Coin Talk

I missed the last Baltimore show (due to my son’s wedding last March) so I was definitely looking forward to being back in Baltimore and seeing some of my east coast customers. I was also pleased that the weather forecasts showed mild weather and that they finished building the casino not far from the convention center!



My travel day began early Wednesday morning with a short connection time in Chicago. So when my flight leaving Orange County was delayed, I became very concerned whether I would make my connection. Then I discovered my plane was landing at terminal B in Chicago, while my flight to Baltimore was leaving from terminal C which was on the other side of the tarmac. When we finally landed, I had about 20 minutes to catch my flight, but my biggest concern was whether there would be overhead space for my roller bag full of coins. I was also worried that my checked bag wouldn’t make my flight! So I dashed as fast as I could dragging along my roller bag and...

Elagabalus, reigned 218-222 CE. AR denarius, 19.4 mm, 3.5 gm. Struck 218-219 CE, Antioch. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right / SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL, Quadriga right, bearing sacred Baetyl stone, flanked by four parasols. RIC IV 195, Antioch.

Varius Ativus Bassianus is an interesting character in the colorful Severan Dynasty. Born to the niece of Julia Domna and possibly sired by Domna's son Caracalla, the emperor we now call Elagabalus was known to Romans as Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus.

So... if the rumors are true, Elagabalus and Severus Alexander are half brothers rather than cousins; the father is their first cousin, once removed. By adoption, Severus Alexander also became the son of Elagabalus. Then Elagabalus tried to kill his son. Don't you feel better about your weird family now?

The history of Elagabalus is...

I have noticed that there have been a couple of people asking about the 1909 S V.B.D cents recently. As this is something I have been trying to educate myself on I thought I would share a couple of the simplest ways to identify the most common fakes.

Below I will show a Fake example with a real 1909 S V.D.B below it.




#1 look at the mint mark

Fake

....

I recently picked up another Jefferson nickel album full of toners...

Sounds awesome right? Not always.
With the good, comes the bad.

With my experience in buying full albums of toned coins, it's fairly common to get the black "carbon" spots on some of the coins in the album. In fact, I believe these little jerks are the reason the coins are toning. With some luck, they only infect a few coins...

In this case, not many of the toners were spared from the spots.
It's a shame, because some of these are real beauties.

This will be a good opportunity to try some techniques to remove the spots, without removing the color. We shall see what happens.

In the meantime, here are some of the infected coins that otherwise, would be real stunners.


This one is a...

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...