Coins from GACH 1 1

[KarenHolcomb]

Hi Fellows. I believe this is my 1st posting to this room. I saw Mohawk and Conder have been here so I figured it must be a good room. I'd like to share a couple of coins my guy brought home today that I can only assume came into circulation via the Great American Coin Drop last month. I say that I am shocked to have seen anything at all since me and only 1 other person from my state had dropped anything and labeled it on the map. I was super excited to get them because I have never seen either before and I have yet to Google them and see exactly what they are and what inspired their reverse designs, but I do look forward to doing just that as soon as I check out these Proofs Sets I recd on Saturday. So have a look and tell me what you think. Have a great evening!   Karen

[Mohawk]

Hey Karen,

Your guy found those out in the wild?  How cool is that!! I think that we're seeing the GACH in action here.  I know I've done my part.  I've released several Canadian Nickel Dollars and US Proof Singles out into the wild recently.  Those are some pretty cool pieces to find in the wild...I've always thought the Australian coins are very attractive, though I do not currently own any.  I may have to remedy that.....

Thanks for sharing those!  It's good to see you back here and posting with us.

~Tom

[Just Bob]

I am curious to know what value these were given if they were spent somewhere.

[KarenHolcomb]

 

Hey Tom. I was very excited to give out my little Bags-O-Coins for the kiddos to find, and never EVER expected to see anything from the Drop. I am very excited to have these two new and mysterious coins to look into. I have been looking for something that would peak my interest to start collecting. Perhaps it is going to be World Coins.

Bob, I wondered the exact same thing. I suppose since they look Canadian and Canada is on par with us they $2 coin likely was accepted as $2. Idek what the denomination on the other is but is the same size as a nickel. I am just thrilled to have them regardless.

 

[JKK]

Some advantages of world coin collecting:

• You can build a very diverse collection for 15-20 cents per coin.
• The diversity of that experience is inexhaustible.
• Eventually you get to where you can estimate the age and nationality of every coin in the can at a glance.
• Because of much lower demand, rarities are often less expensive.
• You can end up with a huge collection of coins from countries that no longer exist, or colonies that are now independent.
• It takes advantage of the dealer's limited time.
• You will begin to learn new alphabets and number systems.
• You simply cannot avoid learning a lot of history by osmosis.

I still like my US collection, but nearly everything I buy now is world or ancient, because I like those better.

Here's the sort of stuff that happens. Last week I was trying to get a couple of cheap modern world coins without reeded edges to use as templates for curves on a leathercraft project I'm doing (long story). I got to look through a small loose box that my fairly disorganized dealer had, which included some flipped coins as well. And lo, there was a 1926 Danzig 2 pfennig coin, solidly VF, for a very reasonable price. You remember Gdansk, where the Solidarity union in Poland got moving? Once it was Danzig, and in the interwar years it was at least nominally independent. Its return to Germany was one of Adolf's demands. Are they vanishingly rare? No. Are they laying around in piles? Also no. Are they cool? Yes. And I paid less than the price of a grande mocha for it.

Basically, most dealers don't scrutinize every world coin they get. They get them in fruitcake tin lots, pay some tiny amount like 5c each, and flash through them, spotting 95% of what is a) silver, or b) a certain age or older (probably most are thinking 1800s). The picked-out ones get identification, probably flips and pricing. The rest go into the bulk tins, often mixed with tokens, to sell for 15-25c each. You can walk in with twenty dollars and walk out with a large amount of coins. As you identify them, your knowledge will grow, and you'll get better at this. Eventually your eye will get nearly as good as the dealer's. Maybe better. And if you don't like one of them, big deal. It cost you maybe 20c. It's not like you blew the whole budget. The risk of buying fakes is low; the risk of feeling burned is even lower. The immersion in new knowledge lasts a lifetime.

[KarenHolcomb]

I hear you Bob

17 minutes ago, JKK said:

Some advantages of world coin collecting:

• You can build a very diverse collection for 15-20 cents per coin.
• The diversity of that experience is inexhaustible.
• Eventually you get to where you can estimate the age and nationality of every coin in the can at a glance.
• Because of much lower demand, rarities are often less expensive.
• You can end up with a huge collection of coins from countries that no longer exist, or colonies that are now independent.
• It takes advantage of the dealer's limited time.
• You will begin to learn new alphabets and number systems.
• You simply cannot avoid learning a lot of history by osmosis.

I still like my US collection, but nearly everything I buy now is world or ancient, because I like those better.

Here's the sort of stuff that happens. Last week I was trying to get a couple of cheap modern world coins without reeded edges to use as templates for curves on a leathercraft project I'm doing (long story). I got to look through a small loose box that my fairly disorganized dealer had, which included some flipped coins as well. And lo, there was a 1926 Danzig 2 pfennig coin, solidly VF, for a very reasonable price. You remember Gdansk, where the Solidarity union in Poland got moving? Once it was Danzig, and in the interwar years it was at least nominally independent. Its return to Germany was one of Adolf's demands. Are they vanishingly rare? No. Are they laying around in piles? Also no. Are they cool? Yes. And I paid less than the price of a grande mocha for it.

