Lord Marcovan's "Eclectic Box" collection as of November 4, 2017

November 4, 2017:

One coin has come in since last time (a Persian gold toman), and none went out, which means the Eclectic Box now stands at a total of 26 pieces. This means I have for the moment exceeded the capacity of my 25-slot slab box, but since one coin (the Seljuq dirham) remains raw for the moment and another (the Persian toman) is headed off to PCGS for grading, I've got a little while to decide whether I'm going to sell one and stick with a limit of 25 pieces for a while, or move up to a 30-slot box.

The other change since last time is that four of the ancients have finally returned from grading and encapsulation at NGC, and I think the results were pretty good. In the October 8th update I posted the new photos of them that I had a professional do.

I still have not caught up on all the writeups (subthreads) for many of the individual coins I've purchased in the last year, so the ones that do have writeups are hyperlinked below and the ones without writeups are not.

Just for fun, I also sent three of the proof/specimen coins off to have animated GIFs made of them, to capture their luster and/or mirrored surfaces. @RonSanderson was kind enough to do these animations for me, for a pittance. I've posted the animations below.

Last update: October 8, 2017
Archives of earlier updates (in my sig line index)
"Eclectic Box" gallery on CollectiveCoin

The Eclectic Box (fantasy version, from the imagination of @Deacon Ray):


The Eclectic Box (reality version, from the cellphone camera of yours truly):



As always, thanks for looking at my small, ever-evolving collection.

~Robertson W. ("Rob") Shinnick, St. Simons Island, Georgia, November 4, 2017

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ancient Greece (Kingdom of Macedon): silver "Mercenaries" drachm of King Perseus, ca. 175-170 BC

(NGC Ch MS; Strike 5/5, Surface 5/5)

Ancient Roman Republic: silver denarius of moneyer L. Furius Brocchus, ca. 63 BC

(NGC Ch VF; Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5)

Ancient Roman Empire: silver "Capricorn" denarius of Vespasian, struck by Titus ca. 80-81 AD

(NGC AU; Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5)

Ancient Byzantine Empire: gold tremissis of Justinian I, ca. 527-565 AD

(NGC MS; Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, "wrinkled")

 

England (Anglo-Saxon): silver penny of Aethelred II, struck ca. 997-1003 AD

(PCGS MS63; population 2 with 2 higher as of 11/04/2017)

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)

Netherlands (Gelderland): "St. John" type goldgulden (florin) of Arnold van Egmond, ca. 1423-1472

(PCGS Genuine; XF details, "filed rims")

Belgium (Brabant): gold florin (Carolus d’or) of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, ca. 1521-1545

(PCGS Genuine; VF details, "mount removed")

German States (Teutonic Order): silver 1/4-thaler of Grand Master Maximilian of Austria, ca. 1615

(PCGS XF45; population 1 - the only example certified by PCGS as of 11/04/2017)

 

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)

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)

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

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

Belgium (Austrian Netherlands): copper 2 liards (2 Oorden), Insurrection coinage, 1790

(NGC MS63 BN; population 3 with 4 higher as of 11/04/2017)

Great Britain: gilt copper proof halfpenny of George III, Soho Mint, 1806

(PCGS PR65 DCAM, ex-NGC PR64 CAM; population 1 with 1 higher as of 11/04/2017)

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

(En route to PCGS for grading as of 11/03/2017; this is a temporary picture)

Great Britain: silver shilling of George IV, off-center mint error, ca. 1826-1829

(PCGS XF40; no population data exists, but a rare error for this type)

United States: gold 5-dollar half-eagle, Liberty Head type, 1842-D (small date)

(PCGS VF30, CAC; population 16 with 157 higher as of 11/04/2017)

Liberia: proof copper cent, 1847

(PCGS PR65 BN, ex-NGC PF64 BN; population 1- finest graded at either service as of 11/04/2017)

France: copper specimen striking of a 10-centime pattern (essai), 1848

(PCGS SP65 RB; population 1- the only example certified by PCGS as of 11/04/2017)

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

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

Great Britain: gold half-sovereign of Queen Victoria, 1901, from the Terner Collection

(PCGS MS64; population 10 with 6 higher as of 11/04/2017)

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)

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)

 

Summary of changes, November 4, 2017:

Here's the new addition. Until I have a chance to give it a proper writeup, here is the thread I posted about selecting it. There was initially a poll between two possible contenders and I ended up buying neither of them, but then considered three more examples and selected this one. Thanks to all who weighed in with their opinions and advice on the selection, even though I know this was a rather esoteric coin for some people (including myself). But one has to "push the envelope" sometimes, to learn and grow, and I'm happy with this coin. We'll see how it does at PCGS.

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


Also, here are the results of that last submission to NGC Ancients. The first four coins are mine as seen above, the next five belong to @Justinokay, and the tenth coin belongs to the professional photographer who imaged these for me. (I paid for the slabbing on his Marcus Aurelius sestertius in exchange for his photography.)



