ColonialCoinsUK

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.
 

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.
 

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.

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.

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.

Wow hard to believe that the registry cutoff is just a week away, this year has certainly gone by quickly.   As I look back I had no specific goals other than to try and add or upgrade to my existing sets in order to hold onto as many of my first place awards as possible.    Looking at my sets now it seems like I have actually lost some ground in that regard and will have fewer awards for 2021 than I did in 2020.   Partly because I spent some time and money adding some memorial and shield Lincoln coins which was (and is) not a major focus, yet still my OCD gets the better of me at times as I would really like to finish the full date/mm run from 1909 to current.   An insane number of coins that is currently at 293 coins and counting, absolute insanity to complete the entire run and a goal that I would abandon if I had any smarts.    I also spent more and upgraded more coins in my 1940 date set than I had planned to do, but the friendly competition from the former 1st place set; who wants to be back in 1st place; had me doing more to defend the set.    That is a good thing as I added some amazing coins to the set, but it also diverted some funds that I would have used to improve other sets.
I did lose ground on a few sets as it seems that a few gold bugs put together some sets in the early 20's year sets, well not really sets as most of those sets only have one two or three coins in them.   But those high grade $50K gold coins really rack up the points and it makes competing with them next to impossible as I do not have an unlimited budget.    That is unfortunate in a way as I now have to decide what to do with those coins, I could keep them and just leave the sets as they are.   Or should I sell those coins and move on to something else, tough call and I'm just not sure how I'll proceed just yet.
All in all it was another nice year and I am blessed to care and provide the stewardship of the coins I have in my collection.    Like many I am grateful that I have my health, too many have been lost to Covid and other diseases over the past year.   And whatever the next year brings I will continue to enjoy the friendships that I have made within the hobby and the coins in my collection.   For sure there is still much to be done in the way of better photos and descriptions for many of the coins in my collection and that will be a continuing focus each and every year.
Happy Thanksgiving and a joyous Christmas season to everyone here.

Napoleon had a fascination with the Roman Empire and this is reflected in everything he did, most notably on the medals of the period. I have an example of the medal depicting the Vendome column in Paris, this was erected in 1810 as tribute to the Grand Armee and the Victory at Austerlitz in 1805. This was Napoleon's take on Trajan's column in Rome.

Both columns show a spiral relief of important military events, the major events of the 1805 campaign for Napoleon and in this case of Trajan the Dacian campaign. The similarity does not end there as they also seem to have had the statue on the top changed a few times over the years – Napoleon, originally dressed in Roman garb, did not survive much past 1814 and the fall of his Empire being re-instated as the little corporal’ in 1833. The Vendome column was also demolished in 1871 during the short-lived Paris commune only to be re-erected a mere three years later following the French army regaining control of the area. This is the version that can still be seen in Paris today and is topped by yet another roman reincarnation of Napoleon.

An extremely rare, possibly unique, gold version of the medal has just appeared at the upcoming MDC Monaco auction (20-21 October, lot 763) with a starting price of 30,000Euros. That means that I will not be able to ‘upgrade’ in this lifetime and have to settle for my example, copper is good.

Napoleon had a fascination with the Roman Empire and this is reflected in everything he did, most notably on the medals of the period. I have an example of the medal depicting the Vendome column in Paris, this was erected in 1810 as tribute to the Grand Armee and the Victory at Austerlitz in 1805. This was Napoleon's take on Trajan's column in Rome.

Both columns show a spiral relief of important military events, the major events of the 1805 campaign for Napoleon and in this case of Trajan the Dacian campaign. The similarity does not end there as they also seem to have had the statue on the top changed a few times over the years – Napoleon, originally dressed in Roman garb, did not survive much past 1814 and the fall of his Empire being re-instated as the little corporal’ in 1833. The Vendome column was also demolished in 1871 during the short-lived Paris commune only to be re-erected a mere three years later following the French army regaining control of the area. This is the version that can still be seen in Paris today and is topped by yet another roman reincarnation of Napoleon.

An extremely rare, possibly unique, gold version of the medal has just appeared at the upcoming MDC Monaco auction (20-21 October, lot 763) with a starting price of 30,000Euros. That means that I will not be able to ‘upgrade’ in this lifetime and have to settle for my example, copper is good.

