... may be complete.

I recently sent eight coins to NGC for grading and while waiting for their return, I decided to do some research. The coins are all from the same set, and I've only handled a few of them, so virtually all of my information has come from books, magazine articles, and the internet (mainly pictures, and eBay listings). I was getting close to completion and with books and papers piled all around me I was sitting at the computer writing the set and coin descriptions when my wife walked up. Very innocently she asked "Whacha doin'?" While this seems like a simple question, I always get caught off guard and assume there is some deeper interest. I should have just said something equally simple like "Writing" but instead, I enthusiastically replied "Researching and writing about the Culion Leper Colony coinage minted between 1913 and 1930!" I realized my mistake immediately when her face went blank and she slowly backed away without another word. Undaunted, I typed on. Later, while talking to my daughter on the phone I mentioned my now completed research. She's a fourth year medical student so I thought she might show more interest, at least from a medical perspective but alas, not so. Just dead air, so we moved on to other topics. Given the current level of interest in my efforts, I fear I may have gone way off the deep end, but just in case there are others here with similar interests, I invite you to read on. The rest of you may just want to slowly back away...

Almost a year ago, JAA did a very nice introduction to the Culion Leper Colony coinage in his journal post "Culion Island Leper Colony Coinage" (http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/JournalDetail.aspx?JournalEntryID=12377), so I won't replicate any of that or my own set description here. In my recent research, I mainly focused on the many varieties for these coins and found that all of my sources are at best incomplete, and in some cases contradictory. In the description of the set, I have enumerated the 16 date/denomination issues, and the number of varieties that may exist for each. In the individual coin descriptions, I've gone into even more detail about each variety and how to identify them. I've never seen some of these variations, so the descriptions are really just my best reconciliation of information from the various sources based on my coins and pictures I've seen. If you'd like to have a look at the results, please check out this exercise in minutia in my Culion Leper Colony set at:

http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/SetListing.aspx?PeopleSetID=147941

As always, I welcome your feedback and comments, particularly if you can shed some light on the ambiguities that I am as yet unable to resolve.

Thanks for reading, and happy collecting!

(I leave you with a picture of the best of the eight Culion coins I recently had graded)

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