Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i World Coin News

If one travels in Asia, or certain other parts of the world, there is a good chance of being offered counterfeit American coins, in particular the fabled 1804 silver dollar. All serious collectors are aware that only a few 1804 dollars are known, and it is believed that all are accounted for. Yet there are genuine 1804 dollars that can be obtained for reasonable amounts. This seems confusing at first, but the other genuine 1804 dollars were not struck in the United States but rather in Great Britain. During much of the 18th century in England, there was a serious shortage of silver coin for use in the marketplaces, and the situation gradually grew worse after 1750. The difficulty arose from a 1601 law requiring that the Mint purchase silver…

Music in the cafes at night, revolution in the air. So one night in Paris you left after a soiree of wine and cards and some kind of entertainment, and your attendant whipped the beggars around the corner so you wouldn’t have to see them. Two years later, you breathed such sighs of relief and gave such heartfelt prayers of thanks that you had got your family out of the country in time. Of the anonymous beggars whipped out of your sight, one is now a colonel in the Revolutionary Army, and the other is a Deputy in the National Assembly. The King was arrested; they’re talking about whether or not to execute him. The response of power holders in neighboring lands to the French Revolution was typically of most…

In an apt piece of historic irony, Charles II beat out Cromwell’s Commonwealth at Spink’s late March sale of the fabled Miller Collection of English silver crowns. Mere adjectives do not do justice to the collection of Dr. Erik Miller. Clichés are certainly inappropriate. The assemblage of coins on offer was far more than simply remarkable. Several of the crowns are the finest pieces available of their types today, are important historically, and come with legendary provenances. Many have not seen a public saleroom for over half a century. This March sale constituted but Part I of his collection. The results are the stuff of auction house dreams. Just 37 lots were involved. All sold. The total realized was $606,728 [£464,640]. That sum represents $16,398 [£12,578] per lot. The arrival…

In February, the British Royal Mint launched its 2019 Britannia range. This year, artist David Lawrence offers his second interpretation of the Spirit of Britain. In his own words: “My initial thoughts were influenced by the great engravers of the past. Their work has a classical grace and gravitas I was keen to recreate. After all, coins of the realm are a serious business. The lion had to be there somewhere, as did the shield and trident… many of the components were already decided in a way. The end result is an Anglicized version of ancient Rome.” The array of .9999 fine gold, .999 fine silver, and .9995 fine platinum coins is similar to last year but with the addition of a 40.00 mm, 62.42 g, £200. Details of the…

The discovery of a pre-Columbian tomb attributed to being that of an Inca Empire noble announced Feb. 15 may include evidence certain items may have been traded as money. The tomb, according to Peru’s state news agency Andina, is located at the Mata Indio dig site in the northern Lambayeque region. The Lambayeque Valley is the largest valley on the north coast of Peru, the name being a Spanish derivation of the Lambayeque god Yampellec. The Inca Empire conquered the Yampellec civilization. The Inca’s occupied Lambayeque for about 40 years before in turn being conquered by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1532. Archeologist Luis Chero said the findings “demonstrate the majesty and importance of this site.” Chero described the location as being 1,000 kilometers, or about 620 miles, north of…

In a setback that impacts anyone importing ancient coins to the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court recently denied a petition for certiorari filed by the Ancient Coin Collector’s Guild. On Feb. 19, the court denied a petition where the Supreme Court was to review the Fourth Circuit’s decision, which treats import restrictions on ancient Cypriot and Chinese coins under the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) as embargoes. The ACCG had argued the plain meaning of the statute, and the guild’s Fifth Amendment Takings and Due Process rights require the CPIA to only apply to coins of types on designated lists proven to be illicitly exported from Cyprus or China after the effective date of government regulations. The Fourth Circuit instead approved the forfeiture of Cypriot and Chinese coins of…

