zadok

This week, the U.S. Mint sent me an email asking if I would complete an online survey about their "exciting" new silver medals planned for 2025. As an avid collector of the Mint's silver medals, such as the armed forces and Presidential silver medals, I decided to complete the survey. Unfortunately, these new proposed products turned out to be silver medals depicting current pop singers and DC Comics superheroes...
When the survey specifically asked why I wouldn't be buying the proposed 2025 "Selena" medal, I explained:
Sorry if any of you are Selena fans.
 

Mike recently helped bring to my attention that we're about to get our first new Zimbabwe coins in about 6 years and my Zimbabwe Coin and Note sets are going to be growing again.
The new currency was announced earlier this month (I think around the 5th) and they're supposed to release the new notes tomorrow (on the 30th) and there are already some interesting signs that things are not going well:
They announced 8 note denominations and 2 coin denominations (0.25 ZiG and 0.5 ZiG)

But there were almost immediately stories about the currency dropping in value against the dollar - even before you could get cash for it - and the government not taking the old ZWL dollars - even though they were supposedly good until 4/30 - and the fact that the government itself was still wanting to be paid for things in US dollars...
Now though, those coins are going to have denominations of 1 ZiG, 2 ZiG, and 5 Zig. Not the factional coins they said before. Three coin denominations that overlap with the currency denominations that they announced 3 weeks ago... that they haven't released yet...
The 2 ZiG and 5 ZiG coins were apparently announced over the weekend - Friday 4/26 and Saturday 4/27, based on the articles out there.


 
That's from the "Zimbabwe Situation." This feels like this can't be a good sign. This can't be going well.  
Supposedly 1/10 ZiG, 1/4 ZiG, and 1/2 ZiG coins are still coming but... Are they?  I can't help but notice that today we're getting specs released for 1 ZIG, 2 ZIG, and 5 ZIG but there's narry a peep about the fractionals.
I guess we'll see if I get 2 new coins, 3, or 6 to add to my collection. I guess it sounds like we're only getting 6 new notes now... but maybe we'll get a 1,000 ZIG note instead... and then a 5,000 ZiG note, and then a 10,000 ZiG note... Or they could just throw up their hands and admit that this is not going to work and write-off the whole idea.
The irritating part here is that there is no room for these in my 24-coin case that I got for all the other coins... Cleary time to start planning a new box...

In 2018 CoinWeek published an article by Doug Winter titled “Eight Great U.S. Coin Collections,” i.e., https://coinweek.com/doug-winter-eight-great-u-s-coin-collections/ 
You may recall that in one of my previous posts I mentioned that Doug Winter is a renowned dealer of U.S. gold coins.  He has written numerous informative articles that you can find on his website.  In this linked article he lists the following great U.S. coin collections:
1.    The Ed Milas Collection of No Motto Half Eagles
2.    The ELIASBERG Collection
3.    The NORWEB Collection
4.    The GARRETT Collection
5.    The ELROD Collection
6.    The REED Collection
7.    The PITTMAN Collection
8.    The BASS Collection
While most of the coins in these collections were U.S. coins, they also contained some world coins.
In the above pictures I show the obverses and reverses of 5 coins that I now own, which were previously part of one of the collections listed above. The coin information in the list below corresponds to the pictures going from the left to the right. Note that the indicated pedigrees are listed on the coin slabs.
•    Eliasberg pedigree, U.S., 1866-S with motto $5 gold, PCGS 53, NGC census (53 total, 2 in, 8 better)
•    Eliasberg pedigree, Brazil, 1774-B 6400 Reis gold, NGC 62, NGC census (9 total, 1 in, 0 better)
•    Norweb pedigree, Brazil, 1730-R 400 Reis gold, NGC XF details, NGC census 1 in XF details, 1 in MS 62
•    Norweb pedigree, Brazil, 1734-R 400 Reis gold, NGC 62, NGC census (11 total, 3 in, 0 better)
•    Garrett pedigree, Brazil, 1855 5000 Reis gold, NGC 63, NGC census (49 total, 12 in, 8 better)
When I find a coin, which I like, that has a pedigree listed on the slab, I will pay a premium for the coin only if the pedigree is for a well-known collector, like one of the collectors shown above. I think that such information makes the coin more interesting, and therefore more valuable.
Doug Winter provides more information about “Pedigrees and Numismatics” in the following article, https://raregoldcoins.com/blog/articles/pedigrees-and-numismatics. One of the things that he mentions is that “At this point in time, the Eliasberg pedigree is considered the most valuable among collectors. A coin with an Eliasberg pedigree typically commands a 10-15% premium due to its high level of demand. In terms of desirability, the next tier of "name sales" includes Pittman and Norweb.” I would personally add a 25% premium to what I’m willing to bid for coins with these pedigrees. 
What do you think about pedigrees on coin slabs?  Please leave a comment below.
 

