tabbs

Same as trantor_3 ... before early 2002, the oldest pieces in circulation in Germany were dated 1948, and once in a while I came across one. Coins dated 1950 were common as dirt even in the late 90s. In the Netherlands I also got 1948 Wilhelmina coins in change several times. These days the oldest coins around here are dated 1999 :-) Christian

Quite appropriate methinks ... Don Quijote is a comical (and to some extent tragicomical) figure. As for the two inscription types you mention in the sale thread, that has interestingly never really been an issue around here since the two edge orientation types are pretty normal. (The edge, including the lettering, is made before the two sides get their "faces", and which side is up or down is due to pure coincidence.) But in some Mediterranean countries that was apparently new, so you often see "Type A" and "Type B" mentioned at French, Italian, etc. sites. Christian

Oh, kids do. It's just not really a game for "adults" over there ... Have been pretty busy lately but will post some new acquisitions soon. Christian

To make up for that, I sometimes order such coins from a dealer in the Netherlands ... Christian

Ah, thanks for the update! But wouldn't "after december 31 2005" still translate to 2006? Anyway, I will try and get that coin when it comes out ... Christian

Hopefully not :-) Most vending machines will recognize those baht pieces anyway (unlike the €2 pieces they are not magnetic). But simple machines without any elaborate recognition techniques may still accept them. It is similar with new Turkish 1 lira coin ... Christian

That's because you don't read the news section ... http://coinpeople.com/index.php?showtopic=...findpost&p=7509 Christian

Ah yes, even Norway is now Finnish ... mint wise. As for the prices of the collector coins, well, I am in the fortunate position of not wanting/buying each and every commem from FI anyway. But such a move would certainly bug me if so far I had collected all pieces ... Christian

Hehe, so much design effort for such a low value coin :-) Maybe that "line" was added to make it easier for blind people to recognize them ... Another interesting edge design is that of the Swiss 5 fr coins. The pieces have an insciption (Dominus providebit) which used to be incuse until the late 1960s, then elevated until the mid-80s, then incuse again until 1993, and elevated again since then ... Christian

400 years ago Miguel de Cervantes published his famous novel Don Quijote (or Don Quixote). The Spanish Mint (FNMT-RCM) has issued several collector and commemorative coins on that occasion. Earlier this year five proof coins were issued - three different "8 reales" pieces with a face value of €10 each, one "cincuentín" (face value €50), and one "8 escudos" coin (face value €400, gold). Mintages were quite limited - between 18,000 and 3,000 pieces - , and the (proof only) coins were pretty expensive. I listed these coins in an earlier thread. Now there are two new pieces, a 12€ collector coin and a €2 commemorative coin. (The coins look a little "used" or blurry, but - oh well.) Both can be had at face value in Spain, and the latter may well circulate in Euroland just like the regular €2 coins. The two coins are also available combined in a neat folder. Here is a picture of the front page (right) and the back (left): These are the two "inner" pages of the folder: (Please note that none of the four images is mine.) The front page shows an original 1605 cover of the book; see this page: http://www.donquijotedelamancha2005.com/descarga.php Mintage of the €12 coin is 4 million, I think. Total mintage planned for the €2 piece is 8 million; the coin will also be part of various other mint sets and coin/stamp sets. Christian

Exonumia, I think. But it is kind of difficult to draw a strict dividing line. The Jaeger catalog ("the" standard for German post-1871 coins), for example, does not list notgeld except for the pieces issued by German states or state banks. Also, there is notgeld that actually circulated, and other notgeld coins (and notes) that were produced almost exclusively for fundraising ... Christian

In the auto club magazine that I got today there was a fine example of a copy that I would not buy ;-) Some company sells a "restrike" of the 1933 Double Eagle - and that thing, Ø 34 mm, costs only €10. They even emphasize that the original was auctioned at $7.59 million ... That thing, however, is "24 ct fully gold plated" which probably means it is some base metal piece with an ultra-thin layer of gold. Oh, and the order limit is only 5 per household. Does anybody want my five pieces? Christian

It kind of makes up for many previous dull or just butt ugly eagles ... Christian

