Hungary Denars, In Honor of Lord Marcovan

nicholasz219 · February 22, 2015 5:31PM

Hello All,

I had started a small collection of these several years ago that I lost in the breakup of my relationship at the time. I restarted a collection of these after Lord Marcovan posted a few.

Here is a link to the collection as it stands now. I am keeping my spending to around or under $10 per coin ideally, so that eliminates a lot of potential purchases. On the other hand, it keeps this side collection a side collection for fun only.

If you have any, post away!

Hungary Collection

olmanjon · February 22, 2015 10:41PM

Impressive collection at only $10 per coin. Couldn't touch that around here for that kind of money.

lordmarcovan · February 23, 2015 1:55PM

These are such fun little coins.

At ten bucks per, you're doing very well, and I've noticed that your coins seem to be decently struck for the type, or have nice clear dates, anyway, which is the first thing I look for.

NiceCurrency · February 23, 2015 5:20PM

Very cool stuff, I thought when I bought a Polish Sigismund III coin for $25 that was cheap, $10 or under for stuff from this period, wow

nicholasz219 · February 23, 2015 5:34PM

Thanks olmanjon, LM himself(!) and NiceCurrency.

There was a poker player on Survivor named Bellande who is known for his "living broke," i.e., having his poker playing stakes fronted by investors as well as arrangements for his living and expenses. After being divorced and in the throes of addiction, I too have been "living broke," except without the pseudo-fame or people giving me money.

But, as I have cleaned up my act and dug out of my self-dug hole (I like to think of the hole prison in Batman Rises), I learned that I can allow myself some discretionary dollars if I am good about working on my debts and building a solid future.

These are fun little coins and to think that you can buy something that is 500 years old for under $10 is quite amazing. Like LM mentioned, I do mostly care for a clear strike and date. Sometimes the details in the portrait of the Madonna and Child are not as good as I would like them to be, but $10 is kind of a restrictive cap. It also requires a lot of sorting through a lot of listings and automatically disregarding coins that are listed for $15+ starting bids or $50 buy it nows.

I bought my fiance a Sigi III Polish coin for under $10 as well because her family says that it is related through many generations. She was pretty blown away. They are something I also poke around without a lot of success. There is a pretty strong yet quiet market for those and I am not 100% certain if the coins are being snapped up by collectors in Poland or here. Poland's history is such a train wreck of war and partitions (3 before the 1790's which ended finally with Poland mostly becoming a Grand Duchy of Russia, hence the dual denominated coins with both Zloty and Ruble denominations in the 1800's). Being Polish myself, I hope to add at least one portrait coin of each ruler at some point.

Thank you for the compliments everyone. Part of the pure joy that is collecting for me now is not only filling out a set, but sharing it with you guys and gals here.

Tibor · February 24, 2015 9:35AM

A really nice start. The dates after the mid 1580's are really
tough with a clear date. Best wishes!!

Zohar · February 24, 2015 10:26AM

Nick very nice collection you have there. I like these a lot!

nicholasz219 · February 24, 2015 10:27AM

Thanks Tibor. I haven't really run into any difficulty with any specific dates yet because I only have like ten dates in the collection now. Once I start adding more I can see where it would get tough to find pieces at reasonable prices in reasonable condition.

EVillageProwler · February 24, 2015 10:33AM

Very nice accomplishment. Excellent dedication.

nicholasz219 · February 24, 2015 6:24PM

Thanks also to JCM, Z and EVP. Knowing the stuff you guys collect, compliments from all of you are taken to heart.

It is a fun collection too. The challenge of chasing down pieces with a price cap keeps it interesting.

lordmarcovan · February 25, 2015 3:32PM

As you mentioned, I was asking around about the feasibility of collecting these by date, but never actually got started.

So you've gone farther than I ever did. I've only had a few stray pieces here and there and always liked them.

It seems Tibor is the one with experience here, based on his comments in my earlier thread.

nicholasz219 · February 25, 2015 7:01PM

Thanks LM. I thought that you had handled some of these and was knocking around the idea of starting a date collection. I guess I have started but with two hundred years of coins, who knows how far I will get.

