1987 Venezuelan 5 Bolivar Coin KEY COIN?

[DavidARay-migration]

I recently acquired a bag of world coins, I am not a world coin collector, but thought at the price it would be cool to buy them. I do happen some in my ventures so I have a copy of KP's World Coin Catalog (11th Edition) It has been godo and true to me so far. If you want to pull your copy out go ahead and turn to page 873.

 

One coin I got was a 1987prooflike Venezuelan 5 Bolivar coin that has soon little to no circulation. This coin in not in the catalog, it goes from 1973,1977,1989,1990. Skips 1987.

 

Do I have something rare in my possession? Whats the deal?

[satootoko]

I'm not familiar with that catalog, but the 2007 24th Ed. 20th Century Krause has the same listings (plus other after 1990).

 

According to Krause the '77 is nickle and the '89 is cu-ni. Which is yours? (A nickle coin will be attracted to a magnet, a cu-ni won't.)

 

Can you post a picture, so yours can be compared to those cataloged?

[DavidARay-migration]

I cant photograph it right now, but it look just like the 77 and the 89. The coin is attracted to magnets, so it must be Nickle. I will try to post photos tomarrow if I can. What do you think?

[farthing]

In my 2001 edition the 1987 5 Bolivar is listed with a mintage of 25 million. The value listed then is 1.50 in UNC and 30. for the P/L version. My 2006 edition lists both the regular and P/L versions as 1.50 in UNC and 2. in BU.

 

The composition is listed as Ni

[gmarguli]

The 2007 edition lists the BU at $2 and the PL in unc at $30.

 

Are you the same FlyingEagle from the PCGS forums?

[DavidARay-migration]

No I am not. I wonder why my book and the other guys book doesnt have it in there. interesting.

[DavidARay-migration]

What would distinguish a coin as prooflike. This coin has seen circulation, but very little. It does have shinier fields than most other coins, but they are not mirrored as in US proofs. Any tips?

[gmarguli]

Krause catalogs are notorious for having errors. Coins, denominations, and even entire countries have been omitted in the past. Sometimes they're placed in the wrong section. The prior edition listed some Syrian coins under South Africa.

 

In my book your coin is listed under a different header right below the earlier dates. Krause does this when there is a change (design, weight, metal composition, etc).

[satootoko]

The 2007 edition lists the BU at $2 and the PL in unc at $30

What am I missing Greg? Here is a scan of the complete 5 Bolivares listings from pages 1969-70 of my 2007 edition.

[gmarguli]

Perhaps it is the 2008 version. It is the book that just came out this month. I (probably wrongly) assumed it was the 2007 edition considering it's still 2007.

 

I'll look at the book again tonight and see if I screwed up and if not, I'll try to scan the page.

[gmarguli]

OK, it's the 2008 edition.

 

[satootoko]

Aha!

[cladking]

It's a pretty safe bet that this coin was melted by the issuing authority. It's currently worth about a quarter cent and contains around 30c worth of metal.

 

There was a steady stream of South American coins shipped to Japan and melted all through the mid-'90's.

 

The number which survive is highly dependent on the value when it was withdrawn. The higher the value, the fewer which will have survived. The number surviving in unc is usually primarily dependent on the numbers of the coins issued in mint sets for moderns.

 

There were probably no mint sets but frequently central banks or other large institutions will issue these independently of the mint. In these cases mintage are generally small but can be substantial where the face value of the coins is low.

 

This coin was worth about 65c when issued.

[DavidARay-migration]

Thanks. You guys are great!