CoinStruck

A few more silver pieces picked up over the last month or so. The 1997 Canadian 1oz silver Maple 🍁 has the lowest mintage level for the standard bullion design at 100,970 coins. The two little silver bars are 400 grains of 80% silver were minted for Singapore 🇸🇬 Airlines during the 1980s and were given as gifts to long haul passengers. They produced this “Wonders of the World” series with these two being the Great Wall of China and Niagara Falls. A 1oz silver USA 🇺🇸 Flag. Finally the 1991 Canadian 🇨🇦 1oz silver Maple bullion coin, mintage 644,300 coins.

I like them a lot.

These are the bullion purchases from the last month or so which I received this week. I do like the USA 🇺🇸 Scottsdale mint’s products. Have picked up two of their 1oz silver rounds. KOMSCO of South Korea 🇰🇷 makes this Achilles Shield 🛡️ round in 1/2oz and 2oz silver. This is the 1/2. Two PAMP of Switzerland 🇨🇭 products. The first the 2012 Year of the Snake 1oz silver bar and this cute 11.66 grams “Tola” silver piece.

A parcel arrived this week with a whole bunch of coins bought over the course of the last few months. Some lovely additions to my UK coin collection. 1) 1817 King George III half crown in “good EF” condition. Mintage 8,092,600. 2) 1902 silver crown, only year with King Edward VII. Mintage of 256,000 circulation coins. 3) two 1844 Crowns with the Queen Victoria Young Head portrait. Mintage of 94,200 coins. I bought the first one in “about VF” condition then the second one appeared on eBay listed as a half crown and was so cheap I couldn’t resist even through its in rough shape.

Just today received this lovely 1828 United Kingdom 🇬🇧 six pence in probably VF condition. I have read that the mintage that year was low at around 14,800 coins but that is unconfirmed. Portrait of King George IV on the obverse and the “crowned lion passant atop a crown” on the reverse. This design was used from 1826 to 1829.

The 2024 restrike versions of the Swan Pattern Crown were delivered to buyers this week. I only managed to snag the silver BU version but it does look 👀 good. And of course they are already appearing on eBay and there have been a few sales. The lucky ones are those who picked up the silver proof at its $295 RRP with one sold today at $1,495.95, a very healthy profit!

Arrival from an eBay seller in China 🇨🇳 Is this 1993 1/20th gold Panda.🐼 I am putting together a date run of these coins which were issued in this size from 1983 to 2015. According to the Gold & Silver Panda guide mintage was 158,364 coins but most were not sold and melted leaving an estimated population of <5,100.

Arrivals this week. 1) 2023 King Charles III Coronation Strike on the Day sovereign, mintage 1,250 coins. Lovely Matt BU finish. 2) issued in 2024 as part of the Royal Mints “Great Engravers” series this 2oz silver proof being a tribute to the 1818 Crown with the St George & Dragon design by Benedetto Pistrucci. Maximum mintage 3,060 coins. Graded PF 70 Ultra Cameo by NGC whose Population Census today shows they have graded 756 of these coins with 328 at 70 (43%), 401 at 69 (53%) and 27 at 68 (3.6%). I wonder how many of those graded at 68 have already been cracked out of their NGC holders? 3) lastly the 2023 proof £2 double sovereign from the Coronation proof sovereign set, mintage 1,250 coins. I bought two of the five coin sets and had the first graded and the coins came back at 70 except the £2 double. So I took the chance and had the raw coin from the other set graded (the one photographed below) and luckily it achieved a 70. Also my Labrador Popcorn says hello to you all!

This one is for sale by Eric at DrakeSterling but more than the £1,800 you are looking for.

Just checked with him an it’s already gone. Sorry.

Shaun Oliver the dealer / YouTuber has one graded a 70.

A few more of the coins I picked up on my recent Australian visit. First the 1928 British half crown featuring George V. Mintage 18.76 million coins. This is the 4th type George V Half Crown which was minted between 1926 to 1936 and is 50% silver. Diameter 32.3mm, weight 14.14 grams. Next the 1937 Crown, a circulating coin commentating the Coronation of King George VI that year. Mintage 418,600 coins. Diameter 38.61mm, weigh 28.28 grams and 50% silver. Moving onto some Australian coins with the 1927 one Florin. Mintage 2 million, Sterling Silver. A circulating coin issued to commemorate the opening of old Parliament House in Canberra. Diameter 28.5mm, weight 11.31 grams. Then the 1937 Australian Crown also a circulating coin to commemorate the coronation of King George VI. Mintage 1 million coins and in nice UNC condition. Diameter 38.5mm, weight 28.27 grams and Sterling Silver. The 1925 One Florin, mintage 2.96 million circulation coins. This design was minted between 1911 to 1936. Diameter 28.5mm, weight 11.31 grams and Sterling Silver. Lastly a 1966 100 franc circulation coin from the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu 🇻🇺), mintage 200,000. The reverse features a totem pole and the obverse Marianne (goddess or personification of liberty 🗽) wearing the Phrygian cap. Diameter 37.3 mm, weight 25 grams, 83.5 silver and 16.5% copper.

