KoRnholio

Thanks guys. It is quite a good show. Only comes twice a year so I make sure to load up and empty the wallet, lol. Today was much busier than most other show dates. The venue was pretty good, better lighting and more space than last year. They had a second mini area just for appraisals and exhibits, away from the main bourse area. Also there were a lot more kids at this show than in any show I've attended before.

ccg, dealer #2 in this trip report is Calgary Coins. They'll be at the March 31-April 1 show in Vancouver. You should definitely check them out. They'e an awesome couple of dealers who do deal in practically everything. Very knowledgeable and very fair prices and good quality stuff. It's rare that I see more than 10% of the same coins in their stock from one show to the next.

part 2

1935 George V Crown. gEF with a nice, even steel grey tone to both sides. $30. Almost makes me wonder if it's a lightly circulated matte proof or something. I actually had a choice between this coin and another lusterous 1935 crown. But the lusterous one had an odd look to it. The lusture wasn't cartwheel it was like 5-6 mini cartwheels that was distracting to even look at in the light.

1774H Swiss Cantons St. Gall 20 kreuzer. Described as nice F. I liked the scene and detail a lot so I added it to the pile, $50.

Circled the room a few more times and my eyes glazed over the sea of paper money and slabbed Canadian coins. Stopped by a few other dealer booths who had ancients, but none really impressed me.

Egypt Ptolemy III 247-222 BC AE 34mm Zeus obverse, Eagle standing left with thunderbolt and cornucopia on reverse. Alexandria mint. $350.

Back to dealer #1's table and I spot a fairly large sized Ptolemy III bronze piece- very similar to the huge bronze one I missed out on last show at the same dealer's booth. Although much smaller in size, the details were exellent and it had an overall pleasant look despite some encrustations. My first cast ancient coin. The process in making these involved casting a planchet, then putting it in a lathe (hence the circular impressions at the center of each side of the coin) to shape it. After that it was then struck. It must have taken a lot of pressure to strike a piece that large!

Nearly tapped out in both energy and money, I circle the room a few more times. I end up buying a nice looking 5 oz JM poured bar for a decent premium. It looks like it was minted yesterday, the collector/small time dealer had it and two others in a perfectly fitting airtight plastic case.

All in all, a very good show!

The bi-yearly coin show is always good to me. But not always good to my wallet! I got there practically the minute they opened the door, and set off to find my two favorite dealers who deal mostly in ancients and medieval coins.

Said hi to the first dealer and started to admire some of the coins in his case. He brought a very nice Byzantine coin from his desk and told me he thought I'd like it. He knows I like nice portraits, so despite never having bought a Byzantine coin from him (or anywhere) I liked the look of it and bought it.

Maurice Tiberius AE follis 11.2g 28mm Antioch/Theuopolis mint 593/4 AD, EF grade. $110. Nice portrait and a hint of sand patina (I believe he said this was from around the area that is now Syria).

Soon after, I saw some room at dealer #2's table that had boxes of affordable (mostly $20-100) world and ancient coins. Flipping through there I pick out the following 2 romans,1 macedonian, an upgrade to my 1935 British rocking horse crown, a random cool looking Hampshire Portsea 1/2 penny condor token and a neat 1 year type Swiss Cantons 20 kreuzer.

Elagabalus AR denarius AD 219, gVF, I'd say an EF portrait for sure. $95.

Severus Alexander AR denarius AD 222-235 XF/gVF. $100. Probably my favourite purchase of the day. Has a nice lightly circulated/reverse cameo look to it. Now that I look closer I see an outline around Alexander's profile. Possibly overstruck on a previous issue? I'll re-photograph and post in the ancients forum.

Macedonian Philip II AE17, 359-336 BC. VF or so, very thick flan, dark blue/green patina. $65.

1796 Hampshire Portsea 1/2 penny token. gF grade. $15

Nice, you are pretty close to the whole shabang there!

Recently I went through my World coins book and wrote down the name of each 20th century country that I don't have a coin from. This is an attempt to curb my random semi/modern world coin purchases I recently and give myself some collection focus. There's a good 75 countries on the list still (not including countries/areas that don't have their own circulating coinage). One day I'll polish that "set" off, though I am in no hurry to actively seek them out.

However, there is the big coin show tomorrow and I have a pocket full of money... Purchases might be made

It's quite a common date. But it was still a ways from the end of silver coinage in Canada. I suspect a lot of the early 1960's silver coinage did circulate at least somewhat, with few people saving these "new, common coins", resulting in few gem coins surviving. This was also the time period before people started saving the silver coins in the mid-late 60's. It wasn't until 1967 that they reduced the silver content of dimes/quarters from 80% to 50%, then in 1968 50% to 0% (100% nickel).

1962 ICCS MS-66 dime, I think the combined ICCS and PCGS pops are something like 22 in MS-66 and one MS-67. Shiny and damn near perfect

Looks to be Fine to Very Fine. Trends price is $6-8. On Ebay you'd get probably $4-5

lol I like how this guy stile my pics, cropped them and all.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2012-20-dollars-Pure-silver-9999-Polar-Bear-/220956081058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_210&hash=item3372023ba2#ht_1067wt_1396

I don't know this coin series at all, but it does have a cast appearance. Grainy looking, and overly consistent across all surfaces. It lacks detail but doesn't look "circulated" in the traditional sense.

