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A day in a hicksville coin shop... (pics)
coinpictures
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The problem with living in downstate IL, is that there really isn't much available as far as coin shops. My local dealer actually has more foreign coins than most within a several-hour driving distance, but new material has been few and far between over the last few months. So yesterday I drove about an hour west of here in an attempt to find some new material.
Of course the vast majority of local yokel dealers know absolutely nothing about non-U.S. material, have almost exclusively low-grade crap, overgrade horrendously, and think they're giving you a deal of a lifetime if they knock 10% off Krause.
*bleagh*
The only way to really get decent material at a decent price is to find material that is either undergraded (few and far between) or misidentified (much more common).
So I cherrypicked what I could, ended up spending far less than I had hoped to (i.e., didn't find as much as I had hoped), and now know that I don't need to visit this shop for a few more years (inventory turnover? WHAT inventory turnover?).
Nothing earth shattering. I think that the best piece of the bunch was actually the last piece, a medal that I saw in passing as I was about to leave...
Of course the vast majority of local yokel dealers know absolutely nothing about non-U.S. material, have almost exclusively low-grade crap, overgrade horrendously, and think they're giving you a deal of a lifetime if they knock 10% off Krause.
*bleagh*
The only way to really get decent material at a decent price is to find material that is either undergraded (few and far between) or misidentified (much more common).
So I cherrypicked what I could, ended up spending far less than I had hoped to (i.e., didn't find as much as I had hoped), and now know that I don't need to visit this shop for a few more years (inventory turnover? WHAT inventory turnover?).
Nothing earth shattering. I think that the best piece of the bunch was actually the last piece, a medal that I saw in passing as I was about to leave...
- Swiss medal celebrating the centenary of the independence of Vaud, ca. 1897. I actually got this one in the mail, but didn't feel like devoting a separate post to it. White metal, about the size of a U.S. quarter.
- Haiti 20 Centimes, 1863. Needs some Blue Ribbon...
- East India Company 1/12 Anna, 1835.
- Mombasa Pice, 1888.
- Australia 3 Pence, 1912. Better date.
- Bulgaria 10 Stotinki, 1888. Nice golden toning on the obverse...
- Newfoundland 10 Cents, 1943.
- Newfoundland 25 Cents, 1919. Tougher in higher grades. Nice toning.
- Mexico, 1 Peso 1871 ZsH. Gorgeous dark rainbow toning; nicer than the photos imply.
- Lastly, a French medal of some sort. Lovely high-relief copper, about the size of a U.S. half dollar. Can anyone translate and/or give an idea of its age?
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CoinPic:
by any chance... is it in Gilman, IL?
I shop there regularly -- good folks.
Collecting:
Conder tokens
19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm
<< <i>I"m very impressed with ALL of the acquisitions, and anybody should be proud to have each and every one of them in his collection. Would you be willing to share the pricing info on the EIC and Mombasa pieces? Thanks! >>
The way I figure the final cost of each coin is to (1) take the amount paid for all of the coins on the trip, add in the amount spent in gas, then (2) take that total and divide it by the total of all marked prices, thus obtaining a cost multiplier, and finally (3) apply that multiplier on a per-coin basis to find that coin's actual cost. So that's why some of the prices may seem a bit oddball.
I paid $3.45 for the EIC 1/12 anna and $5.18 for the Mombasa piece (it appears to be the small letters variety, KM 1.1).
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<< <i>CoinPic:
by any chance... is it in Gilman, IL?
I shop there regularly -- good folks. >>
Actually no, this was Decatur. Someone yesterday locally mentioned the Gilman shop. I may take a trip to check out the Gilman store. How extensive is their non-U.S. inventory?
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Louis XVIII was made King of France after Napoleon's defeat.
He reigned from 1814 until his death in 1824, with a brief break in 1815 due to Napoleon's return.
Louis XVIII was the brother of Louis XVI who was executed during the revolution.
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"For centuries, miles of prairie grass gently waving in the breeze spread across the spot that would become Hicksville. The community - and the rest of central Nassau County - is located on the Hempstead Plains. That made it unattractive to Long Island's Indians, who preferred to live in the forests near the seashore or by streams, where hunting and fishing were easy. When Welsh settler Robert Williams proposed in 1648 to buy a large portion of the eastern plains, including Hicksville, the Matinec-ock (spelling ajusted because of stupid system) Indians didn't think they were giving up much. And most British settlers were just as uninterested in this part of the prairie, because it was so remote from Hempstead and other settlements. The land lay vacant for almost two centuries, until Jericho businessman Valentine Hicks - son-in-law of the nationally famous Quaker preacher Elias Hicks - turned his attention to the prairie land he had acquired."
I made a great deal there on some coins from Palestine.
They have other cool and weird stuff there other than coins.
Shep
I wanted to see some pics of the hicksville coin shop, too!
I like the Haitian and Mexican pieces.
The Mombasa is neat, too. I've been there. Mombasa was our final port of call when I sailed to Africa. (Jacksonville-New York-Cape Town-Port Elizabeth-Durban-Mombasa).
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
<< <i>Absolutely beautiful color on the Swiss piece. I Like it. >>
Yeah, it definitely has character. I really dig fun little medals like that. You can often find them in junkboxes, or at the very least, fairly inexpensively (this particular one was a $10 BIN on Fleabay, the Henry IV medal above cost a whopping $16). Most people (myself included) don't know their true value, so dealers don't pay much for them, and generally mark them up based on their buy price and that's it...
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