Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i World Coin News

At a hotel in Las Vegas in July Immanuel X, King of Ourania (known better to numismatists as Edessa), graciously greeted His Excellency the Governor General of British West Florida. Later King Alanus of Bermania was seen enwrapped in a presentation by King Boleslaw II of Wojcikslavia. What could prompt this almost surreal scene? MicroSummit 2021 of course. This event drew together Kings, Presidents, and Dukes representing various micronations from throughout the U.S. and Canada, and it has for more than a decade. What is a micronation? While there is no universally accepted definition, most could be described as a spirit or an ideal configured in the context of a more or less mythical or hypothetical country. Some make serious political pretentions, others less so. Some even have undisputed “territory”…

SINCE BEFORE ALEXANDER the Great, people had been tying loads to animals and walking all across Eurasia, from Europe to China and back. There were a number of routes, northern, southern, and in between. Tibet is at about the latitude of the middle route. Tibet had mountains all around. You wouldn’t go straight into Tibet, you’d go south into India, then north to Nepal, then you’d get to Tibet. Or you’d go north toward Khotan in Xinjiang. Either way it was a long way to Lhasa. These days there is a territory called the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. It contains the capital city, Lhasa. There are Tibetans living in the neighbor regions of Xinjiang and Qinghai. The Tibetan name for Tibet is Bod. The Chinese call it Xizang and…

Two key Spanish high-denomination rarities are set to draw much attention during Daniel Frank Sedwick’s November 4-5 Treasure Auction 30 to be held live in-person and online. The first is a gold 4 excelentes struck at the Segovia Mint during the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain. The design is notable for featuring detailed portraits of both the King and Queen facing each other on the obverse. This example is graded by NGC as AU 50 and boasts a pedigree to the Archer M. Huntington Collection of Coins from the Hispanic World. The auction firm’s estimate for the coin is $30,000 and up. Another important Spanish coin to be sold is a massive 50 reales, also struck at the Segovia Mint, dated to 1620 during the reign…

SOME COIN COLLECTORS place a greater value on coins which commemorate events, people, animals, vehicles and such, which have a direct connection to the issuing country. That relationship provides a validation that many collectors prefer to have in their coins. That is the primary reason I have always admired the coinage of Mongolia. Almost without exception the coins issued under the authority of Mongolia only feature commemorations for people, places and things which happened there. CIT Coin Invest AG has held an exclusive contract to produce Mongolia’s commemorative coinage for many years. You can still see most of these coins on their excellent website at www.cit.li/coins. Long ago my friends at CIT explained to me that every design must past government approval and that does not happen unless the theme…

EVERYONE LOVES A good comeback story, and it’s safe to say the 2021 American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Chicago was just that. After a 2020 hiatus due to COVID, the show, held Aug. 10-14 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, was by all accounts a success. A glance around the bourse confirmed that things were different this year. Booths were more spread-out, many dealers and attendees were wearing masks, and there was a noticeable absence of international mints and dealers, as well as the U.S. Mint. However, those looking to buy and sell were not deterred. In fact, it was quite the opposite. All reports from dealers were positive, with a few even commenting that it was the best show they’ve ever had. The only complaint…

AFTER A LENGTHY illness the Empress Anna died in October 1740 and was succeeded by her grandnephew Ivan Antonovich. The new czar, Ivan III, was only a few weeks old and during his infancy a regency was established. Within a matter of weeks Ivan’s mother had seized power and made herself the regent. Anna had assumed the purple in January 1730, upon the death of Peter the Great’s teen-aged grandson (Peter II); the surviving daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, had been ignored as a possible candidate for the throne. Anna (a niece of Peter the Great) decided to make certain that Elizabeth did not become ruler and just before her death had named Ivan as her successor. Elizabeth had again been passed over for the succession. Elizabeth Petrovna (Elizabeth,…

STACK’S BOWERS BROUGHT the goods for their ANA world coin auction, that’s for sure! There was so much high quality material that I needed to focus this review down to a couple of areas where the collections established entirely new levels for a series by blowing away previous auction records. This Trade Dollar of Japan, for instance, while estimated reasonably, sold for upwards of ten times that. Partly because you rarely see any of the three dates of this desirable type for sale at this level of preservation and partly because the buyer may have considered this example to be a true proof rather than a prooflike as certified. The long ray variety of Mexico’s Caballito peso has always been much in demand and the example offered in the Stack’s…

