tabbs

Errm, on the edge? If you look at the side with the ship, you can see a little bit of the edge lettering near the "ITAL" ... Christian

Perfect timing - right on Europe Day (9 May) my set of the "Treaty of Rome" coins got completed. I also got the 2007 set from Finland. This year's circulation coins are a little different, on either side, from the previous ones: On the reverse they have the new map that most euro countries started using this year; on the obverse a tiny "FI" was added as a country identifier. Christian

Ha, that could be a blatant lie. You may have kept Libby in some dark dusty dirty dungeon ... We need photographic evidence. Christian

Today I got the Hungarian "Treaty of Rome" coin. It has basically the same design as the coins of the joint €2 commem program but is a 50 forint Cu-Ni piece. The size is roughly the same as that of the €2 coins ... Christian

It's a latent image - depending on the viewing angle you either see Grand Duke Henri or the Campidoglio "pattern" like on all other issues. But we've been through the "same design" thing at length here: http://www.coinpeople.com/2-Commem-2007-Sa...nd33-t9194.html "€2 Commem 2007 - Same Design!" Christian

Got a 2007 BU set of the French euro coins today. While I don't collect those coins "by year" (just by type), I had to get those - like the pieces from most other euro countries, this year's coins from FR have the updated map of Europe on the common sides. And on Sunday we met friends of us from the US who are currently "touring Europe"; got one of the new $1 circulation coins aka GW Dollars from them. Well, Liberty looks good, but the portrait is not that thrilling ... Christian

"IPB 2.1 Default No Ads" rulez. Christian

The "Treaty of Rome" silver coin is now available. (Note: This is not the €2 commemorative coin - that one will be issued in about three weeks - but the €10 collector coin.) Did not have that much time this week, but in case anybody is interested, let me know. Christian

Yes, Saxony is right. As the inscription around the portrait suggests - "Albert by the Grace of God King of Saxony". A similar portrait can be found on the coins from that time; Albert was king from 1873 until 1902. That is about all I can tell you though since I don't actually collect shooting medals ... Christian

Seems that about 11,000 visitors were there. About 1,500 bought the WMF Coin Passport which cost €10 and could then, at the booths of 29 participating mints, be filled with coins. Next year's World Money Fair will be on 1-3 February 2008, again at the Estrel Convention Center. Christian

In early February, the word's largest (?) coin show will open in Berlin again - the "World Money Fair". About 250 exhibitors from 60 countries will be there, with 55 participating mints from all continents. This year's guest of honor is Kazakhstan; the Kazakhstan Mint will for example present a bimetallic silver-tantalium coin. There will be two Künker auctions (on 1 Feb), and a "classical" coin show. Also, at the International Media Forum about two dozen mints present their new programs and innovations (in English) on Friday. A few coins will be issued on the first day of the WMF, such as the German €2 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern coin and the "Palais Grand-Ducal" €2 piece from Luxembourg. World Money Fair 2007 http://www.worldmoneyfair.ch/wmf/index.html Estrel Convention Center, Berlin Opening Hours Fri. 2 Feb. 10-18 h Sat. 3 Feb. 10-18 h Sun. 4 Feb. 10-16 h Admission One-day ticket: €7 Three-day pass: €10 Catalog The 2007 World Money Fair catalog (about 140 pages) can be downloaded here: http://www.worldmoneyfair.ch/wmf/pdfs/wmf07_katalog.pdf (PDF, German/English, about 14 MB) Christian

Got back from a trip today, and had some neat stuff in my mail. From our Anton, the 10 rubles prize (see http://www.coinpeople.com/index.php?s=&amp...t&p=286247) plus a coin from Thailand which (I think) is a 5 baht piece issued in 1996 for the 50th anniversary of king Bhumibol's coronation, all wrapped in a Canadian Currency Museum folder. Also, some euro coins from Austria (€5 Mozart, EU Presidency) and the Vatican (€2 Swiss Guard, €5 Peace Day, €10 Bernini's Piazza San Pietro Colonnades). These are not my pictures but nice ones. (Mozart - Obverse - Presidency) (Swiss Guard; reverse is the €2 default) (Peace Day - Colonnades) Christian

