gxseries

They are not rare - just doesn't appear out in the Western world. Note that the issue year of 1997 - this is when the first Russian financial crisis occured. A lot of commemorative coins from 1997 - 2000 ish are now commanding a higher premium. Might suspect some coins were not sold to public and melted down. Can't blame anyone for this as if you can't sell them, they are only good for scrap metal. Here's some listings on a Russian auction site. http://molotok.ru/listing.php/search?string=%D0%9F%D0%9E%D0%9B%D0%AF%D0%A0%D0%9D%D0%AB%D0%99+%D0%9C%D0%95%D0%94%D0%92%D0%95%D0%94%D0%AC&category=78259&order=pd&change_view=1

So when is this medal struck? I see three different years on it - 1828 which I presume is the year it's commemorating, the engraver's name which is dated 1837 under the eagle and 1839 - I suppose the dies were made in different years?

Looks like a random fantasy to be honest. Chinese coins are just hideous when it comes to counterfeits - make sure you buy a catalog first before you start.

Won this medal as it was a bargain: Don't have a lot of idea what this medal is.

Bought this coin - think this shows the overdate quite clearly. I'll see if I can get those verdigris removed.

Bought a low grade coin - do you think it's EM mintmark?

They do appear on ebay once in a while but the asking and buying price is quite high. See this link for examples: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=bear&_sop=1&_osacat=32476&_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR8.TRC0&_nkw=bear+gold&_sacat=32476

Been veering off my usual hunt as some of the coins that I've been looking out for are getting a bit too expensive. First up is Argentina 2 centavos. I like the color of it Second is Uzbekistan 1999 10 som. Seems to be unusually difficult coin to find. Think Uzbekistan's 1 som has been voted to be the world's most worthless circulating coin. Third is an interesting pattern coin from Poland. Lastly a set of tokens from Tatarstan. These come in three, one bread token and two petroleum tokens, struck in copper and nickel-copper. Hope you find them interesting. I'm sure you have recently accquired some awesome coins too - please feel free to show them!

I usually spot more Indian error coins instead of Malaysian ones. Might want to give ebay a check.

Goetzdude will buy the entire HA's inventory!!! WOW @ the offering. Did a museum just went bankrupt???

I've been interested in numismatics, mints that have some bragging rights for instance world's largest gold coin, world's first platinum circulating coin, world's first bi-metal, tri-metal etc. Here's some of my thoughts: World's largest gold coin record trend: http://lunaticg.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/worlds-biggest-gold-coin.html World's first platinum coin was officially struck for circulation - Russia 1828 3 ruble World's first tantalum (bimetal + silver) coin - Kazakhstan 2006 500 tenge World's first antimony coin - China 1931 Kweichow 10 cash World's first palladium coin - Sierra Leone 1966, set of 3 coins World's first titanium coin - Gibraltar 1999 5 pounds And so on. List can also be the world's most expensive coin of it's catagory. Would like to see interesting records.

I'm not going to complain squirrel - have been looking for one for years and I'm not fazed about conditions as long as the price is right. I don't know what is right these days but I know I will not see another one any time soon for a price that I am happy with.

Filler coin for now: Can't complain as I don't see one floating around too often other than in auction house catalogs but they often end up to be too steep for me.

I think it's just double struck from EM.

Won the lot of them a while ago and forgot about them completely until I was doing a bit of clean up. Some reckon that this is easy but I beg to differ. While the catalog values for each coin may not be very high, some years in particular from 1965 to 1973 are a lot tougher than what many think. You might be able to find many Soviet coins in junk coin lot including 50 kopek and some commemorative rubles but I have rarely seen hoards of rubles in such coin lot. These days when I look at ebay, prices for a lot of the common XF+ ruble coins (1980s onwards) are commanding at least 5-10 dollars. Coins from the 60s to 70s are priced insane - some are asking for 30 - 50 dollars if not more. I reckon it's A LOT easier to complete an entire set of Soviet commemorative coin set (excluding the Barcelona commemorative coins) instead of this non-commemorative ruble coins. As of why, I have no idea. Here's a couple of photos: With this, I have completed every single Soviet ruble coin that has been released excluding varieties. Maybe you have some of these in your collection?

