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gxseries

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Everything posted by gxseries

  1. There was a huge batch of counterfeits that appeared a few years ago and this seem to resemble it. It has similar color and texture which is difficult to explain. Best way to describe the color is that this is more rose red instead of blood red copper color. This particular year and mintmark is actually quite scarce and hence replicas were made.
  2. Remembered this thread when I saw this on auction. Rarenum's example still stands to be the nicest I believe. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOLDAVIA-AND-WALLACHEA-Catherine-II-1771-AE-3-Dengi-PARA-NGC-MS63BN-Pedigreed-/172357454567?hash=item28214e0ae7:g:fMQAAOSw8w1X7DYC Rarenum - I believe I have a completely different die. If you look at the year "1771", mine seem to have the years close together and the second 7 slightly larger than the first. M-dv has some examples http://www.m-dv.ru/catalog/id,7010/prohod.html Don't you love die varieties?
  3. I've been sorting out my collection and found some interesting books (and successfully distracted me from doing further cleanup). The two books are O Istorie a Mondedelor Sadagura and Obyem chekanki rossiyskikh monet. I am intrigued by the history of Moldavian and Wallachian coinage and found some interesting stories. The history of the area involved seems to be in Romania, Moldavia and the former mint - Sadagura is now located in Ukraine. (if I got the locations right - quite mind boggling) - Coins were struck with captured Turkish cannons by Russian soldiers and were sent from different places and delivered back in terms of coins - Mintage of the coins were recorded by poods and pounds so it may be possible to work out roughly how many coins were struck - Coins of 1771 were struck only the last two months; 1774 coins of the first four months of the year - The so called patterns of 1771 coins did seem to circulate however in general are scarce - It is speculated that there may have been some manipulation of 1774 coinage due to financial difficulty - Financial difficulties were reflected where some cost details of labor, transportation were recorded, extracting iron from bronze, baron's debt, scrap metal of the coins - Needless to say, these coins were very unpopular as the general population preferred precious metal and within the next few years, these coins were culled from circulation, to be sent to Moscow. What I found the most interesting is that a fair amount of the coins were already sent to Moscow in 1780 - 116 poods and 24 pounds worth of such coins were already in the mint. Although there may have been plans to either melt them or overstrike them, nothing happened until 1795. It may have been possible that a fair number of them were melted down but it was not favored as it was not cost effective - face value wise it was worth 33% less than what the weight is meant to be and value of the metal is worth 23% of face value. If this number is accurate, this is easily 1 million coins. Any Moscow Mint 1795 coin is just rare in any condition. There is no data of how much coins Moscow Mint struck in 1789 and 1795. While I will attempt to work out some kind of mintage figure based on the information that I have - what I am more interested is to understand what happened to the majority of these coins. From a rough calculation based on the amount of ruble vs supposedly copper value involved, there must have been at least 10 million coins struck. 1 million coins were sent to Moscow by 1780 yet the survival rate does not seem to be this high, much less for overstruck Moscow Mint coins. Understandably survival rate drops drastically over major events such as economical disaster - I guess there's more to be researched... Food for thoughts?
  4. It's an old camera that I got about 5 years ago. A Pentax camera and it's not one of those expensive DSLR camera. Believe you can pick one up for less than a hundred dollar these days or even less on ebay as second hand. What's unique about this camera is that it allows you to take a zoom up to 1cm with it's super macro. I believe I snapped close to 9000 photos on this camera alone. I'm sure some avid photographers believe DSLR will do a better job but to purchase one and do a proper setup... I'm very happy with what I have.
  5. Something looks wrong about this. It looks like a recent replica. Other experts may disagree on this.
  6. I've been sorting out what I have in my collection and saw I had an old Dansco New Guinea coin album. This was a somewhat scarce album when I bought it a few years ago at a bargain. Not too bad except the folder itself is more than 50 years old and the mintage figure seems to be wrong. I personally don't like the design itself since you can only view the coins on just one side. This is more like a white elephant. https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/new_guinea So I decided to re-design the album. I probably got a hang of how to make digital coin albums much faster than what I was used to. https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/new_guinea_coin_album_1935_45 I guess the beauty of this set is that all coins are very affordable except the 1929 coins which did not circulate. I admit that I wasn't aware of New Guinea's history until I did some reading. Please feel free to share some of your New Guinea coins!
  7. Thank you Art and thedeadpoint. I guess what makes it interesting is that as Australia and New Zealand are separated a fair distance across the ocean - the only way this can happen is when Kiwi or Aussie tourists accidentally mix their change and this is how they end up in circulation. Bear in mind that the shortest possible journey from New Zealand to Australia can be anywhere from 2 - 4 hour flight distance. If I am not wrong, New Zealanders historically didn't need a visa or had easier circumstances to come into Australia if they want to come for holidays, live or work. It might be quite different today. Because New Zealand had an active program to remove all the older coinage in 2006, many of the older coinage no longer circulate.
