PCI2011.Round5.BaseMetals & Others

[Art]

GROUP A

ccg's 1862 1 Cent, USA

 

Steve D'Ippolito's 1833 3 Rubles Platinum, Russia

This is a worn, bent example of the Russian 3 ruble platinum piece issued from 1828-1845. It has also been knifed (possibly for acid testing) twice, forming an X on the obverse. Platinum first came to the attention of European science in what is now Colombia; it showed up as nuggets mixed in with gold in panning on the Rio del Pinto. It was not regarded as valuable; in fact it was a nuisance because the panners had to painstakingly sort the nuggets. When platinum nuggets were noticed near the Urals in Russia, peasants would actually use them as shot in their shotguns. (Imagine blowing 1/4 or even 1/2 ounce of platinum nuggets out the muzzle of a shotgun!) Anyhow, Russia faced an annoying situation in the late 1820s--they had both paper and silver coinage in circulation but they did not trade at par (four paper rubles made a silver ruble). Enter the platinum coinage.

These coins were issued by Russia as an extension of the silver coinage (note the value reads 3 Rubles "in Silver"). Not coincidentally, the platinum mines were owned by the politically powerful Demidov family. The three ruble piece did circulate to a very limited extent, as seen with this very coin. The Russians introduced a 6 ruble piece the next year and a 12 the year after that; these did not circulate. There is also a lot of fascinating information on how the coins were made but I'd probably exceeded people's tolerance for coin trivia by now. The 3 ruble piece stands as the only platinum coinage ever issued with the intent of circulating, that actually did so.

 

 

ccg's 1791 12 Deniers, France

 

 

GROUP B

Mark's 2000 Isle of Man Prime Meridian 1 Crown commemorative

The brass used on reverse was taking from original prime meridian which passed through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in southeast London, United Kingdom. The Prime Meridian in Greenwich is now stainless steel.

 

ccg's 1993 10 Pesos, Mexico

Mexico's 10, 20, and 50 peso brass and silver bi-metallic coins of 1993-1995 were among the first circulating bi-metallic coins issued, and the perhaps the only silver coins in the world to be issued for use in normal circulation since the late 1960s. Of these three, only the 10 peso circulated much, and can be found in mid grades. The 20 and 50 peso coins, having paper money equivalents, were not popular, and so did not see much circulation, and are seldom encountered in grades below EF. The increasing price of silver drove these coins from circulation in the 2000s as their BV exceeded FV.

 

 

GROUP C

ccg's 1922 20 Centesimi, Italy

 

Mark Stilson's Feuchtwanger composition one cent

Feuchtwanger composition one cent ht-268 (61) 1837 was the start of what is known as "The Hard Times" or "Panic of 1837" Lewis Feuchtwanger started minting his own coins due to a shortage of small change during this time. They actually were used as money during that time.

[Art]

OK. I finally voted in this one. It is getting harder and harder. By Round 6 I may be frozen into indecision.

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Hey who changed his vote?

[Art]

Hey who changed his vote?

 

 

What rotter would do that?

 

Only about 1 day left. .............................................................

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Doesn't look like it was you, Art--you haven't voted yet!

 

I'm just surprised that ugly duckling made it this far when my Siberian piece choked almost immediately. I only entered four coins and this one is the last survivor. I can only figure that my explanation of what it is must have helped it along. Though it looks like part of the text got cut this time.

[Art]

Doesn't look like it was you, Art--you haven't voted yet!

 

I'm just surprised that ugly duckling made it this far when my Siberian piece choked almost immediately. I only entered four coins and this one is the last survivor. I can only figure that my explanation of what it is must have helped it along. Though it looks like part of the text got cut this time.

 

 

Actually I did retract my votes. Mostly just wanted to see what the system would do with that option and if there was a way or need to look into disabling it. It seems to have worked perfectly and so no need to find a way around it. Sorry if your description got shortened somehow. I'll go back and check it against the original post and repair as appropriate.

 

The coins that get the votes and stay alive are partly the luck of the draw in who they compete against and partly the appeal to some very seasoned collectors. I think the results would be vastly different if the dozen or so voters were all new collectors vs. the group we have. I believe the experience overcomes a lot of the "glitz" appeal of coins and gets more to the "I'd like to own that".

[Art]

Sure enough - part of your description got lost in the movement from thread to thread. Please accept my apology.

 

This is a worn, bent example of the Russian 3 ruble platinum piece issued from 1828-1845. It has also been knifed (possibly for acid testing) twice, forming an X on the obverse. Platinum first came to the attention of European science in what is now Colombia; it showed up as nuggets mixed in with gold in panning on the Rio del Pinto. It was not regarded as valuable; in fact it was a nuisance because the panners had to painstakingly sort the nuggets. When platinum nuggets were noticed near the Urals in Russia, peasants would actually use them as shot in their shotguns. (Imagine blowing 1/4 or even 1/2 ounce of platinum nuggets out the muzzle of a shotgun!) Anyhow, Russia faced an annoying situation in the late 1820s--they had both paper and silver coinage in circulation but they did not trade at par (four paper rubles made a silver ruble). Enter the platinum coinage.

These coins were issued by Russia as an extension of the silver coinage (note the value reads 3 Rubles "in Silver"). Not coincidentally, the platinum mines were owned by the politically powerful Demidov family. The three ruble piece did circulate to a very limited extent, as seen with this very coin. The Russians introduced a 6 ruble piece the next year and a 12 the year after that; these did not circulate. There is also a lot of fascinating information on how the coins were made but I'd probably exceeded people's tolerance for coin trivia by now. The 3 ruble piece stands as the only platinum coinage ever issued with the intent of circulating, that actually did so.

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Can this ugly two headed duckling win PCI 2011?

 

... guess not!

[Art]

A bit of late voting was allowed because my system was unavailable prior to midnight.

 

Results and creating the Round 6 contest:

 

ccg's 1862 1 Cent, USA

 

and

 

Steve D'Ippolito's 1833 3 Rubles Platinum, Russia

 

and

 

ccg's 1791 12 Deniers, France

 

and

 

Mark's 2000 Isle of Man Prime Meridian 1 Crown commemorative

 

and

 

Mark Stilson's Feuchtwanger composition one cent

 

Round 6 will probably be the BaseMetals, etc. Final with all five going head-to-head.