For complete show listings visit NumisMaster.com The World Coin News club show and commercial events calendar is a guide to events with a focus for world-coin collectors. Domestic events scheduled up to 10 weeks in advance of the issue date and foreign events up to six months in advance are listed. Abbreviations used: “A” – Admission charge; “T” – number of tables; “F” – Table fee; “N/A” – not available. Other data required for submitting a listing: name and address of show site, and name and address of bourse chairman or other contact person. MAY May 3-5 OK, Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Numismatic Association Annual Show. Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, Hobbies Arts & Crafts Bldg., 3400 General Pershing Blvd.,. SH: Fri. 1pm - 5pm; Sat. 9am - 5pm; Sun. 9am - 3pm.…

During the Napoleonic Wars the northern Italian city of Mantua was besieged twice. In 1797, the French laid siege, and in 1799 they were the besieged. The first siege began on June 4, 1796, as a move against Austria, who had joined the First Coalition against France. Austrian and Russian attempts to break the siege failed, but the French forces were spread so thin that the siege was abandoned on July 31. The French resumed the siege on August 24, and in early February 1797, the city surrendered and the region came under French administration. Two years later, the city was again under siege. This siege was a four-month effort by the Austrian army to regain a presence in northern Italy, having been excluded from that region by the French…

On March 12, the London auction house of Dix Noonan Webb sold the best collection of British half-crowns to be offered for sale since that of Colin Adams in 2005. Assembling the 195 lots had been a 50-year labor of love for Brian Dawson, a well-respected coin dealer from Lancashire. The oldest coin in the collection came from Edward VI dated 1551. The most recent was an Elizabeth II issue of 1961. At final hammer fall, the total realized was $819,975 [£620,418], or an average of $4,205 per lot. All lots sold except one that was withdrawn pre-sale. Both Charles Stuarts, father and son, dominated the sale. They secured 27 of the top 30 prices, the other three places going to Hanoverian monarchs. Of these 27, 15 Stuart half-crowns made…

Prices of historic Chinese rarities in Stack’s Bowers’ Hong Kong auction in late March proved exceptional. All top-selling lots went for well over upper estimate. Leading that charge was an extraordinary item: a 368.95 g gold 10-tael ingot c. 1750. It was provenanced to the wreck of the Dutch merchant ship VOC Retouschip Geldermalsen. In 1752, the ship foundered on a reef in the South China Sea. Just 32 of the crew survived, with 80 drowning. Over 800,000 gulden in commodities was lost. This included 147 ten-tael gold bars, over 100,000 pieces of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, tea, spices, textiles, lacquer wares, and other trade goods. Non-perishable goods were recovered from the wreck in 1986 by English divers. They were auctioned later that year by Christie’s Amsterdam. The gold 10 tael…

Coin collectors are used to being able to see, touch, and examine their coins. They can share their coins with others, belong to clubs, visit coin shows, and bid at auctions. The stuff is physical. Coin collecting remains popular worldwide, even though there are indications the number of active collectors in the United States has been on the decline for some time. When I say coin collecting has remained popular worldwide, I mean physical coin collecting. What about collecting coins online? You own the coin, but the coin isn’t a physical entity. It only exists in cyberspace. It is real. You paid real money to purchase it. It can be spent, online. It can be viewed, online. People invest in cybermoney just as they do in bullion price-impacted coins such…

Could a computer vision technique used to diagnose cancer be useful for studying ancient coins? It is possible, according to researchers Ognjen Arandjelovic and Jessica Cooper at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The researchers have recently developed a new machine learning-based method for understanding images on ancient coins. Their study applies computer vision and machine learning to ancient numismatics. Their study appears at arXiv. The Convolutional Neural Network or CNN used by Arandjelovic and Cooper is based loosely on the AlexNet artificial neural network. AlexNet was initially used to classify photographs from the ImageNet dataset. Cooper said the study offers an example of how such technologies can result in cross-pollination between fields. AlexNet is an influential paper published in computer vision. AlexNet contains eight layers, the first five…