  8. I've decided to do post this thread in a different way to attempt to expose how counterfeiters these days try to peddle their wares. In this topic, I'll only focus on world coins. Unfortunately these sellers seem to be very successful judging by their feedback. In the past it used to be easy to tell what replicas / forgeries / counterfeits are. Historically it has been "crude details", "wrong metal", "weight under / over weight", "seller in China". Not today. Counterfeiters have been busy at work learning where they made mistakes and made huge improvements since then. In fact, it's even got major TPGs very busy. Some interesting news can be read here - https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/5378/Counterfeit-Detection-2015-Chinese-New-Year-Silver-3-Yuan/ So what are counterfeits doing to sell their wares these days? They have improved and diversified their products. In my opinion, no coins these days are safe from being counterfeited. I do own a 1 yuan counterfeited yuan which is worth a mere face value of just 12 US cents. Now I'm listing a group of sellers which I found similar themes. Bear in mind that this is a small group of sellers I've seen. I would like to point out their similarities. aleale_srvhpjni http://www.ebay.com/sch/aleale_srvhpjni/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 craius1 http://www.ebay.com/sch/craius1/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 getmisscakes http://www.ebay.com/sch/getmisscakes/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 happycoins2010 http://www.ebay.com/sch/happycoins2010/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 jakscottj-0 http://www.ebay.com/sch/jakscottj-0/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 kriknott0 http://www.ebay.com/sch/kriknott0/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 laparkesmit0 http://www.ebay.com/sch/laparkesmit0/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 sandrabryanea9 http://www.ebay.com/sch/sandrabryanea9/m.html?LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684 I make no apologies for the listed sellers as they have sold counterfeits. Notice a similar trend? Many of these are highly collectable coins and they have been sold for a fraction of what they should be worth. The biggest red flag is how diversified they are and often in "high grade" condition. These are often from high popular countries such as China, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Swiss, US etc. Some are pretty obscure coinage as well. Let's be realistic - if you see such hoard appearing all at once in the last few months, something does not add up does it? On top of this, the luster of such counterfeits seem to be similar across different sellers. Now let's put it from a counterfeiter's prospective. I'm certain that it would be more profitable to create a batch of counterfeits at once rather than making one off. So if a counterfeiter makes 50 different types of coins, at least 50 copies each, spread it across 50 different sellers with different combination... this is what we are seeing now. No longer has it been a seller that specializes in selling a specific counterfeit. They have learned and buyers are now facing it. So what does it mean for collectors? We must continue to learn about the hobby and not get bitten into this counterfeit bug. I am certain there must be an illegal business ring behind the scene and we should not give them a single cent of our hard earned money. These people will continue to improve their wares with the help of uninformed buyers. Not only that - this also sends a wrong message to both genuine buyers and sellers. From a honest seller's point of view, it would hurt to have buyers claiming that their products are overpriced should they reference prices off counterfeits. For now - if you see a seller being too diversified with unreal grades, run. I've seen a seller with more than 1000 feedback and still manage to get away with selling counterfeits. Best advice is to continue to learn more about the hobby and be an expert in it.
  9. This is an interesting challenge that I've been up to. Actually there are two. 1) Finding Kiwi coins that circulate in Australia 2) Rephotographing and cataloging the Kiwi coins that I have within a time frame of one week into digital type set format. It's interesting to see that Kiwi coins do appear in circulation in Australia once in a blue moon. The main reason why they managed to circulate for so long is that the Kiwi and Aussie coins were struck in similar specification hence vending machines just take them. This only apply to 5, 10 and 20 cents. In 2006 all the older types are declared to be no longer legal tender. Newer coins are struck in lighter and cheaper material. As for how scarce Kiwi coins are in circulation - they are as endangered as the little kiwi birds. Yet when they do appear, sometimes the mintage of some of them are as low as 2 million. I've always had real difficulty of creating a digital type set album and historically it has been taking me at least a month to research, plan, design and making a final product. I've decided that this needed a real change and it had to be done within a week. Result is that it can be done as I haven't been smart with what I was doing. It still shares similar format but looks great. Ok enough talk and let's enjoy the final product: https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/new_zealand_type_in_aus
  10. I didn't think the forum was that old for starters but it's good to see some old timers in here still kicking around!
  11. Hello rarenum, I'll have another look at the coin. From the photos, it doesn't look like there is corrosion. There is a bit of discoloration and I believe it's just due to the storage. I admit that I didn't quite understand what I was looking at and there does seem like a bit of haloing around the dengi characters. It may be possible that the dies are different. The bottom of the number 3 just looks completely different and therefore I am certain there were at least two different dies used for the production of this coin. I've attempted to preserve this coin a while back and this is the latest photo
  12. Thanks art! thedeadpoint, the difference is in the legend above the crow. The original legend "ВАЛАК." was used for coins 1771 and 1772. However very few pieces were struck with this legend as "ВАЛОСК." became the standard. As such, there is no such coin with the "ВАЛОСК." legend for 2 para - 3 kopek. As of how scarce it is, I reckon for every one of 1772 "ВАЛАК." I have seen, I would have seen at least 30 - 50 "ВАЛОСК." of such. 1771 is much scarcer - probably around 2 - 3 times harder. Again, it is a rough estimate so I could be quite wrong. Mind you, I swear I would have seen at least 100+ of such para coins for starters and I was hunting down one for years. I got very lucky with the 1771 para. Rarenum - you probably own the finest example of the 1771 para! I have to admit - I cannot see the difference with the "dengi". I don't think it has been re-engraved - would like to know where specifically you are looking at. It might be to do with the poor photography or angle. At the same time, I would not be too surprised if varieties exist even for such a small batch...
