Quarantine Diary

Day 41: George VI Seychelles Half Rupee, 1939
I didn't know too much about the Seychelles when I got this, but a bit of trivia:
The Seychelles is one of the smallest political units by population to have its own independent currency. The total population is only about 97K.
The mintages for many of the coins is accordingly tiny. I think the silver half rupee is a single year type for 1939, with 36,000 mintage. In spite of that, prices are mostly quite modest. This one was about $10 and is 0.500 fineness silver.
The Seychelles seems to have issued its own money in response to European wars disrupting trade. Banknotes started in 1914, and the first Seychelles-labeled coinage started in 1939. I believe they were made at the Royal Mint, though.
The only circulating silver coinage for the Seychelles was the 25 cents, half rupee and rupee, issued between 1939 and 1944.

 

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Day 42: Austrian Empire 20 Kreuzer, Francis I, 1807

Obverse: "FRANCISCVS I.D.G AVST.IMPERATOR" (Francis I, by the Grace of God, Emperor of Austria) Reverse: "HVN.BOH.GAL.REX.A.A. D.LO.SAL.WIRG.1807" (King of Hungary, Bohemia and Galicia, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Lodomeria, Salzburg and Wurzburg)

There was a lot of stuff going on in the world in 1807! The Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved one year earlier. HRE Francis II resigned his position, and declared himself Emperor Francis I of Austria. (Previously, the ruler of Austria had only ranked as an archduke.) Austria had lost the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleonic France with the defeat at Austerlitz in 1805. With Napoleon setting up the Confederation of the Rhine of the French-aligned German states to rival the Holy Roman Empire, Francis feared Napoleon might get himself elected as Holy Roman Emperor.

Francis seems to have been more skilled diplomatically than militarily, and managed to hang on to rule in spite of multiple military defeats. In 1807, Austria sat out the War of the Fourth Coalition, which was ongoing, but would join the Fifth coalition in 1809 for another crushing defeat. As part of the peace negotiations, Emperor Francis married off his daughter, Marie Louis, to Napoleon. She would become the mother of Napoleon II, who "ruled" at age 4 for a few weeks in 1815 after Napoleon's forced resignation following Waterloo. Oddly, Emperor Francis was also the nephew of Marie Antoinette, the executed Queen consort of Louis XVI. Francis managed to rule Austria until his death in 1835.

 

Day 43: Some Qing Dynasty 10 cash coins. There are a ridiculous number of varieties, even from a given province. Fortunately, I have a book! I'm usually too lazy to identify the exact version, though. From Top L by rows:

江西 Jiangxi/Kiang-See
河南 Henan/Ho-Nan
湖北 Hubei/Hu-Peh
江南 Jinagnan/Kiang-Nan 巳乙 = 1905
山東 Shandong/Shantung

江蘇 Jiangsu/Kinag-Soo
北洋 Beiyang/Pei-Yang
福建 Fujian/Foo-Kien
廣東 Guangdong/Kwang-Tung

江南 Jinagnan/Kiang-Nan (different type)
湖南 Hunan/Hu-Nan
浙江 Zhejiang/Che-Kiang (no text on rev)
大清銅幣 Daqing Tongbi/Tai-Ching-Ti-Kuo 午丙 = 1906 (no mint mark)

 

thos actually appear to be taro (tarot) cards, me thinks??

 

They do look like it a bit, don't they? But there are no arcana. I don't have the whole deck--they were split up among his various descendants. But I believe they were a 52 card deck. The suits look like cups, swords, rosettes and rods? The top row is just regular face cards, not arcana. I think the kings have a crown and the jacks are on horseback. It would be interesting to track down some of the other parts of the set and see if someone would give me a photo to compare some of the types (such as the queens) I am missing. Playing card designs have probably changed quite a bit in 150 years, and Bohemian ones may be evolved from different designs than American ones.
Here are 6 more from a different part of the set not in my possession. Sorry, not very high resolution.

 

I think Pura Colon (iensis) refers to the Cologne Mark, a unit of weight equivalent to 233.856 which was the basis of the coinage standards of the Holy Roman Empire. The weight of this 4 Groschen was 1/84 of a Cologne mark in pure silver.

 

Sorry, a typo. 233.856 grams.

 

Day 44: Colombia 2 Décimos, 1874, Medellín

I believe this was a single-year type. There's no mintage data in Krause or on Numista, but based on other years of the earlier type, its probably in the tens of thousands. 1874 was the last year of the 2 décimos denomination. Medellín minted a silver 20 centavo coin in the same year. I love how instead of a mint mark, Colombia puts the mint city in giant letters on the reverse. Makes me want to find ones from Bogotá and Popayán. In spite of the lowish mintage, catalog prices are quite low (this one was $6), but high-grade examples are said to be pretty scarce.

