Lord Marcovan's 2017 Year in Review (additions to the "Eclectic Box" collection)

Here are my top acquisitions from 2017. There were others, of course, including primarily love tokens, but this is just what what came into (and in a couple of cases, went back out of) my primary "Eclectic Box" collection this year.

It was a busy year on the collecting front, and thanks to my cashing in a matured CD in the spring, I got to go on a short splurging spree well beyond my usual means. June was a very active month for purchases. I paid off some bills with the windfall, but also got to add some really nice stuff to my collection before going back to being my usual nearly-broke peasant self again.

In the latter half of 2017, I decided to finally abandon the "Box of 20" restriction in my signature set, and so my "Eclectic Box of 20" became just "The Eclectic Box" (of more than 20). As of this writing it is at 26 pieces. Sticking to a strict limit of 20 coins for four years did take some discipline and resulted in a nicer collection, but it got sentimentally more and more difficult to sell stuff off to maintain the 20-piece limit. So I finally abandoned that, as some had predicted I eventually would.

Here's the high points: my "year in review".

Ancient Greece (Ionia, Phokaia): electrum hekte, Athena and quadripartite punch, ca. 478-387 BC

(NGC VF; Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5)

Purchased 6/9/2017, raw, as is usually the case with my ancients. I don't like buying ancients already in NGC slabs unless there are good photos of them taken without the plastic and those intrusive prongs. (Not to mention that the ones for sale in slabs are usually heinously overpriced.) I had this one reshot by a nationally-renowned professional coin photographer, and it was worth it. The new pictures of it made me appreciate this tiny little jewel even more. It was my first electrum piece, and I've always liked archaic coins with the incuse punches on the reverse.


Ancient Greece (Pontos, Amisos): silver drachm or siglos featuring Hera and owl, ca. late 5th to 4th century BC

(Raw- I never got around to slabbing it before I sold it to a friend)

Purchased 12/28/2016, but received in early 2017. This one ended up getting traded away to @Aethelred, because I was still sticking to a strict "Box of 20" at the time, and after I bought the Taras, Calabria coin you'll see below, I foolishly thought, "Well, gee, I don't need TWO owl coins." Yeah, OK, in retrospect, that was silly. One can NEVER have too many owl coins! Oh, well. At least I still get visiting rights with this one (and several of my other nice ancients that have ended up in his collection), and the money from its sale propelled me on to other purchases. We affectionately refer to this coin as "The Winged Frog", due to the owl's froglike appearance. I really miss it. There's some definite seller's remorse on this one.


Ancient Greece (Corinth): silver stater featuring Pegasus and Athena, ca. 345-307 BC

(NGC AU; Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5)

Purchased raw, 6/4/2017. Every serious collector of ancients should own one of these. I like the little figure of Artemis Phosphoros running with the torch behind the main portrait of Athena. That's just a neat little detail on what is a stunning coin overall.


Ancient Greece (Spartans in Taras, Calabria, Italy): silver drachm, Athena and owl, ca. 302-281 BC

(NGC XF; Strike 5/5, Surface 5/5)

Purchased raw, 6/13/2017. Wow, I just LOVE this little coin with the terrific - if rather startled-looking - owl, not to mention the contrasting grey toning I like so much. Another interesting detail is that Athena's helmet has a depiction of the monster Skylla hurling a stone. Note the perfect strike and surface ratings NGC awarded this one when I submitted it later in the year.


Turkey (Seljuq Sultanate of Rum): silver "Lion & Sun" dirham of Kaykhusraw II, AH 638 (1240-1241 AD)

(Presently raw- returned by PCGS as an ineligible type, August 2017- should go to NGC in December)

Purchased raw, 6/24/17. I wanted an Islamic coin in the Eclectic Box, but generally prefer coins that have at least some pictorial element to their designs, instead of only Arabic calligraphy. Later I did buy a Persian gold toman you'll see below that has just the "squigglies" on it. I love the contrasting toning on this one, and have always liked the type. It was pretty affordable, too. Inexplicably, PCGS would not grade it, though they gave me a refund. Though they do grade some Seljuq/Seljuk coins, this apparently isn't one of them. So I'll be trying it at NGC soon.


