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wabnoles

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Posts posted by wabnoles

  1. Hey everyone

     

    Well I went into the coin shop the other day and found a series of medals and medallions ranging from $5 to $10 each and I have been able to find what I needed on all but one. They are all modern medals. One turned out to be a US Mint restrike of the famous John Paul Jones medal struck by the famous French engraver Augustin Dupre. The other was a commemorative medal made by the Medallic Art Company in commemoration of the reconilitation between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. It was from 1975 and was designed by Elizabeth Jones, who would later go on to be the first female chief engraver of the US Mint. There is a number assigned to this medal and only 2,500 were made so its clearly a commissioned piece (Jones was a self employed artist living in Rome at this time).

     

    The third item has me stumped however. It is not in the greatest condition but still retains enoguh to impress in my nonexpert opinion. What immediately struck me was the size of this coin... it weighs about 10 oz, or a little over ten times the size of a silver dollar. This is also a Medallic Art Company piece that is unsigned On the reverse it says Pfizer Medical Research Laboratories over the top and "Dedicated to scientific research in the service of medicine and mankind October 6, 1960". In the center is likely an aerial of the labs. On the obverse is a male figure holding the symbols of the medical profession in his hands. This is such a heavy item I cannot imagine that this would be something just given out to the general public. I have read somewhere that this is a medical award of some kind. What I would really like to know about this is 1) what it is 2) who the artist was that made this and 3) how many (or little) of these were made. According to a very general history written on Pfizer, they moved to their new research labs in Groton, CT in 1960 so perhaps this medallion has a connection to this new facility.

     

    Is there a catalogue out there of the historic Medallic Art Company medals?

     

    http://omnicoin.com/coin/1028668

    http://omnicoin.com/coin/1028669

     

  2. Well finally did it made the plunge and bought a 1859 France 10 francs gold coin from Apmex... got it cheap and while I do not have gold checking chemicals, etc., I do have a coins scale. It checked out plus Apmex is reputable so I am confident in this. Not a rare coin by any stretch of the imagination and is a little short of AU but still not a bad price to get a 150+ year old gold coin for about $20 over melt. We all start somewhere... want to make a move on a $1 US gold piece... was saving for one but found some really good deals on other coins and I just lost patience lol.

  3. Usually the coins that are faked are of a rarer and more valuable variety. This coin looks ok. Where did you get this coin? I am assuming you are not a collector and are merely trying to unload the coin. One thing I have invested in as a safeguard of sorts for buying these larger silver coins and gold coins is a coin scale. You still need to be careful for the gold coins but for the more common larger silver coins it is a good safeguard as these coins are usually not worth the time and trouble of faking them. As for a value, you should see what similar coins have sold for on ebay (not what they are asking). That is usually a good indicator of the value.

  4. Well I was going to get a gold coin this month but owing to unexpected bills will wait till next month. What I did find tho for $18 combined was a 1908 Philippines Peso, 1966 Canada dollar, and a 1954 Canada 50 cent piece. Also traded in my standing liberty quarter I got from the $14.50 lot I was talking about a little while ago for a 1910 Costa Rica 5 cent and a 1910 Costa Rica 10 cent... both tiny coins, 90% silver, and really awesome in the amount of details engraved into such a small surface. Got some Victoria pennies (1861, 1900, and 1901), a 1907 British sixpence, and a few Mexican copper-nickel coins. So my gold collection is on hold but my big silver coin collection moves onwards.

  5. Happy day! Coins arrived and to my luck the 1913 Barber was a 1913 S! The shield nickel is a hard to read date but the last number is a 6 which means its either 1866 or 1876. The 3 cent piece is pretty worn on the reverse but still considering the 1913S and the silver weight alone, this lot is worth it.

  6. btw one other recent addition of note... threw in what I call a "lottery ticket bid" of $20 on a lot of 5 mercury dimes, two Barber dimes, an undated standing liberty quarter and shield nickel, and an 1867 3 cent nickel. To my shock, I won it for $14.50 (plus $2.85 shipping). I fully expect (and understand) the guy would cancel this auction but he gave me a good review so who knows.

  7. Well everyone

     

    Its been a while since I have posted anything regularly in this forum... last time I was here on a regular basis I was talking about getting into the "big silver coins". I have made it a habit to acquire at least one foreign silver coin at or near 25 grams preferably at least 83.5% but could be less if the price is right. Here's what I got:

     

    1930 Hungary 5 Pengo

    1939 Netherlands 2 1/2 Gulden

    1944 Curacao 2 1/2 Gulden

    1956 Morocco 500 Francs

    1837 France 5 Francs

    1869 France 5 Francs

    1871 Spain 5 Pesetas

    1916 Peru Sol

    1869 Belgium 5 Francs

    1888 Brazil 2000 reis

    1877 Mexico 8 Reales

    1907 Prussia 5 Mark

     

    Still bargain bin hunting too... the other day at the 5 for a dollar bin got a 1892 British sixpence, 1882 Canadian 5 cents, 1968 Canadian silver dime, 1912 Belgian cent, 1950s era South African penny, and a recent Canadian dollar coin. Have a new "honey hole" in town too with British Commonwealth junk silver buckets (right up my alley).

     

    Some of the "smalls" I acquired: an 1850 Netherlands 5 cents in nice condition, 1889 British 2 annas, 1835 United Colony of Demetery and Essequibo (British Guyana) 1/4 Gulder (beat up but an uncommon coin). As you tell, I am a guy who prioritizes silver but I do have some bronze/coppers of note: the counterstamped 1842 large cent mentioned before and an 1822 Lombardy-Venetia Centisimo (my first preunification Italian state coin). Well that is that. Have been silent on this board but have certainly kept busy with the collectin'

  8. Hey everyone

     

    Found this unbelievable gem at the flea market for $2 the other day. It is a counterstruck 1842 large cent that is counterstruck either J. or S. Harper. Has anyone come across these before? I was doing a cursory glance at the listings in ebay and saw that the counterstruck coins with full last on them went for much higher than the ones with just initials. The coin itself is also is rather good condition... in better condition than most of the circulated Indian Heads I have come across.

     

    And yet again I keep having trouble uploading images straight onto the site. I am going to use Omnicoin again.

     

    http://www.omnicoin.com/viewcoin/1027010

     

  9. Hey everyone

     

    I am really more of a collector than a seller but a friend of mine recently came into a big pile-o-silver coins and I am trying to sell them on ebay. This is my first attempt at doing this but check it out if you can. My photog work could probably use some improvement.

     

    Here's my profile... if you go to "Items for Sale" you'll see a full set of listings. I have primarily been using ebay to sell misc. stuff like jerseys and music but sifting thru the stuff you can see a bunch of silver coins.

     

    http://www.ebay.com/usr/ajwnoles

     

     

    There's a couple really nice Walking Liberties, incl. some toned items:

     

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/291076968500?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/291076975206?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

     

  10. I went ahead and bought an old edition of the Krause currency book off a secondhand book website (not Amazon). Got it for about $3-4... not looking to get exact prices but really just to get an idea of what is what. My experience with price guides is that it does not always correlate to how much you could buy or sell an item for anyways.

  11. Hello everyone

     

    I am looking to venture a little bit into currency collecting. I am wondering first off if there is a price guide for paper currency similar to the NGC guide online? Also I am looking for some recommendations... I have already acquired a Zimbawbwe 100 million dollar bill but that was just for the joke value of it. I am looking primarily for a good foreign bill that could be had for under $10 that's at least 100 years old. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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