I agree with everyone that prices, and certainly those in my areas of interest, seem to be going forever upwards - I think I was a bit in shock watching my selected lots go through at the MDC Monaco auction, the Paramount Collection and the latest Heritage and Stacks sales, needless to say I didn't get anything!! As a result I have bought very little lately, although I did pick up some more Napoleonic medals - in copper/bronze as the more elusive silver strikes are now achieving prices in the thousands!

My lack of recent Journal entries is a result of my focus being elsewhere following a life-changing diagnosis rather than the lack of new acquisitions (I did try). Although I am functioning again and back at work for now it looks like I am going to get the time to finally sort out, and research, my collection properly, albeit earlier than expected.

Always have a hobby you can do at your own pace whilst sitting down - numismatics seems a good choice! 

Well it has been a while since I actually bought a coin and 2020 turned out to be the first year in a long time that I didn’t pick up multiple lots at the major European auctions over the autumn. I should say this was not from a lack of trying, it is just that I was outbid on the lots I was interested in – sometimes quite spectacularly – so I was delighted when I picked up a 1809 20 Lire from the Milan mint of Napoleonic Italy in AU58 (although the mintage is 52,640 there are only 27 coins graded at NGC for this date and my coin is tied with one other at this grade with only a single coin finer at MS62).

Just to complicate things there are two known varieties for the 1809 issue which, like 1808, these differ in the stars on the reverse. For the 1808 varieties there are 3 or 6 stars on either side of the standard whereas the 1809 coins both have 3 stars in the design however it is the star below the crown which is now different and this has either 5-points or 6-points. In some examples the 6-point star looks very much like one 5-point star on top of another and these two interpretations exist in the reference books.

Corpus Nummorum Italicorum (1913), Pagani (1965), Krause and NGC do not differentiate between these varieties. Gadoury (2019) and PCGS highlight 5-pointed (4@XF45 and 2@AU53) and 6-pointed stars (one each at XF45, AU53 and MS62) whereas Montenegro (2020) describes the second variety as a 5-pointed star over another. Gigante (2021) highlights a total of four varieties, which are a combination of the normal 5-pointed star and one with extra points on the reverse coupled with two obverse dies depending on the position of the M mintmark relative to the 0 in the date, with this latter difference being known for the later dates.

I find coins endlessly fascinating however it is such details which means that the search is never over and it looks like I need to find at least 3 more varieties for 1809M!

Well it has been a while since I actually bought a coin and 2020 turned out to be the first year in a long time that I didn’t pick up multiple lots at the major European auctions over the autumn. I should say this was not from a lack of trying, it is just that I was outbid on the lots I was interested in – sometimes quite spectacularly – so I was delighted when I picked up a 1809 20 Lire from the Milan mint of Napoleonic Italy in AU58 (although the mintage is 52,640 there are only 27 coins graded at NGC for this date and my coin is tied with one other at this grade with only a single coin finer at MS62).

Just to complicate things there are two known varieties for the 1809 issue which, like 1808, these differ in the stars on the reverse. For the 1808 varieties there are 3 or 6 stars on either side of the standard whereas the 1809 coins both have 3 stars in the design however it is the star below the crown which is now different and this has either 5-points or 6-points. In some examples the 6-point star looks very much like one 5-point star on top of another and these two interpretations exist in the reference books.

Corpus Nummorum Italicorum (1913), Pagani (1965), Krause and NGC do not differentiate between these varieties. Gadoury (2019) and PCGS highlight 5-pointed (4@XF45 and 2@AU53) and 6-pointed stars (one each at XF45, AU53 and MS62) whereas Montenegro (2020) describes the second variety as a 5-pointed star over another. Gigante (2021) highlights a total of four varieties, which are a combination of the normal 5-pointed star and one with extra points on the reverse coupled with two obverse dies depending on the position of the M mintmark relative to the 0 in the date, with this latter difference being known for the later dates.

I find coins endlessly fascinating however it is such details which means that the search is never over and it looks like I need to find at least 3 more varieties for 1809M!

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).

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).

