gxseries

Inspired by a collector called Jim Rugh who collects coins and medals in various elements, I decided to give this set a go. This set would only include coins that were issued (no private mint tokens / medals). Personally I didn't think it was that hard other than it being expensive as you would include precious metals in it as well. Turns out I was quite wrong! While I bought all of my precious metals many years ago when gold was 700 dollars and silver at 5 dollars (yes it was that long ago), there was just one element that remained illusive for many many years. This element is antimony. I'm missing coins struck in these three elements: manganese, titanium, niobium. I figured I can get them any time as there are plenty of examples floating around - except I don't quite agree with the prices. Here's my couple other favourites: Hunting these coins might have made me a metal head but I think it made me appreciate how different metals were used for various reasons whether it's economical reasons, marketing ploy, novelty and such. Maybe this might spark an interest in you in doing a similar set?

Art - I'm quite certain that "sets" is not a criteria for PCI2013. Nevertheless, would be posting some appealing coins this year.

RAM normally don't list the mintage until the end of the financial year which would be the end of June next year. It's a bit odd how business is done in Australia but the cut off date for financial reporting is the end of June instead of December. The RAM would have a report by July ish this year but that will not be a full indication of the total mintage as this does not include the mintage from July to December this year.

Part 2: 1965 1966 1968 1970 1971 1972 1990 M

Hunted down some of the tougher 5 kopek coins. I'm just missing 3 years - 1927, 1937 and 1969. Shouldn't be too much harder as I have obtained the tougher key dates - 1933, 1934, 1935 old type, 1970 and 1990 M. 1933 1934 1935 old type 1945

At least 2 years ccg - does show you that it's completely underrated and a lot tougher than what many expected. Krause and JNDA values are not even close to what I had to pay for. This set includes coins that I have upgraded over the years so imagine what it is like. Stil missing a couple of 5 fen aluminum coins and I haven't seen any examples of such for a while.

Finally found this last coin that I took a while to find - 1933 5 fen. Unusually difficult to find for some reason - Manchukuo coins in general seem to be getting wiped out from the market fast and furious. This is the last coin that I needed - probably paid silly money for it but I just wanted to fill this hole. The rest of my Manchukuo collection can be found here in album format: http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg2_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg3_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg4_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg5_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg6_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg7_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/manchukuo_pg8_small.jpg The rest of the holes seem to be amazingly difficult to be filled especially the smallest denomination 5 li. If you have any spares that can fill the holes and are willing to let go of them, please let me know.

Yes, it's photoshopped Alex. I get to choose the layout of how I want the coins to be together.

Just missing the 1990 M 10 kopek and 1991 no mintmark coins - these are tough. The toughest coins in this lot is 1965-1969. Other coins can be seen here if you are interested: http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_3k_24_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_3k_61_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_5k_24_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_5k_61_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_10k_24_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_15k_61_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_50k_61_pg1_small.jpg Unfortunately it's taking too much time to make one of this pages as I need to rephotograph some of the coins and it takes a while to put it in photoshop.

Manchukuo or better known as Manchuria was an area that was occupied by Japan during WWII. I found the 1943 1 fen to be unusually difficult to find. This seems true for a lot of Manchukuo coins struck in between 1941-1944 for some reason - they are getting scarcer to find by the day. Strangely enough, fiber coins are much easier to find regardless of the catalog value. I do not have a Krause catalog handy to know what the values are but JNDA (Japanese catalog) seem to greatly underrate coins struck in between 1941-44. Fiber coins on the other hand are overvalued for some reason. Not sure if anyone else collects such coins but would like to hear how difficult you find these coins to be.

Finally completed the toughest 3 kopek set with these two coins. Only exception is the 1958 3 kopek, which is extremely hard to obtain / pricey. Starting with this one year coin that is struck in the large planchet or the old Imperial Russian coin standard from 1924, this lasted till 1991. 1924 3 kopek The rest of the coins can be seen here: http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_new_type/russia_3k_21_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_new_type/russia_3k_61_pg1_small.jpg Been a bit too busy to create the pages for the reverse but you get the idea. This came as a surprise as I thought other Soviet denominations would have been easier to fill but it turns out to be very very wrong.

