ryanp007

Thank you! Thats a great resource!

Hi - no, I don't mind at all! Those are great observations that you make. I think you're right with the hairlines, my gut tells me there is a good chance it would grade as details due to possible cleaning. Although having had the chance to really look this thing over, the eye appeal isn't impaired much at all. When buying raw coins of this age I personally assume always that I'll find some sign of cleaning if I study it closely. Unless its something truly mint state, and for this particular coin MS would be way too expensive for my budget! You're right too about the mounting, but I've scoured over every inch of this coin and can find nothing that indicates a previous mount. So it's either so faint I missed it, or it was never mounted. Either way it works out to the same thing for my personal enjoyment of the coin And no, this coin wasn't from auction, it was from a coin dealer. Ironically, located in Canada, not terribly far from me! Sometimes its a small world.

Today (recently, lol) I received... This fantastic and scarce coin which for the time being is the crown jewel of my LMU collection. The coin is an 1848 Republic of Venice (San Marco) 20 Lire. A one-year edition only, as the revolutions of 1848-49 sweeping Europe generally, and the Italian States in particular, turned out to be fairly short lived. A total of 5,210 of these absolutely breathtaking 20 Lire coins were minted (I believe in Turin, but I haven't confirmed). The obverse is the Lion of St. Mark, and value within wreath on the reverse. One thing that I have noticed with graded pieces is there is a prevalence of Prooflike designations for these coins. I've tried to capture the reflective, prooflike nature of this coin but its really difficult to do in photos. In hand, it is amazing to see. A very, very beautiful mirrorlike finish. Angle it in the sunlight the right way and you could signal an airplane with it! One of the nicest coins I've had the privilege to add to the LMU collection and one of the very few raw coins I would consider sending off for grading to validate and conserve it.

Thats a nice collection! Im sure a decent George III Sovereign would be doable at some point....

Today I received... Well, ok, they didn't all show up today, they've been assembled over a six month period. But the last one DID just show up this week, so I'm posting anyways. Here's a nice mini-collection of Romanian gold pieces in terrific condition. Eastern European gold coinage can be tough to collect, with its unfortunate combination of low mintages and war/revolution/political unrest. The coins: 1. 1883 20 Lei - LMU standard 0.1867AGW - Minted in Bucharest, 185,290 pieces. King Carol I on the obverse, crowned and draped coat of arms on the reverse. Edge lettering that reads "PATRIA*SI DREPTUL*MEU" (Homeland And My Right). 2. 1890 20 Lei - LMU standard 0.1867AGW - Minted in Bucharest, 196,000 pieces. King Carol I on the obverse, crowned and draped coat of arms on the reverse. Edge lettering that reads "PATRIA*SI DREPTUL*MEU" (Homeland And My Right). 3. 1906 circulating commemorative 20 Lei - LMU standard 0.1867AGW - Minted in Brussels, Belgium, 15,000 pieces. Obverse and reverse both portraits of King Carol I. Milled edge. 4. 1944 Ardealul Nostru medallion, a commemorative issued to mark the liberation of areas of northern Transylvania that were annexed by Hungary in 1940 with the support of Nazi Germany. Nominally assigned a value of 20 Lei, although not to LMU standards - it mirrors the same size/fineness/weight of the debased 100 Franc - 21mm, 6.55g, 0.1895AGW. Obverse depicts overlapped busts of Michael the Brave, King Ferdinand, and King Michael. Reverse is a crowned eagle surrounded by the coats of arms of the annexed Transylvanian counties. Edge lettering that reads "NIHIL SINE DEO" (Nothing Without God). Minted in Vienna, 1,000,000 pieces, though its anyone's guess how many survived the end of WWII and all that came after in this part of the world. Many thanks to @DuncanWylieWilson for this piece that completes my little Romanian mini-collection. Off to deep storage for my ungrateful heirs to one day auction off 😂😂😂

Lmfao. So true. Just because some guy made it in his basement out of brass doesnt qualify it as a restrike 😂

I will start the bidding at one soccer ball 😁

Thanks for the info @papi1980, appreciate it! I didnt realize at first that this was a commemorative coin. So its sort of like the 1938 Albanian ones. And yeah, I would imagine that they would have found their way immediately into the hands of the wealthy/well connected people in the country. Fascinating history!

Couple of recent arrivals: 1. 1912 Bulgarian 20 Leva. Interestingly, the coin is dated in the Julian calendar and has both 1908 and 1912 dates on it. My pictures dont do this one justice. Its fantastic, with full lustre. Just a beautiful piece. Its courtesy of a forum member but as they didnt have a sale post, I'm not naming them here on the off-chance they wish to remain private. But its a splendid coin and they should be proud of its quality despite moving on to other collecting endeavours! 2. A simple Victoria jubilee 1/2 crown. Not a rare piece, but a really nice example of the type that I came across last week at a coin shop. As this weekend was a holiday long weekend (Victoria Day) in Canada, I felt compelled to buy it. A nice 150 year old silver piece with fantastic mint lustre on it, no cleaning.

Totally agree, this series is terrific

Today I received a couple more of these little hand poured beauties from @BackyardBullion Happy to own them, and happy to support this forum. Im not a silver stacker, typically. I only go for these one-of-a-kind type items, with bonus points if they are hand made.

100% agree. Its not the same w/out a catelog

These are some amazing photos, and good info!

Oooh yeah! Look what arrived in the mail today 😁😎 Thanks @BackyardBullion. I feel like this is a kind of official membership card 😂😂😂

Wow. Thats a nice looking coin. Id never heard of it!