brg5658

Define natural(?). It is likely from the original issue "so-called specimen set" packaging. They came with velvet type lining, similar to Maundy sets. Now, is it artificial since that packaging outgassed? My personal opinion is that this coin toned naturally over 90+ years of being maintained in its original packaging. Also, the toning is stable as this coin was graded and encapsulated over 15 years ago. Do you define "artificial toning" only to be that which is accomplished with the intent of being misleading and causes very quick toning changes? There is nothing about the toning of this coin that looks "artificial" to my eye -- and I have seen thousands of toned coins. The argument of "natural" versus "artificial" toning is somewhat arbitrary. In the end, this coin has been deemed market acceptable, and that's what matters if I were to ever sell it. That being said, I have no intent on selling this coin in the next 40+ years.

Yesterday was my first time to the MOON Show in the Minneapolis, MN area. It is the largest show in the state of Minnesota for the year, and I went with no particular idea of what to expect. After my normal "one-time-through browse", I stopped back at the few tables that caught my eye. In the end, I only purchased one coin for the day, but it was one that was on my want-list for quite some time. I found this nice example (pictured below) of a Half Crown that features the small rendition of St. George Slaying the Dragon on the reverse splitting the date. The fact that St. George is on a horse is one draw for my collecting niche -- another draw is that I simply have a hard time saying no to a coin with this amount of eye appeal that also pictures Queen Victoria. It was a nice perk that it was also a better date of the small half crown Jubilee Head series. Sorry for the scuffed up slab -- I did as much buffing as I could, but a few scuffs still remain and can be seen in my pictures below. She is safely housed in a PCGS older green label holder, and graded as MS64 (which I agree with). Thanks for looking! -Brandon

Sorry for the multiple posts. I keep getting an error when I post, and it looked like it wasn't posting. SORRY! Administrator please delete the duplicate posts. Thanks, -Brandon PS, this is the error text I keep getting on this forum: Warning: Base directory HTML_PURIFIER_PATHcache/tmp does not exist, please create or change using %Cache.SerializerPath in /home/omnicoin/public_html/ips_kernel/HTMLPurifier/HTMLPurifier/DefinitionCache/Serializer.php on line 133 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/omnicoin/public_html/ips_kernel/HTMLPurifier/HTMLPurifier/DefinitionCache/Serializer.php:133) in/home/omnicoin/public_html/admin/sources/classes/output/formats/html/htmlOutput.php on line 114

This is a one year type coin commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Mongolian Revolution of 1921. This particular coin tends to come with a lot of "chatter", and often with muted luster due to the "baggy" look. I'm not sure how this gem escaped the fate of most others I have seen of this type, but the full luster and glowing aluminum-bronze composition make for a very attractive design. Note that the proper reverse of the coin is that with the soldier (Damdin Sükhbaatar) on horseback and large numerals "60". The obverse also bears the image of a (smaller central) horse as a part of the national arms of Mongolia. Note that a coin similar in design, but with the numerals "50" on the reverse was minted in 1971. The revolution of 1921 was a military and political event by which Mongolian revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army (communist), expelled Russian White Guards (anti-communist) from the country, and founded the Mongolian People's Republic in 1924. Although nominally an "independent" country, the Mongolian People's Republic was a satellite state of the Soviet Union until 1990. The revolution in 1921 also ended Chinese occupation of Mongolia, which had existed since 1919. The official Mongolian name of the revolution is the "People's Revolution of 1921" or simply the "People's Revolution".

I had the opportunity to add another Province of Canada copper token to my collection. I couldn't pass this one up. 1857 Bank of Upper Canada, Half-penny token NGC MS65BN

I'm not going to push the subject too much here, but I'm always trying to "convert" people to the bellows route. If you have a general interest in photography, optics, and a little patience to play around with the system, the price point is really unbeatable for the quality achievable. Bellows: ~$70-90 Enlarging lens: Used for $25 (will work just fine) up to $300 (for the pixel peeping types -- note my lens is around $260 used, $600 new). Adapters: ~$10 or so (to fit your camera to the bellows, and to fit the enlarging lens to your bellows) ========================= These basic setup pieces can be had for around $120 with amazing results, as compared to a dedicated macro lens with less flexibility which will run you at least $400 or so. This way of numismatic photography is not for everyone, but I have seen great results with such a setup. You can also do close-up variety shots by changing out your lens for a shorter focal length enlarging lens, easily attaining 3:1 macro magnification. ========================= Example (small coin)

The problems with scanners are many, but among them: 1) Scanners are designed to be in focus at the glass for two dimensional items (e.g., paper). Coins are 3 dimensional, and if a coin has even medium to high relief, a scan will not be in focus. 2) Scans don't allow you to adjust the lighting. What you scan is what you get. 3) Toning is almost impossible to capture in scans. 4) Scans don't show luster. 5) Honestly, 4800 dpi is not that much. That's the equivalent to focusing a dime in the full frame of an APS-C sensor (17.9mm coin that is 3400 pixels high). With a true macro photography set-up, you can easily get magnification at levels of 1:1 to 2:1. On an APS-C sensor, 1:1 macro photography is dpi-equivalent to 5900 dpi. 2:1 magnification is equivalent to nearly 12,000 dpi. The problem is that boosting your scanner dpi output is not equivalent to the optics in a macro (or enlarging/duplicating) lens that allow you to actually focus at a higher magnification. All these things being said, if you already have a scanner, and your main goal is to "blow up" the size of a coin so that you can attribute varieties, etc., then by all means use a scanner. But, I have never seen a scanned coin image that could even touch the quality of a photograph. Just my 2 cents...

