Coin Talk

A member sent me a PM with the question of what books and web sites I would recommend to help him learn to grade. Now at first glance that would seem a kind of simple and easy request, but it really isn't. That's because there is a whole lot more to it than that. And my response to him prompted me to post this for everybody to read in the hope that it would help several people as opposed to just one. I've discussed all of this many, many times and in many different threads. But with a subject like this I don't know that you can post it often enough. So here we go.

To learn how to grade coins properly and accurately takes time and a lot of work. It begins by reading everything you can find on the subject, and there's a lot to find. Both in the form of books and on-line resources. Then you have to study what you read, learn it, get to know it, become familiar with it. And that's still just the beginning. Then you have to look at coins, in hand, tens to hundreds of thousands of coins -...

I’ve never been to Georgia before and was really looking forward to seeing Atlanta. I also checked the weather reports twice before I left so I would know how many layers of clothes and coats I would need to bring! Luckily, the weather was quite mild compared to the week before when all the snow storms were pounding that area of the country.



I left beautiful sunny SoCal early Wednesday morning. I’m always in awe when we head into the skies and fly over the beautiful California coastline















Even though I try to use the same airline so I can collect points for upgrades, this time I was flying on Delta airlines because they...

I took home two new denarii in recent weeks one Republican and a Septimius Severus.

I have want a coin with a Pegasus for awhile and I saw the opportunity for one in the most recent Frank S Robinson sale. To be honest I think I stole this one a little bit.

Q. Titius, 90 B.C.E. AR Denarius
Obv. Head of Bacchus
Rev. Pegasus flying
Ex. Boston MFA

Yesterday (Tuesday, June 17) I received the early bird notice from CRO around 10:59am. Usually I'm not somewhere where I can take a look at the offerings immediately, but yesterday I was lucky that I was. I saw one new offered piece there that just blew me away.

Something close to my heart, of course, in that it was a horse design. But, it has a lot more going for it than just that. It was also square (a Klippe), had amazing toning on both sides, and had a super-cool city scene on the reverse of the coin that I just fell in love with. All of this wrapped up in a coin about the size of a USA quarter dollar. A mere 8 minutes after I received the email, I shot an email off to John Agre at CRO, and within an hour (and a lunch break) after that the deal was sealed and paid in full.

I will just say that John is a class act. He entertained my request to see a slab shot so I could get a reference for the size of the coin. He answered a few questions I had immediately -- I mean,...

During the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1960s-1990s) a lot of these defaced banknotes circulated as did many Irish and English coins stamped with political slogans. These banknotes are rare as they were destroyed by the government when they came to light. Other than two others with handwritten slogans on them, these are the only ones I've ever seen. I bought one and was given the second by a trusted source living in Belfast. The larger note I acquired in September, 2012 and the smaller just a week or two ago.

The slogan on the first reads "Fig(h)t Back / Join The RA / Marty TL 72" The "RA" is commonly used slang for IRA (Irish Republican Army) a Nationalist paramilitary. "TL" stands for Turf Lodge, a strongly Nationalist housing estate (project) built in the 1950s in West Belfast. I believe the number is "72"which may indicate the date 1972 or possibly something else. Apparently, "Marty" is the man who stamped...

It has been a little bit slow on CT lately so thought I might spice things up a bit and share pics of my two new medals. These are examples of Daniel Carr's new 2014 Panama Canal Centennial Medals, smooth-edge, copper, satin AND COLOR-TONED! They are absolutely stunning! He also has other non-toned versions, in copper, silver and bronze, as well. As usual, great design and artistry as you would expect from DC. These color-toned versions have a limited mintage of only 66, but no two are alike as you can see from my pics. So, in my view, each is a one-of-a-kind work of art. There has been considerable debate here on CT about AT versus NT, but there should be no argument here as these are advertised as intentionally color-toned. This is my first DC purchase, and it was an impulse buy, but I am very happy with them...no regrets. I am going to post the full image for best effect, so get your sunglasses out. Enjoy, TC...

Agathokles was the last of the larger-than-life rulers of Syracuse but he was not merely given the right to the throne. He was born in Thermae in 361 BC to a Greek manufacturer of pottery but he quickly tired of his father’s trade. Upon leaving home and moving to Syracuse, he became an officer within the Syracusan army, establishing himself as a skillful leader.

In 317 BC, he overthrew the Syracusan rulers, banishing or murdering all of those who opposed him and, with the support of the common people, he inserted himself as dictator.

He formed a large navy and strengthened his army, significantly expanding the power of...

I decide to take a few of my coins and look up their "Numismatic Rarity" according to PCGS. I then compared to the estimated retail value of each coin. I color-coded the rarity (green = not rare, red = rare) and the value (green = cheap, red = expensive). This is scaled based only on my coins I looked up, so the sample size is small, 44 coins total.

I have been looking at appearances of coins and numismatic items in films
for some time, and I have found the best one:

"Gold Diggers of 1933"

What more could one ask for, chorus girls, Busby Berkeley, Ginger Rogers,
Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, and the hit songs "We're in the Money",
"Petting in the Park", and "Remember my Forgotten Man".