CollectForFun

Happy Birthday TSF!

I would recommend contacting them about the shipping quote in advance to not be surprised after the purchase. Don't know the rates for the UK but for here to Europe they charge $50-100 per shipment so could be similar.

Hello there, to your question, no one can tell from a picture if the bar is silver, I'm afraid. It says on it it's silver, it does look like (patinated) silver, but that's all that can be reasonably concluded from a picture. But, to echo what Petra asked, why exactly this "obscure" bar as your first purchase? That is a very unusual choice...

Thanks, I was mainly wondering if such signs of circulation are on your coin, as that would be surprising. It's indeed an interesting coin, I've never seen such gold version of this coin yet. Do you remember where you acquired it from? My first guess is that it's one of those modern miniature gold reproductions of famous historic coins (or else you have something quite unique 🙂). As I said, I'm not aware such coin originally existed - there was no reason nor use for it. Also, a gold coin of such a small size would be extremely unusual for early 20th century Europe. The silver version of the coin was produced as an equivalent of Maria Theresia taler. Here is a short summary of the background of its production (as well of its predecessor): https://en.sewasew.com/p/tallero-eritreo. In brief, Italians were not very successful with any of their versions, due to which the next time they had expansion plans in Eritrea, they borrowed actual Maria Theresia taler dies from Austrians and started minting them in Rome in mid-30s...

Hi, this is just a guess, but it seems there is similar damage, although at much smaller scale, right across the coin at 6 o'clock. One explanation could be that the coin was set in a frame and those marks indicate the spots where it was held by small clips to prevent the coin's movement and rotation in the frame. The cuts could have been made either to help the coin be held more firmly in the frame, or when removing the coin from it. In any case, the edge looks otherwise perfect and the coin face does not bear any typical signs of being ex-mount such as excessive polishing. How does the reverse look like? Also, I have a French Ecu coin in my collection with very similar cut to its edge and my theory about it at one point was that it was made to check if the coin was solid silver and not just silver-plated. But, with an object over 200 years old, anything could have been happening with it during all that time...

Is this the close-up of the actual small gold coin please, or just a pic of the standard silver thaler version of the coin used for illustration?

Is it this one? https://www.jmbullion.com/1-oz-asahi-buffalo-silver-round/

Thanks, learnt something new today!

I did have a look at that NGC article and the countermark which they refer to as indicating 22ct. looks different to me than on the coins above. Do you please know for sure these countermarks say 22ct.? It wouldn't be surprising as this group of counterfeits is typically made of more or less the right gold content.

Let me revive this thread with these new auction listings: Described rather deceptively as "Gran Bretaña. 1914. Jorge V. 1 libra. (Fr. 404) (KM. 820). Contramarca de cambista en árabe en anverso. AU.", i.e. basically an Arabic countermarked sovereign. No mention of it being possibly an imitation/replica/counterfeit of a sovereign. Aureo & Calicó - Coin Auction Aureo & Calicó - Coin Auction And by the way, there's quite an interest in the coins with bidding already at EUR 420, i.e. almost GBP 425 including the fees... Any chance these specimens being genuine?

Just for both the seller's and buyer's info, not a Franz Joseph, but Wilhelm (William) I, German Emperor and King of Prussia

To those saying it's the buyer's fault: could you please stop pretending the seller was genuine in his intentions and really unsure if the coin is a fake, if at the same time they try to convince with every word of that made-up story the coin was real? They 100% knew what they were selling and were not honest about it, so the buyer just played their game, which, to be honest, the buyer had very little likelihood to end up winning. So after, unsurprisingly, the coin turned out to be fake as expected, the buyer did nothing wrong by telling the seller the coin wasn't authentic as their description hinted at it being authentic and from the seller's reaction it's apparent they hoped to sell to an unsuspecting buyer which luckily wasn't the case here. So, I have zero sympathy with the seller and can't really understand those who defend them...

Czech Lion is actually also a Niue coin... I would say the most "established" bullion coins, in addition to those you already have + Kangaroo, are Athenian Owl and Noah's Ark, if that's what you are looking for in your Big 10.

Hi there, I'm not sure what exactly you would like to know so in general, this item is a so-called First Day Cover to commemorate issuing of a new stamp. Fleetwood was the company producing it, it has since been acquired by another company named Mystic Stamp. There can be different varieties of these covers, usually without any coin, medal or bar inserted, but in your case this one apparently includes a silver bar depicting the stamp itself. As I said, not sure what else there's to say about this, should you have any further questions feel free to ask

What a great story @Blacksmith876, thanks for sharing! If you wish to find out more about your coin, you may check out the list of similar coins on offer on https://www.ma-shops.com/shops/search.php?searchstr=Illyria+Drachme and compare them with your coin. Interesting reading about this coin type can also be found here https://asklapiadas.ancients.info/05a1DrGen.html. Enjoy your great coin! 🙂