This last weekend, we visited a coin show at the Polish House in Hartford Connecticut. They serve great Polish beer and food on the first floor which helps draw a crowd. The coins are on the second floor. My friend & I met with a fellow CoinTalker (Brokencompass) at the show. We traded some coins and had fun meeting in Hartford. I’m hoping that Brokencompass posts some of the Indian coins he found at the show. At the show, I found a 1665 Hungarian Leopold ½ Taler and a 50 Centavos from 1885 Spanish Philippines. These coins were not anywhere on my want list but they were attractive & they were being offered at a very good price IMO. Here is the ½ Taler. Please let me know your opinion of the coin. This one is in an NGC holder so if you want to guess at the grade, I’ll post the NGC opinion tomorrow. It is a no-problem coin with natural toning & it is bright enough for me to enjoy under normal room lighting. Go ahead & guess the grade. There have been several great posts here at CT describing the Leopold coins. I will do a couple searches & post the links later tonight for everyone’s convenience.
The second coin is an 1885 50 Centavos de Peso which circulated in the Philippines. This raw coin has Alfonso XII King of Spain on the obverse. 1885 is apparently a frozen date that was subsequently issued in the Philippines over several years beyond 1885. The coin is not exceptionally rare or anything. However, it has a really neat edge where the words “LEY PATRIA REY ***” are raised (in relief). I know a little Spanish but I didn’t really understand this one because I thought LEY had something to do with silver. The translation according to the Internet is (KING COUNTRY LAW). This coin just got my attention because it looked naturally toned & had a price tag that was not too far from the today’s silver value. I believe that the dealers were trading silver at about 29x face this last weekend! Thanks for letting me share. It would be nice to see some other coins of Hungary & The Spanish Philippines from you folks. Post em if you got em.
As promisd, here are some previous threads which discuss Leopold The Hogmouth & his coins. Zohar444 depicts some really nice coins in these threads. http://www.cointalk.com/t117740/ http://www.cointalk.com/t157701/ http://www.cointalk.com/t115369/ http://www.cointalk.com/t112145/ Post #4 of this one describes some history of “Leopold.The Hogmouth”
Is 15k = 1/2 T? Hello Mat, Thanks for the PM. I forgot to list the size of these two coins in order to give some reference to people that may not have seen them before. I always appreciate when the OP lists the coin size & specifications because I often don't know the coins posted at CT. In the case of my new Leopold, I only know what I have read in previous thresds at CT. I just measured through the slab & it looks to be 31 mm diameter. The slab states 1/2 T. The coin states 15. Is 15k = 1/2 T? Maybe one of our resident experts can explain this to me. The 50 Cent of a Peso is about 30 mm diameter and also made of silver.
Leopold The Hougmouth Talers I believe 15K is 1/4 Taler. A Taler amounts to 60 Kreuzers. See the 60 on the obverse of this one: The 31mm size makes sense. I like the original look of that early type (younger) Leopold. See my set for others - scroll pressing "Next Slot" to see others http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinView.aspx?sc=27218
Hey Zohar, it's your talers that got me interested in them, especially hoggy himself. I just wasnt sure if 15K was half taler or a lower denomination in itself. So a 1/4 taler...good. Means I can get a 1/2 & 1 taler eventually. Not even gonna attempt a double taler $$