I have been slacking off on my site as well as my collection as work has been hectic as usual. Here's three different links: Silver type set 1802 - 1917: http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_imperial/ag_group_1802_1917.htm Copper type set 1700 - 1801: http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_imperial/cu_group_1700_1801.htm Copper type set 1802 - 1917: http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_imperial/cu_group_1802_1917.htm Didn't do a type set from 1700 - 1801 becaue it's likely to be expensive. Might be a good idea to keep track of what I have in my collection though. Latest addition to this set would be this tiny coin: Polushka or 1/4 kopek. They are unusually difficult to find. Might start getting a bit serious on some of the easier coins to fill in the holes. Show us some of your awesome Imperial Russian coins.

Ok I'm stumped - are there any rare variety or what in them? http://www.ebay.com/...=item3380bf53fe

Does not look genuine to me.

Prices are all over the place to be honest - I don't think the prices of Soviet coins have stablized yet for some of the key dates. This will include the 1991 no mintmark 10 kopek. I don't know what the fair price of it - might have to check out molotok.ru to see what the average price is.

Speaking of resemblence, I remembered this thread: http://www.coinpeople.com/index.php?/topic/14452-an-interesting-coin-from-italy-that-may-look-similar/page__hl__italy__fromsearch__1

The era of Chinese Emperor ended in 1911 after the Xinhai Revolution. The new Republic was founded on the first day of 1912 and several coins were issued to commemorate this event. Previously every province were issuing their own coins and this would be this first time were attempts were made to have a standard unified coinage. Here are some varieties that are reasonably cheap to obtain: Note that there may be varieties i.e. calligraphy differences, number of leaves etc. This coin however is an interesting one and I bought this by pure luck: This doesn't appear on the market very often - could be reasonably scarce. Maybe you would have some of these in your collection?

Won this medal commemorating the 50th anniversary of Moscow Metro. I'm a big fan of Moscow Metro and hope that I'll visit there again some day. In fact, Moscow Metro is the place that shocked me into the world of art and made me appreciate geology. All the marbles, granite and various rocks that was used - it's something that it's difficult to describe the color contrast but at the same time left a big impression. That alone made me change my career path.

There are countries that have taken their lowest denomination coins - cents, pennies, etc. I don't see a problem. The cents get rounded up or down AFTER the bill is added up. If you see that you are going to lose 2 cents because of the rounding, you can pay exact using your card. New Zealand just got rid of their 5 cents - not much of a drama either. I can guarantee 500% is definitely an exaggeration and want to see the maths behind it. Whinging about inflation isn't going to help either - might as well find a job that pays you better.

WCO, I think it's a lot easier to talk about it than trying to find the mentioned key dates. Sure I would like to upgrade the coins but I can always sell them off later when I find a better example. At the same time, UNC conditons of these coins probably will cost a small fortune. From my experience, it does not hurt to buy poor grade key date coins as long as they are priced right. Wait till a few years later and they become very very unaffordable even in damaged condition. But again, this is my opinion - I'll rather have a complete collection even in poor grade instead of having holes. I can always upgrade them when opportunity arises. So far I am not regretting this decision and wished I bought some other tough key dates.

When is the last time you saw one for offer? Managed to grab hold of a super low grade 1788 TM - just waiting for it to come in the mail. Pretty sure it's one of the more expensive copper that I've paid for but I don't quite remember the last time I saw one for offer. I've seen Alex and Sigi's in their collection. There's one going in Markov's auction but wow @ the price. Also another wow for the 1795/88 over the para coin. Pretty sure the prices will end up very strongly.