Vanishing Queen

Do you have a coin from the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Got these two at different locations but on the same day. Both were mistakenly given back as nickels. One thing the constant redesigning of our coins have done is to utterly confuse some of those behind the register. Still with no 2009 finds and a lower production means free finds don't seem to be in the future. I guess I'll stick to talking about non-U.S. coins

Usually when looking at an unfamiliar coin you can quickly gauge what is the obverse and what is the reverse. If Queen Elizabeth II is on it then that is the obverse. A coat of arms can is now seen more on the obverse but I tend to think of as a reverse feature since the U.S. is not big on coat-of-arms. Animals, plants, and nationally symbols are almost always reverse features.

The first pictures shows the obverse of a Canadian nickel and the reverse of a Bahamian nickel and the second photo is vice-versa. I admit even I get confused when trying to figure out which is the front or back of any coin.

Until 1974 The Bahamas had the Queen on every coin and note. Then out of nowhere they switched to the Bahamian Coat of Arms. They are still a part of the Commonwealth of Nations with Queen Elizabeth as head of state but I guess they choose to show their independence with something of their own. On the currency side they have gone back and forth depicting different important figure including the Queen.

This is trend on many of the 53 commonwealth headed by the Queen. Many countries either by official law or just artistic reason have temporarily, permanently in some cases, removed the Queen on coins. Granted it is easier to identify coins of 40 years ago but the explosion of designs makes up for the confusion.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / Canada
Year: 2008 Maple Leaf Logo
Mintage: Not Yet Known
Metal: 94.5% Steel, 3.5% Copper, and 2% Nickel
Value: $0.05 in F

Type/Country: 5 Cents / Bahamas
Year: 1998
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Copper-Nickel
Value: $0.05 in VF

While I will get the Canadian mintage, eventually, the Bahamian one may never be known. Many times the coins of the Bahamas were made in several different countries plus there was a six year gap between the last five cent coin issued in the Bahamas. These 1998 coins may have been made for years or a short run it is not fully known.

Do you have a coin from the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

France 5 Euro Cent

Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

After a month of no post I come back with a Euro. Shame on me. Still it is the first thing I found since my Where's George dollar. I found some interesting things I'll post in next few days but for now let's get through this mundane coin.

As you can tell the 5 Euro Cent is fully detailed but is dirty. The fingerprints are permanent since the the mixture of water and chloride ions, which are inorganic salt from sweat, etch the surface of the coin leaving a gap or ridge that fills with dirt. Watching Law & Order: SVU a few months ago I also learned that vegans leave less fingerprints since they have lower salt in their body. A more carnivorous person leaves a greater mark on metals because of higher salt content.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Euro Cent / France
Year: 1999
Mintage: 616,227,000
Metal: Copper-Plated Steel
Value: $0.07 in Very-Fine (This is exchange rate prices.)

Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Here's George?

Do you have a currency note and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

In the past I've been asked about the significance of Where'sGeorge.com stamped notes. Often I reply it's just a fun little game some people play with money, well I'm changing my stance. It is an obsessive habit that defaces money. Sure the bills are generally worth just face value but it is not all about the value.

Other common stamps seen on bills are bank stamps from other countries. These at least have a legitimate purpose, to stop counterfeiting. A few days ago I got my first Where's George bill and when investigating the site I can't help to be disappointed at what I found. What Hank Eskin started as a nice side project for an under worked database consultant has turned into a pandering company.

The object of the game is to use the serial number and series year of the bill to track the bill across the world. The problem is not the game but it has turned into a competition of manic proportions. This bill for instance has spent 1 year, 33 days, 9 hours, and 3 minutes to travel from South Portland, Maine to NYC. Although it looks like it's been around the world twice, while drunk.

The WheresGeorge.com site is free to register but I didn't so I could not contact the original sender "Melody". I would ask her to freely comment if my reaction is justified or not.

Melody's Stats:

Bills Entered:	23,876	Hit Rate:	7.47%
Bills with Hits:	1,784	Total Hits:	1,931
Days of Inactivity:	1	George Score:	1,074.13

Yes you read right and not all bills entered are $1.00. She doesn't even rank among the top that record is for people who submit over 1 million stamped notes. In my life I doubt 100,000 notes passed through my hands let alone 1 million since 1998, the company start date.

Illegal?
Only if used for advertising purpose or to alter the value of the note with the purpose of deception.

The Secret Service ordered WheresGeorge.com to stop selling rubber stamps and they complied but many others still do, legally. Seeing how a profit is still being made at WheresGeorge.com it is possible to prosecute but the Secret Service wisely said they had better stuff to do.

