Bargain Bin Copper Trio

I continue to be amazed at what I'm able to consistently pluck out of "junk" or "bargain" bins. Now I realize that this is rather a backwater in, if not the seedy underside of, coin collecting, that I'll never get rich pawing through such material, and that some might deride such as "bottom feeding" not to be taken very seriously. I myself have confessed here to having become something of a "junk bin junkie". In my defense, I think I've settled into that niche on account of having the good fortune of patronizing some fairly prominent dealers who (to use an old metaphor) have bigger numismatic fish to fry and consign better than average stuff to the realm of that which they aren't going to try and sell as individual items. I may also benefit from the tendency of American collectors to concentrate almost solely on American coinage, with the result that everything else tends to be perceived by many dealers here in the U.S. as likely to overwhelm them and interfere with their core business.

I didn't intend to be quite so longwinded on this topic, but by way of illustration, allow me to move on to the specimens pictured here, bought the other day for a whole dollar (and that's for all three, not apiece).





I see a lot of Napoleon III coinage cast aside, but this 1856 10 Centimes, while certainly worn, is still way better than the norm, which typically is quick slick. I had wondered why such were generally to be found in such poor shape until discovering recently that they weren't demonetized until 1935.

The next one over is a Korean 5 Fun, which I don't know that much about, except that it appears to be dated year "1" which I believe corresponds to 1892 by the western calendar.

The final coin is a Victorian penny from 1861. I've remarked here before how especially little interest there seems to be in this country in British issues. I for one can't help but appreciate the beauty of these, especially when they're minimally circulated as is the case with this example.

Now none of these catalogue for big bucks nor merit certifying, but I don't see it as a waste of my time rescuing what I view as artifacts of 19th century history.