Then you may find this year's niobium coin more interesting. It has an aviation theme and comes in a turquoise color. Here http://www.muenzblog.de/bilder/oesterreich...-gross-2007.jpg is a larger image. The coin will be issued in late February. Christian

Ha, I already have my first 2007 pieces! * The UK set with next year's commemorative 50p, £1 and £2 coins. * The euro set from Slovenia, featuring the new common sides of the € coins. Christian

Hey, that is neat! Good find. Christian

Hmm, then you would own even more coins than you currently have? Actually I do not collect gold, with veeery few exceptions such as these Cultural Heritage coins. The initial price of each piece is what you pay for 0.5 oz gold, plus €25. Not "cheap" of course, but the price sounds OK to me. As long as the gold price is constant or goes up, fine ... Christian

Well, now it is. A fairly modern design: Such "abstract" themes are usually more difficult to visualize than somebody's 200th birthday or so. This one I find -- hmm, not thrilling but interesting. In front of a diagram-style background (which represents the five decades) you see a scale with, on the left, monetary aspects of economy (gold, paper, coins) and, on the right, buildings representing businesses. The design suggests that the Bundesbank contributes to the right balance of the two ... Christian

In this case "kleiner" simply means "small". The term is a little misleading since even this small catalog has almost 600 pages As for the order in which the coins appear, well, the Jaeger (the "Bible" for post-1871 German coins) does the same thing. Makes it easier to see which coins are part of a certain series - but sure, if you want to look a piece up, the order by denomination makes more sense. Fortunately the Schön catalogs have the Jaeger numbers (for German coins) and the KM numbers (for other coins) too. What is also nice, by the way, is that Gerhard Schön is an active member of some German coin forums. Christian

Nah, a kiloliter would not make sense. It says "Ztr." which is short for Zentner (50 kg). By the way, those "millions" are actually "Milliarden". So that one 50 kilo bag of potatoes cost 5000 billion marks back then. Christian

Yes, I like that one too. And in about a year from now I can tell whether I like the real thing too. These are the planned release dates for the German 2007 commemorative and collector coins - note that Elizabeth is at the very end ... January 18: €10 silver - Saarland joins the Federal Republic (50 years ago) February 2: €2 - German States: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern * March 1: €10 silver - Treaties of Rome (signed 50 years ago) March 25: €2 - Treaties of Rome (signed 50 years ago) * June 14: €10 silver - Wilhelm Busch (born 175 years ago) August 9: €10 silver - 50 years Deutsche Bundesbank (design not known yet) October 1: €100 gold - Unesco Cultural Heritage: Lübeck November 8: €10 silver - Elizabeth of Thuringia (born 800 years ago) (* These commemorative coins - total mintage about 30 million per issue - are legal tender in Euroland. The silver and gold collector coins are legal tender in Germany only.) Christian

Next year's €100 gold coin, part of the series of World Cultural Heritage cities, will feature Lübeck. It is scheduled for October 2007. The "Holstentor" city gate, which can also be found on this year's €2 commem, can be seen in the center, along with the characteristic seven towers of the old town. Here are the winners of the design competition. The first (top) one is the design that will be minted (B. Broschat). Further below are the runner-ups designed by O. Kukula, U. Böhme, and H.J. Dobler. (Images from the design competitions website, gold colorized versions by bukanier from emuenzen.de) Earlier issues were Quedlinburg, ST (2003), Bamberg, BY (2004) and Weimar, TH (2006). After Lübeck, SH (2007) the series will be continued with Goslar, NI (2008). Christian

Ah, found'em. 10 ct 1925: http://83.149.77.24:8080/collectie_2/FMPro...3214&-find= 5 ct 1908: http://83.149.77.24:8080/collectie_2/FMPro...3251&-find= Christian

And another very fast payment from Henry. Always a pleasure to deal with the guy. Christian

Harri got some commems from me and paid instantly. In fact, much faster than I sometimes am when it comes to feedback. Christian

Inderdaad. Well, that "map theme" by itself is not exactly thrilling, and neither is the abundance of stars. But maybe the jury wanted to pick something that is different from the Treaty document with the signatures, and also reflects that the EU of 2007 is different from the EEC of 1957 ... Christian