(Updated) Foreign Coins I've Collected, Treasure Or Trash?

Your dealer seems to have been pretty efficient at pulling out the silver coins; at a quick glance through, I can't see any. That's a pretty good sign they've already gone through this with a catalogue, and fished out all the really good stuff. But we'll see.

OK, here's some answers to what you've got. I've got to go through it coin by coin, so I may as well tell you what I find. If I don't comment on value, then it's a typical "3-for-$1" schratchtray item.

Set One
A1: Canadian cent. Looks a bit green.

A2: China (Taiwan) 1 chiao, Year 44 of the Republic (1955 AD). A cheap enough coin ($1.50 in Unc) but this one looks to be in pretty good condition.

A3: Norway 1 krone 1967. Sorry, 1958 is the scarce date to look for.

A4: Belgium 20 francs 1982, French version. Again, common but it looks high-grade (unless that's the flash). Belgium has two official languages, French and Flemish, and issues two separate coinage series for each language.

A5: Thailand 25 satang, dated 2500 on the Buddhist calendar (=1957 AD). These coins were actually struck by the millions, between 1957 and 1967. Very common, even in high grade.

A6: British India 1 anna 1913. In that condition, cheap.

A7: Belgium 5 francs 1988, Flemish version. See answer at A4.

B1: Jordan 50 fils 1984.

B2: Portugal 20 escudos 1986.

B3: Japan 5 yen, Year 3 of the Heisei Emperor (the current emperor, Akihito, = 1991 AD). Common, even in this high grade.

B4: Portugal 2½ escudos 1980.

B5, B6 and B7: Canadian dimes; looks like the first one's got coin slot damage, the second is scratched.

C1: Australia 20¢ 1970. I get these in my change all the time, but then, I live here. Not a scarce date.

C2: Argentina 50 pesos 1979, commemorating the centenary of the conquest of Patagonia.

C3: Brazil 20 centavos 1967.

C4: Denmark 1 krone 1962. Scarce in Unc... which this isn't.

C5: Costa Rica 25 centimos 1974.

C6: Denmark 1 krone 1925. This one's actually pretty good; I'd put the CV around the $10 range in that condition, and CV can be quite conservative with Danish coins. Looks like the spotters missed this one.

C7: Brazil 1 cruziero 1944. In that grade, maybe a bit more valuable than normal.

D1: East Caribbean States $1 2003. Too modern for my Krause, but probably not scarce. ECS coins circulate on the "British" islands along the eastern rim of the Caribbean.

D2: Italy 5 centimes, I can't see the date but it'll be between 1919 and 1937. Scarce dates are 1919 and 1937.

D3: South Africa, Apartheid-era 1 cent. Again I can't see the date, nor the language (Like Belgium, South Africa also issued separate coin series for it's two official languages).

D4: France 25 centimes 1903. A one-year-type, quite scarce in high grade, and yours doesn't look too bad. A couple of dollars, at least.

D5: France 25 centimes 1904.

D6: Hungary 10 filler 1908. Not one of the scarce dates, but looks pretty good; maybe a couple of dollars.

D7: Belgium 1 franc 1965, Flemish version.

D8: Chile 1 peso 1979.

E1: Barbados 5 cents 197?. One of the few "British" eastern Caribbean islands to not use ECS currency. I can't pick the date, but circulation coins were only issued in 1973 and 1979.

E2: Jamaica 5¢ 1986. Gotta love coins with crocs on 'em.

E3: Barbados $1 1979. Probably worth about a dollar in that condition; the exchange rate is B$2 = US$1 at the moment.

E4: Canada 25¢ 1974.

E5: South Korea 500 won 1983. Exchange rate: 500 won = 37¢.

E6: The pic's a bit dark, but it's France, Second Empire (mid-1800's), 5 centimes. If you can tell us the date and mintmark, we can tell you if it's one of the scarce ones.

E7: British East India Company, Bengal Presidency, ½ anna, undated (issued 1831 to 1835). Interesting, but cheap in that condition.

F1 to F6: Japan 10 yen. As I read it, the dates (from 1 to 6) are Showa era 27, 27, 27, 40, 58 and 27. (27 = 1952, 40 = 1965, 58 = 1983). The year 27 ones are very scarce in unc, but common in lower grades; I don't know how close they have ot get to Unc become valuable, but F2 looks like it's still got lots of lustre.

F7: Not a coin; this is a French notgeld token from the town of Marseilles. My less-than-helpful notgeld checklist says municipal metal tokens from Marseilles are rated as "most common (less than $25)". Probably worth a few dollars at least, but they normally end up in the too-hard-basket of most dealers.

G1: Honduras 2 centavos; I can't see the date, but in that condition I don't think it matters.

G2: Romania 10 bani 1955.

G3: Dominican Republic 10 centavos 1978.

G4: Peru 5 centavos. It's not supposed to have the hole.

