gxseries

Had a good shock when I saw the final price. I know it's in really good condition but that price? Wow. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1710-RUSSIAN-RUSSIA-COIN-1-KOPECK-KOPEK-/390672227672?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item5af5e11d58&nma=true&si=EGl2UL07FNaL4LTD3wXHNlndlJg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I'm been a freelance translator and I know that some termologies cannot be easily found in dictionaries unless you are both a numismatics and a translator. For instance try to translate these terms in another language: error, brockage, overstrike, overdate, double die, multiple strikes, counterfeit, plated, clad, etc. I think there are some terms that are easier (or standard) such as diameter, weight, metals etc but some technical terms may pose a challenge. Reason why I ask is I'm getting stuck in a rut in the field that I am collecting and I would like to broaden my knowledge looking at foreign markets. Imagine looking for error coins from the middle of Middle East, reading latest articles about counterfeits coming from China, bullion articles and so forth. I acknowledge English is a universal language but at times I think that I might have taken it for granted especially in a wide field of numismatics I focus on. What I propose is to setup a page for people to use it as a guideline. At times I have seen sellers from overseas trying to describe funny things. For instance a seller has attempted to describe an overstrike as "new and old coin". Bit crude but ruins potential customers. Another possibility is that you might be able to check out a foreign website for error coins and find some gem in there. Figured that coin forums are the best place to post as there are some foreign collectors hiding somewhere and it may help others who find English is not their language. Ambitious but I see this as a long term project. Suggestions?

This price got me shocked big time. It's a regular Japanese 1986 10 yen coin (worth around 10 US cents) but unless you are a serious collector, a lot would have missed this. In fact, this variety was not in Japanese catalog for a while until very recently. http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k162281872 Asking price is around 1800 USD http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f126699850 Currently going at around 400 USD So what makes this coin rare? Appearently it was decided that a modified design of the temple would be used in 1982. For some reason, it was discovered recently that some coins were accidently muled during late 1981, making them rather scarce. Mintage for this year is 1,369,000,000 followed by a drop in 1982 at 890,000,000. Note that previous years mintage averaged more than 1.2 billion since 1973. (Yes I double checked the figures with Japan mint - http://www.mint.go.jp/eng/coin-eng/eng_number_of_coin_production.html ) My 2011 JNDA catalog does not give a breakdown of what the price difference is but you can tell one's worth signifcantly higher than the other. Japanese error coins are not common but they do appear once in a blue moon, available at moon currency. Will try and get around to post the differences - appearently it's quite minimal but obvious. Edit: The year is 1986, not 1981.

Just made me wonder... Russia is proud to release world's first and only circulating platinum coins back in 1828. (there were counterfeit gold plated platinum coins that circulated before that but they were not meant to be legal tender). Russia also struck the world's first olympic commemorative coins in platinum in 1977. Palladium coins were struck in 1988. Do you reckon that in 2028, we'll see the 200th anniversary of the world's first platinum coin and 40th anniversary of Russia's first palladium coin? (Would be interesting to revisit this thread in 2028 and see if it does happen).

Some of these materials are gold. Would be nice to organize them some day. It is also a wonder for English speaking collectors like me who don't understand much Russian.

I like it! Thanks for showing. Might divert me to the wrong field I swear...

Not too sure how practical these spoon coins are but they look pretty cool. Note that these coins are actually really really small - at around 16mm. It's a real shame to be honest for these Japanese silver coins to be made into such spoons as these coins aren't worth junk silver price. All of them are known to have varieties. Fortunately I think most of them are the common type except for one. I think it's a good idea to use them to put sugar to control how much sugar you put in your cup of tea or coffee. Anyone else with such similar spoon coins?

I've been collecting coins for probably close to two decades. They can be fun - handled all kinds of metals from base metal iron, copper, zinc, to exotic metals such as tantalum and antimony. I've always like to handle coins raw as well as treat them with acetone when they are needed. It's only very recently that there are some coins that I have handled especially some of the older Chinese coins coins that I'm starting to get nasty itches after handling them. Geez they must be loaded with some nasty metal - I just can't figure out what they are. I've handled nickel and cobalt - most common metals to cause allergic reactions. I'm suspecting there's traces mercury in them. I'm sure you can develop such allergies late in life. My food of thought is: how "iron"ic would it be for a coin collector not be able to handle coins in raw? Just thought it's a cruel twist for coin collectors to not be able to handle coins raw.