I hope everyone on here had a Good Christmas a few days ago and is looking forward to a good New Year's Eve and New Years Day.
We'll be hosting a New Year's Eve party this year because Ben really liked it that one year and he wants one.
From a coin collecting standpoint this year was a little more muted than last year - Shandy got me a 2023 MS70 Panda, surprising me after head-faking with the Koalas.

I also got Choya a 1982-D Half dollar to fill in a hole in one of the year-sets we started years ago. That was a surprise for him because he claims that he'd been looking recently and hadn't seen anything on offer. I looked and had seen several things, but it's entirely possible that what I was willing to spend isn't the same thing as what he was willing to spend.  

Shandy also did me a HUGE favor on a non-coin collecting front and bought me a padded foam case for storing some of the minis I've been collecting and trying to slowly paint this year.
It amuses me to think that my old High School Art Teachers, if they're still around and kicking somewhere, would probably be happy to see me still painting and doing things with art supplies into my mid- and soon to be late-30s.
Lately I've continued working on a project of pink and purple mechs that I'm painting for Shandy:


My mother-in-law gave me a beefier version of my magnifying lamp that I can clamp onto my table and, when I get to do this stuff in my office, this will be doing like it's smaller brother and doing double-duty for coins and mini-painting... But I need to put it together... Shouldn't be too hard.


Shandy meanwhile is taking up crochete, and so there are times now when I'll be sitting and painting and she'll be working with yarn.
I'm quietly (for now) seeing if I can pull something off for Ben. If I pull it off, I'll probably be posting about it soon. We'll see on that front, but I never talk about it until it's done on these things.

One of the predictable outcomes of me starting to work more seriously on a collection / set of coins with a turtle theme is that its going to have me branching out into some more things and giving me extra opportunities to digress into, "Hey! Look at this thing I just found!"
I recently found a seller offering 4 of these coins from that feature a sea turtle. I ordered all 4 of the ones they had listed. When those came in and looked great, and I saw the seller had listed 3 more, I ordered those too, just to have several to look at and for some extras.


I have to say, it was a little jarring to see the old hammer and sickle on a coin dated 2018 - 27 years after the fall of the USSR. And that whole design looks very very anachronistically soviet. 
Moldova is a very small country stuck between Ukraine and Romania and it's right next to the port of Odesa. It has about 2.5 Million people.

But as I read more, I've found that this coin doesn't actually come from Moldova.
There's an even smaller, unrecognized, breakaway state called Transnistria that tried to break away during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990.
The Moldovan government has not had control or influence over the area since a ceasefire agreement was made to effectively end the Transnistria War in July 1992, and Transnistria (the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic) has its own president.

