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Entries in this journal

Upgrade or new addition to the collection?

I seem to have spent many pleasant hours going through the listings for the various January auctions and have identified 100's of fantastic coins that would be great to add to my collection. Unfortunately the reality of my available funds has now kicked in so 4 or 5, or maybe even just one missing coin is a more realistic proposition however this does present an interesting dilemma. Do I upgrade an existing coin or fill an empty slot in one of my sets? Even within the lower denomination co
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

13

Frustrations of coin collecting

Unfortunately, things have not changed since my Journal Entry last month - How difficult can placing a bid be? In that never-ending challenge of trying to fill gaps in my collection several more very nice examples of coins, ungraded and possibly the finest available for the issue, have appeared and passed me by yet again. Typically, there were multiple bidders and they achieved 4x the top estimate and as the prices kept rising, I just couldn’t bring myself to bid again. As a result I
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

10

Quality, multiple sets and financial reality

My last journal entry highlighted that completion of my Spanish Charles IV 2 reales Registry Set may be somewhat of a challenge and this prompted me to look again at how practical this would actually be. As mentioned before only 19 of the 41 issues have graded examples and of those only 11 had mint state examples, often as a single coin, making completion of a graded mint state set extremely unlikely, the equivalent raw coins also seem to be lacking. Assuming the coins actually exist for such
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

8

Thoughts on Provenance and a goal for 2019

I have a number of world coins from renowned collections and it is a privilege to be their current custodian however most of these are raw - so how do I prove it? I do have the original invoice which demonstrates when and where I bought the coin but do people really provide a copy of this should they sell the coin to keep the provenance intact? Apart from 'flagship' coins where each individual is well documented it is only recently that auction catalogues have included pictures of most of the
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

7

Collecting the small coins

As my original collection was British sixpences I seem to have a preference for the smaller denominations over trade coinage as these saw extensive day-to-day use and high grade examples are therefore much more of a challenge. This situation coupled with surprisingly limited data and research means that the opportunity to make new discoveries is much greater - or is it that I am just a glutton for punishment? For example at a recent auction a major London dealer thought my quest for die numbers
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

6
Collecting World Coins

Dealing with the unexpected

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 th

Where did 2019 go?

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 - app
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

5

A rethink

In my last journal entry I probably took the suggestion made by my wife a little too lightly - never a good idea!Having mentioned the apparent lack of detailed information available on numerous aspects of world coinage the suggestion of putting together such articles would be very interesting and also introduce some much needed focus. My initial thoughts on this highlighted two main challenges:1.   High quality pictures of the coins are essential.2.   Examples of all coin types are needed.To add
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

5

If you wait long enough ....

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 mino
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

5
Collecting World Coins

Napoleon is finished - almost!

It has been a while but my graded Napoleon typeset is now complete Congratulations must go to @Mac5 who reached 100% first. Next challenge will be a Custom Set and will be one coin per mint, only about a third of the way there so that may take some time as most of my Typeset are from Paris - mintmark A. A project for the next few generations will be the Sets for Italy, Spain, Westphalia, Holland and all the tokens and medals before even attempting date runs. As we don't have
Collecting World Coins

The last coin I bought

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 grade

An unexpected challenge in collecting world coins

The recent thoughts by Revenant1 on their choices following the eventual appearance of not one but two examples of a long sought after 1877 Netherlands 10 Gulden coin prompted me to post my first journal entry although the nature of my dilemma is somewhat different. As a collector of world coins one of the challenges over the years has been to improve the quality of my collection, however, the number of suitable examples appearing at auction here in the UK is extremely limited with the conseq
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4

How difficult can placing a bid be?

