SILVERFINGER

This is my latest coin a 1941 dated, Australian Florin (2 Shillings), made from .925 silver, this coin featuring George VI was minted every year from 1938 to 1945, after 1945 the coins were made from only .500 silver, the coins were made mainly at the Melbourne Mint with a few being made in the USA by the San Francisco Mint during the war years.
The coin featured a low relief portrait of George VI on the obverse and coat of arms with a Kangaroo and Emu on the reverse. 
1941 was one of the slightly lower mintage years with 7,614,000 made, not an easy coin to find in unc/au condition most likely due to their softness being of Sterling .925 silver, this one has quite a few bag marks when magnified despite having all its mint lustre.

This arrived today, its a 1934 dated, New Zealand 3 pence, with George V, and made from .500 silver.
This coin design was first minted in 1933 and was made for 4 years until replaced by coins featuring George VI in 1937.
The reverse featured a traditional Maori battle club called a Patu, and this was used on all the 3 pence coins up to the reign of Elizabeth 2nd.
Many were minted despite the 4 year run, but not many have survived in AU or UNC condition being pretty well worn.
Production is as follows

1933,  6,000,000
1934,  6,000,000
1935,  40,000
1936,  2,760,000

Smaller and thinner than a modern Uk 5p, its tiny

This is my latest buy a 1944 dated Egyptian 2 Piastres coin featuring King Farouk and made from .500 silver.
This coin replaced the earlier round coin that was made of a higher silver content of .833, the new coin was still minted at the Royal London Mint in England, not sure why they chose a hexagonal shape this time, but it means I have to get some more capsules to fit it in.
This coin was made for one year only in 1944, all latest official sources (Krause/NGC etc) claim that only 32,000 coins were made, making it the rarest of all my coins so far, independent sources claim it was 32 million, I am believing the official accounts until they say otherwise, partly because King Farouk was really starting to losing favour with his populace at this time.

Its a shame its hard to show lustre on the coins without using artificial light or videoing it.

I have shown it compared to the previous 1937 dated type, 2 Piastres I bought a few weeks ago.

This arrived today, a 1942 dated, Irish 1/2 Crown, second type, made of .750 silver.
A quite large coin the Irish Half Crown featured an Irish Hunter horse on the reverse, all Irish coins of this period had a national animal on their reverse, a Gaelic Harp featured on the obverse of all coins.
The 1/2 Crown was the highest denomination of coin that Ireland had during the pre decimal period, the first type of coin released was in 1928 and the harp separated the date with the century one side and the year the other, also on the reverse was the words Saorstat Eireann or 'Free State' , in 1939 there was a second type of coin released which had the date all in one area and the words Free State replaced with Eire or Ireland.
The mintage for these coins was very low, that combined with the high silver content meant that not many of these coins have survived in uncirculated condition, silver was used in circulation Irish coins until 1943, though very few were made that last year.
My coin while in mint condition with all its lustre looks to have a slight manufacturing fault, above the horse it looks like a rogue piece of silver got stamped into the coin with some other bits, perhaps this is why its in such good condition, was it put aside as a reject possibly ? it came from London where they were minted by the Royal Mint.
The production figures for the second type 1/2 Crown are as follows, as can be seen, each year production got lower and lower,

1939,   888,000
1940,   752,000
1941,   320,000
1942,   285,600
1943,   1,000

This is my Egyptian 2 Piastres coin featuring King Farouk, it was minted in 1937 out of .833 silver by the British Royal Mint.
Farouk became king of Egypt when his dad Fuad I died in 1936, he was only 18 at the time and was studying in London, the first of these coins were minted in 1937, further production was only in 1939 and 1942, and of the years produced some are far rarer than others as seen below, 

1937,  500,000 minted
1939,  500,000 minted
1942,  10,000,000 minted

Most I see are quite well worn so I was really happy to find this UNC one I love the design of this coin, plus the fact I wonder how many were melted down when the king had to go into exile due to his country revolting against him and his excesses.
In 1944 this denomination of coin was made in a hexagonal shape and now of .500 silver, it was made for one year only with 32,000,000 being minted.

