gxseries

Hard to tell from the pictures but there are scratches and rim marks on the edge. It looks cleaned but you have to do something better with your photos. If you are looking to sell, best is to learn how to take good photos as they make a big difference especially for coins in exceed of thousands of dollars.

In that condition? A lot.

I have been hunting these for years and managed to find them with pure dumb luck. Except they did go out of budget but I know very well that if I miss these, I'll probably find them many many years later at a ridicious price.

First up is a 1 fun coin dated 1893

This is definitely a lot nicer than a banged up coin that I had for years...

It only took a remarkable four years to find a better one - shows how difficult it is.

Second is another fun coin dated 1895. This is the variety with 2 characters instead of 3 characters, i.e. Korea instead of Great Korea - before the words "1 Fun".

A much better upgrade compared to this:

Also took a few years to hunt it down.

Finally this was a coin that I missed out more than seven years ago and regretted not getting it.

1893 5 fun - large font variety

While it doesn't look too special, the majority of 5 fun coins struck in this year are actually the small font variety. This is an example:

I can assure you that this coin is VERY difficult to find. Good reason why I couldn't locate an example for seven years. Even the rarest key date 1899 5 fun was available for sale for some obsence figure. Not sure what the catalog value is but I just pounced on it as soon as I saw it for sale.

And finally one of the best 5 fun coin that I have with a neat die crack - dated 1896. This particular year had three different varieties.

Not too sure if this did interest you but I found it "fun" to hunt these down. May the fun to hunt the other coins begin

I'll finish up compiling an album version of early Korean coins - looks pretty neat but the rest of the holes will be pretty much impossible to fill.

I guess the reality of an engineer is that he or she is expected to find solutions for everything. Mike - this is actually a digital coin album that I've designed in photosho - shouldn't have used the word "made" although I am tempted to make one from scratch. More to come.

Mike, I made the album. I've grabbed the translation off wikipedia and had to take it for granted as pinch of salt.

I do remember reading your passion about platinum coins Steve. Real shame to be honest since they have become very expensive to obtain unless you win the lottery.

I still have to kick myself for not buying a 3 ruble platinum coin when I had the opportunity. There was a banged up one that I could have bought for 300 dollars about 7 years ago but no, I chose to get the modern Soviet platinum, palladium and gold. If I sold all those three, maybe I could buy ONE of those 3 ruble coin.

Still doesn't really answer my question whether Goznak has such plans in 2028 or 15 years from now.

This is ridicious - might as well call it the hobby for Oligarchy.

2 MILLION!?!?!?!

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.