SMS

Welcome to the forum.  I look forward to seeing more of your collection in the days to come!

Very nice piece there.  I was going to collect the Isle of Man cat sires back when it first came out, but never did get my feet wet on it.

When you start a thread, you may reply to your original thread instead of starting a new post to keep the conversation in one place.  See your other post for an answer, and welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, foreign banknotes available to us are very slim from our banks.  Very rarely would we have the opportunity to obtain uncirculated notes.  The way we get banknotes from our banks is through monetary exchange from people who travel outside the US and exchange foreign notes they return with.  And with that, the banks would not look for specific notes to meet a request.

As collectors, we usually have to rely on purchasing from foreign institutes or collectors in the country of our interest.

Looks brass plated to me. How much does it weigh (in grams)?

I can't wait to find out what is hiding inside your box.

From the small portion of the coin you show, it would appear a possible Class I CCW doubling.  Do you have photos of the entire reverse?  Both CONECA and Wexler show only one DDR for 1966 which is a Class I CW.  If this is a rotated doubling, then we should be able to see the doubling around the entire coin.  More photos would be nice.  If it is actually a doubled die, then this would be a discovery piece and something to possibly have Wexler or CONECA verify and list for you.  So, more pics would be great!  Thanks!

Like Cort is damage to the coin after it has left the mint.  Particularly, that is damage from a coin roller/wrapper machine.  It is caused by the high speed crimping process and occurs quite often on the end coins.Of course, you can have such coins anywhere in a roll as circulated pieces can be re-wrapped numerous times throughout the years.

Welcome to the forum!

United States coins are general coin aligned, including the commemorative versions.  That means that the images will be right-side up when flipping the coin around from top to bottom.  Medals are aligned so that both sides are right-side up when flipping the coin left or right.

Coins are normally aligned as such so that one is able to "flip the wrist" while holding the coin upright by its edges and still be able to see the opposite side right-side up.  Medals are generally aligned as such so one may be able to turn the medal around (as "medallions" are normally worn around the neck) and showcase the opposite side right-side up while being worn.

I hope this helps.

That would be a penny of the Republic of South Africa from 1892-1898.  You should give a photo of both sides of the coin to help in identification.  The only reason I know this is a penny is the legend's use of AFRIK. was used only on the penny.  Other denominations spelled out AFRIKAANSCHE since there was more space for the letters.

I found a reference to this medal in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol III Fifth Series, pg 9, listed as George IV's Visit to Ireland (No. 4).  This publication is from 1893 and is available for view on Google Books.  The work is attributed to medallist Isaac Parkes.  Aside from that there is no other information I have found to help with any valuation on the medal.  There are a number of references online at various websites, however, they all seem to be snippets of this publication repeating the same information verbatim.

I hope you have a good one today!

Welcome to the forum!

If you have proof sets dated 1971 to current, then congratulations!  I believe you have completed the decimal proof set series to date.  In 1971, they released the last of the pre-decimal proof sets (dated as 1970).  There were no decimal proof sets made until 1973 (these dated 1971), which was the first of the decimal proof sets.  The next sets to be issued were in 1976 when they released the 1972-1976 proof sets.  From then on, they have faithfully released annually.

I hope this information helps!

Very nice!  Is that the first MS70 Panda you've gotten?

That's too bad that she had to work tonight, but I hope she was able to spend a good day with you before she had to go.  Wish her many more to come!

On 3/28/2018 at 3:21 PM, jamaicacoincollector said:

This missing the following sets 1986, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 if anyone has a lead on any of these years I’d be delighted to hear from them

The 2000 proof set is available from the Bank of Jamaica directly for $15 + $25 shipping (according to their website).

Well, it's claiming to be a 1 Sen from 1916 Japan.  Obverse is showing Dai Nippon (Great Japan) across the top and Year 5 Taisho across the bottom (1916).  The reverse is sideways.  It says 1 Sen.  If you properly flipped this coin for the photos and the reverse is in fact sideways, that's a nice rotation!

FYI, the coin should be bronze and is the "key" date for that short series.

6 hours ago, Clump said:

Still not sure I should send it back. Maybe I would end up with another one with the same. I'll better have a word with Hattons..

I would probably not attempt to exchange it unless they have a specimen that doesn't have the apparent defect.  If it is a die chip, it can tentatively be on a number of coins.  I believe they claim to be the sole primary distributor for these coins as well.  So, they would be able to tell you if this "dot" is on all or a number of the coins they have in stock.

