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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;satootoko, post: 23407, member: 669&quot;]The first one is an Israeli aluminum-bronze 5 agorot.&nbsp; I can&#039;t make out the date, but KM25 was minted from 1960-77.&nbsp; Values listed below Unc go from 10¢ to $20.</p><p><br /></p><p>The second one is from the country named on the reverse - Mauritius, an island republic in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.&nbsp; The 2005 Krause lists the 1 cent coin as copper-plated steel, KM#51.&nbsp; It was a one-year issue in 1987.&nbsp; The gentleman on the obverse is Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who is presumably the head of state.&nbsp;&nbsp; His bust is on all coins of this British Commonwealth member since 1987.&nbsp; Previously the British Sovereign&#039;s bust was on Mauritius coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m going to take a wild guess at the third one <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie7" alt=":p" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> , and identify it without opening Krause.&nbsp; Dated Heisei 7 (1996), this bronze ¥10 is Y#97.2, cataloged at 45¢ Unc.&nbsp; The building is the Byo Doo In, an ancient temple.&nbsp; Except for a change from reeded edge to smooth edge in 1959, and the dating changes resulting from the ascension of Emperor Akihito to succeed Hirohito, this design has been used since 1951, and is the oldest currently minted Japanese design..</p><p><br /></p><p>Back to the book for the next one&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> , a nickle-plated steel Czech Republic 5 korun, 4.8g, KM#8, from the Jablonec nad Nisou mint.&nbsp; The last digit of the year isn&#039;t clear, but Krause values Unc examples from 1993 (when the country was formed in a split from the old Czechoslovakia&#039;s successor Czech and Slovak Republic) through 2002 at $1.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eire, of course, is Ireland in Celtic.&nbsp; The Irish harp would be a dead giveaway even if the country name had been obliterated by damage.&nbsp; KM#23, a copper-nickle 10 pence is from the relatively brief period between decimalization in 1971 and the advent of the Euro coinage, in 2002.&nbsp; The same design had previously been used for the florin (2 shillings).&nbsp; The 1971 mintage of 4-million results in an XF catalog value of 45¢ and an Unc. of $1.25.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can&#039;t read the date under the seated figure&#039;s feet, but it must be 1965, as the French Overseas Territory of Polynesia aluminum 2 franc, KM#3, was a one-year design, succeeded by KM#10 which added the legend &quot;I.E.O.M.&quot; flanking the feet.&nbsp; The Paris mint produced 2.25-million, cataloged by Krause at 10¢ VF, 25¢ XF, and $1 Unc.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not sure I&#039;ve ever seen an aluminum coin the color of your Austrian 10 groschen before.&nbsp; KM#2878 was minted from 1951 through the end of non-Euro coinage in 2001.&nbsp; I&#039;m fairly certain yours is dated in the 1990s - the exact year isn&#039;t important for valuation purposes as Krause says they are all worth 45¢ Unc.</p><p><br /></p><p>Last, we have a Sierra Leone nickle-clad steel 100 Leones, with a bust of Naimbana on the reverse.&nbsp; (I have no idea who he is, and this is the only coin I can find with his bust.)&nbsp; KM#46, a one-year type booked at $1.75 Unc.</p><p><br /></p><p>The very first step in identifying coins is to determine the country of issue.&nbsp; For most of the world that simply means reading the legend, which will normally have the country name <i>in the language of the country</i>.&nbsp; There is also a list in Krause of coin denominations, which can be very helpful, especially if the denomination is exlusive to a particular country (for example Lempira in Honduras).&nbsp; Other ID aids in Krause include mongrams, and instant identifier pictures.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you can&#039;t &quot;buy the book&quot;, be aware that most public libraries have at least the 1901-present Krause, and the magic of inter-library loans makes a lot of things available to any library card holder.&nbsp; IMHO a library card is just as important to a coin collector as his/her ANA membership card (which incidentally affords mail access to a mammoth numismatic library).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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