John Kamps

AV Solidus ND Constantine V with Leo IV and Leo III Syracuse Mint

Third Party Slabbing is an American invention. I find it entertaining, when lets say a Victoria YH Shield sovereign is graded as MS-65 (meaning GEM BU) comes up at Heritage Auctions. Everyone goes gaga, and bidding extends triple estimate.... Same coin, is later offered by Baldwins, described as a GOOD EF/slabbed as a MS-65..... Hammered material is even worst, Edward III Calais Noble, slabbed as MS-64/ now in Kunker auction, they grade it EF(Vorz) Slabbed coins are very over graded. That is why I get my material from Europe/UK where it is much stricter in grading. John

I always tried to obtain my coins in EF or better. In the end, perfect quality coins/banknotes are a VERY GOOD investment, second and most important they look stunning! Example a Henry VIII AV Sovereign sold for 345,000 UK Pounds recently, in 1970 same coin fetched 700 Pounds! I recently got a 1804 George III Half Guinea in mint state from DNW, it cost twice as much as the EF one....but it was worth it. I know, I am envious of all the "Big shots" out there that can buy mint state Charles I Triple Units/ perfect 5 Guineas/ Basel 20 Dukats....I once saw a collection of Roman Aureii....195 coins all FDC. Makes one cry! Here is an example of a mint state hammered AV Goldgulden Lajos I of Anjou or as we know him Louis the Great of Hungary from Buda Mint.

Nice Russian material. Here is a AV 3/4 Dukat 1745 from Imperial City of Frankfurt commerating the election of Franz I as the new Holy Roman Emperor. John

Here is my only piece from Valencia: AV Dukato ND (1514) Ferdinand II of Aragon FDC/ but very crude strike

AV Solidus ND Constantinople Mint (387AD) Emperor Valentinianus II

AV Solidus ND Constantinople Mint

AV 1/4 Dukat 1700 Nurnberg (Imperial City) ruled by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg. I have the 1/32 Dukat (smaller then AV Fanams) from Indian States. They went from the massive 10 oz. 100 Dukaten to 1/32 Dukat! Maybe the latter were the so called 99%, while the massive coins were used by the one percent. John

Here is my 1499 AV Goldgulden Swabach Mint ("Dogs Head" mm) from Brandenburg-Franconia Friedrich V Von Hohenzollern

Posting photos of my AV Quarter Stater ND

A Napoleon III 1862-BB (Strasbourg Mint) AV 100 Francs graded as MS-64. Nice coin! I have about 100 slabbed gold coins, rest (500) are graded by European Auction Houses. In technical terms what the Americans slab as MS-66/67 Europeans grade as SC/FDC/Stempelglanz Esp. with hammered material MS-64 = EF I saw a British 5 Guineas from William III/Mary graded by St. James as good EF....it looked MUCH better then a MS-64 example from Heritage Auctions! John PS: I was hopeing you ID my little Kupang!

The first 3 fotos got in by error, it is that tiny coin from last two fotos..... I cannot find any reference material on it. It came from Elsen Auction. Thanks John

obv./rev. John

AV Goldgulden ND Willem V of Bavaria circa 1330 The Hague Mint Reason Willem was called the "The Mad or Insane" was at a banquet back in Bavaria, a knight made a crude joke about the Count, at that moment Willem took his sword and loped off the offenders head!

I just posted it as a normal 1884-S Sydney YH Shield Sovereign. Only thing that makes it special, it was part of the Australian Quartermaster Collection. Also correction to first post....it is a 1884-S not 1883-S! John

obv./rev. John

From the Quartermaster Coll. a MS GEM 1883-S Sydney Mint Sov. Victoria YH Shield

Colombia AV 1773 8 Escudos Popayan Mint King Carlos III Mint State obv./rev. John

Yes, I did bid on a really nice 96 Lire at Bolaffi Auction (I was working that day in my landscape business!) Turned out I was outbid by quite a bit. The Doppia coin was "unsold" so I bought it for the opening bid of 1200 Euros. The 96 Lire was offered as alta quailta, I asked them what that meant they said like MS-64 in US. Kunker had a US slabbed MS-66 Netherlands 1840 10 Gulden, Kunker graded it almost unc.! In Europe, most coins graded Stempelglanz/FDC/SC/Mintstate would be MS-67 or better in US slabs.

Oops! mistake spelling. Should read Sassanian/Kushano Empire AV Dinar ND obverse King Ardashir I or Peroz I standing/reverse God Oesho with Nandi the Bull uncertain Bactrian Mint maybe Balkh? struck circa 260AD The Sassanians conquered most of the Kushan Empire, After Ardashir died, specilal Sassanian Princes ruled the former Kushan Territories. This empire now stretched from modern day Syria/Turkey right to Central India/W. China.

AV Dinar ND circa 260 AD Kushano/Sassanian Empire Adarshir

AV Aureus ND circa 238-44AD Emperor Gordianus III Rome Mint obverse/reverse

Thanks! I see you like early dated coins, me too. Of course the AH Arabian Dynasties coins are very early dated. My earliest dated Christian coin is a Brandenburg-Franconia AV Goldgulden 1499. John

AV Dukat 1785 Wurzburg/Germany Bishop Franz Ludwig Von Erthal obv./rev.