Just added this 2001 1/20th Panda to the date run. You can see the D on the obverse to the bottom left of the Panda 🐼. This stands for “domestic” with these coins meant for distribution only in China 🇨🇳 whereas without the D aimed at the international market. This was the only year the D was used on Pandas. Mintage for 2001 1/20th with the D was 100,000, without the D 200,000.

Three 1/20th oz gold Pandas arrived to fill out a few spaces in the date run. All in their original OMG they are 1991, 2001 (with the D mark) and 2014.

I am putting together a United Kingdom 🇬🇧 One Shilling type set starting with Queen Victoria up to George VI. Firstly a 1873 silver shilling circulation coin with a mintage of 6,489,500. Features the Queen Victoria “Young Head” portrait. This is the “1st portrait Young Head” and this type was minted from 1838 to 1887. Excellent remaining detail on this coin as most are heavily circulated. Then the 1887 shilling in lovey condition. Mintage 4 million for this silver circulation coin. Portrait of Queen Victoria “Jubilee Head” on the obverse and the crowned Royal Shield within garter on the reverse. This type of (2nd portrait, 1st type) was minted from 1887 to 1889. Then a lovely 🥰 toned Unc 1902 silver shilling. Portrait of Edward VII on the obverse with the crowned lion and date on the reverse. Mintage 7.8 million coins. This coin type was minted between 1902 to 1910.

Just came back from a trip and collected various 1oz silver purchases made over the last month.

Two additions to the world gold collection. The first is an Indian 🇮🇳 Madras Presidency “Star ⭐️ Pagoda” which were struck from 1740 to 1807. It was a circulation coin with a denomination of 1 Pagoda having a diameter of only 12 mm and weighing 3.43 grams. The obverse features Lord Vishnu and the reverse the star. The second coin is a circulated 1909 $5 Indian Head coin from the USA 🇺🇸. Mintage (Denver mint) 3.4 million coins.

No I only have the ‘03. Perhaps 🤔 on day.

Thank you 🙏

I have been putting together a type set of the British silver Half Crowns (and Shillings) from Queen Victoria to George VI. Designs on these can be really stunning. Here are the 1898 (not sure of mintage), 1887 Jubilee Head mintage 1,176,000, 1903 Edward VII which is a key date with a mintage of 274,800 and the 1916 George V mintage 29.53 million.

Perhaps it’s just the two bottles of £2.50 Dos Copas wine from Chile talking but it seems odd that the RM cancels the Monarchs series and then comes out with these. I did think some of the Monarchs coins hit the mark in terms of design and the series was more in keeping with the RM brand as compared to some of the other stuff I didn’t like such as Music Legends (I understand Elton John’s mug on a coffee mug but not on a coin if you’ll forgive the pun) and the Harry Potter bits and bobs.

What exactly are these things anyway?? So they are not coins. Am not sure who is the target market for 1oz of gold costing £3,500 for some seal thingy. Like I just said to GoldDiggerDave a pair of them are just too heavy to be repurposed into nipple clamps. 🗜️

On 12th April 1991 the Soviet Union issued a medal commemorating the 30th anniversary of the space flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. In December 1991 the USSR disintegrated. Anyway the medal issue number was 160,000 according to Numista. They came with a COA stating that the medal composition is metal from an actual Soviet spacecraft that had been into space. Numista states the composition as aluminum. It weighs 9.3 grams. Now here is where it gets interesting. Earlier this year Smalls auctions in Sydney have one come up in their regular auction. In the comment section they said the following:- “The composition of the medal is often advertised as Aluminum due to its light weight. But for those wanting to know the “secret” metal composition of Soviet spacecraft the medal is made up of 7.85% silver, 1.93% palladium, 2.69% rhodium, 6.55% ruthenium, 17.29% gold, 3.62% Iridium. 6.49% zinc, 23.02% copper and 20.56% iron.”. I asked Smalls how they came up with the above and they came back saying “We tested the medal on our XRF Analyser to determine its composition.” So that means these is 1.60797 grams of gold in the medal. So in theory they come up for sale on eBay for under the gold melt value. Question is how to liberate the gold. Needs melting I assume.

Another gap filled in my 1/20 Panda date run. Bought this 1996 in its OMP from a Chinese eBay seller.

The 1967 Swan Pattern Proof has arrived and looks good. Will head off for conservation and grading shorty.