Was uploading a few coins to omnicoin and got into this situation. I was trying to look for the nation "New Caledonia" but it seems I can't find anything. This also applies to coins that have already been uploaded to omnicoin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Caledonia

This is interesting. These 1000 Swiss franc notes were stolen before they are completed. They could be missing serial numbers, security features etc. Banknote collectors may classify them as errors but in reality, they were stolen before they are authorized for circulation. Bear in mind - 1000 Swiss franc is a lot of money. It's about 1100 USD or 800 euros so it's not small change. Pretty certain some dealer would be on the lookout for them but the cops will be all over the place. URL here: http://www.expatica.com/ch/news/local_news/swiss-central-bank-says-1800-stolen-bills-in-circulation_275161.html

I have to ask this question - where are all these "coins" coming from as well as the mintage??? Seems similar to the fantasy euro prototype. http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5574633083&toolid=10001&campid=5335826004&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg&icep_item=181230467327 http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5574633083&toolid=10001&campid=5335826004&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg&icep_item=181230467506 http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5574633083&toolid=10001&campid=5335826004&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg&icep_item=181230473993 I'm sure there's a few more out there.

I haven't been actively collecting banknotes but have a small stash of them hiding somewhere. I came across them recently as I have been cleaning up and decided to scan them. This is one of them: Released more than 100 years ago around 1885, it features Daikoku at right sitting on rice bales. In Japan, he's better known as the God of wealth. More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikoku-ten As of why I got this - last year I visited Japan and saw this. This is not my photo: http://muza-chan.net/japan/index.php/blog/daikokuten-magical-hammer I'm pretty certain you weren't allowed photography in this area... The saying is if you rub his belly, you might rub some of his fortune onto yourself. Well I don't know if that ever happened but though it was pretty neat to have a banknote that features something that you checked out. But again, I don't know how old this statue is. Could be a few decades old, century old or just a few years as it might get repainted over a few years. Nevertheless, it's the oldest banknote in my collection right now. I don't think it is a common banknote even in this condition. Back to imaging the massive hoard of banknotes and coins that I have... just too many to process! (I'm running out of time to even work on my website for starters!)

Wow - had a close look at it and it's just amazing. The denomination is supposedly a 10 yang and the largest denomination that was issued back then was 5 yang which is essentially a crown / dollar coin. Didn't even resemble anything like the Chinese or Japanese banknotes at that time. I would like to know what the reverse would have looked like. Thanks for posting this link Dave .

Saw this for sale on ebay and kept an eye on it since I am curious what it would go for. Nearly flipped when I saw the final price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-Error-1985-Engels-RUSSIA-NGC-PF-66-UC-Proof-ROUBLE-USSR-Rest-Rubel-Russland-/111178554941?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D298%26meid%3D1678177431698511144%26pid%3D100034%26prg%3D1079%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D200969353770%26&nma=true&si=EGl2UL07FNaL4LTD3wXHNlndlJg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc It's a ruble commemorating the 100th anniversary since the death of Friedrich Engels. There were proof coins struck in 1985 but in 1988 some of the earlier coins were restruck including this particular coin. This coin was accidently muled with a 1983 die, making it rather scarce. I have one as shown I don't think I paid more than 50 dollars back then. Maybe you have some stashed somewhere?

I've been selling on ebay for years and haven't had much issues only until very very recently. I snapped as one buyer decided to open a case with paypal and blow the case up. At the same time, he's won another item from me. Right. I had a couple of claims from the US in the past couple of months claiming that they didn't receive their coins. Yes, after close to 10 years of sending coins to the US and I'm sure I've sent more than one hundred mail to the US - this just had to happen this year. Unless this year's US mail service has been horrible due to cutbacks. Thankfully they were both just a few dollars. Not going to lose sleep over it - however multiply that by ten, twenty, fifty, hundred of claims and they add up very very quickly. Who knows - maybe these buyers think it's a sneaky way of getting funds back without any action? Ebay's / paypal's policy is that if it has no tracking ID, sellers can't be covered. Sure - if the item is valuable enough. But what if the coins are worth let's say less than 10 dollars and the postage of normal air mail is about 3 dollars and registered is 15 dollars? Yes, shipping from Australia unfortunately is not cheap. What would you do? Would like some recommendations here. You can always put a disclaimer that shipping by air mail is at one's risk but how can one tell if the seller is doing the right thing or not? Can't blame them. Needless to say, they are more than welcome to keep their money but I don't want another transaction with them. Would you??? Apologizes in advance as it's not really numismatics but at the same time, would like to hear if any have gone through the same stage as me as well as some tips. Yes, I know some will point out very quickly that it's ebay but that's not a solution.

I've bought this interesting token / coin and have to say I'm quite impressed over it. Something that's issued exactly 100 years ago yet it seems rather modern. As I'm a metalhead (I like to collect coins in various elements), this is something that sparked interest in me for a long time. Price has been quite prohibitive but I got this at a reasonable price considering it's condition. What is neat about these tokens is that each token has been individually labelled. Most catalog mention that the token is made in ivory but the reality is it's made out of ivorine - plastic that imitates ivory. More information can be read here as well as the various designs of the coins. http://www.australianstamp.com/coin-web/keeling/keeling.htm This also reminds me of an old post: http://www.coinpeople.com/index.php/topic/20301-rare-cocoskeeling-wooden-no-ivorine-tokens/ I may hunt the other coins a few years down the road...