And here are a few results with my set-up (a few different types of metals):

I use a Canon T2i DSLR, a Pentax Asahi auto bellows, fit with an APO-Rodagon-D 75mm f/4 1:1 duplicating lens. I use three semi-diffused IKEA Jansjo LED lamps for lighting. I set things up like this picture displays: And, I generally put the lights at around 3, 9, and 12 as close to the coin as possible without causing a glare:

Hi Art, thanks for the kind words. I do all of my own photography. You can find more information about my photography setup at this link.

Here is another coin/token that I purchased in the last couple months. The Bank of Upper Canada was established in 1821 in York (Toronto, Ontario) under a charter granted by the Province of Upper Canada in 1819. When Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841 to form the Province of Canada, it was decided that only the bank that held the government accounts should have the right to issue copper tokens. This privilege was enjoyed by the Bank of Montreal until 1848. Following the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill in 1849, rioting in Montreal led to the destruction of the legislative buildings and the capital of the province was transferred to Toronto. As a result, the right to issue tokens passed to the Bank of Upper Canada. The "St. George" bank tokens were issued with dates of 1850, 1852, 1854, and 1857 and in denominations of both one penny and one half-penny. The obverse design is based on the wildly popular and well-known "St. George slaying the dragon" design by Benedetto Pistrucci, first used for the British sovereign of 1817. Of the 1857 issues in particular, Robert Wallace McLachlan wrote in his 1916 book "The Copper Tokens of Upper Canada": "A most extensive coinage of this date, both of pennies and half-pennies was struck, but before much of it was put into circulation, the decimal currency act of 1858 was passed, which necessitated the coinage of the cents of 1858 and 1859. The balance of these bank tokens therefore remained in the vaults of the Montreal branch for a number of years, when they were sold to a coppersmith and melted down." While relatively common in grades of XF and lower, these tokens become difficult to find in AU grades, and outright hard to locate in true MS condition. If you want a challenge, try putting together a set of the 8 different dates/denominations in true AU or better. If you want an almost impossible task, try finding one (of any grade) of each of the more than 300 varieties indexed by Eugene Gaspard Courteau in his book from 1934 (The St. George copper tokens of the Bank of Upper Canada). But, be forewarned, the reference by Courteau (only 32 pages in length) is almost as hard to find as a pristine example of the token.

I would not say that the bluish tones are "typical". That type of "red-brown" toning is what I particularly like. That or full on "brown" mellowing (with luster of course). The pieces I have were specifically chosen for eye appeal. There are a lot of these pieces with carbon spotting, uneven toning, or that have been "recolored" with some chemicals or acids (and the luster ruined). Don't get me wrong, there are many lovely examples out there to be had -- but I'm not sure they are the majority. The 5 centimes in my set is an interesting coin, as it is the 1888/7 variety (overdate). The final 8 is over a "7" from the previous year.

In general terms, they are not too hard to find. But, with full luster and in higher MS grades and with decent eye appeal, you have to be patient. The full set took me a bit more than 6 months to find, all purchased on eBay. The set of all 4 ran me $290.

I've been working on putting together a set of the late 1880s copper pieces from Belgian Congo. I got the last piece for the set yesterday, so here are the 4 coins in all their glory. The sizes are shown in proper proportion to one another. For reference, the 1 centime is the same diameter as a USA small cent. The 10 centimes is slightly larger in diameter than a USA half dollar (35mm). The grades are: 1 and 5 centimes: MS66RB 2 centimes: MS66BN 10 centimes: MS64RB (a hard coin to find in high MS)

Looks like a generic 1/3 oz bullion silver round. I'm not sure what you'll find beyond that. It's likely made locally and was purchased in some sort of gift shop.

A couple new coppers in my collection:

Quite possibly. The striations on the reverse are consistent with some pieces I have seen stored in velvet lined cases or cabinets. Not sure. It's a curious piece, and quite intense in hand. I didn't "juice" the images at all...it really is that purple and blue.

My newest copper coin...with some pretty crazy toning.

Here are a couple more of my toners for the weekend.

Here is my example of the Franklin Half Dollar in my type set:

One of my favorite toned coins.

Picked up this lovely tiny Italian 1 cent a while back. I'm also posting a "size comparison" image below, so you can see how incredibly small these were!

Here are a few Conder tokens from my collection.

They are commonly available as long as you're talking about 1900 and after. Nice examples of the 19th century crowns (or earlier), particularly those pre-Victoria, are quite difficult to find, and very expensive. Some of the recent "Jubilee" type crowns are quite lovely though. I particularly like the 1993 issued crown with the bust of Queen Elizabeth 2 surrounded by the 8 buglers.

The Milwaukee Aschermann (cigar) token is actually quite hard to find in true MS condition. I hunted for around 2.5 years before I found this one in one of Steve Haydn's auctions (June 2013). Even the low MS end tokens go for around $200. This one has wonderful toning in hand, and the provenance of Steve Tanenbaum is pretty cool -- he's sort of a legend among the Civil War Token collectors community. He was killed senselessly in Brooklyn a few years back -- a huge loss to the numismatic world.