Today I picked up 2 interesting new coins. I usually post only in the usual thread, but I feel that these merit their own. The first one is an Ethiopian birr, dated 1895 Ethiopian Era, which is somewhere in 1902 or 1903 in the Gregorian calendar. It's graded XF 40 by NGC, and though it has a fair amount of marks, it has a lot of eye appeal and a fair amount of luster. Emperor Menelik II, who is depicted on the obverse of the coin, is credited with helping to modernize Ethiopia; prior to his rule, it did not have any coins of its own. He also defeated Italy in the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The reverse, which I really like, depicts the crowned lion of Judah. Here are my mediocre photos, as the NGC ones aren't even worth posting: The other coin I got is this 1932 50 dinara from Yugoslavia. The obverse depicts King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, who was king from 1921 until he was assassinated in Marseille in 1934. The reverse depicts the Lesser Coat of Arms of Yugoslavia. This type was minted in both Belgrade and London, and this particular coin was minted in Belgrade, which is recognized from the letters below Alexander's bust. It's a funny coincidence that I bought two coins that use two alphabets that none of the other coins in my collection use; the Ge'ez script, used to write Amharic (one of the oldest scripts currently in use), and the Cyrillic script, today used in Serbia to write Serbo-Croatian (Montenegrin-Bosnian-etc, as it's all the same language with certain regional variations). The birr is also the first non-MS slabbed coin that I've purchased, as I usually prefer uncirculated examples, however I now realize that less-than-uncirculated coins can be just as enjoyable and just as worthy of being in a slab!
I also really like the Burr, now on my must have list. Any tips on where to find one at decent price/condition??? Thanks for posting these.
my Krause catalog shows only birr dated from 1887-1888-1889, 1892. so do you look it up as 1902 1903 ???
They're not super common, especially not in really good condition, and they aren't cheap, but they are obtainable for a reasonable price if you look hard enough or just happen across one, like I did. This one I got for $135 at a show, and I would say that eBay or Heritage would be your best bets for finding one.
After a quick search on EBAY, you are correct. Around $200 or so for great condition in slabs. I wouldn't want one raw as I wouldn't want a c/f. So at $135, OP did well. I'll keep on the lookout though. Just an awesome coin IMO.
I hope you find one! I'm really glad I did, and I agree that I think I paid a good price for it. What does c/f mean, by the way?
you must be careful out there. there are alot of fakes for that birr. IMO I would only slabbed birr no matter what the grade is.
