Been far too long since my last journal.

I realize it has been months since my last journal post. Despite this, I still regularly read all of the journals here, and I have enjoyed seeing everyone's collections grow. I can't believe it's May already...where the first 4 months of this year went I'm not sure.

For this post I just wanted to share a little good news. When I first started my thematic horses set last year (on April 1, 2011 I believe), one of the first things I did was go through my 1901-2000 Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins. I sat down with post-it arrows and flipped through the almost 1500 pages marking coins that featured horses. There are a lot...I don't dare count them...

Immediately I started on the journey of adding coins to my watch list of auctions, picking up some of the easier to find pieces right away, and learning the virtue of patience for many others.

Well, one piece that alluded me for several months was the 1 Drachma Greek coin minted for only two years in 1910 and 1911. I knew the 1910 was the piece that I would likely target, as the 1911 is significantly more expensive and scarce. Despite the 1910 coin being minted in a quantity of more than 4.5 million coins, I was dumbfounded at how hard it is/was to find a piece grade AU or better. Finally, back on the 23rd of April I was the high bidder on an NGC graded AU55 example for less than $100. This was quite a feat considering an MS62 examples goes for around $300 at the low end, and often nice AU coins can have better eye appeal than lower MS coins anyway. It arrived from Greece today (I always find it cool to get a coin in the mail from abroad!) Though the sellers pics were not stellar, it was clear that the coin had nice luster and toning -- and, in hand it did not disappoint.

Below is the newest member of my herd. The slab is scuffed worse than any other coin I have ever owned, so even after a good 10 minutes of buffing and polishing, a few of the marks are still visible. The obverse features the bust of King George I of Greece who reigned from 1863 to 1913. The reverse features what is described as a "Mythological figure Thetis with shield of Achilles, seated on sea horse". Both the obverse and the reverse have a bit of a gold tone/patina, with just a blush of orange toning above the sea horse on the reverse.

I hope all are well, and Happy Collecting!

-Brandon

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