Nalaberong's Weekly Coin Buys

Very nice!

The lighting is not that bad, it is good enough to show us the money!

I really enjoy your periodic postings because of the variety shown and the information provided. I like modern coins a lot, *especially* bi-metallics. I had no idea Mexico produced so many. For some odd reason, those seldom appear in the local bulk tubs I pick. I do disagree with jbuck tho.. you should improve your lighting, or post smaller groups that don't have so much shadow. Congrats on the BU silver. Keep up the great show'n'tell. Hope we can do some swapping at some point!

Here's something from May 20, $35 in total.


Now you know where most of that money went. I have been hunting for one of these for a while, because I think it's the nicest silver coin of the 20th century... I had been considering buying one in VF for $40, so when I saw a nicer one for less it was an immediate purchase.

This was also a bit more expensive. It's pre-decimal Spanish: 8 maravedis, 1848. Detail is quite poor.

Everything else was just from the usual 5/$1 bin. All Polish coins from 1918 to 1939 are worth buying.

A shiny square coin - I have a little collection of square coins and this replaces my old worn one. The Netherlands and its colonies are all equally guilty of issuing square coins.

Not a new country, but one that's harder to find: little Brunei (it's surrounded by Malaysia and the ocean). The Brunei dollar is pegged to the Singapore dollar.

A commemorative from Taiwan. It's an FAO coin from 1969 - pretty design.

Thailand is one of the few countries other than the U.S.A. to use copper-nickel-clad copper coins. The 5-baht coin went through three sizes and shapes before arriving at its current form, so I had been looking for the older ones. This apparently has edge lettering but it's mostly worn off.

And here is a bimetallic from Portugal I had been hunting for a while.

The rest. I only have one LED lamp so I have to make do. I have a real pile of Danish 10 and 20 kroner coins now, they are actually worth quite a bit with the exchange rate. Feeling pleased with myself I spent $5 at another store.

This is a large nickel coin. The Belgian franc became a bit weak and sad so a unit of 5 francs was called a "belga" in order to make the currency seem strong by dealing in larger units. Quite a few countries did this (the Chilean "condor" comes to mind, a unit of 10 pesos) but it was always short-lived.

Japanese commemorative coins are not so easily found despite high mintages. I think many end up being used for their intended purpose (i.e. being hoarded forever). This one commemorates the 1975 World's Fair on the island of Okinawa, only recently returned to Japan proper from American trusteeship. Amazingly, last week I found a different Japanese commemorative coin with a different denomination that commemorates something else to do with Okinawa! But you'll have to wait. And in junior high school we all once had to research an area of Japan and I got assigned Okinawa. Truly the coincidences are all piling up.

This Philippines coin is interesting because it has President Marcos on it while he was still alive, and he was a dictatorial kind of guy. But the United States is no better - President Franklin D. Roosevelt also appeared on a Filipino coin while he was in office (in 1936)! Maybe there's just something weird about the Philippines.

Finally, this coin is worn and is not in such good condition but I like the relaxed-looking palm tree (new topical coin collection idea: palm trees! they show up more than you think!) and the funky shape.

I love palm trees; they look like fireworks! I got a good friend in Okinawa. Love this thread.

In this case, more is good.

Here's $10 spent last week.


First, a Danish skilling, 1771. The 2x2 said $1, and I figured any datable coin from the 1700s is worth $1.

I looked through the face-value bins. Normally these are full of, well, loose change, meant to be taken with you on vacation. But sometimes anomalies turn up! Once I found a .400 Swedish krona, and this time I got some interesting Scandinavian coins at $0.20 per krone. Danish coins have really high Krause prices (almost suspiciously high), so I don't completely trust them, but this aluminum-bronze krone was definitely worth buying. It also shows how to make a good-looking coin design without resorting to too many little details.

And this aluminum-bronze krone is uncirculated, so that's nice to find as well.

More of the same, but this one's 2 kroner. For brass-looking coins these are quite hefty.

And we arrive at the end of our Danish expedition - a modern 20 kroner coin, this one has quite a high face value. But it, too, is shiny and nice-looking.

But there are other countries in Scandinavia too! This is Norwegian occupation iron, made under the Nazi-controlled regime of World War II. Normally the Norwegian lion has a big crown atop its shield, but here it is conspicuously absent. And the familiar "H7" monogram of Haakon VII is replaced by a meaningless little design that looks vaguely fascesque - Haakon left as soon as he could and the "H7" became a popular piece of resistance vandalism, so you can see why all symbols of the monarchy have been covered up on this one. The Nazi-installed Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling, under whose authority this was minted, is notable because his last name has entered the English language as a synonym of "traitor". This one isn't covered with rust, and at face value it was basically free.

Here is everything else from the face-value bin.

There was a new assortment of Japanese coins in the mixed bins. These are both Japanese 1-sen coins: as World War II dragged on, the formerly large copper coin was gradually downgraded, eventually being made of aluminum, baked clay, and porcelain.

A World War II 5-sen coin, in good condition. I'm pretty sure the bird isn't a dove.

Finally, a pre-war 10-sen coin. Here's some symbolism you might not have noticed - the chrysanthemum flower up top is a well-known symbol of the Japanese emperor and his authority, but lesser-known is the paulownia plant below, symbolizing the power of the government and the prime minister. If you look back you'll see both these plants on some of the previous coins, and the paulownia still appears on the standard 500-yen coin of today.

Finally, a modern Japanese 500-yen coin - but not a standard one. As promised, it also commemorates something to do with Okinawa - 20 years since the islands returned to Japanese control from the United States. 500 yen is about $5 and this is in nice condition, so it might be worth the $10 I paid all by itself.

A Chinese Empire coin, some of the first Chinese coinage that went beyond the square-holed cash series. As the Empire collapsed and the Republic rose, a whole bunch of large copper coins were issued, sometimes with strange inscriptions (instead of an English denomination, this one just says "COPPER COIN"). For the record, it is worth 20 cash, but maybe not in this condition. I bought it with the intention of nailing it up with all my other holed coppers.

Now from the American Empire - coins of the Philippines when they were still a U.S. holding. These centavos are much larger than the American small cent, yet their silver brothers are smaller than their American equivalents. The man with the hammer is quite a nice design and these are in great condition - he symbolizes the people of the Philippines, while the higher denominations featured the American Lady Liberty. Instead of sitting down and doing nothing, though, she is walking impressively. Maybe it was patronizing but the series was certainly symbolic.

I got this minute copper because I could still read "BRITANNIA" on it, which meant it could be identifiable! But I doubt it. If you can figure it out I'll love you forever. It's a good deal smaller than a farthing.

The rest. All right!

Oh, is that what it is? I was having trouble identifying it

It's a 1917-D. Most American coins are set aside from the Canadian and world coins in Canada, but sometimes you will find American coins in foreign junk bins.