Very rare Foreign NEWP

TommyType

....by which I mean, I don't collect world coins, so it's a rare PURCHASE. The coin itself seems to be fairly common.
This would be my first post to this forum, in fact!

Anyway, the story: My Niece is in the Peace Corps, working in Peru. And what should I find at my local coin shop but a certified MS-66 1/2 Din from Peru?! I took it as a sign.

Seeing high-grade certified world coins isn't all that common around here....

And, a couple of questions that someone may be able to weigh in on:

• I saw reference that the Shield side of the coin is considered the Obverse, and the Seated Liberty is the Reverse?? (Like it really matters....)
• I've been unable to identify the Mint indicated by the JF mint mark. Can anybody identify the city? (Or is my assumption that it indicates a city just "so American!"?
• Thanks for putting up with an interloper.

laurentyvan

Nice pickup-strange the reasons we buy certain coins.

Interlope anytime

PS- love the over-date.

PPS- mint was probably Lima, JF would be assayers initials: Jose A. Figuero

EVillageProwler

The obverse is usually the side that has the date and the issuing authority. The reverse has the denomination (1/2 dinero).

It is common for PCGS to get wrong the obverse when slabbing as that task is not done by numismatists.

Stork

See, you are being sucked it...it starts innocently enough. A single purchase due to some interesting link in life--like a daughter in the Peace Corps. Next, you'll start looking around like 'what do those other Peruvian coins look like'?...or 'what about the rest of South America'...'assayer?? are there other ones?? should I get examples of more' and the next think you know you are suddenly collecting coins from colonial Spain, modern Iceland, the German States, and Madagascar...and will be considering some hammered British.

laurentyvan

See, you are being sucked in

Ah, the powerful whirlpool; the inexorable suction of desire; the all-consuming vortex... Luck, eh?

TwoKopeiki

@Stork said:
See, you are being sucked it...it starts innocently enough. A single purchase due to some interesting link in life--like a daughter in the Peace Corps. Next, you'll start looking around like 'what do those other Peruvian coins look like'?...or 'what about the rest of South America'...'assayer?? are there other ones?? should I get examples of more' and the next think you know you are suddenly collecting coins from colonial Spain, modern Iceland, the German States, and Madagascar...and will be considering some hammered British.

Do it! Surrender to the Darkside!

WillieBoyd2

The next step:

Peru Gold Libra 1898, 22mm, 7.98gm
Manco Capac facing right, Arms of Peru

pruebas

Like the others have said, the obverse is the side with the issuing authority, in this case Republica Peruana. But most Americans consider it the side with the bust or portrait (in this case Liberty), so PCGS follows American convention. If PCGS did otherwise, Americans, its primary customers, would get upset. And believe me, they do.

The same thing happens with Mexican coins. Imagine a Caballito Peso with the horse on the back of the slab?

The mintmark is Lima. In the old days, the LIMA would have been a fancy monogram with all the letters superimposed on each other as the Spanish liked to do.

And Spanish (European?) tradition requires an assayer to certify the fineness of the silver used in the coin. That was considered the most important job in the mint! He (and I think it was always a "he" though sometimes two guys shared the job) would place one or two of his initials on all silver coins of the realm.

To show you what value world coins can be, I just picked up an 1823 Peru 1/4 Peso (copper) pattern in NGC MS64 in the just-finished HA sale at $6500 hammer. Not bad for a coin with a known pop of 2 in mint state and one in VF!

EVillageProwler

Jackthecat1

A beautiful little coin.

asheland

Cool pick-up!

TommyType

Thanks for the information! I had an inkling that the "JF" was more complicated than a city designation.

And, as for the "whirlpool", you could be right.

At one time, I had a small number of world crown sized coins that I picked up along the way. There is some interesting stuff out there, and I'm easily distracted, as my tag line indicates.

Silvereagle82

Nice story behind the purchase and a nice coin!

nealeffendi

I'm trying to work out how that is 1903 over 803. Looks more like the last 3 numbers are 898 as an 8 over an 0 shouldn't have a lump at the lower left of the 0 that looks like the lump on the foot of the 9, plus it makes sense that they reused stuff from the end of one century into the beginnings of the next.