With my anniversary present now in hand I have reached a milestone that I’d thought about a number of times over the years.
I bought my first gold coin in 2007 - an MS70 graded 1/4th oz gold eagle - as a way of celebrating my 21st birthday that didn’t involve getting drunk - which didn’t interest me much at the time (or now, really).

The idea of “first gold” seems to be special for a lot of people - people will often post about their first gold purchase in the “SilverBugs” subreddit. It is definitely an interesting and cool experience to hold, see and own a gold coin - especially for the first time - especially if it’s old, classic gold and not NCLT (but we’ll leave that argument for other venues and times).
For a long time that coin sat in an NGC 20-coin box with a bunch of other, mostly silver coins, and it was just joined by other gold coins as I gradually added a couple more. I always thought in those days that it would be a very long time before I could hope to fill a 20-coin NGC box with just gold coins.
When I got up to about 10 coins, I broke them out into their own box - with a lot of empty room in it. I used the extra slots to separate out the NCLT from the 10G coins and other classic gold and had them in pods / groups in the box. And I that point I wondered if I would ever reach a point where the box was full and there were no more gaps or spacers in the box.
Turns out the answer to “how long?” would be about 13 years - from Oct 2007 to Jan 2021. The box is now full of graded gold coins.


(Yeah. It's 19 to one, which is probably roughly representative of my collection of graded coins as a whole - but... no bias here. )
Granted, most of them are small, with the smallest being about 9% of an ounce. It is not a box full of nothing but double eagles. It is not 20 oz of gold. But, still, it is 20 gold coins - many 100+ years old - which feels like no small accomplishment. Looking at them laid out like that also makes it strike home for me just how fortunate I am in some aspects of my life - in many aspects of my life, really.
It will be an accomplishment of a different sort and on its own when and if I ever decide to (and convince my wife to agree to) buy a double eagle or similar, larger gold coin. The largest I have so far is about a quarter of an ounce.
The progress towards this goal has definitely been loaded more towards the back end / the last few (~6) years. Even with the costs of raising children and a long stint of unemployment, the version of me that has a PhD and a full-time job has found it easier to afford such luxuries than the version of me that was a graduate student on a monthly stipend.  

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. 

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.

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.

Like lots of people I am working from home at the moment, although this greatly restricts normal operations I thought that this would be a great opportunity to catch up on the vast amount of paperwork that needs doing and maybe even get ahead. An advantage of no longer needing to commute means I would also gain 2 & 1/2 hours each day which would be an unexpected chance to further research the coin series I collect.

My experience so far has been that the 'work' tasks that now need to be done at home, are more extensive, difficult and time consuming than expected, particularly if the necessary IT infrastructure was not already in place. Working at home all day has also highlighted the absolute importance of dedicated and organised office space - and that the current takeover of the dining room doesn't count !

I had mentioned that one of my goals this year was to sort out my collection and although I have made some progress on this, it has been slow. The experience of working full-time from home has made it very clear that the detailed research needed is going to be a major undertaking, even more so than the 'day job' as it also involves actual stuff - not just the coins but I have 100's of auction catalogues, periodicals, reference books, purchase records etc which are currently scattered across various rooms. An upside of the delayed running of many European auctions has meant that I have bought only a single coin* during this period and that isn't even in the country yet meaning the job at least hasn't become more difficult. I did find two back copies of 'Numismatique et Change' that I have been after for a while - one in France and one in Belgium - although the other reference material I am looking for has proven much more difficult to get hold of.

Following a review of the various options my solution, once lockdown is lifted,# is to build a 'garden office' or 'glorified shed' as my wife refers to it. Although it means the loss of half of the small garden the whole family is very supportive of the idea as it means they will get the house back .

* much to my surprise I have been seriously outbid on a few other lots that were of interest.
# In the UK this probably means planning/regulatory approval is needed and the council offices are closed .

