Yeah, that's what I said. I took a half day off of work to visit this coin shop in the area that I only go to about once or twice a year. I like to look through their world coins bin and they usually charge $10 for a pound. The first thing they told me was they'd sold almost all of them and hardly had anything. And they weren't kidding. They had about 20 coins in the bucket along with a big bag of what I first though were reproductions of ancients. But then I looked closer and realized they were crude Moroccan falus coins. I asked if those were included in the usual price and he said yes, so I took the whole bag. I haven't had a chance to research them, but I feel like I can't possibly lose for $13 for 81 coins, even though some are not in good shape. As a bonus, I also found in there this coin which I haven't had a chance to research yet. But I see the date 1690 and James VI, who was king of Scotland. If this is real it seems like it could be worth something.
It seems like the James VI is an Irish gun money shilling. I'd be curious to know what any experts think of it.
Yours is actually dated by month as well. It is below the crown. So yours is April 1690. I own one from September of 1689. It's around here somewhere. The edge should have what is described as a cable edge, that is, slanted milling. Assuming the hole in the center is a gouge, it looks fine to me. I own one of the Morrocan faluses as well. They look so crude because they were cast, like Chinese coins. The dates on them are in AH, so they date to the second half of the 19th century.
It looks like you made quite a solid find for $13.00 considering sold listings on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/Ireland/33...sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=200&LH_Complete=1&_fosrp=1
Yeah, I think I did really good on this visit. I got a lot of other coins from the 3 for $1 bin that I need to look up but I'm pretty sure there are some better dates in there. A lot of early 20th century/late 19th century Danish coins for one thing.
Nice pickup! I don't hold any expertise here, but have a few faluses of my own and I love those early Danish coppers. Great deals all around.
Wow, that is quite a haul of faluses! They aren't going to be terribly valuable in low grade or damaged condition, but I still think you did quite well for yourself. Do you collect these, or are you planning on trying to sell them?
You're right, I was mistaken. I was thinking it was the James who succeeded Elizabeth but I was wrong. I think he was James VI of Scotland.
They are crude by design and a lot of the ones I thought were damaged it seems like that's just how they are. If you look at the ones shown in Krause they look equally bad. Some of them are indeed damaged though. I'll keep a few of the better examples for my collection and sell the rest. It will likely take awhile but I'm not in a hurry.
Nice purchase! I have but only one falus in my collection. I can no longer find the small treasures of yesteryear. Glad to see you are still able to come across them... Foreign coins here in Los Angels have been thin on the ground. Recent immigrants to LA have been scooping up junk bins by the kilo...
Yes. I collect these myself. They were hand engraved and then cast - most of them are going to be crude. The ones I'm referring to are the ones growing green stuff, those with holes, those too worn to identify, and the ones with excessively large nocks where the sprue broke off. Those will be hard to sell.
I agree, I'll likely put those together in a big lot and see what I can get for them. Some of these seem like they have dirt on them or something which makes me wonder if they were found buried together or something.
You've found some really nice stuff in junk bins. I don't consistently find the treasures I used to either but I do still get some good deals from time to time. It seems like I'm always the only one who will sit there and look at every coin. Other people just kind of pick through for a few minutes. I often find the best deals are the small coins that slip to the bottom.
I think you just might be right about that... if my recent purchases from your area are any indication.
