jlueke

How do you feel about completely retooling an ancient coin to look nice but to not be representative of what was issued in the past. There's a lot of super tooled coins on eBay these days.

Michael, The crimes committed by numismatists are fairly substantial and continue to this day. Is it worse when the criminals are people that have been respected like Sheldon or Breen? The guy who stole the coins recently from the ANA wasn't famous but he caused a lot of damage. An officer of a regional association stated that that theft and the way it was handled have imperiled his ANA membership. Personally, I have become more fascinated by the crimes or harms (after the laws were changed) people have committed with money. The nickel coinages, the trade dollar, manipulation of the gold and silver ratio. Of course in today's world the debt crisis, mortgage problems, and recession are due to the same impulses to tinker with money for personal gain without producing anything real.

He really is an interesting fellow, I have examples of most of his struck pieces and plan to post them here over time.

1886 Tonkin Military Medal. Bust representing the Republic of France facing left. The headset is garnished with wings and feathers and Patrie (Motherland) is written across the front. The style of this piece definitely was influenced by the realistic Roman portraiture. The reverse read Tonkin Chine Annam 1883-1885 referencing the Franco-Sino War fought over the northern portion of modern Viet-Nam. This medal was issued to about 90,000 veteran of the overall conflict. Silver 30mm. This version with the six battles on the reverse is the Army version of this medal. The Navy version has one additional battle listed. The cornucopia, designer's signature and the shape of the attachment all are characteristic of an original medal.

Create an online exhibit and if it looks good and gets reviews maybe a hardcopy would work especially if you can do it on demand.

Does anyone know if the Monnais de Paris kept mintage figures of medals produced in the 19th century or if there are other sources for medal mintage figures for art nuveau pieces?

I'll do that when I get back home after the show

I have a 1525 but ony the 25 appears on the coin

You need to find someone into Eastern European or maybe some German cities for 1525.

I bet if you acid treated this one the design would come back

Maybe with a bigger pic...

I've turned to stone!

The 1935G ended in 1962

Roger is correct that the 1935 series was being printed on the old presses while the 1957 series was being printed on the new presses. In late 1961 during the run of 1935G the BEP had to acquire more old style presses. During this time they added the motto to the 1935 series. 9 million 1935G have the motto and 31 million do not. This is from a reference in the NYT June 7th, 1964 by Herbert C. Bardes.

Acetone will dissolve organic compounds and shouldn't impact the coin. True corrosion tends to be some sort of chloride reactions with the metal for which acetone will do nothing. Mild acids like olive oil can remove minor corrosion with the minimal impact if one is patient.

Nice show

Revalue the dollar 10:1

Maybe Erich needs one of the Lincoln's for his exhibit

You are right Ian, thanks. That makes more sense in this context.

Is that a staff of Aesclepius with the shaking hands and the cornucopia?

It's interesting how these proto coins were spreading on the periphery of the Greek world while silver was spreading around the Agean

There's two 1525 coins for sale on ebay right now

That's a cool medal. Perhaps it was related to some sort of Bourbon restoration under Louis XVIII or Charles X.

You probably know more about these than anyone else