mint_mark

Thank you very much Berg... so 1942 iron is light for all denominations 1ö, 2ö and 5ö? I have a 1942 5ö in bronze, so if I get a bright iron example, then I will have all three wartime types of 5ö, including my 1947 dark iron. Next time I play with my Swedish coins I might post another question... I have an unusual 19th century 1 öre coin, but I have to examine it again first... Thanks again...

Ooh Berg! Maybe you can answer a question about Swedish WWII coins... I have some really nice examples of the iron issues, but some of them are darkened and some of them have a bright silver appearance. I guess I'd like to know if some coins are available in both finishes, or are some years always darkened and others always bright? My 1942 1 öre are bright, but 1944 and later are all dark grey.

Blimey Chris, I never realised you were so busy!! Can't say I'm really into football and old cars either...

I was only trying to explain it for Kuhli and Oli. The coin collectors I don't like are the ones who think they're buying a commodity as an "investment"... all the others, especially on these forums, are the most normal, well adjusted individuals you could possibly hope to meet anywhere...

Ummm, I really am not a train spotter, but I do understand that there is more to it than that! How to describe it... a sort of blend of the interested enthusiast with the "must have them all" collecting obsession. The enthusiast side learns all about the railways... how they operate, the technology, what they are used for, their history etc. The collector side goes out taking photos, observing (spotting) and wanting to see or record all aspects of the railways... the trains, the stations, the signals... any and all of it. It's not just railways... people are interested in aircraft, ships, busses, trams. It's not that different to birdwatching, or looking at wildlife and trees. In many ways, the only difference compared to coin collecting is that we get to own the coins. And don't forget, transport has history too... my local bus garage is being replaced by a supermarket soon. I read in a hstory book that the site was where the first horse drawn trams in Southampton were based, followed by electric trams and then busses. So when it goes that will be the end of 150 years of transport history in that place. I think the sad reputation that train spotters have comes when the collecting obsession drowns out everything else and they don't know why they're doing it any more... and as Chris hinted, you can get that with coin people too. Maybe we should call ourselves coin enthusiasts

History is great, and I think coins are a good way to appreciate it... every major thing that happens to a country or continent is reflected in the coins. They are much smaller and cheaper than antique furniture or paintings so anybody can collect them! And to those of you who can, do talk with your grandparents.... what stories they can tell! When I'm older my stories will about black and white television and manual typewriters

I always thought it looked like the prows to two ships (Viking style!) but I suppose it could be a large flower... the 10c wartime issue is definitely three stylised tulip flowers.

Just to add to Kuhli's list... Norway had some distinctive German occupation issues struck in iron, featuring the national shield obverse (instead of the royal monogram) and the normal reverse. Also, there were Allied occupation issues for Germany itself from 1945 to 1948. These were like the third reich issues, in zinc, but with the swastika replaced by a tail for the eagle. You should try and get a copy of the catalogue... it is the size of a telephone directory and contains small pictures of almost all the different designs... enough to identify the coins but hard to see any fine detail.

Hi there Berg, I think we have very similar collecting interests! The "KIAUTSCHOU" coin is very scarce... there are only two types. In my copy of Krause (2003) the 10c is $30 in F, $50 in VF. The 5c is is even more ($50 F, $75 VF). I just discovered sammler.com lists German prices for these... 10c is 70euros in VF. See how the imperial eagle sits on a large anchor? That's because the colony was administered by the navy and not the normal colonial authority. This city is currently called Qingdao (pronounced chingdow I think) (used to be Tsingtao) and today it is still famous for a special beer that was first brewed there by German missionary monks. The half marks are very common, roughly equivalent to British sixpences. I look on sammler.com for German prices... worth almost nothing in low grade. Danzig is quite easy to find, but some issues are very hard to get. This 5c is under $3 in VF. If you like these, you should keep an eye out for German East Africa coins. The lower denominations with the large crown design are easy to find. The higher denominations with the kaiser wearing his "eagle helmet" turn up but are usually expensive. There is an earlier (1890s) design with the imperial eagle on one side and arabic writing on the other. I have never seen any coins from German New Guinea though...

