Vfox

I also picked up some old newspapers at fairgrounds yardsale. The guy said he literally had a large room full of 300 year old - current newspapers. He wouldn't give me a name though because he was selling them for someone else and didn't want him bothered. Which is a bummer because I wanted some of the ones from the 1600's. Oh well, I got these anyway. First one is 1810 1811 1812 1815 1822 1824

I picked this stuff up off ebay recently, I got this $5 note at a rediculously low price, put it this way, it was cheaper than a fill up at the pump. And my first 2 and 4 cap and ray reales from Mexico. Now all I need is a 1 reale, and a half reale, and I'll be set because I already have a few quartillas, well....I guess I do need a copper octavo too though. Another cheap colonial, not the $0.25 bin this time, but pretty cheap regardless. And finally, I had a customer come into work and sell me this. It's funny, I had no clue what it was worth, and just told them the rough silver value, well I ended up buying it for a dollar over silver. I think I may have paid a little high, but that's okay, it's the first one I've ever owned.

Got some German bonds and a nice broken banknote with a gutter fold error on the right. Cheap and great looking, I am really getting into broken banknotes. I have about 20 different ones, and never paid more than $30 for a single one. For currency from the 1850's how can you go wrong at those prices?! Anyway:

Got a few more today. Some of the coppers where from the $0.25 bin, love cheap colonials. This one was a little more, lol.

Thanks De Orc! I used aluminum dies to impress a real coin into, then rolled that die over another coin. I got a Ireland stag (forgot the coins value) coin with the head of a 5 franc from WWII embossed on it lol. The stag coin is oval now though, I am going to turn it into a broach.

You would be even moreso if you knew what I paid.

Aluminum has a low break point, it likes to crack before it likes to mold to a die, it's just brittle. I know many coins are made from it, but I don't think the average joe should bother. Take copper, brass, even bronze, get it red hot, quench it, and it will take nearly any impression with less than a ton of pressure. In other words a hammer, or roll mill. Silver and gold are the same way, but getting them red hot normally just melts them lol, so get them.....uhm, mighty close to red, maybe a dull orange glow. Annealing metals makes them very easily worked, and once they are worked, they are very strong again.

Been there, done that. Lol, actually I started making them for my metals smithing class, and just kept making more....about 78 total. It's a hoot! I made these to commemorate my town, most are 2006, there are about 20 2007 ones. Once the planchet is annealed, and clipped to a 2"x2" square, it takes about 1-2 minutes to make each one. Then simply cut, treat the edge, and tone.

A nice Xf-Au 8 reale. A little 5 centavo. A small German Hamburg 1 dreiling. And some provisional Mexican currency.

These are not hammer struck, they are actually roll pressed. It's a similar method to how the Spanish pillar 8 reales were made. As for the planchets, a heavy duty sheet metal slicer, and 12-18 gauge metals. I normally use 14-16 for them, but I've used lots of scraps to make some, so they are really thin, some almost 22 gauge. The silver ones are actually struck over Engelhard rounds that were rolled smooth. The edges are either clipped, or clipped and hammered to give them a more traditional look. As for copper and brass being harder than silver? When it's annealed you can bend 16-18 gauge copper and brass in your hand like it's a hunk of thick wax. 14 Gauge and below you may need to use 2 hands lol. If you think I'm kidding, take an old english penny and get it red hot, quench it in water, and have at it. I've had a lot of fun using these dies to make these coins, they are distorted, and nearly twice as big as what I started with because of the pressure, but still usable. I am trying to use them until they break, and make some with the broken dies just for kicks. And I got some new additions today! This ones two heads of 18th century (late 1760's-1780's ish) soldered together. I don't know why they used two different heads....or why they did it in the first place. And I finally got a REAL 1910 Mexican peso, and for a great price, plus, check out that color!

And I've gotten into buying old checks lately, so I got these as well:

And my metal coins, all hand stamped, all hand made in a 17th century Spanish/English style: New reverse pattern for 2007: Triple struck to be goofy.

And now for stuff I've been doing in school. I've always been saying I've wanted to make my own coins, well now I have. And quite a few. In my ceramics class I made 1,150 single sided press molds in the style of the Thaler above from 1780(or whenever it was made, since it's a bullion coin now). And last year I made a set of dies and started stamping coins in copper, silver, brass, and 3 in gold for my metals class, to honor my hometown of Adamsville. I made just under 80 metals ones, and 20 have been sold to various people, the rest I still own. Anyway, some pics: Some that have been glazed: I placed 500 glazed ones all over my campus, the rest are going to be glazed and messed with over the summer.

This ones a counterfiet, all three I own have a distinctive die crack in the sun, under the horse. These are very muddy looking fakes, but still neat to have.

I've added some new things to my omnicoin, and I got lots of things but never really had time to put any of it up. Here are a few highlights though.

a 43-P silver war nickel and a 2000 2 cent spanich euro coin.

That's a nice little coin, wish places around here carried your sort of stuff.

DBL post, whoops.

2001-P MS66W .....what's the W stand for if it's a P mint?

Jeff purchased some notes from me a little bit ago, fast payment as always. Thanks Jeff!

Haha, yeah, they really are awesome like that.

I had the chance to raid the coinstar "junk/trash" bin yesterday. I pulled out a silver earing, a sharks tooth, 2 1 francs made into pendants, 7 silver rosies, and a 39 merc in Vf. I was a happy little camper! Oh, and I forget if I mentioned this, but I found a 1939 10 cent from the Netherlands on the floor in my store. I cannot even imagine how it got there, or who had it with them to drop in the first place. But I was really happy to find it! Blows my mind sometimes lol.

An Unc 58-D wheatie, no doubt liberated from someones collection. Won't see me complaining about a red unc wheatie in change though lol.

Got some stuff from Bill a little bit ago, and I've been super lazy updating this and my omnicoin lol. I got a 1910 & 1911 lincolns, and the 1&5 cent canadian animal coins but too lazy to scan lol.

Got a nice little pile of coins the other day, well packaged as usual, and arrived promptly. Always a pleasure, thanks Bill!