A tougher coin is in hand; Georgia has arrived! I watched this one for a while and finally pulled the trigger (the seller budged off the ask but this is still the most expensive addition to the set). What's cool here is that we have a combination of stamps and coins. In 2019 Georgia celebrated the 100th anniversary of its first stamp. The obverse features a 10 Kopek stamp from 1919 as well as fragments of four other denominations (40k, 50k, 60k, and 70k). The reverse is a sealed envelope that can be mailed anywhere (hence the the world map diagram). An added bonus is that this is a top pop 70 and the only graded example at PCGS (NGC has also graded one 70); that isn't too uncommon for something this obscure but it is still nice. Country Georgia Denomination 5 Lari Year 2019 Subject 100th Anniversary of Issuance of the First Georgian National Postage Stamp Composition Silver 0.925 Weight (gr) 15.5 Size (mm) 33 x 27 Mintage 1,500 Mint Mennica Polska (Warsaw, Poland)
This replaces the former placeholder, featured in this thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ddddd-ex-soviet-nations-set-georgia-placeholder.398766/
Very nice! I really like this. Does Georgia always use the Polish mint? It was a good choice. I had a sizeable collection of modern Polish commemoratives and they are pros at oddly shaped coins, colored coins, inlays and the like.
Thanks! Georgia uses multiple mints. The placeholder coin I have was made by the Royal Mint (UK). The Mint of Poland is certainly one of the better mints in the world and they have produced countless cool coins.
I just had a nice eBay pickup and went looking for old threads. This is from the same series as @ddddd ’s former placeholder coin. It was minted to celebrate Christ’s 2000th birthday, also from the Royal Mint with only 2000 pieces issued. There was this coins’s silver version in the auction as well but it went higher than I was hoping so I had to settle for cupronickel. But like the silver one this is also a top pop with only 2 in PF69. It’s special for me because my wife grew up in Tbilisi.
Congrats on the win! I was watching both of those but not bidding strongly on either (had small placeholder bids just to see if either ended low). Both results seemed strong to me for an auction in the US (given that the collector base isn't that large) but the cupronickel went for quite a bit less than what these tend to be listed for. And it's nice when the coin shows up from a US seller and you don't have to worry about international shipping.
When I bid I was wondering if you may have been bidding in or watching this auction. I was particularly surprised by how much the silver version sold for. The auction was US based but I saw that the seller ships worldwide. When selling world coins on eBay I’ve had foreign buyers before, so it seems the availability of foreign shipping is allowing for more bidding and therefore higher prices. I was happy with the price I paid. It’s nice to have a top pop with good eye appeal and no problems. When shopping at the Dry Bridge flea market in Tbilisi a couple years ago I bought a circulated bimetallic 10 lari from this series. If I remember right one of the sellers had one in silver and told me it was really rare, and was asking $200 plus.
I agree that shipping worldwide helps (although some foreign buyers aren't a fan of the eBay global shipping program since it can end up overcharging them for shipping/fees). As far as the coin you picked up, I only see one seller who has it in the same PR 69 DCAM grade and their price is well above what the auction ended at (so another data point for you getting a solid deal). I have bought from this seller before (actually the coin in this thread came from them).