THE ABUNDANT RESOURCE of native wildlife has provided the Royal Canadian Mint with almost endless topical themes for their many fine commemorative coin programs. No matter your preference in animal collecting, you will likely find a few Canadian coins that fit the bill. Beginning with the iconic howling wolf motif used for the 1867-1967 Anniversary 50 cents, the RCM has created about 50 coins which feature their native wolf. Many of these designs have stretched the limits of creativity by seeking new ways to best represent the nature of the wolf. You might recall the bimetallic 2 dollars of 2012 which featured two wolf cubs or the multicolored wolf on the run of the 2009 gold 75 dollars. Many readers will remember the extremely popular silver bullion dollar struck in…

THE GREAT LAKES have been featured on a number of commemorative coins. In particular I recall the Royal Canadian Mint produced a lovely series of $20 silver crowns from 2014 to 2015 each sporting deep rich enameled depictions of one of the five Great Lakes. These were very well done and offered a good level of detail by using bathymetric maps. You can still locate these five coins on eBay for sale. Prices range between about $70 and $115 or so, depending on source. This is primarily the case because the mintages on those coins were between 8,000 and almost 10,000 pieces each. That’s a lot for any market to absorb completely. This year the RCM is offering a larger single commemorative in tribute to the Great Lakes. This coin…

OLDEST KNOWN MINT SITE DISCOVERY Having commenced operations in 1535, the Mexico City Mint is the oldest mint operating continuously in the Western Hemisphere. The British Royal Mint has it beat by almost 640 years, having been established in 886 A.D. Monnaie de Paris, the mint of France is even older, having been founded in 864 A.D. These mints are children when compared to the recent archaeological discovery made in Guanzhuang, Henan Province in China. It is estimated the mint in Guanzhuang was in operation at least 2,600 years ago and could likely have been in operation even earlier. It is understood coins in the Western tradition were first minted in Lydia (now part of Turkey) likely between 640 B.C. and 550 B.C. It is known coins in the Chinese…

Heritage brought some of the finest coins you’ll encounter to the World’s Fair of Money for their American Numismatic Association Platinum Night Signature auction #3094. Total sales came out to just over $19,000,000. The top coin was a stunning example of the classic Una and the Lion gold 5 pounds of 1839. Grading NGC PR66 star Ultra Cameo this piece closed for $1,400,000 with buyer’s fee. Keep in mind that this was not the only Una and the Lion in the sale, they had two, couched amongst an array of Victorian gold, a type collection of gold Angels and Nobles from Edward III to Henry VIII and an assortment of Commonwealth coinage that included six distinguished pattern pieces. That’s just the British lots! British Trade dollars were made for use…

THE 2021 HARRY POTTER Collection from the Monnaie de Paris offers five coins, a large art medal, a sterling silver pin and a total of 20 mini-medals perfect for the casual collector to the rabid fan of this extremely popular saga. If you’ve read the series or viewed the films, I’m sure you have a favorite character, plot line or setting and many of these things are represented in this Monnaie de Paris collection. COTY Lifetime Achievement award winning designer Joaquin Jimenez had this to say, “Harry Potter is an incredibly rich and complete universe. The Harry Potter characters are highlighted at the heart of a wide range of mini-medals, art products and collector coins.” He went on to explain that, “This product collection shows, with as much integrity as…

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1986, Animalia is an ABC style children’s book written and illustrated by Graeme Base. As one might expect, Animalia covers A to Z in an alliterative style with an animal illustration for each letter. The depth and incredible detail of each of its twenty-six images present a stunningly entertaining and educational result. Its multiple award winning status propelled it into a media frenzy which has resulted in all kinds of offshoots. You can find wall art, puzzles and coloring books all depicting Base’s wonderful illustrations. There has been a television series based on Animalia which has aired in at least eight countries and of course you can find an app for your IPad to help your child enjoy and learn from Animalia. After initial publication and subsequent…