The currency of Moldova is the "Leu" and this coin is denominated in Roubles.
Transnistria dropped "Soviet" from their name in 1991 and nominally abandoned the socialist ideology... but apparently not the symbolism and iconography, if this coin is any indication.
Based on Numista, Transnistria puts out tons and tons of different 1 Rouble designs. It looks like in 2016 they did a whole "signs of the zodiac series" / set and in 2017 they had a "Coats of Arms of Transnistrian Cities series," several other commemorative issues, Chinese Zodiac issues... 2018 had their "Red Book of Transnistria" series, which included this coin, as well as a bunch of others.
They put out a lot of these things.... a lot a lot. If you look at the coins of the "third rouble" (which has only existed since 2000) on Numista, they have 11 pages of coins / coin designs - 530 results. Venezuela has 136 results for the period from 1843-date. SO.... yeah. This little republic apparently likes to pump out limited-run, non-circulating coins with the best of them. A lot like Niue, but with nickel-plated steel instead of 1 oz silver coins.
They are all non-circulating issues with limited mintages - this coin apparently has a mintage of only 50,000 - and they're all nickel-plated steel.
So, an interesting little find to be sure.
 

A couple of weeks ago I reached out to my Mom to ask her about the date ranges for the time when they were in Argentina, where they were, etc.
I wanted to have a little more information so I could incorporate this into the set description for my Austral set:

The coins I had gotten came mostly from my grandmother, giving me coins my grandfather had kept.
However, apparently, not long after I reached out to my mother, my sister found this in a bunch of papers and other things my mother had given her:

Inside she found these:

My mother had her 14th birthday about a month after they got into Argentina, and her classmates had given her 1 Peso coins, which she put in this tin, and those coins have been in this tin for 50 years I guess. You can see "Birthday $" written on it.
My sister returned the tin to my mother.
Last night we were getting together to celebrate some birthdays - mine and my nephews. My mother had the tin. She gave each of her 4 grandchildren one of the pesos and then gave the tin and the rest of them to me.
The coins are obviously circulated, but, more interestingly, they're about a 50/50 mix between the 1810-1960 1-year issue 150-years after the May Revolution coin (KM58) and the KM57 1 peso coin. But the coins are all from 1957, 1958, and 1960... Nothing from the later 1960s... and my mother got these in the 2nd half of 1970. And it didn't make sense for that to be a coincidence.


It turns out, after a bit of looking, that Argentina last produced KM57 in 1962 and didn't produce 1 peso coins again until 1974 - years after they'd left the country. So, at the time my mother was in the country, the newest 1 peso coins that had been made were 8 years old.
Odd to think about.
I think I'll probably keep these in the tin for now. I could take them out and put them in flips but... The tin feels like part of the story for these.
 

So, the awards deadline has come and gone, and I made the joke to Shandy along the lines of, "Well, I lost the 50 Lire this year, but I managed to win in 4 Italian categories instead of 2 this year, so that's cool, right?" Her response was, "So, you're going to get me 6 next year, right?" "You planning to up my budget? " More seriously, my quip back to her would be that I'll feel pretty good about it if I manage the defend the title on 2 or 3 of these 4 next year. I seem to be decently good at calling attention to categories and getting more sets created.  
Can you tell which one was created as a bit of an afterthought that I haven't had a chance to really mess with yet? Seriously.... I thought I'd made and posted a banner for all of these, then I actually looked at the 5 Lire set last night and was like...  "Ooops."

At some point I'm also wanting to work with an image of the 1994 500L to work on and differentiate the 500 Lire type set banner from the non-circulating commemorative date set. But it works for now. 
Most of these coins that I haven't bought raw and graded myself have come from 1 dealer in particular and they've had some MS67 1981 200 Lire coins - celebrating the first observation of UN FAO's World Food Day - that I'd been wanting to get and add to the 200 Lire Type set. The only problem was, consistent with their usual, they'd listed the coins at $300 each, which is.... Silly.  
Just for Lawls, and as a reminder to myself I watched the listing on eBay. The seller then offered me a 15% discount. $255. Which was... Slightly less silly. "Nah. You can still keep it at that price."
As has tended to be the case, they eventually listed one for $50, which was starting to become more reasonable. I'm pretty okay to let someone recover their grading fees and make a little money if it is a good grade and they're saving me the work of hunting and submitting myself. When they're half-way reasonable on price I like these people. They make my life much easier on these sets, letting me focus more energy in other areas, so I do want them to continue having an incentive to keep submitting and supplying me with coins.
So, I watched that listing thinking I might pull the trigger on it later. Then the seller offers me another 10% discount, knocking it down to $45. At that point I finally showed it to Shandy, and she was with me on taking it at that price.
$45 plus shipping - down 85% of the original ask.
I am still frequently amazed by and in awe of what people will ask for on these rarely-graded, thinly-collected-as-graded-coins, modern condition rarities, frequently bragging up that the coin is Top Pop (for now, but in no way guaranteed to remain such).
I'm really looking forward to getting this one in, and when I do, I think it's going to be time to look into updating the 200 Lire banner to show off some of the different designs.
I suspect she'll take this one and add it to her small-but-growing stash. So I may have to steal it for the short term to take the pictures.

