Coin Talk

1. Title

The 1944 film "Raiders of Ghost City" is a Western serial film with 13 chapters.

The film is set in 1865 as the Civil War was ending. It has the usual serial gun fights,
fist fights, horse chases, and each chapter ended with one of the heroes in jeopardy of
being killed.

In 1865 the German state of Prussia has sent agents to California posing as Southern Confederates and they
and their hired outlaws have been robbing gold shipments.

Captain Steve Clark is a United States Government agent and along with a Wells Fargo detective Idaho
Jones and Wells Fargo station manager Kathy Haines set out to expose and stop the Prussians.

The Prussian agents use European coins with dates of 1752 to recognize each other.

There are four real coins from Britain, Germany, France, and Netherlands which appear several times.

The four coins are:

Britain florin (2 shillings) minted 1851-1887
France 2 francs...

Recently I have been looking at, and buying when able, British Empire hammered gold. A few months ago I posted a Scottish gold Unite that is my most significant purchase to date in this area. More recently I have been trying to find a decent gold Noble that I could afford. I still haven’t found one but stumbled across the Dutch imitations which intrigued me. Honestly, I didn’t know that they existed.

I’m a little disappointed that NGC didn’t put the weight on the label. They do on most hammered gold and that is one of the diagnostics for the imitations. Not sure why they would choose not to. This one was made a little more affordable by being in a details (bent) NGC holder.

I once photographed a coin so clearly that the images couldn’t be used. It sounds counterintuitive, but I ran into exactly that situation while photographing a commemorative coin series for a private mint. The lesson changed how I approach certain commercial photography projects.



As a coin photographer, I naturally focus on capturing every detail. I always aim for sharper images and clearer definition, zooming in to 100%, almost like it’s a reflex. But it’s worth asking: when does clarity stop being helpful? When does the camera show more than the product should reveal?

A few years ago, a private mint in Texas hired me to photograph two commemorative proof sets, each with twelve coins. The coins were made of base metal and about the size of a silver dollar. One set was gold-plated and the other was silver-plated, making twenty-four coins in all. Each coin, along with its capsule and clamshell case, sold for about $12.

They wanted...

I first came across this type in one of Heritage's Shipwreck Auctions, and was immediately taken with the fascinating history behind the coins - not least because, as a fan of Peter Capstick, I'd already read about the hunt for the SMS Königsberg in his terrific book Death in the Silent Places.

Minted out of desperate necessity, deep in the heartland of an embattled German East Africa, from melted-down brass shell casings and using machinery...

Here is my overview and speaker programme for the 1715 Fleet Society 2026 Conference held 12–14 January at Indian River State College, Vero Beach, Florida which featured a diverse range of experts covering salvage updates, numismatic studies, and historical research. I’ve produced this overview from my conference notes and online sources such as the 1715 Fleet Society website. This is my own opinion and recollections.
The 1715 Fleet Society is a premier 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the scholarly study and preservation of Florida’s shipwreck history. For the numismatic community, it serves as a vital hub for researching Spanish Colonial coinage, providing expert die studies and provenance verification for the gold and silver treasures recovered from the Atlantic. They have a great website with access to hundreds of coins and artefacts recovered from shipwrecks and land caches.

Unfortunately, I missed the “meet and greet” held at the...

Collecting Admiral Vernon medals has had a recent surge in collecting popularity. The EAC (Early American Coppers) community has always had an interest due to them being minted and distributed during the time of other colonial coppers. The giants of our collecting community have collected them including Eric Newman and Walter Breen. Many major museums include examples in their collections. Despite that many examples can be acquired for a reasonable price.



There are many books written on Vernon and his medals but the 2010 publication by John Adams and Dr. Fernando Chao has really help spur the interest. And much like other collectible areas, the book has helped create an increase the cost of collecting them. The subtitle of the book is “Medals Sometimes Lie.” We will circle back to that later.

The book breaks down the medals into a total of 9 types which encompass over 250 varieties. All of them are R-5 to R-8 meaning none of them have a known...

A relatively new addition to my collection, this electrum coin of Mytilene, a one-sixth stater, called hektai in Greek, is one that quickly pulled me far beyond the coin itself. This isn't the first post about this coin type, but I’d like to continue that conversation. What began as an aesthetic attraction led me to treaties carved in stone, monetary systems built on trust, and ultimately to the moment when regional identity gave way to imperial efficiency.



In 326 BCE, one of ancient history's most sophisticated experiments in international cooperation met a cold, imperial end. It wasn’t a siege or a natural disaster that dissolved the two-century-old monetary tradition between Mytilene and Phocaea; it was the calculated efficiency of Alexander the Great. As the Macedonian shadow stretched across Asia Minor, the electrum coins of Phokaia and Mytilene were systematically melted down and recast in the uniform coinage for a new global empire....

The 1816 Austrian One Kreuzer

I’ve been spending some time lately researching one of the most ubiquitous, yet historically dense, copper coins of the 19th century.

Most of us have seen these in bargain bins or inherited "world coin" jars—often worn down to a VG or Fine—but their story is a fascinating look at a superpower trying to survive a state bankruptcy.

Did you know? These coins were struck at six different mints across modern-day Austria, Slovakia, and Romania. If you find one with a "G" or "O" mint mark, you’re holding a rare piece of Transylvanian history! ‍♂️

The story of the 1816 Austrian Kreuzer is inextricably linked to the Habsburg Monarchy’s desperate efforts to reclaim economic sovereignty and political legitimacy in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars.


This coinage represented the physical manifestation of the 1816 Patent. This legislative cornerstone sought to stabilize a currency ravaged by decades of...

Hieron II (Hiero) born 308 BC, and ruled Syracuse, Greek Sicily, from 275 BC until he died in 215 BC. The fact that he lived over 90 years and ruled for 60 is even more incredible knowing he was born an illegitimate child to a Syracusan nobleman.


Hiero served under Pyrrhus, who was considered one of the greatest of the ancient generals. When Pyrrhus left Sicily in 275 BC, Hiero was appointed commander-in-chief.


Hiero was more keen in ruling Sicily than his predecessors. He married the daughter of one the the leading citizens in Syracuse (the capital of Sicily), ruled according to their laws, acknowledged the will of the assemblies, and never purged his opponents. He also signed and honored a treaty with Rome that led to peace and prosperity.


Hiero was known for his close relationship with Archimedes, whom he commissioned to build innovative war machines (like the Claw of Archimedes). Hiero once charged Archimedes...

What do redwood trees, the interior of the Hagia Sophia, and my new coin have in common?

Photos can’t do it justice.

Having recently taken an interest in Napoleonic history, I’ve been keeping a lookout for nice coins of that time. This silver franc caught my eye in a recent CNG auction. I could see it had great detail and also looked like it had some decent toning. The auction house described it as AU with “beautiful deep and iridescent toning”. My bid was successful and I bought the coin. Here’s CNG’s picture:


As nice as it looked in the auction house photo, when the coin arrived I was amazed how much better it was in real life. The toning is spectacular, brilliant and flashy. I spent some time photographing it, trying to capture the full beauty of it. Here's the best I could do.