With an ongoing interest in far too many coin series there is usually something suitable at most auctions for filling a gap in my sets with a quality coin however I have bought almost nothing for months. Even with some outstanding top-grade minors appearing I just do not seem to be able to press the ‘bid’ button one more time to try and secure these elusive examples for my collection and in some cases I am already regretting it. I think some possibilities for this, subconsciously or not, a
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4

Working & coin collecting during lockdown

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 do
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4

It only took 12 years

As my username would suggest I have a long standing interest in British colonial coinage, whilst the vast majority of my collection is made up of raw coins in VF I do occasionally improve to a graded example. I was therefore pleased to see a 1942 bronze penny from Southern Rhodesia in NGC MS63BN appear recently at Heritage,* as this was a lot at a weekly auction the estimate isn't usually added until the close of the preceeding weeks sale so I was very surprised when this was set as $20-$40. I s
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4

In search of varieties

Having chased die numbers on British sixpences for many years I am always on the look out for different varieties of the world coins I collect. Whilst trying to complete a graded typeset of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy coinage* - to mirror my typeset of the French issues - I recently acquired a gold 20 Lire issued by the Milan mint in 1808 in NGC AU58. For the French issues the 20 Franc coin is the most common by far of the two gold denominations whereas for the Italian coinage it is the opposite
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4

Completed a set - or thought I had!

A week or so ago I thought a recently completed set would form the basis for a Journal entry given the interesting range of denominations, metals and mints. The basic set is made up of 12 coins and my set is currently comprised of ungraded coins and coins in both NGC and PCGS holders and as such is a long way from being suitable for the NGC Registry. It is a good start though as it does include some key dates in top grades. However, whilst assembling the coins for a 'group photo' I found that
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

3
Collecting World Coins

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
Collecting World Coins

An extra path...

For many years I have not only been following coins, and medals but also banknotes - and with a username of 'ColonialCoinsUK' it will come as no surprise that the focus of this was the banknotes of the British colonies. Congratulations to Alan Collection Malaysia for their Overall Acheivement Award in the 2021 PMG Registry Awards. To date I have resisted the urge as I would like to collect everything but the British Empire and the Commonwealth covered many countries, and many years, and I j
Collecting World Coins

Which cat ate the Treaty of Amiens?

The Treaty of Amiens was signed in 1802 by France and the UK and ended the War of the Second Coalition and thus the French Revolutionary Wars. The resulting peace in Europe was only temporary with the British declaring war on France only a year later in response to Napoleon's continued and expanding occupation of territory thereby initiating the Napoleonic wars. This conflict then consumed Europe for more than a decade estabilishing the basis for the national boundaries we know today. Napol
Collecting World Coins

Napoleon - what a relief!

In a previous Journal Entry (Copper is good - September 2021) I highlighted a Napoleonic medal depicting the column in Place Vendome, Paris which was commissioned to recognise the success of the Grand Armee in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805.  Following Napoleon's defeat the original Romanesque statue of Napoleon was torn down and replaced by a flag with the fleur-de-lys representing France. 1830 witnessed another revolution in France which saw Louis Phillipe and the Bourbon's back on the thron
Collecting World Coins

A lot can happen in 200 years

As mentioned in earlier Journal entries on Napoleonic coinage the impact of this period was not restricted to Europe, but global. Of particular interest is the collpase of the Spanish Empire in the America's with one country after another gaining their independence from Spain. For Guatemala this happened in 1821 when it became part of the new Central American Republic so my tiny Ferdinand VII silver 1/4 Real was an example of the last Spanish coinage struck. This period only lasted a f
Collecting World Coins

Upside down

Quite a while has passed since I added a coin to my collection - there are plenty to choose from out there but the prices being acheived at auction are now getting really silly, particularly for quality examples of almost anything. Despite this situation it will come as no surprise that the coin in question was Napoleonic  - a 1808 10 centimes from the Paris mint. Why would I do this when, it is the most common issue, and I already have a couple of high grade examples?? (details on my Regist
Collecting World Coins

Finally made it to Rome

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 18
Collecting World Coins

Before Zimbabwe there was ....

The area in south central Africa now bordered by Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa went through several reincarnations and amalgamations of territories before becoming Zimbabwe in 1980 - apparently they have inflation problems. I have a number of coins, almost all ungraded, from an earlier period, 1923 to 1953, when the area was called Southern Rhodesia and it was under British control. My original target was to complete a full date run for all of the denominations but after 20
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