Coin Talk

These two rare nummi were struck by the Visigothic Kingdom, the dominant power in Hispania (Spain and Portugal) from the 5th to 8th centuries AD. The Visigoths, a Christianized Germanic tribe, are best known as the barbarians that sacked Rome in 410 AD, the first conquest of the city in eight centuries, and, although mild as far as sacks go, was a major psychological victory over the Romans. The Visigoths after the sack eventually made their way into Roman Gaul (France), where they were later granted the province of Aquitania after securing peace with the Western Empire.

Over the course of the 5th century they expanded southwards into Hispania, fighting the Vandals for control of the land, and again the Romans, who...

Today I went to the small show in Richmond VA which produced five new coins all from one dealer. Of course, both dealers there were at Fredericksburg a couple weeks ago and will be at Baltimore in a couple weeks so I could have talked myself out of going. Of the five coins, two came with surprises when I found them on acsearch. I fail to understand many things but am seriously suspecting that some of the information on some of these online sites is questionable.

The subject of this thread is a type I did not know so it was not on my want list. I might not have bought it except for the fact that (a) I trust the dealer and (b) do not claim to know all of the million or so ancient types. This one is in Sear (2403) but is not illustrated there. There are several on acsearch where I learned that the monogram letters on the reverse vary from coin to coin. I was thrilled to find one of the acsearch shown coins had my same monogram. Then I saw that it was my coin and was listed as...

Here is a somewhat interesting notgeld coin:



Feel free to let me know if you read it and find glaring errors. I am not a very good writer and I write these fast without another to edit them so I am sure there are errors. I dont usually post these but I just found this coin, and the ideas expressed on it, fascinating and felt the need to pass it on. The main purpose is to document the coin and offer as much information possible while keeping it brief.

I also need a bit of help. There is one last bit of information I am missing. One major theme of this coin is a local Bielefeld Tale about a Blacksmith who makes a deal with the devil. As of yet I have been unable to find a good translation of this story. I do have it in German. Babelfish...

A big thank you to Haleiwa for directions to the CC Mint. Was only able to spend about a half hour there as the kids were extremely anxious to reach our final destination. Well worth the $5 it cost to go in!!! Just South of Reno, Nevada the mint is towards the south end of town right on the main street (HW-395) and across from the Golden Nugget (how appropo). Took many pictures and a few pictures here which I hope are okay to post. Bought a little something and I though there would be no collecting this trip. Quite honestly I didn't realize I would be driving right past it on our way to the mountains so bad planning on my part! I could have spent a few hours there as there was more to see than just the mint. The museum goes into mining, guns, and Nevada history. They were almost ready to start the coin press when I left . That would have been really neat to see and boy the questions I would have had!!! Hope you enjoy the photos! ~ Darryl...

I have always found these coins very interesting especially the tiny silver 1 pence coin that is a whooping 11.15 mm in diameter. I’m trying to collect a 1 pence coin for each monarch that issued Maundy money. But what is Maundy money you say ? It all started 1210…..

It’s basically coins given to poor people in a religious ceremony where the Monarch would participate on Maundy Thursday (first Thursday before Easter.)

They would give silver 1 pence totaling the monarchs age to the age amount number of men and the age amount number of women.

There is an interesting variety known on 1958 and 1959 business strike Franklins: the Type I and Type II reverses. The Type I is also known as the ‘weak eagle,’ and Type II is the ‘strong eagle.’ The Type II reverse is from dies which were intended for proof coinage, but accidentally used on business strikes instead.

The story starts in 1956, with the proof coinage of that year. In 1956, the eagle was redesigned on the proof coinage, to strengthen the details. Look on the reverse of a Franklin, at the eagle. Now look at the bottom of the eagle, and see the branch he is perched on? You will see several feathers to the left of the perch – these feathers are the key to distinguishing the Type I and II. Type I eagles have four somewhat indistinct feathers to the left of the perch; Type II eagles have three distinct, strong feathers to the left of the perch. These two...

Well I bit the bullet and finnally bought this coin from Sphinx Numismatics.....
I had been watching it for months, many months, as he relisted it several times... each time I was hoping the price would lower, but it never did .... So after losing a low grade Macrinus tet today on ebay due to my computer's internet dying right as I was about to enter my bid 10 seconds before the auction ended (I'm almost sure I would have won it considering the ammount I was going to use as my 'Max Bid' it ended up selling for $52USD) I'm kinda glad I didn't buy it now though here is the link:

Link to Macrinus Tet that I didnt get a chance to bid on due to internet issues: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270777712834&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT



I still want a Radiate bust Macrinus tet for my collection, I love the radiate used on some of his tets, it has alot more points (7 or 8 i think) than the ones used on most other emperors or...

I was talking with a guy the other day and we were making rough guesses at what the actual population of a given Morgan date and MM, (standard business strikes), would still be in existence today. Basically rough guesses at the percentages left anywhere in existence. What's left that hasn't been buried, melted or lost forever.

I remembered reading something in the Red Book about some act that made them melt down a bunch of Morgans at some point in time. So I read it and it says the Pittman Act of 1918 caused 270,232,722 Morgans to be melted down.

I added up all the mintage figures and came up with a little over 570 million total minted, up to 1904. Which is key because the 1921s wouldn't have been in existence when the melt down went into effect.

So you take into account the 270+ million melted down in 1918 and we can note that, at maximum only about 300 million pre-1921 Morgans could possibly exist today. They melted 47% of them!

BTW, if anyone's curious, that...

Within each of your respective collections, there is undoubtedly coins of great value and beauty. But, I would imagine that everyone of us also has a coin (or coins) that we have acquired over the years (or decades) that have a special story that is worth a greater value to the owner of the coin than it could ever fetch if listed for sale.

I thought it would be fun to share some of those stories...so here is one of mine.

I first began collecting coins when I was in the 6th grade or so, that would have been around 1996. Not long after I started collecting, I found this little coin shop called "Al's Stamps and Coins." It was a smaller shop owned by an older gentleman (Al) who was semi-retired and used the shop to make a little extra money and hang around with his regulars (also older semi-retired guys...and me) and tell crazy old stories. In a lot of ways, it was like a scene from Cheers...except in a coin shop rather than a pub.

Al's shop didn't have the best inventory,...

I attended our local annual coin show yesterday and today. All in all I enjoyed the show except for an unpleasant experience I had today.

I was looking for something in particular and a buddy sent me to a dealer's table. It turned out the item was not to my liking. I am always on the lookout for nice counterfeits and I asked the dealer if he had any counterfeits. He said that he had two - a counterfeit $2 1/2 gold piece (not an Indian) and a very nice altered coin. (I don't want to go into any more detail about the coins because I don't want to even hint as to who the dealer is.) So I looked at the $2 1/2 and it is OK but not great. (By that I mean it would probably fool a lot of people but it was not good enough to fool someone that knows what to look for.) I asked his price and he said, "I bought this coin as a genuine coin. Another dealer told me it was fake. I paid $250 for it and I have to get what I paid for it." Really? OK. Melt on the thing is $180 and I am willing to pay...