Well I managed to get a British India 1/4 Rupee coin that is worth me keeping, the others so far have been not quite good enough (sold for a profit) or like that last one a total abortion where someone had polished the kings head on a near mint condition coin ruining it AFTER the pictures had been took, they even cleaned off the dirty marks (was returned),  this one is 1944 dated and made from .500 silver.
This was a bargain bid item so I wasn't too worried if it turned out to be not perfect, luckily for me under all the dirt and grime in the photos was a coin with nearly all its lustre remaining.
Not a rare coin mintage wise but very hard to find with lustre still on the obverse side still, there was many variants of this coin made certain years, this version is security edge, thin edge, short edge teeth, high relief head, standard flower and minted in Bombay, 170,504,000 being made by that mint in that year alone.

Looks far better than in the pics.

Managed to get hold of probably my most favourite coin design of any coin in the era I am collecting, the Hungarian 2 Pengo made from .640 silver this one 1938 dated.
I love the angels flying carrying the Hungarian crown onto its shield and the Mary and Jesus on the other side. 
This coin was made from 1929 to 1939, some years in between it wasn't produced and other years extremely low production, 1938 was the most common year of production with 6,417,000 minted, though not many have survived and of those most are not in great condition, I have read that this could be due to the Hungarians melting lots of precious metal coins down to use to buy weapons from the axis nations as they could not produce enough for themselves during the war, or the Soviets taking control of the country and replacing it with their own currency post war.
The Pengo series of coins had a really short life of around 20 years, it replaced the Korona after WW1 that was being used by the joint Austro-Hungarian empire, these two country's being split by the allies after WW1 into two separate countries, then after WW2, there was hyperinflation and the coin was hugely devalued and replaced by the Florint.
Hungary stopped using silver in its coins when WW2 started in 1939, and cheaper metals and eventually notes replaced the larger denominations.

Its not a huge coin, about the size of a modern UK 50p, but its far thicker.

This arrived today, and unlike the last I got that was sold on (claimed to be unc but looked whizzed) this is a real beauty, hard to show in the pics.
Its a Swedish 1 Kronor, 1941 dated and made of .800 silver, this style of coin was made from 1910 to 1942 and King Gustav V did not age a bit during all that time, using the same portrait on the coin for over 40 years, when it was changed finally he was shown as a pensioner, the reverse is one of my current favourites of all my coins with lots of intricate detail of the coat of arms of Sweden.
1941 was a lower mintage year for this coin with 2,183,338 million made this year alone.
I have shown it next to its bigger brother the 2 Kronor for comparison.
 

These are 1943 dated Canadian 10 Cents and 25 Cents, both made from .800 silver, the Canadians used higher grade silver in their coins long after the UK had gone to 50% and were still using silver when the UK had stopped using silver altogether.
The 10 Cents coin featured a famous sailing boat called the Blue Nose, this ship was built as a duel fishing and racing vessel and won many races, it was built in Canada in the 1920's and was wrecked in 1946.
The 25 Cents (or quarter dollar) coin featured a Caribou on the reverse, more commonly known as a Reindeer, Canada's coins feature lots of their national wildlife and still do.
Production of the two coins for their specific years are as follows.

10 Cents 1943 dated,    21,143,229 minted

25 Cents 1943 dated,   13,559,575 minted

The 10 Cents is roughly the same size as a UK 5p and tiny.

This came a few days ago but been so busy doing other stuff have not had time to photo it or others that have come.
Its a Czechoslovakian 20 Korun, 1933 dated and made from .700 silver.
This coin has three blokes on the back holding hands and one of them has his todger out, and its smaller than mine ! , apparently they are supposed to symbolise Industry, Business and Agriculture, not some sort of gay pride.
The J.H on the reverse was the initials of the engraver Jaroslav Horejc
This coin is quite large but thin, the size of a 1oz bullion but weighs only 12g.
It was minted for two years only in 1933 and 1934, production figures are as follows,

1933,  2,280,000 made
1934,  3,280,000 made

Here it is with two of its brothers I just need one more coin now to complete my Czech silver coin collection