Basically, most dealers don't scrutinize every world coin they get. They get them in fruitcake tin lots, pay some tiny amount like 5c each, and flash through them, spotting 95% of what is a) silver, or b) a certain age or older (probably most are thinking 1800s). The picked-out ones get identification, probably flips and pricing. The rest go into the bulk tins, often mixed with tokens, to sell for 15-25c each. You can walk in with twenty dollars and walk out with a large amount of coins. As you identify them, your knowledge will grow, and you'll get better at this. Eventually your eye will get nearly as good as the dealer's. Maybe better. And if you don't like one of them, big deal. It cost you maybe 20c. It's not like you blew the whole budget. The risk of buying fakes is low; the risk of feeling burned is even lower. The immersion in new knowledge lasts a lifetime.

I hear you, Bob. What I have noticed is how each one I see, mostly in pictures and maybe these are the 'ancients', is how different they are. I rarely see 2 with the same obverse figure. I absolutely love the ones that depict whatever ruler was in control at the time a coin was made. I am a big fan of ancient history at least for as little as I know it and I find it very intriguing and learning their history through their monies would definitely be the best way to do it. Although I am very surprised to hear that the coins are so easily obtainable, I'd have thought them rare if achievable at all and very expensive. Now that I know I was incorrect I'm thinking harder on making them my primary focus. I am getting tired of my Proof Sets. They get boring after so many being one after another of the very same thing.
.

 

[JKK]

1 hour ago, KarenHolcomb said:

I hear you Bob

I hear you, Bob. What I have noticed is how each one I see, mostly in pictures and maybe these are the 'ancients', is how different they are. I rarely see 2 with the same obverse figure. I absolutely love the ones that depict whatever ruler was in control at the time a coin was made. I am a big fan of ancient history at least for as little as I know it and I find it very intriguing and learning their history through their monies would definitely be the best way to do it. Although I am very surprised to hear that the coins are so easily obtainable, I'd have thought them rare if achievable at all and very expensive. Now that I know I was incorrect I'm thinking harder on making them my primary focus. I am getting tired of my Proof Sets. They get boring after so many being one after another of the very same thing.
.

 

Thank you, but I'm not Bob. I'm John.

Ancient bronzes are often easily available for $10-15. A little less if no one has put any work into their identification.

Modern world coins are so inexpensive it's almost cheating. Any respectable fruitcake tin probably has some early 1900s/late 1800s German Empire stuff, for example.

Oh, and a lot of dealers will sell junkier old world silver coins for something near melt. That's also fun.

[KarenHolcomb]

11 hours ago, JKK said:

Thank you, but I'm not Bob. I'm John.

Ancient bronzes are often easily available for $10-15. A little less if no one has put any work into their identification.

Modern world coins are so inexpensive it's almost cheating. Any respectable fruitcake tin probably has some early 1900s/late 1800s German Empire stuff, for example.

Oh, and a lot of dealers will sell junkier old world silver coins for something near melt. That's also fun.

Oh ! I am so very sorry. I was just going to bed and was very tired. At least now I know what one of your J's stands for. My Dad is a John also. Great name. The greatest actually.

So these boxes and tins, most brick and mortars have one to look through, huh? I have only ever been inside an actual store once many years ago and it was gross so I never went back.

[JKK]

Many do. At a coin show, some surely do. It's the only way dealers can monetize the large quantities of misc foreign stuff they get. And there are a lot of people who want to pick through it. Real stuck-up dealers wouldn't have such a tin, but most regular ones would. At least out here. Can't see why it'd be any different where you are.

[thebeav]

For the 39 years that my store was around I always had a world 'junk box'. I always enjoyed people going through it too.

I remember for my 8th or 9th birthday, my mom drove me to a shop and I got to pick out 10 world coins from their junk box.

I concentrated on odd shapes and animals depicted at the time.

John is so right. The amount of fun you can have versus expense is immeasurable !

[KarenHolcomb]

52 minutes ago, thebeav said:

For the 39 years that my store was around I always had a world 'junk box'. I always enjoyed people going through it too.

I remember for my 8th or 9th birthday, my mom drove me to a shop and I got to pick out 10 world coins from their junk box.

I concentrated on odd shapes and animals depicted at the time.

John is so right. The amount of fun you can have versus expense is immeasurable !

Hi Beav, nice to meet you. 

I have been needing to force myself back downtown to that shop and now I have another reason. I am definitely going to do it. No more excuses.

 

Thanks to you all! It's a great day.