ccg

Great stuff! I wasn't aware that altered coins/medals could be slabbed.

I'd love to own any of these - I voted for the one that I felt is probably the scarcest of the three (in terms of the type, and the grade).

Good to hear you did manage to pick up two pieces! I have to say that I'm a very poorly organzied collector, and as a result, I have lots of low grade stuff and not too much nicer stuff.

Great pick-ups! Nicer British pieces are very hard to come by in Van/Vic - too many collectors.

I'm quite jealous of that '87!

British Maundy coins (1d,2d,3d,4d) and crowns (5/) remain legal tender as 1p,2p,3p,4p and 25p respectively, if I remember correctly.

It's a 1 jiao.

Interesting. In my part of the world, probably 80-85% of the maundy coins available are sold only as part of a set. Oddest one I've seen was a 1760s set where the coins ranged from VG to EF.

The Britannia type 4d are the only ones issued for circulation. They were issued from 1836-37 (William IV) and 1838-55 (Victoria). The ones with the "4" are from maundy sets, and thus infrequently encountered, especially modern ones, as they tend to be sold as part of complete maundy sets rather than as individual pieces.

At least you're way ahead of me! My '35 is G-4 (I'm not kidding!)

Kornholio - great piece! Going for a high end type set? Numismattic - if I remember correctly the Louisiana "baby bonds" were the subject of a scam where the treasurer issued a large number of unauthorized issues?

I think that al 20th century British base metal coins are fun to collect by date since most are readily available, and pretty inexpensive. I've got a bunch of GVI and EII florins kicking around somewhere.

I was going to say the exact same phrase! Holy cow...

Some entire shipments of Dutch coins were also melted down immediately post-WWII. As for the UK, they went to an extreme post war - the standard (silver) war medals were made of c/n!

Are the '23 Polish stuff actually from that year? I think there are some Polish minors that were struck with frozen dates.

Sydney Mint (Australia) opened in 1855, striking sovereigns and half-sovereign for several decades until the first actual Australian coinage was issued in 1910. The Ottawa Mint (Canada) was first struck coins in 1908. (Virtually all circulation coins are now done at the Winnipeg mint, though)

Very cool $1!

I think the British / East Carribean 50c also shares the same obverse dies as the large size Hong Kong $1 (just like how the EC 25c and HK 50c are nearly identical in size)

C'mon, don't be sad... I've never actually encountered a proof in circulation myself.

ccg - Philip I AR Antoninianus c. 244-249, Group 1 Ancients http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/977292.jpg ROMA AETERNAE ("Eternal Rome") Rome (allegory) seated left, holding victory and sceptre, shield below Roman coins depicting seated figures inspired later designs such as Britannia in Britain and the Seated Liberty in America.

ccg - Diocletian AE Follis c. 301-305, Group 1 Ancients http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/977291.jpg GENIO POPVLI ROMANI Genius of the Roman People A half-dollar sized billon coin issued after Diocletian's edict of 301 which was an attempt at economic and monetary reform. This type was issued by several emperors and caesars.

ccg - Aurelian AE Antoninianus c. 270-275, Group 1 Ancients http://www.omnicoin.com/coins/977290.jpg ORIENS AVG Sol with two captives Sol (the Sun God) was one of the more popular pagan gods in the 3rd century, and is featured on a number of pieces until about 310 AD. His birthday (December 25) was later adopted by Christians to also be the birthday of Jesus (Christmas).

I would say almost all high grade coins that were made into jewelery would had not otherwise been saved. Collecting in decades past was a relatively much more expensive hobby.

IMO the only thing that should be discounted is relative rarity. To use an example - lots of 1949D dimes would had got scrapped. But since the 1949S is a better date, it's likely that many were spared from the melting pot. As weird as it sounds, it is quite possible that as silver coins continue to be melted down, that eventually some "common dates" might actually become scarcer than some of the "semi-keys"