One coin I'd particularly enjoy adding to this set would be the 1980 issue:

Between the child hugging the woman and the book in her lap I think that's almost a perfect design for my wife.
Interestingly, this coin also references UN FAO, but unlike with the 1981 coin, I haven't researched this to figure out what the connection to FAO is with this one.
 

After a bunch of years collecting colonials I decided to liquidate my modest set through one of the upcoming Heritage Showcase auctions.  It has been fun to filling in those registry blanks spaces and having rack up several of those NGC awards along the way ... it give one a little feeling of accomplishment.  Colonials have been fun to collect with so much history and stories behind each of them  .I think NGC did a nice job in establishing their "US Colonial Basic Design Set, 1652-1796" registry as it turned out to be a great vehicle for getting your feet wet in colonials, to track ones progress, and to experience the breath of the history and designs of colonials. I believe these registry really help a collector to create a goal and to help stay focus on their set.
If interested in colonials, this is the link to my listed pieces in the Upcoming Action.  
https://coins.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=3183+793+794+791+1577+792+2088+4294940151+4294967054&type=friend-consignorlive-notice

The box came with the Zimbabwe and Italian coins yesterday. With the kids in bed and the chores handled we sat down together to take them out of the box.


She joked about me and my hoard and how pleased I was, but I was surprised by how quickly the 500 L coins were pulled away and how happy she was to get to handle them and look at those.

I went at one point and got the other 500L coins, the previous submission of Zimbabwe coins and a couple of empty boxes I have. I gave one of the boxes to her and she was thrilled to realize she was getting her own box for her group of 10 coins - but, seriously, 10 coins is a decent number and a lot to handle as loose slabs. So it made sense, but it also made her really happy.
When I handed her the box she actually perked up more, smiled and said, excitedly, "I get my own box?!?"

I also had to pull out all the old coins, lay the out, order them, and there ya go: the largest collection of NGC Graded Zimbabwean coins in the world - because no one else has been crazy enough yet.

After we were done looking I got on my phone and popped all the cert numbers into the sets at last. Shandy called me crazy because of all the "TOP POP" coins, but most are top mostly because there are so few graded, and her newly expanded set isn't short on Top Pops for now, for similar reasons. But she may have a point that the Zimbabwe set is now complete (but very much working on the 500L set) and that set now presents just a wall of "Top Pop" only broken at one place for now.  My "cute, dopey, derpy set of (well-presented) Top-Pops" fullfilled!
     
She spent the rest of the night referencing "my" (her) coin collection and pointing out, "I think you love me." 
I did good. She's happy. Her with the 1990 that her family brought back, that is now in an NGC holder as an MS67.

So, there you have an "unboxing" story, that is really more about the moment than the coins.