I think in about 10-15years the US gov't will finally do some currency reform. At that point they should just reform everything. I think they will drop the cent, maybe even the nickel too. Then drop the $1 bill, force $1 coins into circulation. And the rest of the coins will be made out of mostly steel. A new polymer bill series as well.

I believe a small number are still minted every year, even outside of coin sets. Possibly only available from the mint in rolls, similar to the new US $1 coins?

Got mine in the mail today!

Neat looking issue. On the reverse the above water portion is the vertical lined reverse proof finish. The below water portion is a different finish, unlined and more brilliant/semi-reverse proof. The mint just calls the overall finish on the coin as "specimen".

The RCM stuck with the same packaging as the 2nd issue (Voyageur Canoe). Here's some pics:

Got a 1963 young head Eliz II penny yesterday, VF/VF-30 or so, some light traces of red lustre left in the center of the 9 and 6.

Those are awesome, thanks for sharing. I haven't ever seen the Kataga cross type before.

Comeing thick and fast arent they, another reason why I dont collect NCLT coins..

Indeed. But at $20 for $20 I have no problem plunking down a few bucks.

I did okay at reselling the first issue. The second issue I listed two coins at 99 cent starts, and barely broke even after fees. Will probably just hang onto these and way down the road sell them as a set.

http://www.mint.ca/store/product/coin_exchange.jsp?itemId=prod1230021&lang=en_CA

Same 3 per household limit as with the previous issues. 250k mintage.

And here's a special code for free S/H: "Gazette 30"

Happy collecting to all!

It's just so neat! Like a whole new world.

Got a small lot of ancient Greek 600-400BC Borysthenes arrow / leaf bronze proto money in the mail today. Going to keep a couple and pass the rest on to other collectors. Ad is up on the sell forum if anyone is interested in these.

Some other proto money in my collection:

1800's Thai 1/2 baht bullet money

1970 Newspaper article on how these were made: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19700902&id=OCseAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o7cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6140,170754

Thai "canoe" money, bronze ingot (approx 60 grams)

I agree, but think longterm rather than shorterm, if the RCM is recalling 50cents and dollars and melting them (Which they are) wouldnt they end up like the silver and be sought after down the road, I mean think outside the box, all of a sudden you have all steel coins in circulation and very few silver and likewise now very few nickel coins to collect.

As for me I am currently hoarding nickel coins for that very reason, my bank calls me whenever they get some in and I must say the calls are getting fewer and fewer..

Yup. I know a guy who owns a coin sorting machine and runs boxes of pennies to sort out the copper pennies from the plated steel ones. At some point it will be legal to melt these old coins. The pennies and nickels will disappear from circulation, being hoarded/melted, just like the old silver coinage. Most people thought it was crazy to save silver coins in the late 60s/early 70s when the melt value wasn't much above face value. Now look where we are!

PS, I am currently working on an iphone app which will help people track and save their old silver coins, as well as newer nickel and copper coins. Should be released in the near future. Will keep you guys posted

1976 Turks and Caicos Islands 20 crown Queen Victoria proof (600 grains of sterling silver, 1.16oz asw). I had seen the coins before but had no idea that they were actually minted at the Royal Canadian Mint. I also didn't realize that (some of?) the coins came with these little books about Queen Victoria's life.

Very cool indeed!

1973 Isle of Man 2 pounds gold. Mintage of 3,612. 15.9 grams of 22k gold, just shy of 1/2oz of gold content. I've always liked this design. It's been kind of a hard one to track down.

I was originally looking for a sovereign of this type, but when this 2 pounds presented itself, I jumped on it. Did end up paying 6% more for it than I had hoped, damn customs

I think it was also discussed that there's other calendar types that have been used on coins. Someone else would have to chime in to tell us what types of coins would fit this criteria.

Something really looks off to me. Especially that 1880. It has Chinese fake qualities. The 0 in the date is slanted, mintmark is mushy, and it has that dull metal look that is common for fakes. Might also be the pics, but it looks larger to me than the one beside it. I'd imagine you bought them from the same person, craiglist/kijiji meetup perhaps? I'd be very suspect of both coins.

First step, grab a magnet. If it sticks, it stinks.

Second step, get an accurate scale and check the weights. Should weigh 26.7g, or just barely less than this.

Third step, get a ruler with millimeters on it. Coin should be 38.1mm in diameter, thickness of 3.1mm.

If it fails any of these, you have yourself some expensive paperweights.

Just had another angry appraisal lol.

Guy wanted more than double melt for common NGC graded world gold coins. Offered him a fair price, midway between what he could get on a good day at Ebay after fees, and what I'd have to pay for them on Ebay. He wrote back angrily that I can take my fakes and ebay and shove it, lol.

If they are the regular circulation strike nickel dollars, they're just worth face value. I believe that banks don't like them because it costs them money to ship them off to be melted. Essentially they are obsolete, though still legal tender.

I have probably 40-50 of these myself. I think once I've established a good enough relationship with my bank, I'll haul them all in one day.