QUOTE(AuldFartte @ Nov 21 2005, 09:44 PM)
I see them as artworks rather than collectible coins.
I'd just hate to see it done to a very rare coin, however.
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I used to see enamelling as a typically `Brit thing'. The Europeans had different ways of being artistic with their coins. The Germans for example making box thalers. I've yet to see any european examples of enamel work to coins....that is, not until spotting that MT thaler!
I think on early Victorian examples which were performed on old clapped out coins as being art, not just for the technical skill and craftsmanship but also for the fact that the `art' has given the host a new lease of life as an entirely different entity. A true `creation'.
While i'm taken by the MT thaler (it is a bit distinctive and stands out from the mass) a bit of me still thinks on it as butchery of a perfectly good coin. I can live with that though but like you would hate it if it had been done on one of the rarer MT type talers.