Today's finds from the value bin

Today I had a chance to go to my local coin shop and dig through the value bin. They aren't interested in foreign coins, so sometimes I can find some gems. All of these were 20 cents each. Here are some of my favorites. Not all have a lot of value, but they make me happy.

In this group is one of two 1771 1 skilling coins from Denmark I found. You can't see the date on the scan but it is visible in hand. Also an 1849 10 Lepta from Greece, and a 1940 British 2 shilling, which is silver. I haven't looked up the value yet, but I think this coin could pay for a good chunk of my trip itself (not that I'll sell it).

 

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this group is an 1875, 1878 and 1884 British farthing.

 

In this group I have a silver 1870 Spanish peseta, an unknown Arabic looking coin I'd like some help identifying that I thought might be silver, and an 1874 German 5 pfennig, 1873 Swiss 5 rappen and an 1891 Hungarian 1 (I'm not sure what the unit of currency is). I found five or six similar Hungarian coins from the late 1800s/early 1900s.

 

Silver? Well these guys don't know what there doing, although I may of made the same mistake.

 

Last coin-1304 (the first part of the date I think) 1/4 is the value. Egypt or Turkey maybe?

 

The Arabian coin is a silver 1/4 rial from Saudi Arabia dated AH 1354 (1935 in the Christian calendar).

http://cgi.ebay.com/1935-AH-1354-Saudi-Arabia-1-4-Riyal-Silver-coin-UNC-/220767360440

 

Thanks for the help. I never would have IDed the Saudi Arabian one on my own. I was surprised to find the silver too, because that's the one thing they usually check for. I do find them on occasion though. I found a Canadian silver quarter and an Ecuadorian silver coin recently too.

 

Hiddy nice find on the Peseta its .83 fine silver and Krause has its value at fine @ $14 and $55 @ VF, Your Florin should be .50 fine silver and melt at around $6.60. Great buys for 20 cents each.

 

Yes - the 1940 Two Shillings is 50% Ag, so its weight is .1818oz ASW ... a bargain for 20c!!

 

I think a lot of people in the U.S. don't know what to do with foreign silver. When you see people buying silver, they always want U.S. coins because they know how much it is worth, which can't be said of foreign silver. The coin shops still buy it but I don't know what they do with it then. Obviously they usually don't throw it in the value bin, but since they don't know the dates as well of when foreign coins are silver I guess they miss some once in awhile.

 

I have heard that a lot of American dealers will try to sell foreign silver coins on Ebay, and if that doesn't work, the coins get melted.

 

the greek 10 lepta is a pretty scarce coin , they all turn up worn , in that grade if you put it on ebay you would probably get more that the british 2 shilling.

the danish shilling is a common coin and was minted from 1770 to 1800 , still a bargain for 20 cent

 

I'd never seen a Greek lepta like that, so I was glad to get it. And even if the Danish coin is common, I love getting something that old for such a good price. Thanks for the info.

 

Cheap foreign coin bins are what got me into numismatics in the first place, great finds Hiddendragon! The best I ever found in a bin was a Swiss 20 Francs 1949 / Reverse, that I paid 9 cents for.

 

You paid 9 cents for a Swiss 20 francs gold coin? What an incredible bargain!

 

The best coin I've found in a junk box recently is an 1864-L Indian Head cent. It's damaged, but the L clearly shows, and I only paid the equivalent of $1 for it.

 

Wow a Swiss gold 20 francs in a trash bin.

 

It was a 10 cents each or 11 for a Buck foreign coin bin, not exactly a trash bin.

 

My most valuable find was probably a New Zealand 1942 Shilling (Broken Back Variety) out of a dollar bin. It appears to me to be MS, but at worst should be AU.

Anyway, the point is that I agree that I love these bins. For awhile I used to do these threads that I titled Cherry Picks of the Week. I think the last one I did was on the 20 Francs.

Here is an example My Cherry Picks of the Week 9/18/10

 

Since I know my local dealer doesn't really want foreign coins, I know he is probably only getting them from local people who bring them in, so I think it's interesting to see what is there and try to draw conclusions about who brought them in. Like this last time I found a lot of old Hungarian coins, so was there some big Hungarian collector in the area? Certain countries show up constantly, while others are rarely or never seen. I think that's interesting.