Hi Everyone thank you for the welcome. @Matthew Vincent the answer to your question is that I love old things, they don't have to be valuable I just love the feeling of beholding (and holding) something that has survived for so long and affected lives that have past. I have some old furniture from the USA, I have a real spanish cannon, a 1924 Buick (which I drove regularly until recently), some old paintings that are probably not valuable (but I love) and a big very old pocket watch collection. Years ago, when my friends were all buying the latest new things I bought old things.
Now back to coins. When my grandfather moved from Spain to far north Queensland in the early 1900's he brought his wealth with him in the form of gold coins. I don't think he was wealthy but I believe these placed him in a good position, together with some hard work, to acquire a cane farm near Innisfail. My father told me that his father was a very hard worker. This must have been true and within a few years of his arrival his family in spain sent him a bride. I remember when my grandmother died, my father,
inherited a bag of these coins. I was about 10 and I remember being amazed by the weight of this bag and also the beauty of the coins within it. My father showed me that some had teeth marks. He said they were from people biting them to check they were gold. it upset me that anyone would do this to such a beautiful coin. For some reason my dad did not put them in a safe he left them in an old metal box under the stairs. You can guess what happened. I don't know how anyone would have know they were there, but my brother and I regularly took them out to look at them. Anyway one day they were just gone! I hate to think what they would be worth today. Well the story does improve slightly, fast forward about 40 years and I am reminiscing with my mother about the theft. She recalls how much was lost and she was just left with, her words, 4 worthless coins. She pulled them out and there was one S8 (doubloon) from 1794 and 3 x 25 pesetas from, 1877 1878 and 1880 these would have represented part of the hard work of my great grandfather and was a part of his investment in his son who he sent off to the new world (Australia). I would never sell these coins. I guess I would like to show them here though, if anyone is interested. I wonder if anyone can suggest a topic name to post under?
Posted 06/06/2019 08:40 am
to the Community!