One hundred years ago in 1922 Iceland issued there first ever partial set of legal tender coins the 10 and 25 Aurar's.  With a growing nation that was in desperate need for coinage because all the coins used up to that time was from other nation's like Denmark, Norway or they would use tokens that was issued by large merchants companies that was either based in Iceland or Denmark and even the Faroe Islands. Iceland banned the use of tokens prior to 1922 because merchants can manipulate the cost of such things as bread For instead when the consumer tried to pay for a loaf bread using a token they were given in change for one free rye bread the merchant would tell the person at a later date  that the cost of the bread as risen and the token was no longer acquit for the promise of one free loaf of bread causing the consumer to fork over more funds for something they should have been given for free from the get-go.  The first and only coins for this year was the 10 and 25 Aurar minted in Copenhagen Denmark and in 1925 was when the next denominations was produced the 1 Krona (singular)  and 2 Kronur (plural). It took 100 Aurar's  to make a single 1 Krona and in 1926 was when the final three denominations was produced the 1 Eyrir (singular) and the 2 and 5 Aurar's (plural). It took four years to produce the seven coins needed to complete a set of coins comprising of all denominations.
   The 1 Eyrir and the 2 and 5 Aurar's minted by the Copenhagen mint was made of a 95% copper  4% Tin  1% Zink from 1926 to 1939 but they did mint a few 2 Aurar's dated 1940 before the London's Royal Mint in England Took over the mintage of all the coins dated from 1940 -1942 after Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany. They changed the composition of all the copper coins dated 1940 to 95.5% Cu   3% Sn  1% Zn  but they made one final change for the dated 1942 Copper coins to  97% Cu  0.5% Tn  2.5% Sn . From my understanding according to the records of the Royal Mint the new updated second metal change accrue part way into the production of the 1940 dated 5 Aurar so there are two different metal composition varieties for the 1940 5 Aurar coin but none for the dated 1940 1 Eyrir and 2 Aurar since they were all ready minted. The royal mint did not always produce the individual coin denomination the year that was indicated on the coin and it is believed that some coins was minted as far as two years after the date like some of the coins dated 1942. and the 1940 1 Krona and 2 Kronur was produced as far as into 1944.  On a interesting note Staffen Bjorkman noted in his 15 page summary on Icelandic coins 1918 to1959 he made mention of a 1925 1 Eyrir with a mintage of 4000 pieces which the Icelandic national museum collection never made any mention of one ever having existed but this may only be nothing more then the first batch of 1926 Eyrir's ( 4000 coins ) was just the number of coins that was minted in 1925 for the 1926 Eyrir just like the U.S. mint does by Producing the following year's coins. Record keeping can be a problem if its not written down correctly. There are some interesting varieties for the 1 Eyrir from this time period some known and some not, But that's for another journal.  I have tried to research the Copenhagen mint records online and to no avail I couldn't find any records having to do with the minting of Icelandic coins. Maybe I need to hop on a plane to Denmark. 
Thank you  for reading my journal entry and I'm going to write more about the mintage of Iceland Kingdom Era coinage in my near upcoming  journals       

Another Napoleonic medal added to the collection. This one was produced following the Treaty of Pressburg which was signed by Napoleon on the 26th December 1805 following the major victory by the French over the Austrian's at Austerlitz earlier in that month. In 1813, as Napoleon's control in Europe weakened, the Austrians regained the Illyrian provinces so French influence was short-lived but did result in some positive changes in region.
As part of this important Treaty Austria ceded its possessions in Dalmatia to France and this is represented on this 1806 bronze medal by the Temple of Jupiter in Split (Bramsen 513, Julius 1552, Essling 1128 - there is also an example in silver). This temple was part of Diocletian's palace, and given Napleon's fixation with the Roman Empire, this was no doubt an appropriate example to highlight the importance of the region. The Paris mint produced a whole range of medals related to this pivotal battle and the corresponding Treaty, and its resultant collapse, so this medal is the start of a small sub-collection.
 