And last but not least, here are some of the animated GIFs @RonSanderson (who goes by "Animator" on CollectiveCoin) did of my three proof/specimen pieces. It's wild seeing 'em "dance", isn't it? The idea here was to show some of the mirroring/cartwheel properties. He had the added challenge of shooting through the slab plastic when he created these pictures.







You'll notice that the animation of that last coin (the 1848 French pattern) did not capture the "sweet spot" purplish toning seen in the TrueView images. But that isn't surprising, since that color only "pops" from a certain angle. From all other angles, the coin looks as it does in the animation above, so you could say the animation is pretty accurate even if it doesn't show the "glamour shot" aspect. Even like this, without the purples poppin', you can see that the coin has a pleasant, near-cameo contrast between the fields and devices.

@RonSanderson didn't want to charge me, either, claiming he wasn't confident in his own abilities to pull this off. (But I think they look great, don't you? He's too modest.) So I sent him some trifling gift coins instead of payment. He even refused to let me pay for the painful $30 return shipping and insurance costs, so he's on my "good guys" list for sure. I'm sending him a couple more modest baubles even though he didn't ask me to, but I still consider myself in his debt.

(Watch your mailbox, Ron ... but I still "owe you one"!)

 

Thanks!

That shilling has an interesting story.

In 1992 or 1993, I was avidly collecting British coins and a very generous dealer in Hendersonville, North Carolina, just up and gave me that coin, as a GIFT, on what was only my second or third visit to his shop! And it's not like I was a big customer, either. I was really poor back then.

In fact, in 1994 I hit de facto bankruptcy, my house was foreclosed on, my marriage hit the rocks, and I had to sell my coin collection and most of my remaining possessions, and move back in with my father for a while.

I sold some of my better British coins, including this one, to my friend Michael ( @Aethelred ). Michael sold the off-center shilling, and out it went into the world, never to be seen again...

Until the fall of 2016, when I stumbled across it, now slabbed, on the Atlas Numismatics site.

I bought it in 2016 for about 5 times what I'd sold it for in 1994, but it's mine again. There is no mistaking a unique coin like this. It's obviously the same coin I sold during those hard times.

 

A lot of the coins are pretty small, so they'd be hard to see properly:



I do certainly try to optimize for internet viewing since that's how I share with friends. I live in a numismatic backwater here, without fellow collectors, dealers, clubs, or shows. (CoinTalk and Collectors Universe are my clubs.) In fact, 90% of my own viewing of these coins is done electronically, since they reside in a safe deposit box most of the time.

 

We'll, I've signed up for both the Secret Santa and Secret Saturnalia events this year, so the real test of how discerning my eye is will be what the gift recipients I'm assigned to say about the (modestly priced) stuff I pick out for them. That will be a fun challenge. It will be my first year participating in either.

 

Thanks. You're preaching to the already-converted as far as my being a Wizard customer. Somebody - think it was them - had an aluminum 30-slab box like the one I showed in the OP, but in two rows of 15, making it more rectangular than narrow. The only issue that stopped me from buying it (and it was on sale for a temptingly cheap price) was that it had a little hinged suitcase/briefcase handle mounted on top. While I think the box itself would've fit inside my SDB (assuming the same height as my present box), the handle part of it probably wouldn't have.

Good point about the Intercept boxes. I'll think about that. I'm thinking about some kind of rechargeable silica gel capsule, too. @AncientJoe was talking about that a while back, I think. Some product called "EverDry" or "EverDri" or something like that? I'll have to investigate.

Of course I could always go with a box like the @Deacon Ray version in the OP. Let me know if you see one of those on sale, cheap!

I guess I'll have to make up my mind whether to keep growing the set or holding at 25 for a while and pruning and upgrading for a year or two before expanding again. After all, I stuck with a limit of 20 pieces for four years before this recent expansion to 25. That "Box of 20" limitation took discipline, but I think it resulted in a better collection over the long run.

 

@RonSanderson- you animated that little model half-farthing nicely. If I remember correctly, it's smaller than a dime? I thought you might like the toning on it. That's the first time I can recall seeing a British "model" coin that wasn't early Victorian.

Here are the pictures I had of it.

@thegreatdane - ancients are fun, and you've got no shortage of enthusiasts here to help you out, should you ever wish to take the plunge into that category! I've dabbled in so many different things over the years (and found myself tempted by others I haven't tried yet), that this "eclectic" approach has worked well for me the last four years. It has given me leeway to sample lots of different things I might not have otherwise explored, if I were still shackled to the structure of fixed "sets".

Thanks, y'all, for the responses, and sorry for the somewhat belated reply.


Update on the Eclectic Box front: one of what I considered to be my "top three" coins has now gone away. *snif*

But it has gone back to the person from whom I originally got it - and it was his namesake, "signature" coin. So I let him persuade me to turn loose of it, just as he had done when he swapped it to me, four years earlier.

Besides, I owed him money, and now that prior debt has been paid off, so the collection above is down to a nice round 25 pieces, and my personal debt situation is improved. But I will miss that coin an awful lot.

I didn't see the point in posting a whole new update just to show the removal of a coin. I'll wait until the next addition to post another update.