As mentioned a while ago, I have finally decided to get a bit serious and do a bit of work on presenting Soviet commemorative ruble. All of the coins are circulated and the mintage numbers are for total - uncirculated and proof. There is one coin that I had to use a proof coin as I didn't take a good photo of the UNC coin that I had. They are about 600kb each and 5 pages in total. http://gxseries.com/dump/soviet_comm_pg01_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/soviet_comm_pg03_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/soviet_comm_pg05_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/soviet_comm_pg07_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/soviet_comm_pg09_small.jpg Quite happy the way I presented them. It's quite tight but represents everything that I wanted. Now I'll have to do the same for the reverse - I just can't get inspired to do it... as well as the other projects that I have in mind.

It's a ridiciously impressive coin. Can't say much about the authencity but it's awesome! Congradulations! Now I'm the one that's drooling.

Hahaha this is hilarious. Made my day. Makes me wonder what they use the quarters for. Potential ammos against humans who try to annoy them???

Very nice coins Vasil. I like them! Actelios - I bought it about last year (I think) when I realize prices of the 1922 ruble kept on going up and up. That was more than what I wanted for - probably more than 200 dollars back then but when I checked the prices recently, it's edging closer to 250 - 400 dollars

I like it Eugene. I'll start to hunt them down. I've got reasons to doubt the 1837 2 kopek coin as well. Wondered what the edge looked like. Did the article mention about Iran using Russian 2 kopek coins (1810 - 1830) as planchets? I've been hunting for one but they are rather scarce. There was also a 1742 (?) grivennik overstruck over a 1741 ruble if I am not mistaken. I forgot to save the pictures and I can't find the thread

Issued around 1660s to late 1680s, a set of coins from various provinces had mintmarks that were issued in both Chinese and Manchu scripts. A lot of coins prior to this had mintmarks that were issued in Manchu scripts only. This particular series is very interesting as well as highly collectable as they can be arranged to form a poem. I'm not too sure if this was ever a commemorative set but this is really neat. Superstition wise, appearently it is said that it repels evil forces. We'll see about that... Difficulty wise, they can be very hard to find in particular coins from Taiwan, Guangdong (Kwangtung), Hunan (Honan), Yunnan and so forth. There's interesting stories from some provinces of why they are hard to find, choice of metal, weight differences, varieties and so forth. Even in this lot itself, some coins are as small as 22mm to 26mm! Some are clearly cast in high quality copper due to the price of zinc being too expensive, some mints cutting corners in particular Henan (Honan). Weight difference - a coin from Henan (Honan) at 2.58g to the heaviest from Jiangxi (Kiangsi) at 5.06g. Henan (Honan) coins were supposedly forbidden to circulate as it was severely underweight. Most coins are around the 3.5 to 4g mark. I find the Taiwan coin to be very interesting as well as difficult to find. Leaving politics aside, this is one of the few coins that Taiwan issued under mainland China. More information can found here: http://www.sportstune.com/chinese/coins/kanghsi/kanghsipoem.html http://ykleungn.tripod.com/kanghsia.htm

Finding a coin from this era in strong UNC / aUNC condition is really difficult, in particular the smaller denomination 1 fun. I am really stoked to obtain one in raw condition like this. Unlike the larger denomination 5 fun, this coin is more yellow than red as it has aluminum in it. Only minted for four years, it seems to be a lot less common than 5 fun in any condition. UNC condition just makes it a lot more desirable. Here's an example of 5 fun Bear in mind that a lot of these 5 fun coins were shipped off to China to be overstruck as 10 cash (most likely by private mints / fraud entrepreneurs). Even so, I reckon for every 1 fun coin out there, there's at least 10 of 5 fun coins. It's a "fun" collection.

Thanks everyone. Yes, appearently these were made back then. I'm not sure if they were related to the rupee in one way or the other ccg. I don't think so but I could be wrong.

Normally I detest counterfeits with passion but this one stumped me with good reason. This coin is supposedly from Guangdong Province dated 1920. An original coin would look like this and weighs around 5.3 grams. This is the supposedly contemporary counterfeit Could have passed on as a terribly oxidized silver that's banged up. Details look surprising good with reeded edge and I think this is either struck or cast in lead zinc alloy. You can write with this coin, i.e. if you rub the coin on a paper, you can write on it although it's not clear. Not too sure if this metal is right as it weights at a mere 4.41 grams. Maybe you can help me work out what the possible alloy is? You normally see a lot of Chinese counterfeits that's struck in cheap iron / nickel alloy and they normally target crown size coins. I guess this is a counterfeit that was produced in the early days.