Tibor, if you have any advice or if there are any articles/books/websites on these, please add those here or shoot me a message.

Tibor · February 25, 2015 10:37PM

I know of no articles that have been written about the denars. There is a book written
by Lajos Huszar that covers Hungarian coins from the year 1000 AD through the mid
20th Cent. Two downfalls for the book that it lists many varieties and it is written in
German. The years 1503 -1527 are obtainable but for a price $20+. 1528-1570's
are the easiest to obtain. No real rarities that I know of. 1580's through the mid 1600's
are a nightmare. The planchets that they used barely held the design. You may go
years before you find certain dates that meet your requirements. I have one date run
from 1503 through 1640. I have been working off and on 3 others for over 25+ years.
The major draw back are the 1600's with clear dates. Nice examples will cost $40 or
more. Stay away from Eastern European dealers on E-bay; counterfeits are rampant!!!
A U.S. dealer that I trust and respect in this area would be Allen Berman. There are
others but he comes to mind now. I hope this helps and I will try to answer any questions
that you might have. P.S. The only reason I even collect these tiny coins is because
I am a first generation American whose parents escaped Hungary in 1956 and came to
America in 1957.

Nap · February 25, 2015 11:35PM

I picked up the Huszar book a few months ago, was thinking about starting a collection. I like the early Arpad coins, but those are a little pricier. I have not yet bought any. I agree that they are a tremendous value compared with other medieval coins.

There is a fellow who goes by the handle 'Quadrans' on ForvmAncientCoins who has an extensive collection:

Arpad coins

Also has some of the later coins:

Here
and
Here

nicholasz219 · February 26, 2015 7:09AM

I'm heading to work here so I will have to review all of this stuff later. Thanks though, for all of the information!

lordmarcovan · February 26, 2015 2:24PM

<< <i>I picked up the Huszar book a few months ago, was thinking about starting a collection. I like the early Arpad coins, but those are a little pricier. I have not yet bought any. I agree that they are a tremendous value compared with other medieval coins.

There is a fellow who goes by the handle 'Quadrans' on ForvmAncientCoins who has an extensive collection:

Arpad coins

Also has some of the later coins:

Here
and
Here >>

WOW!

nicholasz219 · February 26, 2015 8:04PM

Tibor,

Wow, thanks a ton for the insight. First off, I have bought a couple of these from Latvia, actually the four most recent. Considering that with shipping I am into those four coins for $30, I would not be happy to find out that they were fake, but I will not lose the house over the deal either. For my own sanity and per your recommendation though, I will look into Allen Berman and see what he has to offer. I would always much rather deal with a dealer that I can speak with and have a relationship with anyway. So I will pursue that route most likely in the future. I guess that at $10 a coin, I am a bit surprised that these are counterfeited that often. I wonder what kind of profit they are turning on regular dates? I only ask because I do like to buy these on ebay if I catch the low end of a .99 start.

My ex fiance was Hungarian as well. I started buying nice looking Korona's and other 20th century coinage when I saw nice pieces at a steal on ebay 9 years ago for her to have something in the collection that was basically just hers. Then I got a few of these little guys and fell in love with them too. But then terrible breakup, blah blah and here I am. Still love them. I am glad that your parents got to make it to America! That is always the kind of story that makes me happy to hear it.

That guy on the Forum is no joke. What a collection of early coins! I love the Laszlo I pieces. Also, this Bela II coin could be my favorite coin of the week. He looks so mad!

Madface Bela

He has quite the start on the later pieces as well.

Tibor · February 26, 2015 11:14PM

While not all offerings from the old Iron Curtain countries are fake I cannot stress
the phrase : BUYER BEWARE!!. Study the pieces in hand and learn from those.
"Quadrans" collection is amazing to say the least. Definitely museum quality. I
have 10-15 pieces from this time frame but nothing like Quadrans for quality
and breadth. Take your time with the denars and keep your quest for quality
at the fore front. Your collection is really developing nicely!! PM me any time.
Tibor

nicholasz219 · April 10, 2015 8:40PM

A little update.

Hungary Collection, Updated.

Hungary Denars, In Honor of Lord Marcovan

Comments