Lithuania: silver half-groschen of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, 1550

(PCGS MS63; population 5 with 8 higher as of 12/06/2017)

Purchased 12/01/2017, already slabbed. This one is such a fresh "newp" that I haven't even asked @Deacon Ray to do the "shadowbox" template pictures yet! It should be delivered from Poland within a few hours of my typing this. I've previously had an NGC AU58 of this same type and year. I love these- they're not only a really cool type, but are some of the more affordable early-dated 16th century coins- even in Mint State. They definitely pack "a lot of bang for the buck". It's hard not to like that great eagle and the charging knight. I could have bought a PCGS MS64, but that would've cost the equivalent of about a hundred dollars more. Per the advice of CoinTalk members in my recent poll, I went with this MS63 instead. I think it's a better value, since the MS64 wasn't really all that much nicer looking and this one is better struck.

Switzerland (Zurich): silver "city view" 1/2-thaler (1 gulden/36 schillings), 1739

(PCGS AU58; population 1- the only example certified by PCGS as of 11/04/2017)

Purchased 6/7/2017, already slabbed, from Atlas Numismatics. This handsome coin has a great design, but you can really get lost in the details of that city view scene. (To see a bigger picture of it, click the cert verification link and zoom in on the TrueView image.)


Spain: gold half-escudo of Ferdinand VI, 1759, Madrid mint

(PCGS XF40- population 1 - the only example certified by PCGS as of 11/04/2017)

Purchased raw, 6/7/2017. (Wow, I sure was a busy bee in June, wasn't I?) This one graded out exactly as expected when I sent it to PCGS, and that made it a big win, since it is not only a pop.1 coin now, but also happens to be the key date for the type, and I got it for only about 40% of the Krause catalog value! Kudos to the seller, Globe Coins, for the excellent deal.


Mexico (Spanish Colonial): silver 8 reales ("Pillar Dollar"), 1761, Mexico City mint

(PCGS AU50; population 4 with 10 higher as of 11/04/2017)

Acquired in a trade, 5/5/2017, for an 1888 PCGS PR65 CAM USA 3cN. I had to let a very nice coin go to acquire this, but it is also a very nice coin. It was a difficult decision, but at the time, I was still sticking to a strict limit of 20 coins in my set (the "Box of 20" thing), and I wanted a nice colonial. I've actually owned a slightly sharper Pillar dollar before, but that one had been heavily polished. This one is a nice original example.

Iran (Persia): gold toman of Fath Ali Shah, AH 1233 (1817), Yazd mint

(At PCGS for grading as of early December 2017; this is a temporary picture)

Purchased raw, 10/20/2017. I bought this not only because it is a nice coin, but because this year (2017) was the bicentenary of Bahá'u'lláh, who was born in Persia in 1817. (My upbringing was in the Baha'i Faith, so this one has some personal significance beyond just being just another coin in my collection.) I should know the results from PCGS any day now (12/6/2017). Really, I'll be content with any straight (problem-free) grade. The technical grade does not matter so much to me, though I do of course look forward to seeing how it does, and to the TrueView images as well.


United States: silver Capped Bust half dollar, 1834 (large date, small letters)

(PCGS AU55; CAC; pop. 148/223 as of mid-2017)

Acquired 7/13/2017, in a swap with Collectors Universe member "FallGuy", in exchange for a PCGS MS63+ British 1723 South Sea Company shilling. Like the coin I swapped away to get it, this Bust half was a lovely piece. It was just a tiny bit whiter than I wanted, though- I had sort of been after a colorfully toned AU Capped Bust half for a while. I later ended up selling this in late September to another CU member, who said it was the nicest AU55 he'd seen. It was indeed very sweet- the pictures do not do it justice. By the time I sold this one, my "summer splurge" was over and I needed to improve my cashflow situation, so I parted with it. I'll find another nicely toned one later, perhaps. But in the US stuff, what I really want is another Draped Bust half.