You know counterfeit coins are a problem when the state archaeological department issues an advisory warning. The situation is so sufficiently serious that India’s government has recently taken such action. Bogus examples of popularly collected 17th to 19th century copper shivrai coins issued during the rule of the Marathas are being sold “in the market through portals,” according to several sources. The coins circulated through the end of the 19th century, particularly in the region of the Bombay Presidency. Several counterfeiters are reported to be active in Gujarat and West Bengal. Assistant Director of the State Archaeology Department, Vilas Wahane, was quoted by the March 5 Pune Mirror newspaper as saying, “Because fake coins are being circulated people must crosscheck the genuineness of coins through numismatists as only they are…

How widespread is micro printing used on coins? Bullion coins, including the Canadian Maple Leaf program, use micro printing to ensure the authenticity of recent issues. Among the circulation strike coins now using micro printing technology is the British 12-sided £1, Japanese 500 yen, and the latest generation of Philippine coins. The use of this technology is not currently widespread. Can the micro printing on a circulating coin wear off from handling, as do the other details? Micro printing, like any other design detail, could wear off a coin. It depends on whether the micro printing is in a protected area or is part of a higher profile design detail that is more likely to wear quickly. What is the white coating appearing on my zinc-composition coin? A white coating…

Online auctions are becoming increasingly fashionable among larger auction houses. If the proof of the pudding lies in its eating, then the results of the Heritage sale on March 17 of the Denis Burger Collection of Crowns and Mint Errors via their Monthly World and Ancient Coin Auction demonstrates that online pudding sales have a bright future. Many coin collectors have acquired the odd mint error or two over the years, but Burger achieved an impressive collection spanning both nations and years. The top-selling lot was a Queen Victoria half-sovereign reverse brockage c. 1838-85 (KM-735.1). Gold Victorian brockages are rare, and this delightful example came in a more than acceptable VF35 NGC, both aspects explaining why the error had little difficulty in being bid up to $4,320. It was followed…

In case anyone living south of the 49th parallel is unaware, Canada’s national symbol is the Maple Leaf. It has been that way for some time. French Canadians adopted it as their emblem back in the 17th century. The rest of Canada was slow to follow. By the 1860s, just Ontario and Quebec had incorporated it into their coats-of-arms, with Canada as a whole following in 1921. It became the nation’s symbol when a stylized 11-pointed maple leaf occupied the center of the new flag in 1965. Today, Canadians are fiercely passionate about their beloved leaf. This is readily seen in the innumerable maple leaf-themed coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint in recent years. Just the first three months of 2019 have seen a dozen or more produced in…

British treasure trove laws are generally considered to be some of the most workable anywhere. Now authorities are considering expanding the definition of treasure within the law, a move that could widen the right of first refusal by museums. Under current law, an object at least 300 years old and composed of at least 10 percent gold or silver, or that has been discovered alongside artifacts composed of precious metal, can be declared treasure if the rightful owner cannot be identified. Coins must be part of a hoard to be treated as treasure. A single coin find does not qualify the coin as such. The proposed changes include creating a class of treasure for single gold coin finds if the coin is dated between AD 43 and 1344 as well…

Two Chinese women are under arrest, having been charged with tossing coins at an airplane for good luck prior to takeoff. The March 10 Lucky Air flight originating at Jinan, Shandong, was anything but lucky for the two women. The flight was delayed for two hours. The plane continued on to Chengdu, Sichuan once it was determined the coins were harmlessly resting underneath the boarding steps. The coins had been tossed into the air during the boarding process to ensure a safe journey. According to a Lucky Air spokesman, “After a check by the captain, we excluded the possibility of the coins entering the engine since the gap between the plane and the boarding gate was narrow and far away from the engine.” The website PearVideo quoted an unnamed passenger…

The Heisei Era in Japan is going out with a numismatic stampede. The demand for the final proof set on which a Heisei date appears was so great that the Japan Mint decided to hold a lottery to determine who would receive the rights to buy the coin sets. Heisei 31 is the regnal date appearing on coins issued marking the final year of the reign of Japanese Emperor Akihito. The 84-year-old emperor will abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne on April 30 due to his advanced age and increasingly limited ability to perform his ceremonial duties. Heisei means “peace everywhere.” Akihito’s son, Crown Prince Naruhito, will become the new emperor. A new era yet to be named will appear on his coins. The regnal date on these coins will officially begin…