Coin Talk

In the sixth year of Rabbel's reign (75/76 CE), the queen Gamilat first appears on the sela'im. These coins are of the same type as the previous issues, with the bust of the king on the obverse, the queen on the reverse. The inscriptions read "Rabbel the king, king of the Nabataeans, year x", and "Gamilat his sister, queen of the Nabataeans." The term "sister" was a title in the Nabataean royal court, and does not necessarily imply Gamilat was Rabbel's biological sister, although the possibility is not ruled out.

Nabataean silver coinage experienced a gradual debasement throughout the reigns of Aretas IV, Malichus II, and Rabbel II, with these last issues containing as little as 30-40% silver. These coins are the "blacks" referred to in six Greek papyri discovered at Naḥal Ḥever, in which various sums of money are expressed as such, e.g., "one black and thirty lepta" or "710 blacks of silver." The term "black" was a pejorative Roman moniker for these sela'im. It may have referred to...

I visited the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio of San Francisco recently.
This museum is dedicated to the life of film animator and producer Walt Disney (1901-1966).

The museum has exhibits on his early life, service in France, animation work, Mickey Mouse,
World War II company work, and the development of the Disneyland theme park.

The museum had a couple of coin related items.

Walt Disney wanted to get into World War I but was too young for the Army.
He joined the Red Cross ambulance service and arrived in France after the war ended.
He accumulated a collection of small items, mostly coins, which he carried in a cloth bag.
The bag was still in his possession when he died in 1966.


Disney collection of small items

The coins include ones from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Tunisia,
US Philippines, French Indo-China, along with uniform buttons and German Notgeld tokens.

Walt Disney...

I just received my Daniel Carr Peace Dollar 1965D overstrike fantasy coin, and said that I would evaluate it objectively. I have included two photographs, that are of mediocre quality, as we'e having severe thunderstorms, and my normal photographic setup just isn't working today--be glad to provide others on a better light day.

At any rate, it is a nice coin. The overall impression is of a softly struck Peace Dollar of gem quality. The devices are decently struck, with some grainy quality and a quite a bit of softness to them, as was expected. The fields are nice and clear (marks are on the flip, which were exaggerated by the direct flash, necessitated by today's weather).

Oinoanda, an ancient Greek city located in the upper valley of the Xanthus River, was built on the top of a high mountain in the ancient province of Lycia, now modern southwest Turkey. Little is known of the early history of the settlement in spite of several exploratory surveys which have been carried out in the region.

It was a substantial city in antiquity but surprisingly, it issued its own silver coins at only one moment in its long history. Until the early 2000s, the coinage was known from only a single specimen acquired by the British Museum in 1897. The discovery of a small group has allowed the coinage to be studied in much more detail and has added to our admittedly sparse understanding of the coinage of the period.

Three distinct issues have been identified, marked by a sequence of letters and symbols. They are dated to the first three years of Attalid rule of the region following the...

In school, we all learned about Brutus’ assassination of Julius Caesar. For me, it was a compelling story, further enhanced by the reading of Shakespeare’s play which told of the events of the Ides of March. However, my deeper fascination with it came when I began collecting ancient coins, learning that, fortunately for historians and collectors alike, Brutus minted a coin commemorating this turning point in Western history.

It’s hard to argue with the #1 ranking given to it by a consortium of collectors and dealers in the “100 Greatest Ancient Coins” book published by Harlan Berk. The trouble with this type is that it’s very hard to find in good condition and regardless of the condition, its popularity drives up the price.

I am extremely fortunate to have been able to acquire a solid-silver example of this historic type. It’s graded nearly EF and considerably better in hand and in my photos than...

Sorry for the tabloidish subject line, it's really just one normal dog with one head, and another with three. Heh.

I'm thinking of starting a small collection of ancient coins with dogs on them, and while I know there are quite a number of types out there, I'm really hankering after those beautiful Segesta issues, which unfortunately tend to be on the scarce side.

Until I manage to get myself one of those, these two puppies will have to do. And just so I can have some pretensions about becoming a dog-coin whisperer, I've decided to give them names too (the coins, not the dogs).

I'm calling this first one Mr. Huntington, which I know is a little snooty, but he is... *cough* pedigreed afterall .

I have been collecting coins for as long as I can remember. The first coins that I purchased were from the US Mint and included the 1986 proof set, 1986 proof ASE and the 1986 Statue of Liberty Proof set. Up until this year, I only collected coins that were “Made in the USA” and thanks to a fellow CT member who shall go unnamed (SPOCK), I now started collecting foreign coins. The purpose of this collage was to share with you three of my favorite designs joined together.

I have always been fascinated with British coinage. Some of my very first coins were British Pennies that my grandmother gave me when I was just a child. These coins were marvelous; worn and faded and dated from the late 1800’s, thoughts of who held these coins and where they had been preoccupied my mind. So here I am, nearly 30 years later, deciding on what foreign coins I should collect and figure what better way to start that collection...

KM 635 Belgium Insurrection (Provincial) Coinage 10 Sols Silver Coin Depicting Lion on Obverse / Clasped Hands and Eleven Arrows on Reverse



Verenigde Belgische Staten - États-Belgiques-Unis - United States of Belgium / Insurrection Coinage / Belgium, Revolt against Joseph II (HRE) / designed by Theodore Van Berckel, engraver at the Brussels Mint.


Mintmark for Brussels Mint

Obv.Brabant lion standing right, MON NOV ARG PROV FOED BELG
(Currency New Money Provincial Federated Belgium.)

Rev.Two hands shaking, arrows behind, IN VNIONE SALVS
(in union for health/strength/salvation.)




The bundle of 11 arrows representing 11 provinces: East Flanders, West Flanders, Brabant, Hainault, Tournai, Namur, Luxembourg, Liège, Limburg, Antwerp...

Pictured is a 1900 Morgan silver dollar. It was minted in New Orleans which is indicated by the small O above the D and O in the word dollar on the reverse of the coin.

Morgan dollars were designed by George T. Morgan. They were minted from 1878-1904 and again for one year in 1921. They were produced in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Denver, Carson City and San Francisco. The composition is .900 silver .100 copper. Its diameter is 38.1 millimeters. Its weight is 26.73 grams.

The New Orleans mint was one of three southern mints to begin producing coins in the 1830’s. It began minting coins in 1838. In 1861 Louisiana seceded from the union and state authorities seized the mint. The state transferred ownership to the confederates. For a short time it was used to make coins for the Confederacy. The U.S. army retook New Orleans in 1862 and the mint served as headquarters in New Orleans for Union troops. It was the only one of the three southern mints to produce coins after the Civil...

This was the first coin I ever purchased in my pursuit of a complete raw Barber Quarter collection. It bought it from Heritage Auctions in the November 2001 Santa Clara Signature Sale #275. I basically got the coin for half price due to the fact that it was un-certified and the auction photos were terrible.




The challenge with photographing a raw coin is that you really have no excuses for not taking a very high quality photo as you don't have any reflective plastic to deal with. You need to be able to capture the surfaces including both texture and abrasions as well as the luster and of course, color. If I ever intended to sell this coin as a raw MS64, I must be able to show the potential buyer that coin meets my subjective assigned grade. Here...