That sounds exactly right Kuhli... "scheidemünze" means "token coin" and appears on lots of German states' coins. The tell tale sign is the saint with his X shaped cross... who is of course St Andrew. Great, that's two saints out of three coins so far

Not that I specialise at all, but I often thought that a collection of the smallest denominations in each metal could be good... for pretty much any country. The thing with minors is that they are available in good condition (they didn't get used much) and they are cheap to buy (ignored by many collectors). Size isn't everything

And of course it continues... the Royal Mint still makes all sorts of novelties for countries around the world. And don't forget issues from the Pobjoy mint. For Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, I think some wartime issues were minted in London as governments moved there to escape occupation. In particular, Danish coins for the Faeroe islands and Iceland (as you mentioned). Some Netherlands coins were minted in the US.

OK, the 1806 is a George III halfpenny (halfpenny is 28mm, penny is 33mm) The 1757 is confusing... the classic George slaying the dragon design didn't appear on British coins until 1817 and it always has a monarch's portrait on the other side. Lots of designs have arms, crowns and garlands but again, always with the monarch's head on the other side. It might be a foreign coin... can you read any writing on it?

I expect Berg knows all about decimal versus pre-decimal... after all, Scandinavia went decimal a century before we did. They even had a unified currency 130 years before the Euro! Very far sighted I would say... ...welcome to the forums Berg. I look forward to your perspective on some of our discussions!

The things I have noticed, and now look for, are Obvious mistakes like wrong reverse for year or incorrect edge inscription. Sometimes the letters in the legend and date are in a different style. General softness to the design and a matt sheen. Weak edge lettering and non-central separator. Apparently some have gold paint wearing off too! But remember that the pound coins are quite soft anyway, so well circulated genuine ones look very beaten up. I remeber bashing two together when they came out and being disappointed that it left an obvious mark.

Hope you are fully recovered now Levi_NI. I went away for a while once and I missed loads! Still, you can easily get back into things here and pick stuff up again pretty quickly... bit like a soap opera really

I have a little flash player by Cowon (an Iaudio G3). It can play ogg, mp3 and wma, has a built in radio, mic and line input for recording, runs from an AA battery and is very friendly with my linux machines. I like it because it supports open standards and that gives me freedom! Looks great too... very pleased with it.

Sorry Oli... we all associate that image with your name now... if the cap fits... :)

The main benefit I thought of was insurance... and you could back your collection up

If it was crud in the die we'd have parts of the digit missing... but we have a huge blob that extends beyond the normal area of the seven, which suggests to me that part of the die must be missing... that is, it is damaged. Also, the top of the seven looks strange... as though one part has been overlaid on the other. Maybe someone tried to assemble a seven from more basic shapes... I think we need to see a normal one... maybe I'll take a picture and try and post it.

Tom, I believe the third question at http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy/indetail/usi...ngcopyright.htm might describe your situation. In the UK law this is called "fair dealing"... on the internet you will often see references to "fair use" which is a similar set of exemptions in US copyright law. Most countries have signed the Berne Convention, which means all their copyright laws are broadly compatible, but they differ in details like this. Anyway, private use seems OK and small portions for "quoting" seems OK, but if you collected complete images of, say, varieties of pennies, and then published them on web pages for anyone to refer to, that would probably not be OK. You would either need to create all the images yourself, or get permission from each of the photographers. I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice! When I first started buying on ebay I wondered about the idea of an entirely virtual coin collection... buy coins, photograph them, sell them again and keep the photos. The problem is you can't capture all the coin in two photos... there will always be some details not visible. Also, buying and selling coins in quick succession is a great way to lose money

Surely we know from hoards that people did save them up and value them. I remember a history program on TV about castles where they demonstrated how much it cost to have a castle built. They had some real Edward I pennies and then they simulated the required pile with milk bottle tops We also know that a penny was too much and often got cut into pieces, until coppers came along. Maybe they didn't pay in cash for every transaction... I know that in Victorian times people had a lot more acocunts and tabs with retailers... if that system went right back then it would mean poeple could leave settling up until it was worthwhile. As for tiny coins, I have some 2-3mm coins from India... just little blobs really. I suppose you would have kept them in a purse, carefully wrapped in a piece of cloth.

Probably a forgery of the time that used to be plated. I have seen George III halfcrowns in a brassy metal.

I looked up the Guernsey 1966 10/- ... Krause says the mintage was 300000 and Coin yearbook says £5 unc and £10 proof. The Jersey Bicentennial was 1981... mintage 200000, £7 unc. I couldn't find a listing for a set with these two together... seems unlikely with them being 15 years apart.

I'd never heard that story... how do you tell Taylor's restrikes from the originals? Is it obvious? Or maybe he made so few they're not on the market...