Maybe they will issue a coin on that occasion too :-) Both present Austria and present Germany have been part of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries. Mozart was born in Salzburg which at that time was part of that empire, so why should not both AT and DE honor him with a coin? A similar case is Bertha von Suttner, by the way: Mozart is depicted on the Austrian €1 circulation coin, she is on the regular €2 piece. This year Germany issues a €10 collector coin because 100 years ago she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, I don't think she ever lived in what is now Germany - but after her death she was cremated and her ashes rest in Gotha, TH, DE. There are several similar cases - think of Copernicus (honored on both German and Polish coins), Beethoven (German and Austrian coins), Einstein (German, Swiss ...). And let's not even think of Charlemagne Christian

Let's hope the release date is in 2005 :-) Would be nice to get that one since I will also buy some of the Spanish Don Quijote pieces. Christian

Just clicked the "Have already bought" button - usually, however, I don't buy copies :-) The one exception was the famous Reformation coin issued by Saxony in 1917. A beautiful design in my opinion, but that thing costs between 50,000 and maybe 80,000 euro ... Since I know that (unless some miracle happens) I will never own such a coin, I once bought a cheap copy, €20 or so. I also have a few other copies - those, however, have a special meaning by themselves. For example, the city of Lübeck sold copies of its very first "Mark" coin, dated 1502, shortly before the "modern Mark" was replaced by the euro cash in 2002. Of course it is a copy, but in this case I did not buy it because I cannot afford the original but because I wanted to have that souvenir. Christian

Quite a few European mints are "profit centers" in that sense too. The Royal Dutch Mint, for example, is a corporation (Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt NV) with the Kingdom of the Netherlands being the sole shareholder. A similar construction is used in Austria where the Mint (Münze Österreich AG) is a corporation wholly owned by the Austrian central bank. And yes, both are expected to be profitable. Making coins for the government is only part of their business. Producing coins for other countries, and - more and more important - selling medals and the like, also generate revenue. The Austrian Mint even owns two coin dealers, one company in Austria and one in Germany. Speaking of Germany, there are four mints here which are owned by different states. (One state mint has two locations, hence a total of five mint marks.) If they had to exist only with the minting jobs that the federal government gives them, operating them would hardly be profitable. So they all make money by producing medals and various other metallic souvenirs ... Christian

Ah, OK then. I just know that, in (Castilian) Spanish, it's "Unión Europea" hence "la UE" ... Christian

Hey, those are nice! And printing them should be easy. Lessee ... "Save Image", "Print" ... done. Nah, maybe I should first edit the images. In Cherman vee vould say "Die Bank der nationalen Minderheiten von CoinPeople.com" ... Christian

The "abstract" is in the Subject line :-) This way you can still search for yourself if (as in this case) the original article is not available any more. Such a search would have brought up these two articles for example ... http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=109980 http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=110064 @Aidan: Seems that the "new" coin is not exactly new. It was first issued in December 2003. Christian

That Don Quijote coin has a very interesting design indeed. Would be interesting to know how much it will cost. (Errm, did I get that right - is that supposed to be a "6" at the end of the year?) Christian

Just a clarification: "E.U." is the Mexican/Spanish abbreviation of "Estados Unidos". And although Mexico uses "Estados Unidos" as part of its country name too, I assume that in this case "E.U." are the United States of America ... Here http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/comHSP48a.htm is a similar text in English. And if you search the web for "Hugo Salinas Price", you will come across many more references :-) Christian

Trying to find a precise date that applies to most countries will be impossible. In most of Europe, for example, 1945 was an important break also in terms of coinage. (Or the year of post-war stabilization; 1948/49 has been mentioned here for Germany before.) For most African countries anything post-colonial would probably be "modern" ... Of course what is "modern" also depends on what other categories are available. Over here, 1999/2002 surely was an important dividing line since that is when the euro came. But if everything before those dates would then simply end up in the "old" category, I would strongly suggest shifting that line ;-) Christian

Heh :-) São Tomé e Principe happens to be in the same time zone as the UK, for example. Christian

A-ha! So much for that Fiji FIFA piece being the world's very first "countdown" coin ... As for the battery, I suppose it will simply be dead after some time. That would not matter very much (to me) provided that the rest of the coin is nicely designed. Christian