Unfortunately, looking at their site, I notice that they are only offering the quarter and full sovereign...no half or 3-piece sets.  I would believe they may have run out of half sovereigns?  If so, then they may not be able to make an exchange.  Best of luck to you!

Welcome to the forum!

Something that pops out at me immediately is you said you bought this set "mostly for long term investment reasons".  Proof coins carry a premium over their bullion counterparts as they are generally minted for the purpose of collecting for the art of them, rather than for investment.  There are a few things you need to consider regarding this set.

The set would consist of the quarter, half and full sovereign, if I am not mistaken.  Now, the first thing is that these coins are not bullion quality specimens.  Bullion would normally consist of .999+ fineness, or 24 karat gold.  These sovereigns are "coin gold" which is a lesser fineness of roughly .917 or 22 karat gold.  So, there is roughly 8% less gold in these coins than what you would have buying bullion.

Looking at the weights of these coins, you have 2g + 4g + 8g for a total of 14 grams of 22 karat gold.  So, that comes close to 12.825 grams (.412 troy ounces) of pure gold.  With the current spot of gold at $1285US per ounce, that puts the value of the gold in this set to roughly $530US.  Seeing Hattons' site selling the sovereign alone at £699...this gives you a good idea of what kind of investment this actually is.

And, if you were collecting these for the art of them, I personally would find a blemish on them to be unacceptable at that price.  These coins have a low mintage, but that kind of rarity does not necessarily add to the value of the piece when it comes time to sell it.  In fact, these sovereigns appear to be on par of the many Liberian gold and silver coins which have a very limited secondary market.  These sovereigns were authorized by a British Overseas Territory, Tristan da Cunha (a remote island in the far south Atlantic) whose population is approximately 250 as of the end of last year.

I personally believe that Hatton's presentation on their site of these coins is just a bit misleading, too.  The British Sovereigns are indeed 22 karat coins, but the Britannia is a pure (24 karat) bullion coin weighed by the troy ounce or fractions thereof.  You can even order these directly from the Royal Mint.  Looking at their site right now, a Gold Britannia costs $1357.38US.  That's almost two and a half times the weight in gold as the set you have.

Anyway, I hope all of this helps you.

Now, with regards to the coin itself in question, I agree with Corina that it is hard to tell for sure what may have caused it.  It could even be a chip in the die used to mint them.  From the mintage numbers, I am sure they probably only used one set of dies to produce the entirety of the coins they produced.  Also, no coin minted that I know of has ever come from a mint with any guarantee that the specimen will be perfect, or even error-free.

Stick around and read up in the forums to learn more about coins.  You can even use the search feature to search threads that talk about proofs to learn a bit more about those particular types of coins.

Sorry, I can't find any rarity information myself on this one.  But, the F-511/518b refers to your die pairs.  The bottom pic is your obverse (511) and the palm and munitions is the reverse die (518).  Would really be interested in rarity myself.

I should add the b should stand for brass and is not an indicator of the die.

Also, I am surprised that there is no plate on the CWTS Patriotic Plate listing.  518 and 516 are both missing.  Perhaps, this may be some indicator that it is not so common a die pair?

I had acquired a certain badge last year that I had temporarily lost in one of my coin cabinets.  Found it hidden under the bottom drawer, so decided I should finally photograph and share it.  This was lot #63 from the estate auction of Chester Krause at the 2017 ANA Denver World's Fair of Money (conducted by Cliff Mishler).  I was not the one who won it, but acquired it from the gentleman who did.  What kind of memorabilia has anyone else been able to obtain?

looks either 1715 or 1719 to me.  I'm leaning a bit toward the former.

Edit:

Had to find some cryllic numbers to paste here:

ЄІ = 15

ѲІ = 19

Received this one directly from them, but have not been able to find any on the market anywhere.  David Lawrence Rare Coins' pet project when the TPGs were going more quacky than normal back in 2008.

12 hours ago, AussieCoinHunter2019 said:

 is it also a sign when there are split ends on the strikes?

I'm sorry, but are you talking about split serifs?  Thanks!

I still hunt!   My daughters have taken an interest through my activities.  My second oldest found it enjoyable to search my quarter rolls for Statehood and ATB quarters to admire and research about.  Second youngest became very interested after our DDO find last year.  She's now a member of CONECA and is planning on eventually writing an article about the find.

It is unfortunate that many hunters were just in it for the "silver rush".  There are so many other things you can (and will with some persistence) still find in rolls:  DDO/Rs, RPMs, OMMs, off-centers, rotated dies, various planchet errors, clashes, etc, etc.  It's not "for the money", it's for the enjoyment! 😍