The below is perhaps, by some standards, a nice coin - but with it comes one of my biggest "the one that got away" stories.
...It happened one day, many years ago, that as I was finishing my coin-shopping trip to the Izmaylovo Vernisage, I came across a bin full of unfamiliar old-looking coins, all of the same type.
Some of them were significantly chipped, and some were intact; the seller told me that the chipped ones were 150 rubles per coin, and the intact ones 250 rubles.
(I could not give you the dollar amounts, as I no longer recall which year it was. But either amount was definitely well below $10.)
As the trip was almost finished, I had almost ran out of money. I do not recall, now, whether I had
just enough, or
not quite enough, money to get an intact piece.
I do recall that I ended up buying the cheaper chipped one.
...When I got home, I realized how rare the type was, and got sad that I missed such an opportunity. So I rushed to the place again the next time I could. And then the next time
after that.
I never saw that bin again; to this day I'm not sure whether I just sucked so much at searching, arrived at the wrong time, or the bin sold out that quickly.
I guess at least I still have the chipped coin...
Sweden, Eric XIV, 1/2 öre 1566.
MB# 105,
Numista 31345.
Heavily chipped, and significantly patinated (obscuring some parts of the photos).
Actually much darker than the pics make it look like (blame the flash).
My next date is 1556 - as it happens, a non-Lithuanian coin from the reign of Sigismund II of Poland (though I do not believe it actually mentions his name anywhere).
I have also apparently missed a chance to post my rather neat 1568 coin. I hope that I'll manage to post it
somewhere eventually.
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Posted 09/19/2019 6:22 pm