G5 and G6: British Egypt 5 milliemes 1917. G5 has a small "H" mintmark below the word "milliemes". G6, without the mintmark, is slightly scarcer.

G7: Venezuela 5 centimos 1974.

G8: Curacao 1¢ 1947. Curacao is part of the Netherlands Antilles, Dutch-owned islands off the coast of Venezuela. WOrth a couple of dollars.

G9: Trinidad & Tobago 25¢ 1975.

H1: Luxembourg 25 centimes 1954. Cheap, even in that near-pristine condition.

H2: United Arab Emirates 25 fils 1988.

H3 and H4: took me a while to figure out; the obverse pic is sideways. Belgium, WWII 1 franc coins. Made of zinc, so black is their "natural" colour. Unless they're dated 1947, they're cheap.

H5: India 10 paise 1963, diamond mintmark (Mumbai mint).

H6: a sales tax token from Missouri.

H7: Sweden 25 ore 1973.

H8: Sweden 10 ore 1981.

H9: Maybe this is the one bomndk meant. Denmark 1 ore, issued 1874-1904. Many of the dates in this series are scarce, and even in that green-and-fuzzy condition might be worth quite a bit. I tried enhancing the pic but still can't make it out. Date for this one, please?

That's it for Set 1. I'm goung to have a go at Set 5 next, since it's smaller, and the coins look.. interesting.

I noticed that too...Denmark 1 Ore, 1904 or earlier is my guess.

Sadly, the Danish one is 1891, one of the commoner dates. In that condition, a dollar at most.

The French one is an 1855 W 5 centimes; again, not one of the scarcer date-mintmark combinations for this coin, but it's still in better condition than the typical scratchtray example; a dollar or two, maybe. French coins of 1855 also come in two "mintmaster's privy mark" varieties, "anchor" and "dog's head". This one is a "dog's head", though in the case of 1855 W 5 centimes, it doesn't make any difference to the price.

OK, I think I can have a go at another page. Again, if I don't comment on value, it's "typical scratchtray" - 3 for $1 or so.

Set Two

A1 and A2: British Egypt 10 milliemes. The ones without a mintmark below "MILLIEMES" are slightly scarcer. A "millieme", by the way, is 1/1000th of an Egyptian pound which, at the time these coins were struck, was equivalent to a British pound.

A3 to A6: British Egypt 5 millimes, same as the ones in Set 1 Row G.

A7: Bahamas 1 cent 1976. The poor thing's not supposed to be that blackish colour.

B1: New Brunswick 1 penny 1843. New Brunswick is now one of the provinces of Canada, but at the time this coin was made, it was a separate British colony. Unfortunately, the hole ruins whatever premium it might have had.

B2: Hong Kong 1 dollar 1960. If the edge looks like "two coins stuck together", that's the common security edge for this coin. But if it looks like a normal reeded edge, it's a mint error, and worth slightly more.

B3: Thailand 1 baht dated BE 2505 (= AD 1962, though these coins were actually struck from 1962 to 1982).

B4: Israel 100 sheqalim dated 5744 Jewish calendar (= 1984 AD).

B5: New Zealand 1 florin 1964. I don't know what it's caught, and I don't know whether to prescribe acetone or penicillin.

B6: Not a coin, but a token of some kind.

C1 to D3: More Japanese 10 yen coins. These are dated 27, ?, 28, ?, 27, 27, 29, Heisei first (1989), 29 and 51 (1976).

D4: Bahrain 10 fils 1965.

D5: Sweden 1 krone 1980.

D6: Jamaica 10 cents, I can't read the date, but in that condition it's not important.

D7: Thailand 1 satang, issued sometime between 1908 and 1937. A clear bright pic of the side with the sun-spiral might let us tell the exact date; there are a couple of scarce dates in this series.

E1: Dominican Republic 25 centavos 1979.

E2: Belgium 1 franc 1922, Flemish version.

E3: Hong Kong 10¢ 1958.

E4: Norway 25 ore; I can't read the date, but all dates for this type are common enough.

E5: British Caribbean Territories 5¢, again I can't make out the date but again, all dates are common.

E6: Uruguay 2 centesimos 1941. Not too shabby; a couple of dollars there.

E7: Romania 10 bani 1954.

F1: Egypt 5 milliemes 1943.

F2: India ½ anna 1946.

F3: Jamaica 5¢ 1986.

F4: Costa Rica 10 centimos 1951.

F5: Israel 5 agorot 5737 (1977 AD).

F6: Sweden, I believe it's a ½ ore of the type only issued in 1720 or 1721. Not your usual scratchtray find, probably worth at least a couple of dollars, even in that very worn condition.

F7: Argentina 1 peso 1975.

G1 to G3: Japan 1 yen coins. I can't see the date on the middle one because of the flash, but the other two are from the first year if the Heisei era (1989).

G4: Israel 10 agorot. It's not supposed to have the hole.

G5: Belgium 5 francs 1965, French version.

G6: New Zealand 6 pence 1962.

G7: Bahamas 5¢.