Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i World Coin News

On June 6 the London auction house of Dix Noonan Webb sold a rare Allectus aureus for $701,648 [£552,000]. This price is highest paid for any coin sold by Dix Noonan Webb, beating out the gold aureus of Augustus Caesar in September 2014 that realized $625,000 [£480,000]. It also is the highest price paid for any coin of Allectus and at any auction for any Roman coin minted in Britain. The 4.31 g gold coin dates from CE 293-296, struck at London for Imperator Caesar Allectus Augustus, Emperor of Britain (S-683; Calicó 4790; RIC 4). The obverse shows a draped and laureate bust of the emperor along with the legend IMP CALLE CTVS P F AVG. The reverse has Sol between two captives with his right hand raised and his…

Last time I wrote a whole article about Syria and didn’t mention Damascus, the second oldest city in the world, or third, or something. It recently celebrated its official 5000th anniversary. It is not the top ranked local city in later ancient times, that would have been Antioch, now in Turkey, about 70 miles from Aleppo. The end of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean region spanned a few centuries between 1100 BCE and 800 BCE, more or less. Throughout the area natural disasters occurred and new ethnic groups appeared on the scene. Most of the newcomers came from somewhere in Central Asia, but there were nautical invasions of coastal areas by people previously unknown to the local inhabitants as well. The new people were initially nomads, the settled locals…

Canada recently released a commemorative 2019 $100 gold wildlife conservation coin on which a portrait of a lion by Robert Bateman appears on the reverse. The coin is struck in proof, has a diameter of 76.2 mm and a weight of 311.5 g. This follows a Canadian 2019 gold-plated silver $8 Pandas, A Golden Gift of Friendship coin. What makes these coins different from so many other non-circulating legal tender coins is that each is actually a 0.999 fine silver coin with a thin layer of gold plating. Canada is going one step further than most other nations by offering plated coins to collectors. The Canadian coins include the framed letter P below the obverse portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to identify the coins’ true metal content. Plated coins are…

People who are spendthrifts are sometimes said to be throwing their money away. Perhaps throwing salt over your shoulder could bring you good luck, but throwing coins at the engines on an airplane is not a great idea. Nevertheless, the problem of passengers invoking a superstition through which they throw coins at the engines to ensure a safe flight is continuing in China. At least five cases of coin tossing have been reported recently, prompting an airport on tropical Hainan Island to post a warning. The overhead electric sign above the security check point at Phoenix International Airport in Sanya displayed a warning on June 2. The warning cautioned passengers that tossing coins at a plane was not only against the law but it would also harm their prayers for…

For more than 200 years, from 1714 to 1917, the House of Hanover furnished the kings and queens that ruled the United Kingdom. It all began in 1688 when James II was driven from the English throne and replaced by his daughter Mary and her husband William. William was actually of the Dutch nobility but was also related to the British royal family. Mary died not long afterwards but William III, as he was known, ruled until March 1702. Mary’s sister Anne then inherited the throne but she and her husband were unfortunate in the matter of children, as her numerous pregnancies resulted either in a stillborn or a child that died at a young age. With no further sisters to inherit the throne, and no living heirs, the throne…

D-Day commemoratives continue to be produced apace with numerous pieces and varieties. Perhaps the most innovative comes from Tanzania courtesy of NumisCollect. It consists of two coins shaped as two halves of a bullet. Each half is denominated as 500 shillings with the two able to be joined by inset magnets to yield the entire bullet. My consultant armorer assures me that the complete round is a replica of that used in a .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) as designed by John Moses Browning in 1905. It was not only used in the Colt M1911 Pistol but also in the Thompson submachine gun and the American M3 SMG aka ‘Grease Gun’ or ‘The Greaser’. This first-ever legal tender bullet measures 32x12 mm and is struck in 1 oz .999 fine…