Makes you wonder why I am posting this in the Russian coin forum but there's a reason: If you cannot guess why, answer can be found here: http://www.capatob.info/collect/tokens_coin.html

Here's a good photo comparsion 1936 http://gxseries.com/dump/1936_5k_large_b.jpg 1951 http://gxseries.com/dump/1951_5k_large_b.jpg As you can see, the 1936 5 kopek seem to be more grainy when you look at the higher resolution photo. Hence my suspection.

Here are some of the 1970 coins. I have the 1970 non-commemorative coin as well that I need to photograph.

This coin has to be from Sestroretsk as it's overstruck over Swedish ore. I admit I have trouble telling the difference even for the 2 kopek coins. Will have to take the time to look at them. All my other 1 kopek coins are of extremely poor condition. I thought I had a kopek coin that's 1760 over 57 but that seems rather unlikely now. Have to find that coin and take better photos.

The price for the 1970 15k according to the catalog is suggested tobe at 8500 ruble, which is around 300 dollars (give and take). It's still a lot higher for what it was sold for. Personally I would like to close all these holes as much as I can but the prices have gone absolutely crazy. For instance, all the 1 ruble coins from 1961-1991 is supposedly doable for about 10 dollars each (average). Turns out this is not the case especially late 60s and 70s. I have just recently completed this set. There are some coins that are 'common' but they just don't appear anywhere! For instance, I have been looking for 1991 50k (M) and 1966 10 kopek for a while. I have also JUST completed the 3 kopek coin from 1924 - 1991 except 1958. Waiting for two coins to come in at the moment. This has been one of the tougher coin set to be completed. Price wise, you would think it's easier to complete 1k or 2k (except for a couple of rarer coins) but this wasn't the case.

We need pictures before any futher speculation.

Won this recently and thought this looks quite neat: I think it was issued around 1950s from what I read? Information is from metro.ru. The size of this coin is in between the Soviet 10 and 15 kopek coins. Weight is 2.91g. Still trying to look for the older issues.

Rather unusual but it would be cool to have them side by side in one's collection. Do you have them Alex?

Happy holidays everyone and may this year be the prosperous!

I thought 1970 5 kopek is the key date to the entire Soviet coins other than varieties of 1991 and 1958 but this price got me quite shocked. http://www.ebay.com/...=p2047675.l2557 http://www.ebay.com/...=p2047675.l2557 I think I can put a stop in collecting Soviet coins for quite a long time. I'm just missing the 1966 10 kopek and the 1990 M 10 kopek for this type. Other denominations can wait I guess...

Going through some of my Sadagura collection. Complied what I had and they look quite good. Rather tough coins for a couple of them. http://gxseries.com/numis/rus_imperial/sadagura.htm I still don't think I will ever top the pattern and the overstruck coin!

You have to wonder if the seller knew someone in the mint or he used to work in the mint. Regardless, interesting error coins. I don't think I'll own another feeder error like this any time soon.

I think some of my goals are as follows: 1) Get rid of duplicates in my collection - they don't earn interest so why should I keep holding onto them especially if they are low value? 2) Target some of the hideous holes in my Soviet coin collection. Some of the key dates are starting to hit several hundreds 3) Target a few more holes in the Manchukuo collection - this is also another tough one 4) Keep on updating omnicoin - I estimate to be at least 500+ coins behind in photographing 5) Process all those photos that I have and make them into digital albums. 6) Keep a log of what I have and stop buying doubles!!! This can be plain stupid at times. 7) Always keep an eye on random coins - they could be upgrade what I have and sell my poorer grade coins. 8) Probably update my website??? Just too many things to do but time poor

The monograms for TM coins should be known for slightly tighter or bold monograms. This coin seems more like it was modified from other coins.