Secret Santa 2016 Is Here

Yes Cascade! I don't have many Ikes and certainly none that are BU. I was super excited by them. One of the reasons I really like the Secret Santa is that you get something that others find important and it opens up your collection.

A good day so far.

Santa's beautiful gift arrived today.










These have the best surfaces I've ever seen on a non-Proof coin - any dots or scratches in the photos must be on the scanner; they're not on the coin.

The Cuban peso has a couple of minor nicks on the rim but they're only visible under a high-power lens.

Thank you very much, Santa.

It might be an interesting series to collect - I wonder how many other countries issued crown sized coins for the United Nations 50th anniversary.

Also, non-numismatically, I found a new US relative in Fold3's free access to World War II records - see http://blog.bordersfhs.org.uk/2016/...records.html for the free access link.

Santa left a wonderful present! Please forgive the cellphone photos - they don't do justice to these pretty coins.
I also received information about them, since I know so little about medieval coins:
I have a half-groat of Grand Duke Alexander Yagiellou, undated, minted about 1495-1500 in Vilnius, Lithuania
I also have a half-groat of Sigismund the Old, dated 1509, minted in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Other than some ancient coins, these are the very oldest in my collection! I am very very very happy with my gift! THANK YOU!

Just opened my lovely gift from Santa - a really nice selection of coins - a great 1935 Buffalo nickel, 1906 Liberty Head nickel, 1866 nickel with rays (nice circulated cameo effect), 1906 Indian Head cent, 1924 Canadian cent, three Mexican coins, two Bahamas coins, French 1922 franc and German 1950J 5pf with small 'J'. The Mexican 20 pesos is a commemorative for the centenary of the Mexican air force and is my newest coin from that country! Many thanks, Santa!

Sorry about the poor scans!

Count Down to 2017