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<p>[QUOTE="TypeCoin971793, post: 5183545, member: 78244"]I see others posting their lists, so I guess I will jump on the bandwagon. 2020 is definitely a year to remember for both good reasons and the never-mding chaos. I started my first job as a Flight Test Engineer for the US Army and I wrote my first book. Those things have kept me sufficiently occupied that I no longer frequent the forums as much as I used to (or would like to). That doesn’t mean I have stopped collecting; that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve been actively pursuing ancient Chinese with the occasional Roman/Greek/medieval thrown in.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will share the lone non-Chinese coin on the list first because most of you couldn’t care less about the Chinese coins, and I would hate to waste your time.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is a Postumus antoninianus from the Cologne mint, purchased from a JA auction. I wanted this to represent the city of Cologne in my collection of coins from cities I visited while studying abroad in 2018. Not only was the condition impeccable, I likes the die-cutter’s overzealous rendering of the female anatomy. I haven’t seen another like it.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213024[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213025[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>And now for the Chinese coins. These are in no particular order.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is a prototype hollow-handle spade coin. This is basically the earliest manufactured, non-cowrie money to have existed in China. Excavations of tombs have dated these to 1200-800 BC. There are examples of this exact type which bear an inscription (this one does not), so it is plausible that this can be considered a coin rather than proto-money. That would mean it beats electrum coinage by at least 150 years. It is also exceedingly rare, with another example likely not showing up on the western market for decades.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213026[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>While not a singular coin, it is a singular numismatic artifact. When I bought it, I thought it was simply a clump of coins fused together. After cleaning the dirt off, I found that this was actually a clump of melted scrap! My guess is that someone was melting Wang Mang’s coins right after we was deposed in 23 AD so that they could make their own coins. That would explain the sudden boom of privately-made coins after the fall of Wang Mang.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213027[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213028[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Next up, silver “Liang Ban.” The color of the metal is strongly silver, and the style is quite unique, indicating that it was a special issue. I had never seen anything like it, and the blue encrustations are nice. I need to test it for silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213031[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213032[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Wang Mang “biscuit” Huo Quan with a shattered mould error. This is one of the privately-made issued produced after the fall of Wang Mang. This one is particularly special in that the mould broke apart while the metal was being poured, and it was allowed to cool like that. That makes for a really neat effect.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213033[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213034[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213035[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="TypeCoin971793, post: 5183545, member: 78244"]I see others posting their lists, so I guess I will jump on the bandwagon. 2020 is definitely a year to remember for both good reasons and the never-mding chaos. I started my first job as a Flight Test Engineer for the US Army and I wrote my first book. Those things have kept me sufficiently occupied that I no longer frequent the forums as much as I used to (or would like to). That doesn’t mean I have stopped collecting; that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve been actively pursuing ancient Chinese with the occasional Roman/Greek/medieval thrown in. I will share the lone non-Chinese coin on the list first because most of you couldn’t care less about the Chinese coins, and I would hate to waste your time. This is a Postumus antoninianus from the Cologne mint, purchased from a JA auction. I wanted this to represent the city of Cologne in my collection of coins from cities I visited while studying abroad in 2018. Not only was the condition impeccable, I likes the die-cutter’s overzealous rendering of the female anatomy. I haven’t seen another like it. [ATTACH=full]1213024[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213025[/ATTACH] And now for the Chinese coins. These are in no particular order. This is a prototype hollow-handle spade coin. This is basically the earliest manufactured, non-cowrie money to have existed in China. Excavations of tombs have dated these to 1200-800 BC. There are examples of this exact type which bear an inscription (this one does not), so it is plausible that this can be considered a coin rather than proto-money. That would mean it beats electrum coinage by at least 150 years. It is also exceedingly rare, with another example likely not showing up on the western market for decades. [ATTACH=full]1213026[/ATTACH] While not a singular coin, it is a singular numismatic artifact. When I bought it, I thought it was simply a clump of coins fused together. After cleaning the dirt off, I found that this was actually a clump of melted scrap! My guess is that someone was melting Wang Mang’s coins right after we was deposed in 23 AD so that they could make their own coins. That would explain the sudden boom of privately-made coins after the fall of Wang Mang. [ATTACH=full]1213027[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213028[/ATTACH] Next up, silver “Liang Ban.” The color of the metal is strongly silver, and the style is quite unique, indicating that it was a special issue. I had never seen anything like it, and the blue encrustations are nice. I need to test it for silver. [ATTACH=full]1213031[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213032[/ATTACH] Wang Mang “biscuit” Huo Quan with a shattered mould error. This is one of the privately-made issued produced after the fall of Wang Mang. This one is particularly special in that the mould broke apart while the metal was being poured, and it was allowed to cool like that. That makes for a really neat effect. [ATTACH=full]1213033[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213034[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1213035[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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