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 Replies: 88 / Views: 7,676 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
Hi Folks! Some of you may know me from the US Coin side of the CCF. But, a priest friend of mine asked me to look at a world coin collection he acquired from a fellow priest who died 30 years ago. My friend didn't know the older priest collected coins until they were tearing down the old Priests' House and he discovered VERY heavy boxes in the attic. He brought one of the top coin albums to dinner tonight. There were 220 coins in this album!! And apparently there are MANY albums. WOW! I took pictures of three of the ones I recognized as gold. I would appreciate your thoughts and how to help my friend (potentially) sell this collection. Thanks for looking!  1606-1620 Venice Gold Zecchino  1908 France 20 Francs 
1930 Switzerland 20 Francs  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Wow!
If the rest of the coins are like that, this would probably be a Heritage sale.
Is there any rhyme or reason to the collection? Any indication of what the "crown jewels" are, so to speak?
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
He can give the collection to me and I'll do my best to negotiate a VIP spot in heaven for him...  I'm looking forward to see the rest of that collection. This looks very promising and if there are more coins in this condition, then I certainly want to see the rest of the collection. It's too early for me to say anything useful yet, except that these coins make me a bit envious. |
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Moderator
 United States
34427 Posts |
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I would appreciate your thoughts and how to help my friend (potentially) sell this collection. As it sounds like there are a thousand or more coins, at least some of which are worth a few hundred dollars, then yes it seems like an auction house might be a good direction. As is true with US coins, selling the coins individually on ebay might net a premium, but will be more work for your friend. Of course, if all the other albums are filled with coins worth less than a dollar, then that would change things. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Moderator
United States
189301 Posts |
Wow, your priest friend made an interesting discovery, Moe.  |
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
Wow! beautiful coins, I would love to see what the rest of the collection looks like. I remember back in the late 1960's see Cardinal Speildmans coin collection on displayed in a bank in NYC. I spent several days going back to view that collection.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Wow! That would be an awesome collection to see! As I have been perusing world gold coins on the Bay (when there are 8-10% ebay bucks) I can say that it seems a lot of world gold coins seem to sell for a little premium over melt. Of course there are exceptions but it seems that world gold isn't as popular as US gold. Good luck to you and your friend! |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
8904 Posts |
I have only seen the one book, but this one has got old Siam coins, Japanese coins, French, Swiss, Venice, Florence (one from 1342!!), Italy, the Republic of Lucca (?), Bologna, Spain, Scotland, Australia, England (Henry VIII, Richard III, Charles I, Charles II, George II, lots of Victoria), India, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Vietnam, Ghana, Persia, Iran, and Thailand. Absolutely mind-blowing. And most appear to be in phenomenal shape. Here's a few more pictures: 1342 Florence Fiorino  Reverse rotated 180 
1624 Swiss Schwyz  Reverse rotated 180  1747 Lucca Scudo  Edited by Moe145
08/19/2016 12:06 pm
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Moderator
United States
189301 Posts |
Wow.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
That would be a very amazing collection to look thru.
Some of them might be more common, like 20F French gold.
But many of the others might be coins rarely seen in the U.S.
Just grading and pricing a collection like that will take a lot of
time and effort.
I hope you get to go through more of the collection.
Edit.
Getting a set of Krause world coins books would be a good start.
In the past I have picked up CD version for lower price.
Of course .. You can always post coins here on CCF.
Edited by GR58
08/19/2016 12:45 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Wow! This must have been an entire lifetime in the making, perhaps even a few generations! Is he looking to sell the coins individually, sell the whole lot, or keep it with an idea of how much it's worth. I for one am flirting with the idea of getting some pricier Japanese coins and may be willing to make an offer. As for valuation, my trusty reference has always been NGC: https://www.NGCcoin.com/price-guide/world/ |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Ahh, I do already have all of those. Since you have them posted:
First one attribution is basically correct, but it is a 4 mon, not a sen. 4 mon was equal to 1/10 sen when the conversion took place in 1870. It's common, well cast, but looks to be cleaned. $1-2 would be fair.
Second is Tempo Tsuuho 100 mon. Looks pretty heavily cleaned. Should be worth about $8 in that condition.
Third I will have to check my reference when it comes. It's a bu, equal to 1,000 mon, AKA 25 sen. The strokes of the top left character beneath the validation punch can be used to assign it to a specific era. They are usually worth $20-30 in AU (which most are, because they were stores of value more than commerce coinage).
The "big ones" for Japanese coins are:
Any 100 mon coins with different characters (Okinawa, Ryukyu etc) - $100+
1870 1 yen - $300+
1870 5 sen - $100+
Any koban large oval gold coin- $300-5,000+
And of course gold Japanese coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
Thank you Finn! That's very helpful! I scanned the other Japanese coins quickly and didn't see gold or any that appeared to be 100 mon or of different prefectures. I'll post some more Japanese coins pictures soon.  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
Going through that collection is going to be like visiting a coin museum! Wow!
Wouldn't it be great if the original owner left some notes about how he acquired all those coins? It must have taken most of his life.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
Quote:
Wouldn't it be great if the original owner left some notes about how he acquired all those coins? It must have taken most of his life. It would be astounding! My friend didn't know the older priest very well but what's amazing is my father-in-law knew him very well. He was telling us stories about him last night at dinner. Small world! |
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Replies: 88 / Views: 7,676 |
Posted 08/19/2016 02:40 am
