Post Your Favorite Numismatic Purchases Of 2013!

Here is another one I like from 2013:

Wow, you have quite a few very nice coins in your PCGS registry.

Smalleagle,

I haven't really considered adding any ancient coins to my collection, but this coin from your post is so beautiful it has me thinking I should explore dipping my toe in the ancient coin market. What does a coin like this cost? $1,000? $10,000?

The Oregon trail coin is awesome! I got interested in older US comms, after reading nickelsearchers thread on his lowball album. I have fallen in love with this coin and several others. I'm currently watching 4 auctions. One being on this coin, I was surprised at how high these Commemeratives go. It has a day left and it's already at $77. A unc Grant coin is already at $500, with the same amount of time remaining. I guess a US Commemerative album is out of my reach. They really make our Canadian coins look like a bargain!! Hopefully in 2014 I will be able to buy a couple, as I could never afford an album full. Truly a great evocative piece of history.

The kangaroo and other Aussie coins are very nice too. The kangaroo coin is a very interesting piece. Are they difficult to find or expensive ? This is another great thread, with plenty of eye candy.

My best three coins of the year were Conder Tokens purchased from Bill McKivor at the Copper Corner.


Scotland Perth 4




Middlesex 42




Middlesex 1038

This was a raw purchase from ebay, and the first coin I had sent in for grading.



My favorite of the year.

These tokens are primarily English although there are some from Ireland, Wales and Scotland. They are commonly referred to as Conder Tokens. They were minted mainly in the final decade of the 18th Century and again in the second decade of the 19th Century. They were minted by local businesses and municipalities as small denomination coins issued by the British government were in short supply during these periods. Some were minted to commemorate local landmarks.

Many of the designs are highly creative and wonderful works of art. That's why I prefer collecting these to many standard issue coins.

The ones above set me back about $200-$325 each, but many nice ones can be had for $100 or less. You will find many on E-bay if you search for Conder tokens or simply search the word "token" under the Great Britain coin category.

It should be noted that even though the mintage numbers of many of these issues were only a few thousand, coin collecting in Britain in the late 18th century was very popular and these were not circulated like regular government issue coins. Consequently many high grade examples of these coins exist, so I would recommend staying away from low grade examples.

You will find many low grade examples of these coins on E-bay and when a high grade example shows up it usually will cost you more than book price. Although the market is thin enough where book price is not firmly established on high grade issues.

I purchase most of mine from Bill McKivor at then Copper Corner. You can google him and will quickly find his website. You will pay full book for those coins, but he is honest and an expert on the topic.