Japan (Meiji Era): gold/electrum Nibu-Kin (2 bu), ca. 1868-1869

(PCGS AU55; population 76 with 27 higher as of 11/04/2017)

Purchased 6/7/2017, from toned gold guru @jwitten on the CoinTalk "For Sale" forum, already slabbed. I previously owned a PCGS XF45 I'd bought raw and submitted myself. These are just plain fun, and quite affordable. I like having a "non round" coin in the collection, and the attractive toning on this example is just icing on the cake.


United States: copper "Hard Times" token, C.D. Peacock Jewelers, Chicago, backdated "1837" (actually struck ca. 1902)

(PCGS MS63 BN; population 1 - the only example certified by PCGS as of 11/04/2017)

Acquired in a swap, 6/14/2017, with CoinTalk member @jester3681, for a nice USA "Monitor" type patriotic Civil War token. He is a specialist in CWTs and needed my Monitor, as he didn't have that particular variety. Since I am "eclectic" and have no particular specialist focus, the swap made sense. This was a fair trade and I love it, though did take me a little while to make up my mind over the deal. Now I'm glad I did. I think it was one of those happy "win-win" situations. I do like those.


Island of Lundy: bronze 1-puffin coin (token) issued by Martin Coles Harman, 1929

(PCGS MS65 RD; population 5 with none higher as of 11/04/2017)

Acquired as part of a generous giveaway by CoinTalk member @H8_modern, 5/17/2017. On a whim, since I had some other stuff going off to PCGS, I sent it along to be graded, and now it's a condition-census piece; tied with four others for finest graded! I had always wanted one of these back when I was in my hardcore British coin phase, but never had one. Getting one as a surprise in a giveaway, particularly a nice Red BU example, was fantastic.

 

Another one that came (and subsequently went) this year is this nice little ANACS MS62 1810 British 1/3 guinea. These are rather tough in Mint State.

I put in a bid for it over on GreatCollections, because it was going relatively cheaply. Never thought I'd win it for my bid price, but I did. So you could say won it almost "by accident"! Good thing I was still flush with windfall money from that cashed-in investment at the time, or I would never have been able to afford that whole spring-summer splurge, and wouldn't have made this impulse bid in the first place.

This one was well worth what I paid - indeed, I got it for a really good price - and it was certainly "Eclectic Box-worthy" in terms of quality and value. But since I already had a George III coin in the collection and I was still sticking to a limit of 20 pieces at the time, I figured I'd "flip" it instead of keeping it, which I did.

Was a sweet little coin, though. I sold it to a collector in Greece who was really happy with it.

 

That was a tough one to let go. If I had that decision to do over again, I'd...

... be stuck.

Wouldn't know which way to go, since I loved both coins about equally.

 

I dunno what causes it. Reactivity to the copper in the alloy, I suppose. I'm certainly a fan of that look.

As to the Boscoreale coins, I learned about that when I first saw @AncientJoe's purplish Vespasian aureus, which still gives me goosebumps.

I'll never be able to afford a Boscoreale coin, most likely, so thanks. Your comparing my modest little half-escudo to that look is high praise. I never considered the similarity.

Certainly heat was a factor with the "Boscoreale toning". I guess the ash at Pompeii that covered those coins was hot enough to cause the toning without being hot enough to melt the coins. I also suppose heat could have at one time contributed to the toning on the half-escudo, who knows.

I once bought a hoard of WW2 era world coins that had been stored in an attic for about 50 years. Attic temperatures here in SE Georgia in the summertime can get well up into the 130's Fahrenheit. Many of the coins in that hoard (which had been stored in old airmail envelopes) were dramatically toned. They ranged from lovely rainbows to coal-black. Of course the old paper envelopes would've had something to do with that, too. (And these were silver and base metal coins, not gold.)