 

Day 45: I actually enjoy defaced coins like this one. Someone clearly didn't like Emperor Napoleon much, and defaced it repeatedly with a sharp implement, probably in the early 1800s. In spite of the damage, the detail of the coin is clearly visible, and it sold for not much over the silver content. In spite of having an Emperor on the face instead of a First Consul, it was issued under the First Republic. By 1809 the reverse would say "Empire Français". Until An 14 (1805) the 5 francs would have used Revolutionary dates. So there are many types to collect!

5 Francs, Emperor Napoleon, 1807 "RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE"


Bonus: A defaced Napoleon III 2 Francs from 1866

 

Day 46: A Finland 1 Markka, 1866

The design on the obverse of this one feels very Russian to me. Maybe not unreasonable, as the Grand Duchy (or Principality, depending on how you translate it) of Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809-1917. Finland only had its own currency, the Markka, starting a few years earlier, in 1860. This coin is from an unfortunate time for Finland, at the start of the Great Famine of 1866-1868. Poor harvests and unseasonal weather caused about 8 of the population to die of hunger, according to Wikipedia. This was the last major European famine caused by natural events. All since have been due to politics or war...

 

Only 8 of the population ? Does not sound like a Great Famine !

 

Hah! Alas, 8%, not just 8. Would you believe that I spilled soup on my keyboard years ago, and the 5 key sticks half the time now?

Anyway, it's past midnight, so... Day 47:
Across the Gulf of Finland to Estonia--2 Krooni, 1930.
This one was also a single year type, I think. Estonia seems to have only produced coinage sporadically during its brief independence from 1918-1940.

 

Day 48: Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 6 pfennige 1742 Karl I

I feel bad posting some of these worn coins compared to some of the beautiful coins I've seen on this forum. (Not this coin in particular, just generally.) So when I checked Numista for this type, I was surprised to see theirs is even worse! Maybe not a lot of these survived in any kind of condition?

Sorry about the focus. Light grey on dark grey with low surface relief doesn't seem to photograph well in packaging.

 

Don't. Really, please don't. We all collect differently. Most people post their best stuff because they like to show off (I very definitely include myself in this - you ask for an 1862 coin, I go to find a nice one. ). It's part of the hobby. Personally I don't have much that's in the very highest grades - I like the tactility of coins, so I like to hold them. Not much point in having coins I'd be scared to pick up. Coins were meant to be spent. Slabs are something to crack open.

Don't be thinking we've nothing worn or ugly in our collections*!

Great Britain 1d 1872. Quite worn.



Iceland 25 Aurar 1942. KM#2a. Holed. Plated.



Should I throw it in the bin? Probably. Will I? No.


*Not you John, obviously.

 

@mrbadexample: Thanks for the encouragement! I definitely tend to go for quantity over quality. I'd usually rather have a scarce coin in worn condition than a more common one in good condition for the same price.

Day 49: Two late Tibetan coins from before the 1950 PRC invasion:

1 Tangka, undated (1946-1948) The symbols on the perimeter of the obverse are the Ashtamangala (Eight Auspicious Signs). From 12:00 position: Parasol, Two Fish, Vase, Lotus Flower, Conch Shell, Endless Knot, Victory Banner and Wheel of Law. They are not in the same order on all tangka coins. I believe the script on the reverse says "The Palace of Ga-den is victorious in all directions."
Edit: Hmmm... My old Krause and the attribution from the coin shop say 1948, but I can't find that year on the internet. Maybe it's the 1953/4?

10 Srang, 1948

 

Day 50: Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1/12 Thaler 1848, Grand Duke Frederick Francis II
(single year type, but the mintage is over 2 million, so they are not scarce)


1848 was another eventful year in Europe! A wave of revolts occurred scattered across the continent, usually against monarchies and in favor of liberal reforms. The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was not immune, and even made some grudging reforms, only to revoke them shortly thereafter. Grand Duke Frederick Francis II ruled with near-absolute power, and managed to hang on to his position from 1842 until his death in 1883. He also served as a military leader, allying with Prussia in the Austro-Prussian war which paved the way for the formation of the German Empire, dominated by Prussia, and in the Franco-Prussian war, which lead to the defeat and exile of Napoleon III.

The coin above has a fairly simple design by German States standards. The reverse only tells the date and the denomination: 12 to 1 thaler. The obverse says: "FRIEDRICH FRANZ V.G.G. GROSSHERZOG V. MECKLENB.SCH" (Frederick Francis, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin) and has a rather young portrait of the Grand Duke, before he grew out his beard:
I'm sure many of us locked up in quarantine can relate to his extensive facial hair!

 

One of my favorite Albanian patterns, wish I owned one.

 

Does it deserve PL designation?? Tiny little hairline on the jaw probably kept it out of an MS65 slab.

 

Day 51: Some Republic of China coppers

I generally prefer the Imperial minted copper designs to the RoC ones. The two flags seem a bit dull compared to a dragon. I like the red color on the copper Ho-Nan 20 cash, though. Like the Imperial ones, I believe there are a lot of varieties even for a given date and province.

 

Day 52: Two coins from British Guiana (now just Guyana)

Top: 1/4 Guilder, William IV, 1836
Bottom: Four Pence, Victoria, 1891