Hey folks! Just made a trip over to the local shop and got a dozen or so coins. Pretty nice mix...a few silver Ikes, a few old silver Swiss Francs and beautiful Italian coins from the early 1900's. All nice coins. However, my two favorite might be the two Canadian halves I got. The first one is a nice 1945 which is a stunner in hand and has a georgeous blue tone. The second is a 1953. It isn't quite as nice in hand as the blue and brown toning covers up some of the detail. But...when I got home I realized that it was the rare "no-strap" variety...easily a $100 coin in mint state. Not bad for spot, eh?
I share your excitement You had a pleasant experience & it was nice that you shared it. It sounds like you got some good coins at a real bargain. (Nice photos too by the way).
I'm a little fuzzy on the whole "Strap" "No Strap" thingy. Can someone post a good example of both. I've kinda been wrestling with this question for sometime. Thx, Joe
The strap variety has a strap on the queen's shoulder...like a dress strap going from the front to the back...basically 2 curved lines. The no-strap does not have it. On some worn coins or some that aren't struck that well the telltale sign is the letter "I" on the DEI on the obverse. On the no-strap variety it has flared tops and bottoms kinda like this "I" or like this ")(" whereas on the regular strap variety it is more like this "|".
