Lord Marcovan's "Eclectic Box" collection as of October 8, 2017

October 8, 2017: This is not really a major update. There's only one coin going out (an 1834 USA Bust half), and it was replaced with a much less expensive coin (a 1929 Lundy puffin). The latter was a kind gift from @H8_modern, and I liked it so much I sent it off to PCGS and now it is tied with four other pieces for finest graded. The proceeds of my sale of the Bust half are going to be used towards the likely addition of another gold coin soon.

The main thing with this update is that many coins have been reimaged by a professional photographer, so I've posted the new primary images below. As of this post, several coins are still out for grading, so I yet have a lot of work to do with writeups. Coins that have individual writeups (subthreads) are hyperlinked in the titles.

Last update: July 28, 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, Brunswick, Georgia, October 8, 2017

 

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

(NGC certification pending as of 8/15/2017)

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

(NGC certification pending as of 8/15/2017)

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

(NGC certification pending as of 8/15/2017)

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 certification pending as of 8/15/2017)

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 10/8/2017)

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 10/8/2017)

 

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 10/8/2017)

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

(PCGS XF40- population 1 - the only example certified by PCGS as of 10/8/2017)

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

(PCGS AU50; population 4 with 10 higher as of 10/8/2017)

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

(NGC MS63 BN; population 3 with 4 higher as of 7/28/2017)

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 10/8/2017)

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 10/8/2017)

Liberia: proof copper cent, 1847

(PCGS PR65 BN, ex-NGC PF64 BN; population 1- finest graded at either service as of 7/28/2017)

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

(PCGS SP65 RB; population 1- the only example certified by PCGS as of 10/8/2017)

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

(PCGS AU55; population 69 with 24 higher as of mid-2017)

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

(PCGS MS64; population 10 with 6 higher as of 10/8/2017)

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 mid-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 10/8/2017)

 

So here's what went out since last time:

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

(PCGS AU55; CAC; population 148 with 223 higher as of 7/28/2017)

And here's what came in:

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

(PCGS MS65 RD; population 5 with none higher as of 10/8/2017)

That would seem to be a significant downgrade in terms of monetary value - and it is - but I like the cute little puffin, and furthermore, the money from the sale of the USA Bust half is working towards the pending purchase of another gold coin, which will likely be one of these or something very similar.

Maybe I'll catch up on my writeups so I can add links to the backstories and additional pictures for all of the coins above. I have been lazy with my subthread writeups for the last year or so and have added a lot of coins since I started actively posting here on CoinTalk in the fall of 2016. (I registered in 2007 but only made a dozen or so posts prior to 2016.)

 

Thanks. It is pretty thick, as most ancient Greek coins tend to be, but teeeny-tiny in size! I wish I had taken some pictures of it on my fingertip and maybe sitting on a dime, prior to sending it off to be slabbed. It's way tinier than an aspirin tablet. Ever give your dog a tiny little heartworm pill? It's more like that. Maybe the size of some small lentil beans. But that tiny size makes it all the more fun and interesting, and makes one respect the ancient Greek artisans all the more, that they could engrave that terrific portrait on dies so small.

Indeed, sir, indeed, though it took me a very long time - decades, in fact - to evolve into that sort of "freestyle" collector, for some reason. I always liked the "structure" of "sets", and filling holes in albums. In fact, I still would keep some album sets going on the side (I loved the Dansco #7070 US Type set albums, for example), but most of my (very modest) numismatic budget goes into this collection. I do have a small sideline collection of love tokens, which is presently in a much more disorganized state than this collection.

 

Thank you- that is a wonderful metaphor and is indeed the sort of thing I aspire to. If seeing one of my coins ever inspires someone to go off in a new direction, I'd be flattered.

This collection is but a tiny "sampling" of the last 27 centuries of world coinage, of course. And some categories are more heavily represented than others, based on my own preferences and personal history. I collected US and British coins previously (and Irish, which is woefully unrepresented in the present collection. I shall have to do something about that!)

I like those niobium coins. Those are the sort of moderns I would collect. Some modern NCLT issues are quite tempting as well. But historical coins have a bit more of a gravitational pull for me.

 

I see that the sale of that Bust half leaves me embarrassingly low on United States coins. If one counts the Pillar Dollar (which is, after all, the first coin listed in the US Coins "Red Book"), I have only three. And one is a token! So the 1842-D USA half-eagle is the only regular US mint issue represented here at the moment. But it's worth more than twice what any other single coin in the collection is.

I'll have to work on adding a few more US pieces again. Those tend to get sold more often from my collection since they're more liquid, and I'm rather jaded about US coins overall. There's so much more "bang for the buck" in World and Ancient coins. But I do still enjoy classic US Type coins.

Need an Irish coin, too. And a Scottish coin. I've never owned the latter, despite my Scots-Irish ancestry. (I did once have an extensive collection of Irish predecimal coins.)

 

(Edit: this was a response to Curtisimo but I wound up repeating it below)

 

@Curtisimo- I look forward to seeing your "Ancient Box of Ten". Knowing your meticulous attention to detail and backstory, I'm sure each will be wonderfully written up.

I notice your last magnum opus still is King of the Hill in the Realm of the Featured Threads on the homepage. As far as I'm concerned, a Featured Thread is the pinnacle of achievement on CoinTalk. You have in turn inspired me to step up my game with the writeups, which, as I confessed above, I've been terribly lax on in recent months.

Want to see how far I've come in four years?

Here is the first posting of what would become the Eclectic Box on July 25, 2013, over on Collectors Universe. Can you tell my last project before that was a Twelve Caesars collection? It was still almost all ancients. I wouldn't mind having one or two of those coins back, but I'm glad I've since "mixed things up".

It's kind of funny that my "newest" coin in that early incarnation of the set was dated 1550!

 

I guess it's because I wanted one of those back in the early 1990s during my mostly British coin phase, but never got one. Then I won your giveaway and in there with all the other fun loot, there was this Puffin, and a nice red BU example, at that! And now it's a condition census piece.

You were way more generous than expected (or required) in our first swap, too.

 

I have never certified any of my detector finds. Most aren't worth the expense of stabbing (slabbing- ha! I caught you that time, Autocorrect!). And few have the eye appeal. So I keep the detector finds in their own album, and since 90% of them were found in my pre-Internet, pre-photography era, getting them photographed and posted is an ongoing chore that has taken a back burner to this project.

But maybe one day I'll dig a gold coin and slab it and put it in this collection. That's a pleasant daydream.

PS- speaking of Featured threads, and detector finds, I did think of including the Edward I penny I found in England in this set. But I've bought better Edward I pennies for 35 bucks.