davidrj

Wow! Those guys are good! "Islamic-style magic coin from Malay Peninsula, probably first made in the 1950s and first reported in 1969. Front: Old man in long robe, holding walking stick (with sword-blade shape shaft), facing left, standing on ground; chair (?) behind man; Arabic inscription: Raj Kubsyugh. Back: Cannon with four wheels on ground; mountains in background and rock in foreground; Arabic inscription Raj 'Asr. Cribb, #263a: Described specimen was presented in the S.Semans collection, 47 mm in diameter." This interwebby thing is really useful at times! David

I also posted this on another forum. Apparently the script is Malay Arabic, and the coin is possibly a "magic coin" produced in the 1950's now wading through Asian Coin Database to see if I can narrow it down David

Not what I normally buy, but the design intrigued me £5 on Ebay, from a guy who normally sells Rumanian coins and stamps - he listed it as "unknown coin" 45mm cast brass, 30gm. edge plain This has been polished recently so scans poor Side 1 appears to show a 4 wheeled cannon defending a pass between two mountain ranges. Side 2 has this bizzare figure - ?a winged or cloaked ram, with a sword and an empty chair throne Script looks odd - probably gibberish Anyone got any ideas?? ?Modern fantasy ? temple coin ? tourist piece? David

I think it was about 12 months ago Peter, 1st time i heard about it was when the ebay seller alfnail was selling one on ebay, it was less than Fine grade and sold for 540 quid i believe. I think that there's more known than the 7 Michael Gouby has now noted. The guy who own this one in the 1st post has noted himself 7 already in various auctions, then there's his, plus the one davidrj found and the one i have so that's 10 so far.Maybe John Stephenson has one, maybe it's time to dig out those old 1863s and take a looksy Earlier than that Dave, Not mentioned by either Peck (1970) or Freeman (1985), but Gouby illustrates one in his 1986 book, rating it as R7 (Exremely rare) with a price of £40 in Fine, also listed by Satin as his No.46 (2003)

There's a bizzare one listed here david

Oh dear! I stand my belief that it's not a coin if I can't use it to buy a bottle of milk from the local shop David

I too have a load of crap duplicates that i've accumulated over the years, but have always been nervous about selling on Ebay, Is it better to list everything indvividually or make them into small lots that fit into standard postage rates? maybe a job for winter, when I can't get into the garden David

Both toning and corrosion are chemical reactions, but stress and crystal size will affect reactivity see Stress Corrosion "Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is the unexpected sudden failure of normally ductile metals subjected to a tensile stress in a corrosive environment, especially at elevated temperature in the case of metals. SCC is highly chemically specific in that certain alloys are likely to undergo SCC only when exposed to a small number of chemical environments. The chemical environment that causes SCC for a given alloy is often one which is only mildly corrosive to the metal otherwise. Hence, metal parts with severe SCC can appear bright and shiny, while being filled with microscopic cracks." David

Interesting question! Possibly an/oily greasy deposit laid down on the coin when new, subsequent wiping deposit off could leave residue between the legend and the rim but allow the rest of the surface to oxidise. Many years later a collector gives it a good wash in soap and water Then again this could be total bullsh*t! Weird things happen to coins, I have this penny where part of the legend has become incuse. raised areas of a coin must suffer different pressures during the minting process than the field does, so I suspect there will be variations in the crystal size of the coin's alloy - under the right circumstances, such as long immersion in water, this could subtley alter the rate of chemical reactions. Any metallurgists lurking? David

Gold is not affected by most chemicals, hence it keeps it's lustre over millenia Can be dissolved in Aqua Regia (50/50 concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acids) also soluble in mercury, which is one method of extraction from low yielding ores - mercury can then be boiled off David PS Please do not try either method at home!

You would be a real Hero Dave, if you could scan them all in and publish a PDF..... I wonder who owns the copyright?

Something different for penny / flat disc collectors David

Wow!

I knew I should have kept those cassette tapes for the BBC computer! David

I wouldn't worry too much about the pricing so an older version would be OK.For bullion all price guides are out of date. I have used the library in the past. Google will almost always give you an answer and Ebay a value (you may need to pop over to the country in question and brush up on coin languages)Ebay USA is also very useful. There are black market versions of Krause about on CD. Best place to look for French stuff is cgb.fr - €350 - 20 Fr 1814 A

Welcome, James David

As someone who buys but has never sold on Ebay, I think PayPal is brilliant. I have messed about with finding Euros & dollars to send by post to overseas vendors, but life's too short - all my searches now specify paypal only David

Very, very interesting. An absolute bargain for £85.00, I'd say. Can't see it being on sale for long. It does look like a narrow date, yes. It also looks genuine. Don't think it is an 1871, possibly an 1874 with the one repunched in the wrong position (mint worker forgot he was working on a mirror image)

Well played you ~ what condition are they in ? Both Crap I'm afraid 1879Ca 1879Cb nb Gouby only lists one date width for this type, but note different spacing between the 7 & 9

The problem with collecting is that you start off thinking it's a finite art ~ that you will collect a given series and then leave it at that (for a time at least). But the reality is very different. Once you start it's exceedingly difficult to stop, especially for those of us whose interest becomes all encompassing, verging on the obsessional !!! Even in any given series or date run, it's knowing the best time to call it a day in respect of that specific collection. Do you limit yourself to just dates, and then the odd upgrade. Or do you go beyond in the hope of obtaining every different listed type ? Do you content yourself with a mid grade rarer type, or do you practically re-mortgage your house in a bid (no pun intended) to get one of the few outstanding examples ? It is these philosphical points I frequently ponder in my quieter moments When I was collecting pennies, I had every date and major variety from 1797. What constituted a major variety was saomething I usually made up my mind on early on and stuck to. For example, I would always regard the 1874-79 wide/narrow dates as 'major' even if Spinks didn't list them as such and the portrait changes of 1874 and 1881 (far more noticeable in my view than 1926) too were major. On the other hand 1903 open 3, 1897 high tide and coins with sundry dots on just didn't seem to have enough different about them to make collecting worthwhile. There came a point where I tended to upgrade rather than add new varieties and once this became prohibitively expensive, I gave up and became a dealer! I pretty much agree on all counts. Certainly, the wide and narrow dates differences from 1874 to 79 absolutely hit you square in the eye, and are a must for collection IMO ~ although 1877nd seems a tall order, as it is R18, 6 to 15 known, apparently, and I believe one went for £6k last year, in F only. 1879nd is also difficult, obviously. I had originally intended to just collect the wide and narrow dates + H and non H from 1874, but the different portraits are also now nagging me. Like you, however, the 1903 open 3 is not an essential, nor is the 1897 high tide. Also, if I'm honest, the 1902 low tide and 1895 2mm seem a tad overrated as well. Just to whet the appetite:- Wow! I've got 2 1879 nd but never seen a 1877

link David

Looks like a ding to me

bizarre! David

I sent him a link to this thread, and it has now been withdrawn David