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 Replies: 73 / Views: 11,819 |
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New Member
 United States
35 Posts |
Sure, if you want to move it that's fine with me.
The mintage of the Kweichow coin is reported to be "half a million", but since antimony is a soft crumbly material I wouldn't expect many of them to survive. In my years of searching I've only ever seen a handful, and some of those looked to be counterfeits.
I had seen prices ranging from $200-500, so when one came up at auction recently I bid what I thought was a safe max of $950. Imagine my astonishment when it hammered for $5400!
Edited by xphobe
01/26/2011 7:01 pm
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Valued Member
United States
228 Posts |
xphobe: The element idea is fascinating and different.  . You said you collected World coins also. How many different countries have you collected so far?  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
What an inspiring looking coin! (NOT!)
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
Quote:
How many different countries have you collected so far? Good question. I have 6 or 7 albums full of 2x2s, but in the 40-odd years I've been a collector, I've never counted countries. Something fun to do this weekend! :) With certain rare exceptions (like the ones for my element collection) I never buy world coins. I ask people to bring me stuff when they go on vacations, or someone will give me a little box of junk they've been saving for years. And I've got a bank bag full of trades. I doubt if I've got anything at all valuable, but it's fun to see the variety of designs, shapes, and languages. |
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Moderator
 United States
189222 Posts |
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Sure, if you want to move it that's fine with me. Done. I agree that more people will see it here and it is definitely an interesting discussion! |
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Valued Member
United States
310 Posts |
I always thought about what other metals, or alloys could be used to make coins. I stumbled across a few sites that showed some of the weird things coinage has been made of. http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/metal.htmlThis guy named Fred Zinkann has has a lot of "fantasy" coins commissioned from all kinds of exotic metals and elements. Tungsten was an interesting one. the dies last exactly 3 coins before they broke lol. There's a website here that lists the coins he's had minted. http://jim.insource.com/elements/zinkann.htmlyou can still find Fred selling some of them on ebay under the user name "equillink" doesn't look like any right now, but he had some Tantalum coins end just this past week http://cgi.ebay.com/Fantasy-Coin-ST...em483eb4ffea |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Well, this has been good for an hour of my evening, so far. I'm up to 4 related tabs and counting.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Ah yes, welcome to coincommunity xphobe - we have wrote to each other a while ago.
That antimony coin - I bid over 2000 dollars to be safe but didn't expect it to hit over 4000USD !
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Beryllium is another nasty. It is a highly toxic intractable poison.
Others in the CCF may also know that I am a gem cutter (facetor)
Most of the stuff in emerald is beryllium aluminium silicate, which is colourless. The beryllium is tied up within the silicate, rendering the beryllium harmless. The green colour comes from trace amounts of chromium oxide included within the crystal.
However, I have had something to do with beryllium grease, which is nasty. I was doing an environmental audit on the disposal of waste products on a F18 jet base. The six barrelled canon on the aircraft uses beryllium grease because it is stable at very low temperatures and pressures at high altitude. Essential if you want the gun to operate at 50,000 feet.
After the gun is serviced, the rags have to be disposed of. No body can take them, because of the toxicity of the grease. Anything associated with the grease is stored forever on the Base in sealed drums is a weather secure remote storage area on the base.
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
Quote:There's a website here that lists the coins he's had minted. http://jim.insource.com/elements/zinkann.html Ha! That's my web server. That table wasn't easy to build in Notepad! I'm glad to see it's of value to people. gxseries: Hi! Yes I found this forum googling for antimony, and that was how I first learned about you. So I signed up so I could join the fun! sel_69l: In addition to Dave's beryllium medal, I also have a beryllium sphere. It's part of a gyroscope assembly, but I'm a fan of Galaxy Quest so I just like saying "beryllium sphere". |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
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Ha! That's my web server. That table wasn't easy to build in Notepad! I'm glad to see it's of value to people. You wrote that in Notepad?You, sir, are a glutton for punishment. |
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Valued Member
United States
364 Posts |
Dude, this site is amazing. What a great, original idea for a collection theme.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
 Nice idea. Any thoughts on updating to the present 118 Elements? |
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
At this time I can't see collecting any elements beyond 92, because they just don't last long enough. Pu-244 has a half life of 80.8 My, so it might be possible to make a plutonium coin (hmm, need to update my table), but I don't think Homeland Security - or my wife - would be very keen on me keeping it around the house. It was hard enough convincing her the thallium one is safe in its acrylic cast.
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Replies: 73 / Views: 11,819 |
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Posted 01/26/2011 6:58 pm
