Post something numismatics related, that you purchased (or received) and ended up researching and learning something about. Feel free to share a bit of it here while you’re at it! Here’s a 1906 souvenir token I impulse bought while in Romania. I didn’t know much about it at the time, except that it had a beautiful building on it, that I had previously seen. The palace is actually a bank (built for the intent of commerce and not as a palace to live in) that was built between 1897 and 1900. Here is a photo I took of it. The 1906 event was the Bucharest Jubilee Exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania and was an effort to attract international interest and tourism. The name and date on the Medal commemorates whoever Madeleine was and the day the exhibition was visited. Unfortunately, I likely won’t learn more about Madeleine, but I did learn a bit of Romanian history.
I had a few relatives that were firefighters which led me to purchase this medal: I was intrigued by the Ben Franklin aspect of it and so dug a bit into the history. Ben was co-founder of our first volunteer fire department in 1736. My how times have changed in terms of how we fight fires. I joined my local volunteer fire department in 1997 and was on for 17 years as firefighter/training officer until I moved to another town. I don't know if I would have wanted to be a part of Ben's "bucket brigade" back in the day.
In 2005, I spotted this 3-medal set for the 1969 ANA Convention in an auction listing on eBay. (Images courtesy of Bob Campbell) I really liked the rendition of Libertas Americana created by the Chief Engraver of the Mint, Frank Gasparro. At the time, I was a relatively new member on the NGC forums, and I mentioned that I was going to bid on it. Unfortunately, one of the other members decided to bid against me without saying anything, and his "snipe bid" won it for $152.50. As it turned out, many of the other members expressed their disapproval to this well-known and, certainly, respected member for his "sneaky trick". However, I defended his actions stating that "He wanted it more than I did." That is also how I learned about snipe bidding. As it turned out, someone else listed another 1969 set about two weeks later. I was determined not to lose it, and after enrolling in "Bidnapper", I placed a ridiculously high bid of $250. When the auction ended, I was the winner for $51.00!!!!! So, in spite of the fact that I lost to someone who eventually became a very good friend, he actually saved me $99.00. After that, I went on to use Bidnapper for all of my auction bidding on eBay, and it not only helped me to amass a winning record of 85%, but lurking in the background until the last second enabled me to save a lot of money. Chris
Very cool piece of history and great that you have the connection. I think I’d like to be part of a volunteer firefighter group whenever I’m in towns that have them.
It’s awesome that things turned out as they did. I have a personal rule never to bid on anything someone else shows me, unless they give me the green light, but I can see how others view it differently and it seems like you won out twice on that event. Cool set too.
I also learned that this set was the first of the 3-medal sets that were produced for the ANA Conventions, 1969-1982. I was able to find all but one in relatively short order, but it took me about 6 years to find the 1981 set. Below is the link for the entire set, and I want to thank Bob Campbell aka @robec for imaging them. http://www.robecsimages.com/chris.html Chris
Wow! Great set and photos. I think I like 1970 the best, but I’m particular to coins with horses/riders on them.
The 1975 in Los Angeles isn't my favorite, but did you look closely at the high-rise buildings on the 19mm bronze? (Click on it to enlarge it a bit.) It looks like LA got hit by an earthquake. Chris
Actually, I think it is just dirt or grime. It's possible that a previous owner may have removed it from the Capital holder, but I didn't bother cleaning any of them before submitting them to NGC. There are a couple that probably would have benefitted from a bath. Chris