  13. Reviving an old thread since this is related. If you know this type of coinage inside out, this is one coin that will stand out. This is the variety described as "valak" instead of "valosk". Took me a bit of time to recognize this due to it's condition. While the condition is really poor, I know very well that this is one that will not appear in the market any time soon (unless one is prepared to pay an arm or a leg) And this is the common variety As for the importance of this coin, the "valak" variety may have been unapproved (I don't know too much of it's history) and hence was changed later. What is more interesting is how worn this coin is. Considering that this was struck in gun cannon metal - details may have been weak initially however I have never seen one this worn - many are either corroded or in poor condition but not till this worn. To my observation, it seems that out of all the para - 3 dengi coins, 1772 dengi is the most common followed by pattern 1771 para. The 1772 para "valak" would be significantly harder and the 1771 "valak" seems to be nearly impossible to find in any condition. Of course, this does not include the 1771 pattern para with the four monograms which is truly the hardest. Nevertheless, I'm a happy man
  14. Hello and welcome to coinpeople. If it is possible, can you please post a photo? Value is determined by the condition as well as the variety.
  15. Here's some coin puzzles http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=son-montuno&item=371217506417&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xpuzzle.TRS0&_nkw=puzzle&_sacat=0 Just thought it's interesting to think a bit out of the box
  16. Thought this looked quite interesting for a change... now don't get too addicted to copper and have them like chocolate... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-Russian-Imperial-Copper-Coins-/201606138364
  17. I don't think this should be classified as error. This should be classified as overstrike where old coins were used as planchets. This was a common practice in the old days. In fact a 1804 dollar coin was overstruck over 1857 Swiss thaler, meaning a mint employee used an old coin as a planchet.
  18. Thank you for your kind words Art! Hopefully I'll get around to creating more interesting type set albums.
  19. Sigi, I think you are right! Should have checked my reference and it should have been obvious.
  20. With the rise of internet and collectors finding it easier to collect coins from all over the world - there's one aspect that's still somewhat lacking. That's properly design coin albums. Dansco used to manufacture them around 1960s but that's already well over 50 years ago! This actually gives rise to collecting such albums and many foreign Dansco album can command serious premium even in used condition, well easily 50 - 100 USD+. In fact a book was written about them a while back: https://books.google.com/books?id=fGpzPvuNDy8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Now how can something not be replicated today? With any business model, supply and demand comes to mind. I'm sure the demand is out there but to provide limited amount of supply at the right price proves to be challenging. Fortunately technology is out there to help. With the aid of photoshop, creativity can come to place. Here are some examples around the world (designed to my taste) Japan (it would be perfect for an updated page for Dansco Japan type set) Korea Russia And of course flip books can be made as well to emulate coin albums online. In fact PCGS even got one step ahead and made it more customizable. Take for example this: http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/Album.aspx?SetID=134748 I have to argue that the design is wrong as when the pages are flipped, the coins are supposed to be in coin orientation, not medal orientation. (unless all of them happen to be die rotation error, which will be a serious collection by its own right!) Alas, when one collect coins, collectors want to display them. The coins wouldn't stand out in a 2D display screen. But again, how complicated is making an album? Required materials are cardboard (paper), mylar sheet, some labels (ink / gold) and some screws. I would be interested in the overall manufacturing process and see how it can be done to relate to other numismatics field. May spark some interests. Until then, I guess it's another day...
  21. I believe the mintmaster marks have been punched in twice. Not too common but quite neat! In some cases, the mintmaster initials have been modified which is a lot harder to come by.
  22. I guess I could have asked if I could take a photo but it was an event where no one is allowed to take photos. On top of it - I'm sure the lady would have freaked out!
  23. I have been away for a while since I have been busy with life. Today I noticed there was a lady with a huge silver coin as a necklace. Of course since I'm posting in this section of the forum, it has to do with Russian coins. It was a Peter II coin which I suspect it would have been minted around 1728. So I complimented that she had a very nice necklace. To add to that, I did throw her off completely that not only was it Russian but it was struck around 1720s. Now I kinda did wish I remember what variety it was. Somewhat a shame to see it in a jewellery since it looked like a VF+ / XF- condition with natural planchet flaws... Just a random rant for the month. But again, when did you get to see something like that!!!
  24. Thought it looked quite interesting - a return back to the Tsar era? This affects coins from 1 ruble all the way to 10 ruble. http://cbr.ru/Bank-notes_coins/?Prtid=coins&file=coins_97/rub_1_97.htm
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