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. AUGUST Aug 2-4 SC, Charleston. Low Country Summer Coin Show. Exhibit Building, Exchange Park Fairgrounds, 9860 Hwy 78,(Ladson). SH: Fri. 12pm - 6pm; Sat. 9am - 6pm; Sun. 10am - 3pm. SP: Low Country Coin Club. A: Free. T: 50. F: $175/$200.…

In a recent press release from the Royal Australian Mint, we have learned that there is a new commemorative coin being released. This coin celebrates the 90th anniversary of Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions’ The Ghan. It will be a new colored 50-cent coin depicting the Australian train. Not only is there a new coin, but also they are announcing a competition along with it! Customers who purchase a 2019 50c Colored Uncirculated coin (90th Anniversary of the Ghan) can enter this competition by sharing a photo of their new coin depicting “where their journey will begin”. Winners will be announced on Sept. 6, 2019. Complete instructions for the competition can be found on their website at ramint.gov. The coin itself has a limited mintage of 30,000 and retails for $15.00.…

The British Treasure Trove laws are likely some of the fairest anywhere in the world. Despite this, there are people who will conceal a find rather than allow it to make its way through the system and likely make a profit for themselves legally. Local police have been reluctant to give too many specific details, but on May 30 law enforcement in County Durham and Lancashire arrested “a number of people” who have been accused of dealing in what the British Broadcasting Corporation called “culturally tainted objects.” Details regarding how many people were involved and the origins of the find are sketchy, but it is being described as a hoard “of major historical significance” that includes coins of Alfred “the Great” of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia as well…

The demand for physical coins is on the decline worldwide, while electronic payments and monetary substitutes are on the rise. Do coins really have an impact on the economy, or is it time to admit defeat in the wake of newer technological substitutes? The Industriewissenschaftliches Institut or Institute for Industrial Research in Vienna recently studied this question for the mints of the European Union that strike coins to support the EU’s common currency system. These mints are responsible for production valued at 13.797 billion euros (about $15.48 billion US) while directly or indirectly employing 169,900 people. The IIR is a non-profit association that has been doing research focused on the intersection of science and practical application of science since 1986. The organization specializes in studies of industrial networks using a…

Too much physical cash chasing too few physical commodities is being blamed for re-fueling inflation in Nigeria. Coins appear to be a casualty of the complicity between the Central Bank of Nigeria and private banks with which the CBN has a questionable relationship. A surplus of bank notes is impacting the purchasing capacity while the demand for coins appears to have dried up. In a May 6 blog, PunchNG.com explained, “In the absence of primary coins, prices of goods and services are progressively, marginally, inflated to the chagrin of the poor consumer. Thus, a vendor who has calculated 16 naira, for example, as a viable price for his product, would nonetheless be forced to round up the price to 20 naira in order to avoid the inevitable hassle for change…

Manannán mac Lir [Son of the Sea] is a sea god in Celtic mythology. Among other things he is credited with being the first King of Man. Some sources claim Isle of Man is named after him. Others insist he is named after the island. He is an essential part of Manx, Irish and Scottish folklore. In honor of Manannán mac Lir, Lichtenstein’s Coin Invest Trust has struck a stunning 55 mm, 3 oz .999 fine silver Isle of Man £5 shaped as a Celtic cross. The reverse shows Manannán mac Lir kneeling while clad in armor and bearing his shield and sword Fragarach [The Avenger]. The latter is adorned with the three-legged Manx triskelion. The coin’s obverse shows the effigy of the current Çhiarn Vannin [Lord of Mann], Queen…

Prior to federation each of Canada’s provinces had to attend to its own currency needs. Each introduced a variety of schemes to make up for the shortfall in Crown-approved coinages. Getting official approval for any of these from London was a time-consuming and arduous process. In the mid-1840s New Brunswick was desperate for coins. It decided to act first and get permission afterwards. It contacted the Soho Mint in Birmingham and ordered a substantial supply of halfpenny and one penny copper tokens. Only when the production of these was underway did they seek official approval. The arrival of these tokens in 1843 and a top-up in 1854 provided New Brunswick with an elegant and simple solution to their currency woes. As Jerome Remick bluntly expressed it, “the colony was never…

