I was recently offered a 1771 5 Kopek (EM) by a friend who bought a small lot of coins from an estate. The coin is in a weird case that says at the top "Millenium Coin Collection - 18th Century". I uploaded some large pictures: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/sub...alxtac/case.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/sub...lxtac/case4.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/sub...lxtac/case2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/sub...lxtac/case3.jpg I know this picture is too far away and too dark, but what is this case?? Never heard of a millenium collection... But on the bottom of one of the case's sides is a small copyright sign and the letters "FM" next to it... maybe Franklin Mint? I'm just shooting in the dark. Any info would help. Including the typical value for this coin. Thanks
It is usual coin of the Catherine the Great (Russian Empresse in 1762-1796). Look at my coin (parallel type).
I know what the coin is, I mentioned in my original post it was a 1771 5 Kopek... My question was what is this case, what is a "Millennium Collection" and if anyone has seen something like this before? And if the coin is genuine? There is a copyright symbol with FM next to it... Franklin Mint? No name though, just FM.
It may wll be a Franklin Mint issue. I suspect it might be a play on words for marketing purposes more than anything. You see, one of the finest collections, perhaps THE finest, of all time was named the Millenia Collection. This collection was auctioned off in May of 2008 - it realized millions. Just the catalogs for this collection cost more than many people pay for coins.
Although this is just a guess, maybe it was part of a series where some company took a coin from each century and put it in one of those holders, when you collected them all, you had a millenium's worth of coins? I would guess, if this is the case, it was probably in 2000.
Thanks for the help!!! Any estimate of what it might be worth? I have a Bitkin catalog, but it's from 2003 and lists the coin as $3-$10 in Fine to Very Fine. Maybe you have something more current?
