BKB

As long as they are interesting to me (I need them) and I can afford them, I am more than interested to see what you keep in the bank.

PM me what you find interesting. (Period, emperor, denomination). I keep all kinds of things in the bank :-) Do yo have a list of coins you are looking for?

Right now I switched my collecting interest completely. Coins do not excite me anymore. Jump on the opportunity, until I get interested in coins again :-)

However, there is not too many ugly coins, or 5 kop coins for that matter -- too much weight.

I like beautiful expensive coins too, but buy them so rarely nowadays, that have nothing to show off for now, apart from what I showed in eBay watch section.

 

But, if anyone would like to get read of their ugly coins in a better state or rarity that they collected years ago, more than happy to see what you have, and may be buy, if I like them. I am officially, in love with beautiful ugly copper side of Russian Empire, particularly if there is a story behind it to uncover...

If you are really interested, I can go to the bank and send you some photos. I do not mind parting with coins I no longer like...

It is all about collecting preferences. In my "later" collecting years I finally learned to practice self-restraint. At this point, I am ok with buying 1 - 2 beautiful coins a year (or, no coins) instead of a bunch of low grade cheaper ones. For whatever reason I no longer derive any joy from ugly coins. But, as I said, it is very personal.

Whatever works for you. Collecting is very individual.

To answer your question -- yes and no. Depends on the level of material you collect.

As I recall Squirrel has a nice 1798 AM Denga. Maybe he can show it?

I'd buy it if it is truly nice. :-)

It is very scarce. Just ask Steve :-) Only reason I had 3 (now down to 2), is because I was consciously looking for it for years. But, I do not consider the ones I have as coins -- antiquities, maybe :-) Yours is 100 times better.

very tough to find in decent shape..

They pale in comparison to all those minors in Proof that were sold at the end of the main part of the Sincona collection.

 

BTW, I did win the 1798 AM Denga!

Very good coin. Scarce in good condition. I had 3, all are ugly...

It could be many different things.

Did you find anything?

Collector's mark :-)

Some of those coins did at some point.

Interesting find. I have never seen it.

I think it would be interesting to do a die comparison to see if this die ever had the line. Could be many reasons why this coin does not have the line:

1. Die was initially made without it.

2. Die was filled in and the line did not stamp out on the coin.

3. Some sort of die repair that eliminated the line (unlikely)

4. Tampering with the coin to create a rare variety.

Hard to tell from these photos. First step would be to look at it using a 40x magnification. A microscope is perfect for that. Then I would look for the same die on m-dv.ru, or another database you use. But, being that there are no die breaks I can see, it would be a tough job.

All in all, I think you would have better luck on some russian numismatic forum. There is a lot more of this newly dug-up material that they see...

It is clearly Bitkin 1351 - 1357. Then, 1351, 1353 and 1355 are out, because the crowns there are not tall. 1356 and 1357 are out because the portrait is different.

What is left, is 1352 and 1354. And, it looks like the same coin. :-) Look at "E" in MOHETA. And look at the same spot on your coin ;-) I do not see much difference between the 3 of them...

Interesting -- same thing in Diakov/Fenzi: 421 or 422. The only difference is the crown's lower rim design of 422 is: "similar to 421 but larger diamonds on crown rim". This most likely would suggest same dies after some repair. That would explain 1352 and 1354 listings of same dies as diff. varieties in Bitkin. And it is hard to tell due to awful illustration quality.

P.S. See what you did Dwight -- you made me go back to coin books again :-) I thought I was done with this...

Yep. You got it. :-)

There was a film from 1923 about the minting process of Chervonec. I cannot locate it, but it was amazing in detailing of all minting processes step by step.

There is a number of catalogs. Some old, some new. I use Fedorin catalog.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RSFSR-USSR-Soviet-Coins-1921-1991-A-Fedorin-4th-Edition-/301687662665?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item463dfc6849

Problem is, if you do not read Russian, -- most of them are in Russian.

1931 20 kop in silver is a bit less rare than the other 2 (IMXO)

looks original. condition is very decent for the type, but ppl pay big money for shiny stuff only nowadays...

nice coin

Yep, you are right. Except, there was a video about minting of 1923 soviet gold coin where you could see manual planchette preparation (scraping).

Die lines on a coin are not hairlines. Because lines resulting from wiping a die are incuse, i.e., they cut into the die's surface, the resulting lines on the coin struck from a die that's been wiped are in relief, i.e., they stick out above the surface of the coin. True hairlines cut into the surface of the coin. So while die lines may at first look like hairlines, they are not and are easily distinguished from hairlines with a good glass. In general, the grading companies do not downgrade a coin due to die lines. I have seen proof coins from dies that have been lightly wiped, and there are fine lines projecting abouve the proof surface, but the coin can still be highly graded unless of course the die lines are so evident and massive that eye appeal is affected. If this is the case, then the coin may be downgraded since the grading houses factor in eye appeal (in their opinion) a great deal.

 

Die lines, then, are part of the original surface of the coin whereas hairlines are damage added after the coin has been minted. This is an important distinction for the grading companies.

There is also 3rd kind of lines -- traces of planchette preparation prior to minting. Not as easily distinguished from hairlines as die lines...

I saw an NGC PF61 Cameo with some hairlines...

With these things, only the one inflicting injury would know for sure. Unless, of course, it is a published punch mark like Lisenko or Guten-Czapski...

1849 is a bit overdone :-)