Britain’s Royal Mint continues to celebrate 50 years of the nation’s distinctive, seven-sided 50p coin, first introduced in 1969. In early June the mint unveiled a special collection of five commemorative military-themed coins re-struck to mark the anniversary. These follow a set of cultural-themed 50ps unveiled in January. The reverses of the new collection span almost one thousand years of history. Their designs are not new but are taken from coins released over the past five decades. These marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, 50 years since the D-Day Landings, 150 years since introduction of the Victoria Cross and the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. All five 2019-dated coins are available as commemorative sets as either .9167 fine red gold (15.50 g) proofs, .925 fine…

Is there any country in modern history that has not used physical money? Cambodia, also known as Kampuchea, did not use any form of physical currency other than barter during the 1975 to 1978 rule of the Khmer Rouge regime. The brutal regime abolished all forms of money as it attempted to force Cambodia to become a purely agrarian society. This was their way of creating a classless society in which everyone is equal. Are there earlier examples of societies in which physical cash was abolished? I am unaware of physical cash being abolished anywhere, but during the Middle Ages in Europe barter was often substituted for coined money. There is a gap of several hundred years in Russian history (the period between Kievan Rus and the rise of Muscovy)…

A find of low grade third to fourth century CE Roman coins found at a dig site in Turkey are helping to not only date the site, but to substantiate what is known of the local history of that period. The find of 466 coins only referred to so far as being composed of bronze, and being attributed to the Valentinian period, are being preserved and studied by archaeologists. More specific information on individual pieces was not available at the time this article was being written. Sadik Sulan is the deputy head of the excavations and an archaeologist at the ruins of Parion or Parium. According to Sulan, “We already thought that there was a Goth invasion in the last quarter of the third century in the city. The presence…

In a recent interview with The CDN Monthly Greysheeet US Mint Director David J. Ryder said, “I have to create products they [young collectors] can actually collect at a reasonable price and put in their pockets.” Perhaps so, but any proposals for new coins need to be approved by Congress prior to commencing production. Furthermore, Ryder said “at a reasonable price and put in their pockets.” This is where the coin market in the United States and in Great Britain part ways. US coin collectors and dealers recently participated in the Great American Coin Hunt, where older collectible coins were voluntarily placed into circulation in hopes non-collectors would find them, then become motivated to participate in the hobby. The US Mint is handicapped in that it can produce flashy non-circulating…

Venezuela has been in a political and economic crisis for some time. The socialist presidency of Nicolas Maduro Moros has been challenged since 2015 by Juan Guaido, who claims he should be the rightful leader of the normally oil-soaked nation in South America. The US, Canadian, and other governments have openly backed Guaido, while countries including China and Russia have backed Maduro. Maduro has ruled by decree in a dictatorial manner since 2015 using powers granted to him by a previous legislature. This has led to repression and a serious decline in his popularity. During his presidency the standard of living has plummeted, shortage of just about everything has become rampant, and the economy has become ruinous. Since the Maduro government has been slow to dismantle a complex system of…

Stack’s Bowers has decided to clean the dust off the coins of the Mas Fera Collection, a collection that has been off the market for over 40 years. With no reserves, buyers will be sure to dig in their pockets and offer up their best. Among these special offerings is a Long Whisker Dragon Pattern Dollar, Year 3 graded PCGS SPECIMEN-62. Bowers’ describes it as “the RARE first variation of the ‘dragon in the clouds’ style. A boldly struck example of the type with sharp detail on all devices, full flashy luster, and pleasing faint golden toning on both sides.” The coin speaks for itself with an estimate of $70,000-$100,000. Another offering is a Year 17 Kansu Dollar graded PCGS AU-50. It is described as an evenly toned, lightly circulated…