ikaros

Heritage is auctioning the weirdest error coin I've ever seen -- and if I had the scratch, it's weird enough to get even non-error-collecting me to bid on it: a US dime struck on a 6d nail.

I mean, seriously. The images are well worth a look (and they won't let me embed them here anyway).

DO WANT. That's gorgeous.

Oh, well and truly circulated -- I'd say between VG and F. Oh, and i forgot, I also got a 1974 Canadian nickel in the same haul. But that seems considerably less interesting in comparison.

Not one Steelie.

Not two Steelies.

Three Steelies.

One from each mint.

Wow.

I'm going to have to check that auction site out; my German language skills are rusty, but they're not completely corroded, and if I can make heads or tails out of it, it might be a good source for coins I've found tough to get over here.

Mainly vintage fountain pens. Coins aren't the only thing that empties my wallet.

Haven't really kept up my acquisitions in this thread for the last few years, although my coin gallery page is pretty much up to date. But I just won four coins in a German internet auction, and I got such a good deal that I wanted to share it with you.

 

The 1937 Buffalo nickel was advertised as being in an ANACS holder; when I received the coins, it turned out to be in an old green PCGS rattler! Fortunately, the coins look a lot better in hand than the pictures. I've been participating in this company's internet auctions on several different occasions and have never been disappointed yet (WAG online, https://www.wago-auktionen.de/).

 

Here is the latest story:

 

-----------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------------
Coin:      | Grade:  | Slab:    | PCGS price: | I paid (in Euros):
-----------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------------
IHC 1859   | AU/Unc  | --       | $260 (+)    | €  54
IHC 1875   | MS63BN  | PCGS     | $300        | € 120
Buf 1937   | MS66    | PCGS old | $80-$100    | €  40
Buf 1937-S | MS66    | ANACS    | $110        | €  36
-----------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------------
Total:                                          € 250
Buyer fee (15%), shipping and PayPal:           €  44
Grand total:                                    € 299
-----------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------------
Paid in US-$:                                   $ 321
PCGS prices total:                              $ 750-770 (!)

Grading to me was accurate. Not too bad, eh??

Pics (from the auction; haven't had time to make my own yet):

 

Shiiiiiny. Those are gorgeous.

I went to work. I did some shopping. I came home. I made a pizza, and had a martini. I'm saving celebrations for the Ohio Pen Show this weekend.

1977 UK 1 penny (and miscellaneous loose American change)

I have one of Carr's proof astronaut bimetallic dollar patterns; I would have loved to see that coin adopted, and there are several other designs of his that I would like to get -- especially the parody state quarters.

And also, a 1941 and a 1957D Jefferson nickel.

Lucky Pierre strikes again -- the same machine that has already spit out two impaired proofs and a silver quarter, has delivered another silver quarter, this one a 1958D. Woot!

I'm not sure I want to see it extended. I kinda miss the old eagle.

Yes, I did, when I was getting some halves. I got a handful of mixed SBAs, Sacs and Prexys... and two Ikes.

I'd rather see the commemorative series moved to the half dollar or dollar to encourage their circulation. Certainly the half gives more room for an engraver to work with.

Yeah, it's going to be weird to see the eagle back again. Unless they embark on another project.

Fortunately, the financial hit is only about 30¢ -- proofs from the 90s are cheap and plentiful. I'm more amused than anything else; it was quite too weird to be annoying.

I was a little puzzled by a missing proof 1993S Jeff I'd bought last weekend. I figured I'd left it at Evil Twin's place.

It turned up today in my shoe. Outside the cardboard flip, which was also in the shoe. Methinks any chance of getting a PR69DCAM are now pretty minimal... I have NO idea how it got in my shoe, or why it took until today to notice it.

I would. I have -- and use -- Grandma's knitting basket, Grandpa's Conklin Endura Symetrik, Uncle Mike's Nikon F and bicycle (and during a recent sciatica flare-up, a cane he carved), and once in a great while back in my smoking days, Great-Grandpa's briar pipe -- although these were all things I received after they'd passed, not directly from them while alive.

I've been thinking of something similar for my nieces, trying to put together a world set for their birth years (1996 and 2000), but I don't know how they'd like that, if at all. Fortunately, the older shares my passion for writing, and the younger for Doctor Who, so I'm set for life so far as planning their gifts goes.

The results are in! The Jeffs are on the Jefferson Project page (which I was horrified to see I hadn't updated since 2012!).

For the Ikes, a 1973S silver clad slabbed by PCGS and graded MS67.

For the birthyear set, an East German 1 pfennig and two West German 1 mark pieces, mintmarked G and J -- since I already had D and F, that closes out West German marks. The Czechosloviakian 25 Haleru closes out Czechoslovakia. There's also 5 and 10 centavo pieces from the Dominican Republic, and a very upgraded East African 50¢.

And in the category of "Ooo, pretty!" there's a 1961 Katanga 1 Franc, a 1964 Jersey 1/4 shilling, and a 1679 Chuck Jr. farthing. Well, I'm pretty sure the last digit's a 9. It doesn't look like anything else.

Wow, I haven't updated here for a while.

Picked up a few for the Jefferson Project; mostly recent BUs and proofs, but one older one, a proof 1954 with very very subtle rose and blue toning on the reverse that I'll never be able to capture photographically.

I've decided that I'm going to end the collection with the end of the classic Schlag portrait. I just can't work up any enthusiasm for the current Miss Hathaway nickels. So I consider the Jeffs to be a closed series which I shall complete, rather than one that needs to be maintained annually.

Swung by the bank to get some cash, decided to get a roll of dollars, and asked if, perchance, they had any half dollars.

Four dollars worth, so I handed over a fiver. She handed back the halves... and then a dollar coin.

A 1971D Ike in gorgeous shape.

I'm going back to that branch.

Afraid I don't know anything about its value, but nice find! Wish my yard had stuff like that in it.

That looks consistent with an 1800 6 Kreutzer of Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor and first Austrian emperor.

I already do almost all my purchases on plastic anyway.