Whenever I visit a foreign country, I make it my practice to cherry-pick examples of that country’s coins from circulation. For an expensive visit to a foreign country, coins make an inexpensive souvenir that only costs you the exchange rate of your dollars. They also make a memorable keepsake of your visit and interesting conversation pieces with your numismatic buddies back home! Sometimes I save examples of the circulating paper money when I travel. However, paper money is convertible back to dollars, and coins generally are not.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in Iceland for my daughter’s destination wedding to the man I now proudly call my son-in-law. At first, I thought the idea of a destination wedding was crazy, and I had to warm up to it. However, not attending this wedding was never an option. With that, my wife and I boarded an IcelandAir Boeing 737 in Chicago for Reykjavik. Today, this happy event is in my rearview mirror, and I would not have wanted it any other way. 
Iceland is a spectacularly scenic, volcanically formed island. For those who love hiking and outdoor activities visiting Iceland should be on your bucket list. While here, we also witnessed the northern lights. If you see them in the continental US, you don’t see them like you do here. The island is literally dotted with volcanoes, waterfalls, and glaciers. If you think you might like to take a dip in 40-degree weather, there are geothermally warmed pools like the Blue Lagoon. Before flying back to the states, my wife and I had a relaxing dip in what seemed like 80-90 degrees silica mineral water. 
Add the phenomenal wedding, and Iceland is like a romantic fairy tale. I am posting with the coins a picture of the black wedding chapel, the northern lights, and li’l-old-me in front of an inactive volcano! (Black is practical color as it absorbs the heat from what little winter sun there is).
The coins of Iceland come in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 Kroner coins. They are simple in design, and except for the 1 Krona (Bergrisi the rock giant), they feature the four mythological guardian spirits of Iceland (Landvættir) on the coin’s obverse. They were first written about in AD 1220 in the Heimskringla (Old Norse kings’ sagas). Written in the pages of this book is the tale of a would-be invader of Iceland, devious King Bluetooth. King Bluetooth had a sorcerer turn himself into a whale to spy out the vulnerabilities of the island. At every corner of the island, the whale was confronted by a fiercely protective Land Wight. 
On the Eastern side of Iceland, the wizard whale was turned back by Dreki the dragon. On the North, there was Gammur the griffin. On the West, Griðungur the bull, and on the South, Bergrisi the rock giant. Needless to say, the wizard whale returned to King Bluetooth with an unfavorable report, and Iceland was saved from an imminent invasion. Today these four landvættir grace the Iceland coat of arms around a shield displaying the flag of Iceland.
As an island, Iceland’s economy is partially dependant on the sea. Featured on the reverse of the 1 Krona is a cod, the 5 Kronur, two dolphins, the 10 Kronur, four capelin, the 50 Kronur, a shore crab, and the 100 Kronur, a lumpfish. 
I am also including a link to a silver 500 Kronur coin commemorating 100 years of banknotes in Iceland. The obverse features Fjallkonan, “The Lady of the Mountain.” I have had this coin for many years in my seated imagery collection.
In the photograph of the coins, I have included the diameter, metallic composition, and the exchange rate of the Iceland Kronur. Below are the references I used to research the coins I brought home from Iceland. Gary. 
https://www.cb.is/financial-stability/oversight-of-financial-market-infrastructures/banknotes-and-coin/valid-coins-in-circulation/ 
https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/folklore-in-iceland#ghosts-in-iceland
https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/coinview.aspx?sc=232749

On Tuesday evening, June 22, 2021, the Madison County Coin Club of Huntsville, Alabama rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of COVID shutdowns. For now, it has a new home, and for the retro-members, a “newish” meeting night. “Funny, you don’t LOOK newish.” The meeting place had been firmly established only 7 days prior. The club now meets in the same building as the Huntsville Gem & Mineral Society, on the site of the former Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom Middle School at 7901 Bailey Cove Road SE in Huntsville. Fear not, Grissom fans; he has a new school named for him. 
 
Huntsville is the fastest growing town in the Gulf south, and will soon surpass both Mobile and Montgomery in population. Even Birmingham’s #1 in Alabama position is not safe. 
 
Any time a club resumes operation, there is trepidation. Did folks get the email? Was the website updated correctly? Have people lost interest? The answers are a resounding yes, yes, and no. The room was full. I grabbed a chair along a wall. It was my first meeting. I only moved to northern Alabama this past December. The club graciously accepted my application. 
 
The club’s meeting pattern is a) business meeting, b) show and tell, c) informational program, and d) member auction. Only the last segment was missing for this initial meeting. It may take a little longer to get auction material in the pipeline. Next month, the club will hear a presentation from its founder, who has since moved to Georgia.