Hussulo

Although quite small they are heavy. Too heavy for my digital scales so I had to weigh them on my kitchen scales. The obverse die weighs: approx 180 grams The obverse die weighs: approx 190 grams Most likely for counterfeit coins, but hopefully for contemporary counterfeit coins. From what I can gather: The designs for these coins and the 4 and 8 Reales vary quite a bit even for the same date. This was because, they used several dies to mint same date of coin. You can see a big difference in 4 Reales dated 1844, 1857 among others. There are coins that have inverted V instead of A, or letter Q in replace O, etc. In Ecuadorian numismatic 19th century the counterfeit coins were very common. At that time because there was so many counterfeit coins the government legalized counterfeit coins (These coins are known as Floreana), with the purpose of preventing the collapse of the industry of that era. The coin of 2 Reales coins dated 1857 are classed as rare now. But at the time they were minted in a large number, more that the some of the coins minted from 1847 to 1852, but many were sent to Peru to be melted. (on January 7 1858, , Peruvian forces moved in and occupied city). A lot of things including coin dies were "lost" when "La casa de Moneda de Quito" was destroyed by an earthquake on march 22 of 1859 according to a book by Melvin Hoyos.

The bag I bought them in:

Lovely examples Dave!

I agree. Thumbs Up!

"Run, Forrest, Run"

Thanks to some I am probably pointing out the obvious, but this is a good thread. I've had some bargains buying on ebay but I've also fell for the odd con before and bought items that turned out to be not as described or not what they appear to be and I'm sure I probably will do again. The key is to do a little research before hand if you can, examine what the sellers return options are in case you need to return it. After weighing all these then decide if its worth taking a gamble. I have to say thought $4000 I would not take a gamble and think you did the right thing Mat. 9 times out of 10 if a deal looks to good to be true it probably is or as VickySilver says "There is no Santa Claus in Numimatics". You should always trust your instinct and don't be scarred to ask a seller questions. If they don't reply or their reply sounds dodgy, move on.

Mat the cert number checks out at PCGS. According to their registry there are 2 coins graded PR63 non lower or higher. A good way to tell if the coin does belong to him would be to get him to take a picture of it sitting on top of a current newspaper showing the date and one picture of him holding the slab. That being said I would be very suspicious of his banking details and the pictures could easily be lifted from another auction site. other things to note: He as only sold one item in 12 months (26th Jul 08) winning bidder was jennaluna122 if you check jennaluna122's feedback there are none left by mwizard. He now keeps the winning user ID private so you cannot contact any of the past or recent winners to ask them any specific questions. All in all a bit fishy and far to much money to take a gamble on. That's the trouble with buying high end coins from other sellers and non recognised dealers on line if you get stung you stand to loose a lot of money.

Do you have any pictures? It could be an issue with the mixing of alloys, a problem with the finish or just some type of damage or wear during circulation. You get all sorts of things happening especially whe they go through the washing machine. The soap powder can tone or damage coins. I pulled this one from circulation most likely been through a wash:

Laser Rapier, in this case no headphones coz I was with someone who was listening too. Great find Alan! I am going to try and get into detecting soon. I was thinking about saving up for a Teknetics T2 or a Fisher F75. I would like to join a local club. Do you detect with a club or on your own? If on your own how do you go about approaching land owners for permission? Do you read up and research into potential good sites prior to asking for permission?

I'll second that. I've sold coins to Chris in tha past and he has always offered a courteous service with fast payment. A trusted dealer to sell or buy from.

Castle you say.. Okay I've added it to my playing about design :

That is a long history in minting and metal works. Sorry about the 1965 on the design I guess I must of picked that up wrongly somewhere. I had a look through some coins and these two designs caught my eye: http://www.pobjoy.com/ukworld/section.php/310/0

I do like it and I think the castle has always been associated with the logo, but I also agree with the other members in that it doesn't really convey what the business is about to someone that hasn't heard of it. For a bit of fun I had a little play about with Photoshop and designed a more traditional looking logo: not that I expect you to drop your new one for mine, but I am new to using Photoshop and wanted to experiment.

It sounds like a good idea and and may actually encourage new collectors to the hobby. Can I ask what you book is specifically going to be about? any title's for it yet?

It is a brave move, I wish you the best of luck. I think most dealers I've seen are already retired and have a pension therefore any money make from the sale of coins is an added bonus. To do it full time with no other income is a risky move but sometimes it does work, and I hope it does for the both of you.

You're link doesn't seem to be working Bob?

Exactly. It's not a major error like a brockage or an off-centre, but as struck through errors go it is quite noticeable so more desirable. It definitely has a premium over the same grade "standard" coin. The value would depend on how many people wanted it on the day, etc... So hard to say.

I was busy typing before you posted the second picture. After looking at the second picture I am pretty certain that is what it is.

Hard to tell for certain, but it does look like a "struck through error". As your friend said occasionally debris falls in between the die and a planchet (soon to be coin) and you are left with an impression. I have also seen Russian ones that have been struck after a cleaning cloth has fell onto them.

I recently took new pictures of my Victoria Gothic florin brockage, so I decided to try my hand at SpaceMonkey's excellent templates for Photoshop (member on another forum). What do you think?

http://coinarchaeology.blogspot.com/2009/0...uities-and.html

Well not as much as predicted: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=270338086175 Still $1530, not bad price for a slab.

Chris have you heard of any of this? Is it true? Is it over dramaticised?

http://www.fr-online.de/frankfurt_und_hess...n-Kaempfer.html According to the article under (new?) German law any coin or stamp of 100 years old is supposed to have provenance going back to when it was acquired. If not police can search the home and confiscate complete collections. and it is also reported that: Due to the above law by the German Govt. regarding antiquities , Ebay Germany cancelled most or all auctions by German sellers involving ancient coins. This apparently happened over this past weekend.