Gambia - 1970 8 Shillings - I was going to sell it until...

I was on the fence about this coin from the start...do I keep it, do I sell it?



Keep: Low mintage (25,000)
Keep: Unc condition
Keep: Has a really cool hippo on the reverse

Sell: Not silver
Sell: Not a high book value ($12 in MS63 according to the NGC price guide, although they seem to sell for higher)
Sell: Tiny spot on the obverse that looks like someone tried to scratch off a different tiny spot (I didn't do it.)


Well, as I was deciding whether or not to sell it, I imaged the coin. Sure enough, I noticed something cool...



It's not a huge (valuable) variety, but it's a clear doubled die. Due to the low mintage, I might make the assumption that the master die would be doubled (making up a large percentage of the total mintage.) But I think this clearly puts it into the "Keep" pile...

 

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The Gambian coin is the only world coin minted in the denomination of
8 shillings.

 

Unless you like Hippos it's a sell to me.
The doubling is not pronounced enough.
What is the mintage number? That would be a factor in me keeping it.

 

I think the hippo design is cool. I put the mintage (25,000) on the original post, and no, as I said above, the doubling isn't significant enough to warrant a huge premium.

 

Sell, or should I say hold , Hold you wont get anything for it , hold.

 

Minor doubling on world coins is essentially worthless - there are virtually no collectors interested in them. It is interesting, and definitely keep the pictures, but that's not a really good reason to keep the coin.

Ultimately, it comes down to this: does this coin fit into one of your sets or contribute to your collecting goals in some way? If you have no real use for it, then sell it. If you're building a set of "cool" coins, you could make an argument to keep it. I don't know what your focus is. But if you could use that $10 somewhere else that does contribute to one of your sets, then sell it.

 

25,000 would be low enough for me to hold it.

 

I don't really collect by set (more of an opportunistic collector) except Jefferson Nickels. I have a pretty fun stash of world silver and a few attractive 1960's-1970's world clad coins, so it could technically go with them. I've already decided to hold onto it for now (I have PLENTY of other coins to put energy into selling that I don't care about at all) and the imaging is already done, so if I change my mind it will be a quick and easy transition.

 

In 1526, the gold Angel was eight shillings for around 6 years.

 

I love this coin personally. I was happy to get one for my collection earlier this year.

 

Does yours also exhibit doubling on the bottom left sides of the E of THE and the GA of GAMBIA?

 

I'll have to take a look tomorrow. I can't get at it now.

 

I checked today and couldn't see any doubling.

 

Thanks for checking!

 

It's a pretty cool coin. I'd put it away for a while... You can always sell it later..

 

The cool hippo alone would make me keep it. I'm also a sucker for low mintage world coins!

 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Only a hippopotamus will do. No crocodiles or rhinoceroses, I only like hippopotamuses and hippopotamuses like me to.

 

As a special thank you to all who have commented on this cool coin...here's an equally cool Indonesian orangutan for you as a bonus:

​

Indonesia - 1974 5,000 Rupiah
KM 40
Mintage of 43,000
.500 silver (.5144 oz ASW)​

(Note: it looks like I need to rotate the obverse a bit clockwise...when I feel like it)

 

Here's mine. I really want the komodo dragon coin from this series. But it's gold and low mintage, so it's not gonna happen.

 

I stand corrected.