coin with a date and bust. No clue who it is.
I really have no idea about Spanish coins. I thought this was a cool very early off center coin with a date and bust. No clue who it is.
Commentary from LordM:
It is Philip (Felipe) IV of Spain, who ruled from 1621 to 1665. And it is indeed a cool early coin, struck off-center. I suspect in this case the off-center "error" is not worth much of a premium, because that's fairly common for Spanish minors of this period, at least in my experience. Nonetheless, it's neat, and the coin has decent patina. A cool type, and hey, 353 years old. Not a bad pickup at all for twenty bucks, I think. I had not heard of the mint in Trujillo before. If I did my Google searching correctly, it appears that the mint building in which your coin was struck is still standing!
COIN B: Spain: copper-nickel 50-centimos, 1949(62), Gem BU, @ $13.87 from eBay.
NGC/Krause priceguide listing
Message from the gladiator who bought Coin B:
This Spain 1949(62) 50 centimos is part of the first series of coins that Spain issued after it was once again identified as a kingdom in 1947 and was minted in 1962 during the economic boom in Spain referred to as The Miracle. Its design is quite novel for the time. The stylized coat of arms surmounted by the denomination boldly declares this a coin of the kingdom. The anchor and ship's wheel promote Spain's maritime trade. Although established as a kingdom in 1947 it would be more than 20 years before Franco actually designated a king and only after Franco's death that Spain's modern constitutional monarchy brought greater freedom to the people of Spain.
In 1850 the use of letters as mintmarks was replaced with stars with a varying number of points. A six pointed star indicates Madrid. The practice of placing a tiny mintage date within those mintmark stars (1962 in this case) originated in 1868 and was routinely employed from just after WWII until 1982.
This Spain 1949(62) 50 centimos is part of the first series of coins that Spain issued after it was once again identified as a kingdom in 1947 and was minted in 1962 during the economic boom in Spain referred to as The Miracle. Its design is quite novel for the time. The stylized coat of arms surmounted by the denomination boldly declares this a coin of the kingdom. The anchor and ship's wheel promote Spain's maritime trade. Although established as a kingdom in 1947 it would be more than 20 years before Franco actually designated a king and only after Franco's death that Spain's modern constitutional monarchy brought greater freedom to the people of Spain.
In 1850 the use of letters as mintmarks was replaced with stars with a varying number of points. A six pointed star indicates Madrid. The practice of placing a tiny mintage date within those mintmark stars (1962 in this case) originated in 1868 and was routinely employed from just after WWII until 1982.
Commentary from LordM:
I really have nothing to add to that excellent summary, except a couple of Wikipedia hyperlinks. As it happens, I did write a little eBay guide about the "secret star" dates on Spanish coins a long time ago. As to this coin, I will say is that that's a neat design I've always liked, and a very attractive BU piece with some nice toning.
So there we have it, folks. 17th century and historically fascinating versus 20th century and pristine. Both have a lot going for them. Which do YOU prefer?
Hats off to our cointestants! May the "best" coin win!
0
Comments
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
This is going to be a widely divergent contest in terms of how different the two coins are. Perhaps even more than the Canadian contest in NG5 was. The only question is how divergent the votes will be.
As in NG5, I think each of the upcoming NG6 entries may have its own following. Those who prefer higher grade coins will naturally gravitate to Coin B, as that is an attractive Mint State coin.
But the "earlier is more interesting" camp will go for Coin A. Coin A is nearly three centuries older than Coin B.
(Note that the "A" and "B" slots in these games are always assigned by coin chronology, while the order in which the contestants are named in the title is done alphabetically by username.)
I will do my utmost to get the poll up by the wee hours of Tuesday morning, which will be the next time I'm at a real computer with a keyboard and mouse and decent connection.
Here's wishing the best of luck to both of our contestants! I hope it'll be another close race!
I will do my utmost to get the poll up by the wee hours of Tuesday morning, which will be the next time I'm at a real computer with a keyboard and mouse and decent connection.
OK, so it ended up being the wee hours of Wednesday morning before I finally got 'round to it, but the OP of this thread has now been updated, and the poll is live!
Let the cointest begin!
8 Reales Madness Collection
I, like Jack the Cat, chose age before beauty, but not without some long deliberation. Was not an easy decision.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
WNC Coins, LLC
1987-C Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
wnccoins.com
Latin American Collection
Coin B pulls ahead, 7 to 9!
I don't think so
8 Reales Madness Collection
This one's a real nail-biter!
Next one should be allowed to receive real bets!
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Hmmm, in these threads you usually have more history nerds attending, so I'm afraid coin B will suffer an honorable defeat.
Next one should be allowed to receive real bets!
I think that I fall into the "history nerd" category - and almost kneejerk would have voted for the Philip coin as you suggest - but have ALWAYS liked the design of the 50 cent, think it is a wonderful example of the coin, and voted for it.
It's the perfect mix of history, has the clean deco-ishness look I love, features the very nautical anchor/wheel (Go Navy!!) and Spain was my last duty station--and one MUST collect SOMETHING from a country you lived in for a couple years.
It's a relatively short series to collect and dating is fun as eBay and other sellers sometimes have no clue where the actual date can be found. There are a couple variants for the first year. The arrows are down facing (mintage of close to a million), up facing (a bit over 8 million) and there is a rare one where the 19 in the lower star was replaced by an E. This was to commemorate an Iberian/Amaerican numismatic event and THAT mintage is 5000, per the Krause powered NGC price guide. That one is the only real difficult coin. The rest are collectible and finding the really nice gems is a worthy hunt.
Love both coins, but if 'B' is for sale, I'm a buyer
This is the closest NG contest yet.
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
So we now should congratulate PatAR, who bought the 1949 50-centimos piece!
Congrats, Pat!
NG7 will be a modern (post-1965) contest, World OR US coins, so I'll be recruiting for that over on the Liteside. NG3 was the last time there was a Liteside element to the contests, and that had a $25 price limit, so I think we'll be doing $25 again for NG7. Stay tuned!
8 Reales Madness Collection
I have also become acquainted with a very gracious Musky1011 through PM's. Meeting new folks in the hobby is always a win!
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set