ikaros

Nominations are now CLOSED! Voting threads are coming soon!

Nominations are now CLOSED! Voting threads are coming soon!

Nominations are now CLOSED! Voting threads are coming soon!

Ah well. You know, I can't think that it would look better in silver than it does in brass anyway.

Yeah, I noticed this too -- it adds the coin just fine, but this error pops up.

You mean they did the 12-sided threepence in silver? Link me!

More British loveliness! 1951 Festival of Britain crown -- about the only way I'm going to get the St George reverse, since it's otherwise on gold, as I recall. Had from eBay, still in its original box.

Reminder: today's the day! Please have your victims... er, uh, entries in by midnight EDT tonight!

Two more for this category! ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025503.jpg 1916 UK penny Not only worn, this poor penny seems to have caught the Andromeda Strain too, or maybe some sort of metal ebola. ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025504.jpg 1946 UK threepence Short of being run over by a train, just about everything that could happen to a coin has happened to this poor thing. Heavy wear, corrosion, paint, what looks like burn marks, a gouge across the thrift plant on the obverse, and some indeterminate gunk.

:bump: Just a reminder, the entry threads close end of day April 30!

ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025454.jpg 2009D Jefferson Nickel The US Mint, in their "wisdom", dispensed with the dignified if slightly dull Felix Schlag design and the really, really nice "peekaboo" obverse from the Westward Ho series, in order to give us Nancy Kulp as Thomas Jefferson. And of course, like all other current American coins, it has all the depth and sculpting of a washer. ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025455.jpg 2007P Wyoming SHQ There are a multitude of sins here. First of course is the common obverse with all the depth and character of a washer -- Washington's wig should be sculpted, not grooved! -- just like all other modern circulating issues in the US. In comparison, though, the reverse makes a washer look interesting. A cowboy on a bucking bronco doesn't make me think of Wyoming; there are too many other states with a cowboy tradition. And a silhouette of a cowboy on a bucking bronco alongside the state nickname only suggests to me that this design was finalized when someone realized the deadline to get it to the Mint was later that same day. ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025456.jpg 1986 Polish 20 Złotych Sometime around 1980, the engravers at the Polish mint threw up their hands and said, "Aw, the heck with it" and the dramatic designs of the 60s and 70s disappeared, to be replaced by boring large numbers. Either that, or they threw in their lot with Solidarity, got sacked, and were replaced by a Polish Communist Party committee with all the creative ability of a slightly demented rock.

Hm. Nothing turning up online about this as a variety; studying the coin directly, the S looks perfectly normal, so it must be an artefact of imaging.

For a beauty like that, hijack away. I was just thinking about perusing eBay for a proof threepence...

And is it just me, or does the mint mark look wonky? Like it's upside down.

It is that, although it seems to work here better than one might otherwise expect. And I really am growing more and more fond of brass coins -- this one, it's younger sibling the half sol de oro (which I haven't got yet), the predecimal British/Commonwealth threepenny piece, all for example. They hold up really well and in really high grades look just gorgeous.

ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/908806.jpg 1825 Farthing Britannia is not on trial here. No, the obverse portrait is what moves this poor thing into contention. Even taking into account the then-current Neoclassical style in art and architecture, I question the wisdom of producing a portrait of the king that would genuinely look more appropriate surrounded by the legend "NERO CLAVDIVS CAESAR". ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025392.jpg 1969 Polish 10 złotych, 25th anniversary of the Polish Communist Party I take it as an article of faith that Polish coinage of the 1960s and 1970s have probably the best design work of the Cold War era. And the engravers at the Polish mint, despite state control of pretty much everything, were able to get away with many issues on themes that would have been impossible anywhere else in the Warsaw Pact. Which might actually explain this odd design "commemorating" (if that's the right word) the 25th anniversary of the then-ruling Polish Communist Party. What you have is a half-dollar sized coin with a nickel's worth of design: if you place a nickel over the design, it looks like a completely blank planchet, other than a bit of the denomination on the reverse. What this coin really represents -- and I hope this was the designer's thinking regarding the subject -- is a terrific waste of space. ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025393.jpg 1963 Fiji penny It's actually kind of hard to say this has poor design, since it's hard to say it has any design at all. Outside of a standardized crown, and denticles around the outer and inner rims, it's all text. I realize a holed coin presents certain design challenges -- and I happen to think changing our penny and nickel to having holes might be a solution to their cost-to-produce problem -- but it's one that was met here by simply not bothering. If the design of this coin says anything, it's "Holy Toledo, this is due tonight?

Yeah, I really like the obverse shield... although the llama in the upper left irresistably reminds me of the Monty Python sketch.

ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1015305.jpg 1964-D "Peace" dollar fantasy issue (overstruck unk date) While I love the reverse of this coin, I have never liked the obverse, Liberty looks not only startled, but the victim of a bad hair day. A coin should never be able to legitimately have the caption, "Eeek! A mouse!" And yet, that's the only way I've ever been able to see this series. ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025391.jpg 1859 Canadian penny, holed Holed coins bother me, at least those holed in a way to be a pendant. I can understand one holed in a manner to be used as a button or something; a large copper cent or half-cent was probably going to be more durable than a wood or shell button. This poor thing not only has a hole, it's got about 20° die rotation.

This lovely showed up in the mail today; had from eBay for my birth year set 1963 Peru 1 Sol

First proof I've had in change for a while! The pop machine spit this out today.

And we thank Burks for the prizes!

Same here. I have a complete type set from circulation, but I'm still missing a couple of the territorial issues from Denver: Guam and Northern Marianas Islands will complete my from-circulation set. The National Parks are nearly hopeless -- I've kept every one I've found since they started being issued, and I have only 27. And I go through a LOT of quarters in a week.

Make sure you add it to the correct entry thread!

ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1018995.jpg 1986 US cent Even Coinstar wouldn't take this one. It was found in the reject tray. Looks like even a little bite was taken out of it!

ikaros http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/1025337.jpg Columbus Zoo elongated cent When I moved last summer, I dropped a handful of pennies including some elongated cents on the windowsill in my bedroom. Condensation and direct sun turned an otherwise lovely embossed line art of a lion into this corroded disaster.