[CLOSED] Expat's Holiday & New Year Giveaway, 2024/5

I’ve made a few purchases. Some meet a few of the criteria in the suggestions made here. But there hasn’t been a final decision on THE prize yet, by any means.

What I’ll do for a little while is stack some of these new purchases up in a private gallery for @expat to peruse, and we can put our heads together before making the final decision on what the prize coin (or coins) will be. His will be the deciding opinion, of course.

And whatever doesn’t get chosen as the prize for this contest will be destined to go into my giveaway stash for my own future contests.

 

@katieivie - welcome to CoinTalk.

For others to help you, you will of course need to upload photos. Here's a thread on how to do that. Also, you will need to post them in your own thread. In their own separate topic, that is.

Go to the forum you wish to post them in (say, the Error Coins forum, for instance). From the main page of that forum, click on the blue tab at top right that says "Post New Thread". You can use the "Upload a File" button within the message posting form to upload your pictures. Be sure to pick the option that will display insert the full image rather than a thumbnail image. With a little practice, you should be able to figure it out.

This topic, as it happens, is about @expat 's giveaway. If you would like to enter this (or one of the other contests on this Contests forum), read the introductory post in each and feel free to post an entry.

 

I just purchased a coin on eBay which meets the above criteria, though it likely wouldn't fill an empty hole in @mrbadexample's Numista map.

But since it only cost me $25.95 after shipping, it is not an ideal selection for the $50 prize budget we have for this, @expat's contest. I have therefore put it in my own Giveaway Gallery, and it will be an available prize selection for my current Giveaway #120, or any of my subsequent "pick your prize" giveaways.

Thanks for the suggestions, y'all. Not only does @expat get to enjoy watching the fun here, but I also get some valuable suggestions for improving my own future giveaway offerings.

Canada: 1898-H bronze large cent of Queen Victoria (ICG AU55)

 

I have followed your suggestion and purchased one. At $41.47 after shipping, I knowingly overpaid a bit for this piece. That is more than XF money for a coin that is plainly VF. It is, however, a wholesome VF in my opinion, with no major distractions or problems that I can see.

And hey- y'all don't care if I overpaid, since somebody will eventually win this coin for free, right? For my part, I don't really care about that, either, since I'm having fun here. Most of the examples I looked at on eBay were either trashy, or overpriced- or both. So I paid a little bit extra for one that I thought looked decent.

Anyway, if only because of that, this coin also might not have been the best use of the $50 prize budget which @expat generously donated for this contest. So I have added it to my own Giveaway Gallery (free store), and it will eventually go to whomever speaks up for it and happens to win one of my future drawings.

It's waiting there for you, @Mr. Numismatist - should you desire it enough to pursue it as your prize option in one of my future "pick your prize" contests- or the current one, for that matter.

Venezuela: 1929 (p) silver 5-Bolivares, High 9 variety (?)

 

I looked on eBay, for off-centers, double-strikes, and clipped planchets, but honestly, most of what I saw priced within our $50 budget was either trash, not an error at all, dirt-common, or overpriced- or some combination of those.

And like the Errors forum on this site, the Error Coins categories on eBay are overloaded with people who don't have a single clue. I did see a few mildly interesting lots, but nothing really jumped out at me. Until I saw this 1964 Kennedy half with a noticeable clipped planchet. It seems to exhibit the Blakesley effect. I liked it because it was a larger denomination, 90% silver, and not exactly priced to the moon.

Was it worth the $29.95 with free shipping that I paid for it? I dunno- errors are not my usual forte- but I liked it enough to pick it up.

United States: 1964 silver Kennedy half dollar, clipped planchet error



Psst! Hey, @expat - I tell you what- I'll keep doing this (buying coins and posting them) for a little while, until I run out of money, time, or energy (whichever comes first- haha).

If in the course of all that you see anything posted that you like, and/or think should be held back in our temporary "semifinalists" folder that I showed you in our private conversation, then just let me know. I will then set that item aside, pending your final decision on what the prize for this contest will be.

Then we'll announce the final prize and do the drawing a short time after that. But whatever you do not deem a candidate for the final prize, I will sweep off into my own giveaway inventory. Sound OK? Just message me as we go along, if you feel like it.

~RWS/"LM"

 

Crusader States: ca. 1163-1201 AD silver "helmet" denier of Bohemond III of Antioch


(Additional pix and info in the link above.)

Just cost me $51.75 after shipping, so OK, a buck-seventy-five over budget. So what? Close 'nuf.

If @expat deems it worthy, this one will be held back in the "semifinals" folder until his final prize decision. In the meantime, I've got it uploaded to my own giveaway store, where it will remain if it doesn't end up becoming our prize for this contest.

 

OK, this was a challenging but fun search. In the end, I used the German rechenpfennig rather than the French jeton for my keyword.

And for the result, we have a counting token from the 17th rather than 16th century. But I do not think you will object, given what a totally cool design this is.

I had to collate the writeup from various sources, but I think most of you will find this a very interesting piece. And anything with a skull on it is red-hot popular with American collectors, for some reason. I guess I sort of get it.

Click the link below for the full writeup and more pics.

Germany (Harz, Zellerfeld): 1625-1672 copper rechenpfennig by Henning Schlüter; skull & hourglass


This one's having to come from across the pond, from... you guessed it... Germany.

My total investment here was €42.00 EUR after shipping, or $46.51 USD at today's exchange rate (12/09/24).

Again, @expat may choose to set this one aside with the semifinal candidates for our prize in this contest, but if he does not, it will remain in my own giveaway inventory until someone wins it.

 

@NonFloreatExxon, et al-

By the way, I did come across three jetons/rechenpfennige that were from the 16th century, and I have bookmarked them for future reference (if not for these particular examples, then for the types).

The first was an example of a late-16th century schulpfennig ("school penny", or "alphabet jeton"), which has a wonderful design featuring a moneychanger counting coins (or tokens like itself!) on a counting board. What's additonally interesting about this type is that it shows the entire alphabet that was in use at the time: no letters J or U yet!

Unfortunately, the example that is for sale is rather scruffy looking. Oh- and speaking of scruffy (but fascinating) examples, these schulpfennig have been found (alongside a startling quantity of other jetons and such) in archaeological excavations at Jamestown. I want a high grade example of one of these for my own collection someday.

This 1588 dated Krauwinckel jeton is low grade but has a neat design.

Here is a circa 1490-1519 rechenpfennig with a nice design, and which looks to be a pretty nice example, too. I'll save it in my watchlist for later, perhaps.

 

@JoshuaP - as mentioned earlier, I do have a Byzantine coin in my giveaway inventory, though it is not a $50-ish piece as we are aiming for here. It is likely a <$20 piece.

@Homer2 - that is an excellent suggestion. I have not yet acted on it as of this post, but I probably will. In the past, I have given away or sold a couple of coins of Victorinus, which seem to come relatively nice among the Gallic issues in our price range. (This was a mere $25 example.) I might add one from him later- or see what else I can find.

Well, you're easy to please. We've got both Ancient and Medieval coins under consideration (coinsideration?), and they happen to be silver, as well. One such candidate is below...

@expat has already stated that he considers this ancient coin to be one of our semifinalist candidates for the prize in this contest. We will await the final decision. He also considers the Crusader coin above to be a semifinalist selection.

This coin is small but very ancient. It is from the Archaic period, only a century or so after the advent of coinage. Click the link for more info. My cost after shipping for this coin was $46.79 USD.

Greece (Ionia, Miletos): ca. 550-490 BC silver 1/12 stater, lion and stellate pattern