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ColonialCoinsUK

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Journal Entries posted by ColonialCoinsUK

  1. ColonialCoinsUK

    Plans for 2021

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    Short version – do all the things I still haven’t done from 2020, 2019, 2018 etc
    Longer version – I bought less coins in 2020 than I have done for many years, and this is not because of the current environment we all find ourselves in, but that the higher grade coins in my collecting areas, even the minors, seem increasingly scarce and have rapidly moved beyond by budget making completing sets effectively impossible.
    At least partial acceptance of this fact prompted some specific research into ancients and banknotes, two areas I have always been interested in and still follow, and the situation is very similar – quality examples are very expensive, even more so than coins. Financially it looks like I should have concentrated on banknotes of the British colonies rather than their coins!
    So where does that leave things? It is no doubt apparent that I have an interest in varieties, this coupled with the rapid improvement in photography of auction lots, has made identifying such things much easier which is great – and even negates the need to buy the actual coin which is a bonus when you can’t afford them. Documenting this level of detail may not always be possible within the standard references, which makes rarity etc somewhat difficult to establish, and it would be useful to have such information available.
    This Journal would be a good place for me to start, and evolve, such a study for the series I am familiar with as committing to paper, albeit electronic, often highlights gaps in the information available which my memory just doesn’t do any more,  so it was a nice surprise to receive another Journal Award from NGC. This was particularly appreciated as friends and family would probably describe me as more of a practical person and allergic to paperwork. I do hope to continue adding to my collection however a shift in focus from date-runs means that Custom Sets will be more appropriate although the current possibilities for these still have plenty of empty slots before they are coherent enough to be added to the Registry.
    I hope everyone makes progress on their goals for 2021 be it coins or anything else (apparently my wife thinks the kitchen needs painting etc etc).
  2. ColonialCoinsUK

    Added a key Auction Catalogue

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    The catalogue for the Paramount Collection from Heritage has just arrived and I will be adding this to my collection as it has some great information on rare world coins and will no doubt get referred to for many years to come.

    As I mentioned in the ‘Auction Catalogs’ thread some of the standard references used in sales for the areas I have an interest in are actually auction catalogues rather than books, the main one being Napoleonic medals. I already had a copy of Bramsen (reprint, original 1907 and the first attempt at listing) and Julius (1932) so it was great that I have now also acquired a copy of the 1927 catalogue for the Prince d’Essling collection on the coins & medals of the 1st Empire Napoleon I to Napoleon III, so I finally have the three main ‘references’. There have been many more specialist collections since the early 1800’s and due to last minute work commitments I managed to miss the start of the latest Kolbe & Fanning Sale (March 6th) which had some rare catalogues for collections from this early period – this was a bit frustrating to say the least. I was surprised that the copy of Julius that appeared later on in the sale hammered at $550! (only the 3rd copy I have seen, including mine, and therefore looks to be a much better financial return that some of my coins).

    I know that you are supposed to buy the book before the coin but sometimes you have no choice – well that is my excuse.

  3. ColonialCoinsUK

    That was a good idea while it lasted!

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    Given earlier Journal entries it will be no surprise that I, not only, have an interest in die varieties but have also been looking at the Napoleonic coinage of Italy which is complex to say the least!
    It looks like I was not the only one attempting to resolve this dilemma as another collector has also been working on the gold 20 Lire issues and their collection came up for sale at the recent Gaduory auction in Monaco which took place on 22/23 October (see catalogue pages below and next post). It includes the variations in the number of stars, the points on the stars, the overdates and the relative positions and styles of the M mintmark for Milan.
    I think this should now be the reference work for these coins - just the small matter of all the other denominations to sort out now which are even more diverse than 20 Lire with the Venice and Bologna mints also issuing coins and often reusing the dies from Milan! 


  4. ColonialCoinsUK

    Finally made it to Rome

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    During the Napoleonic period Italy was not the single country we know today and as such had multiple, sometimes, short-lived territories each with their own coinage.

    The gold 20 and 40 Lire issues were only struck at Milan (mint mark M) with the smaller denominations also being issued by the mints at Bologna and Venice (mint marks B and V), the Italians seem to have had a much greater need than the French for small change - Napoleon only had a single copper issue struck for the French, the 1808BB 5 centimes, so I assume there was enough copper coinage already circulating. These were the main mints for the Kingdom of Italy and I have some examples for each of these. However some Italian mints were under the same authority as the French mints and issued Francs rather than Lire, these were Turin (mint mark U, T was already taken by Nantes!), Genoa (mint mark CL) and Rome (mint mark is a R topped with a crown as Napoleon declared himself the King of Rome). I have had a 1810U gold 20 francs for some time, and this is part of my Registry set, however examples from Rome and Genoa have proven more of a challenge - usually financial . So it is great to finally acquire the crowned R mint mark in the form of a 1813Rome gold 20 francs to add to my collection I will now have to start saving for the elusive CL.


  5. ColonialCoinsUK

    What's in a name?