It is nice to see people are making progress with their collections, despite other commitments my own collection is ticking over albeit very slowly. In the introduction to my Typeset of French Napoleonic Coinage I ended with 'The distinct prospect of finding that first, or elusive high grade example for a particular issue remains and makes every auction catalogue a potential source of a new discovery' and this situation probably holds true for the majority of older world coins, particularly minors. Even with the surge in Third Party Grading over the last few years the populations remain extremely low and for many date-runs a graded set is not even possible at this point. As a result I have submitted quite a few coins to NGC rather than wait for the rare, or non-existant, graded example to appear. It was therefore a surprise to see a 1808 10 centimes from the Limoges mint appear at a recent auction in NGC MS65.* Despite this issue having an intermediate mintage for the series - Le Franc 1,062,123 - my review of the population reports in 2017 (included in the introductory text to my 5 and 10 centimes Registry Set) highlighted only two graded examples, both PCGS and MS63, in addition there also appears to be little or no raw coins in mint state in the auction records which is supported by a lack of prices in both Le Franc and Gadoury for uncirculated coins. Even though I was not the only person to recognise the (conditonal) rarity of this coin I was fortunate to secure it and it now resides in my Registry Set.#

Despite this success there are no graded examples at all for many of the issues in this Set, and for that matter most of the sets I am interested in, with the possible exception of post-1816 British coinage, and sets are therefore being made up of raw coins. As a result I expect that I am not the only 'collector' of world coins that has ungraded examples which are probably, or close to, the 'best known' all the while hoping that a better example appears at some point as you have to believe the coin is out there!

* Some European auction houses have now taken to grading certain items as part of the sale process
# Fortunately I had the funds to take advantage of this opportunity however these were meant to be used for a camera so starting to understand coin photography has been somewhat delayed although I have ordered Mark Goodman's book!

It has been nice to see that people have been making progress with their collections this year, unfortunately work commitments have meant that I have made very little progress on my goals for 2019 - apparently my employer is starting to become aware of something called 'work-life-balance' so hopefully things will improve a bit.

I seem to have missed a number of key coins as a result, one of which went for multiples of an already top end estimate so this would have been impossible anyway - apparently my wife feels that taking out a mortgage on the house to buy a coin is not appropriate!

My impression is that there are many many more graded world coins appearing at European auctions this year so I am glad I had moved into slabbed coins a few years ago and I think the NGC Census/Registry has just highlighted how 'rare/uncommon' alot of decent grade world coins are, particularly amongst the smaller denominations. The downside of this is that such coins are now commanding a premium which is somewhat pushing them out of reach.

As my coin collecting began by searching for die numbers on Victorian sixpences, and to scratch the 'need to buy a coin' itch I have recently bought some low grade raw world coins to explore further die varieties etc I had identified within my collection. Even with the wealth of information on British coinage there are plenty of gaps and for many European/world issues there is surprisingly little detailed information available at all even for the popular collecting areas. Despite what the reference books say some of these coins are not even remotely 'common' and the highest grade example in the archives may only be in VF (or lower) even though the price guides often give all the dates in a series the same values, and also values for all the grades. My wife says I should write a paper/book on some of these discoveries however she didn't specify where the extra 24 hours each day was going to come from!

It has been nice to see that people have been making progress with their collections this year, unfortunately work commitments have meant that I have made very little progress on my goals for 2019 - apparently my employer is starting to become aware of something called 'work-life-balance' so hopefully things will improve a bit.

I seem to have missed a number of key coins as a result, one of which went for multiples of an already top end estimate so this would have been impossible anyway - apparently my wife feels that taking out a mortgage on the house to buy a coin is not appropriate!

My impression is that there are many many more graded world coins appearing at European auctions this year so I am glad I had moved into slabbed coins a few years ago and I think the NGC Census/Registry has just highlighted how 'rare/uncommon' alot of decent grade world coins are, particularly amongst the smaller denominations. The downside of this is that such coins are now commanding a premium which is somewhat pushing them out of reach.

As my coin collecting began by searching for die numbers on Victorian sixpences, and to scratch the 'need to buy a coin' itch I have recently bought some low grade raw world coins to explore further die varieties etc I had identified within my collection. Even with the wealth of information on British coinage there are plenty of gaps and for many European/world issues there is surprisingly little detailed information available at all even for the popular collecting areas. Despite what the reference books say some of these coins are not even remotely 'common' and the highest grade example in the archives may only be in VF (or lower) even though the price guides often give all the dates in a series the same values, and also values for all the grades. My wife says I should write a paper/book on some of these discoveries however she didn't specify where the extra 24 hours each day was going to come from!