Well I did it. I bought the king of copper. The most valuable Australian coin out there. The elusive 1930 Australian Penny. Yes I know it's fake. One does not pick up $30k coins for less than $5. But I saw it and it looked like a lot better fake then most I see so I figured I'd put it in as a hole filler for fun.
First I heard of that 1930 Australian penny, will have to read up on it. This here Aussie crown came yesterday, not too dingoed up...
Gotta love those big old silver coins.......I have a whole folder of coin pix which is named "Big Silver", and another one named "Silver Dollars" for the US dollars.
Picked up a couple in a Japanese auction. The first is a half sen...I bid on the wrong coin . Fortunately it only cost me about the equivalent of $30 and it's a date I don't have. I could have likely won the one I meant to get but oh well. That was a $50 coin, so another time perhaps. NOT a fan of the irregular toning and spots. I'd rather have one less red but but with a healthy even tone. Even so, a decent coin for $30. 1/2 sen Meiji 20/1887 Next up is a coin I meant to buy from the same auction and was happy to get at the price. For whatever reason it's the only one of the reeded edge 10 yens I hadn't been able to find, other than one on ebay that is a solid brown and a grade lower---with a significantly higher price than this one. The current 10 yen coins don't have a reeded edge, but these did circulate as late as the early 2000s (as I pulled a couple out of my pocket change at the time). The fingerprint is less prominent in hand, and what looks like a scratch is on the slab and reflecting light. 10 yen, Showa 32/1957 And finally, from all the way in Maryland, another little bit of bean money. I liked this one as it has part of the 'joze' or mint official stamp on it, plus little era markers, the 'bun' of Genbun (or Gembun). That dates this to 1736-1818. Silver content 46%. I haven't weighed it yet, but it's probably about 7 grams. Not big but not super tiny. I didn't have an example yet with the small era markers in the field OR of the 'joze'. It's not particularly rare, but it was the first one I'd noticed for sale that I recall (at a buyable price). The blue rectangle is part of the 'joze' and the red circles the 'bun' character.
They're super rare. I think the mintage was around 1200 with a low survival rate due to the depression and the fact the Aussie climate isn't nice to copper coins. They're the most expensive copper coin in the world. 1909 S vdb cents have nothing on these.
These two arrived yesterday. They are of two different varieties, small and medium letters obverse/reverse. I intend to give one to a friend who lives in Mombasa.
I did get ONE other coin yesterday......so now I will have to wait for the postal system to come up with more goodies. That is a hair on George's ear, not a scratch.
well the Ebay seller sent me the wrong coin. dohhhh... sorry for the focus problem but you can almost make out a different beetle there...
My usual trip out to the flea markets today - picked up a bunch of coins at scrap value. Bulk were very ordinary British 0.500 Silver which will sadly have to be melted. A few more interesting bits amongst it though: Nothing earth shattering but I like the Mexican cent and the Indian 2 Anna particularly.
I got one of those 1883 Mexican 1 centavos last weekend too from a dealer's junk lot. Also got a few better date 20 centavos along with some other stuff. Dealer's junk lot had a lot of real junk but I did get about 60 coins cherrypicked for $10.