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    As a collector of British sixpences it is no surprise that on the addition of Napoleonic and Spanish coinage I was drawn to the smaller denominations. Often these are less well documented than crowns and the gold coinage and as such there are often new varieties that remain to be discovered.
    In my collection I have a Mexican 1773 half real coin where the King's name is spelt CAROLS rather than the usual CAROLUS - in this case a well-known variety (Calico 2019: 196, Cayon 11118, it's even in Krause KM#69.2). You will have to forgive the terrible scan, I blame my example being very dark and low grade. Along side is a 1805 half real depicting his son Charles IV as IIII - just to prove that there was plenty of room for the extra 'U'.
    I wonder what the penalty was in those days for making that mistake!
    And people think quality control at some mints is bad today but in the 18th century no one was worrying about MS70.

  6. ColonialCoinsUK
    Whilst trawling a dealers inventory, looking for something else, I was very pleased to come across a 1809W 10 centimes (PCGS AU55 – main image), and I immediately bought this coin for my Napoleon collection as I was lacking an example from the Lille mint for this denomination.

    Why the instant decision? Having, decided to assemble a graded set of 10 centimes in 2012 I later reviewed the population reports (2017, included in the introductory text to my Registry Set) which not only highlighted that this would be a real challenge but that there were no graded examples of the 1809W issue at either service, plus the few examples that I was aware of were in VF at best and usually much worse even though it has one of the higher mintages in the series at 1,160,351.

    My journal article in January ‘If you wait long enough ….’ highlighted that I had been fortunate to acquire a newly graded 1808I example of the 10 centimes (the first at NGC, MS65 – there were already two at PCGS, both MS63). These two new discoveries prompted me to update my records for the Napoleon 10 centimes and this led to some interesting findings.

    In less than 3 years the number of 10 centimes graded, across all dates (1808-1810) and mints, has not only risen by 32% (65 to 86, almost equally split between NGC and PCGS) but the first examples of 1808B and 1809W have been added to the population reports – the latter being my new acquisition. It is no surprise that the most common issue, 1808A, has seen the largest increase with 9 mint state examples being added! I have included a more detailed examination as an update in the introductory text to my Registry Set.

    Although this study is only a miniscule, or even smaller, snapshot of the vast arena that is world coin collecting, the quality, ungraded coins appear to be out there waiting to be discovered. This surprising increase in graded examples coupled with the now routine appearance of graded world coins at auctions across the globe means that I am more than happy with my decision to transition my collection to this format.

  7. ColonialCoinsUK
    It is good practice that auction houses cite references for the lots they are selling however, and it may just be me, but this can sometimes make research difficult for a number of reasons.

    1) What is the actual reference? Fortunately, some, but not all, auction houses list the references used but do not always state which one the abbreviation used in the lot description corresponds to. For example, using ‘P’ and then citing several books with titles/authors/publishers that could all be the mystery ‘P’ is not very helpful, it would also be nice if everyone used the same abbreviation.

    2) Using a reference that is prohibitively expensive.

    3) Using a reference that is out-of-print that no one can get hold of!

    For most of my areas of interest Option 3 seems to be the situation that I am usually faced with and that can be very frustrating. As a result, this Journal Entry was prompted by the eventual acquisition of a copy of the two volume ‘Histoire Monetaire et Numismatique Contemporaine’ by Jean Mazard published in 1965 which corresponds to the ‘MAZ’ references sometimes seen in auction listings (or M, or Mazard, or MZ).

    Once acquired I always find it interesting to compare these older tomes to the more recent references as this not only highlights discoveries made since publication but that they often also contain more detailed and useful information – it also highlights that the citation used for some lots is wrong

    It is often said to ‘buy the book before the coin’ and I totally agree where this is easy to do – Gadoury and Le Franc publish regular price guides for French coinage largely negating the need for MAZ however it is nice to now be able to add this to my collection of books. I expect many of us are searching for ‘missing’ texts for our libraries and, once found, it is just as satisfying as tracking down that elusive coin – well almost.

  8. ColonialCoinsUK
    As I have mentioned my original goal in coin collecting was to assemble all the die numbers for the British sixpences from 1864 to 1879 which resulted in many other collectors questioning my sanity as there are about 600. So many years ago, having nearly acheived this goal which the acquisition of 100's of different die numbers my focus shifted to colonial coins and the Napoleonic period yet I have never quite shaken the die number challenge and always check auction listings although I have usually resisted the urge to bid.

    A few weeks ago I failed to control this impulse and submitted bids for two graded sixpences, both of which would be upgrades from the examples I already had in my collection. As this sale was not live I was not tempted to just increase my bids until I secured them and as a result only one of my bids was successful. I am now the pround owner of a 1865 sixpence with die number 18 in MS63 which is an improvement on my original VF example.

    I am sure I am not the only one who 'reverts to type' although unrecorded overdates in my more recent collecting areas is probably the start of another slippery slope. 


  10. ColonialCoinsUK

    216 Years ago this week

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    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.
     

  11. ColonialCoinsUK

    Making progress - sort of

    By ColonialCoinsUK,


    Collecting World Coins
    For the first time in years I actually had some time over the break and managed to sort through some coins. As I have mentioned a few times my original collection was British sixpences and, in particular Victorian ones (1864 to 1879) bearing die numbers in addition to the date.
    In turns out I had nearly 100 such sixpences scattered through various boxes that I had not catalogued properly. Some of these appear to be duplicates, some upgrades, some are die numbers that I was missing, some are unrecorded varieties and a few are even suitable for grading!
    I just need to deal with these now - the pile of other British and world coins still needs sorting out though. I hope I am not the only one behind with things.