On coins the Secret Service takes it more serious.

The Silver Surfer quarter was a promotion by 20th Century Fox through the Franklin Mint to circulate 40,000 stickered quarters for a chance at prizes. There was a big scandal which lead to no real trouble for either company.

Which made me laugh when I saw the Cici's Pizza commercial last night.

Each Cici's Pizza will be given 2,000 cents and told to drop the stickered cents on the ground and if you pick one up and peel the sticker you may win some free food. http://www.beapennypickerupper.com/ is the site and while the commercial is shown in NY I think the closest Cici's is about 200 miles away.

I don't mind the sticker promotion, illegal or not, because there is no permanent damage unlike the ink stains and extra abuse given stamped bills. I'll end this almost rant by pointing out I did block the serial number and will pass the note on, still I want to contact the original sender if time permits.

Update: The actual commercial.

Do you have a currency bill and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Spanish 10 Euro Cent

Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

What can I say about the Euro that hasn't been said before? The exchange rate is about 13 U.S. cents for every 10 Euro Cents. They still pop up in my change, although this one was prompted out of register when I caught a glimpse of it. Cashiers are still nice when they're not too busy.

The new coin books are coming out and are tax deductible if used in part of your coin business. Still I can't afford them now and I don't have the time to bargain shop. I will need them seeing how most 2008 Euros are not listed although now some good online sites provide mintage information.

I'll keep it short and leave with the pictures and statistics on my recent find.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 10 Euro Cent / Spain
Year: 2008
Mintage: 139,256,940 (Not official)
Metal: Brass
Value: $0.15 in Very-Fine

Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Mind The Gaps

Do you have a coin missing from your simple out of pocket collection and can't figure out why? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the mintage and history for you.

While taking inventory or checking off the list of coins I find in my change occasionally there is a gap. Some coins have a low mintage, some were only sold in special sets, but others just evade capture.

One commenter asked:

For about a year now I've been collecting canadian coins mostly from circulation (I live in Canada) and now I have a lot of coins including every penny from 1960 to 2009, except 1990. Was there a low mintage of this coin or something?

My response:

The average mintage is 500 million or more the 1990 cent had about 210 million made so while lower than normal it is not rare or scarce.

I have the same problem I have almost every Canadian cent from circulation except 1990. It's odd.

Expanding on this Canada made 1,066,628,200 cents in 1989 which led to a smaller 218,035,000 in 1990 then back to 831+ million in 1991. 1990 also introduced a new portrait. While there are some theories behind the lower mintage no good explanation of why they are seldom seen circulating was ever given.

I've found Canadian cents from 1942 and bought others from 1902 to date at low cost. With all that I have not found a 1990 and refuse to buy it, search rolls, or trade for it. 32 Canadian 1964 cents but not one 1990, it's odd.

Other low mintage cents I'm missing:

Canada 2003 92+ million 1990 218+ million 1958 59+ million 1949 33+ million 1948 25+ million 1947 74+ million

Now I just found this nickel.

This 1947 nickel has escaped me for 20+ years and finally I got it. Is it rare? No. Have I found older nickels? Yes. It just happens I never found a United States nickel from 1947 of any mint. This one is dented and damaged but very clear. 1938 and 1944 are other missing years plus counting mintmarks I'm still missing some fairly common nickels.

Is it possible to collect every coin from your change? (Without roll hunting or trading)
Yes. Just wait 80 years and always pay in cash.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States of America
Year: 1947
Mintage: 95,000,000
Metal: 75% copper 25% nickel
Value: $0.05 because it's dented

Sidenote: This image was taken with a 10 megapixel camera on loan, now it has been years since I bought my Canon A95 (5 megapixel) and the advances are great.

Want to know if they made a coin for a certain year and its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Museum Quality: Part 1

Do you have old coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

My lack of updates are a sign of a lack of finds. I was trying to steer all my college work to coin related items I was even going to make a coin sorter but I was out voted. So while at a recent art course in The Metropolitan Museum Of Art I took a side trip to find historical coins.

In numismatics ancient coins are not my strong point. I never got into them since they aren't found in change (normally) and the nice ones are expensive.

A collection of Visigoth coins meant to mimic Byzantine coins (images of Byzantine coins were too blurry to post) eventually they took on a style of there own.

Top to bottom, left to right...
Type/Country: Justinian & Maurice Tiberius Tremissis / Constantinople
Year: 527-602
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Gold
Value: Hundreds(museum pieces often carry an unknown premium)

Type/Country: Imitating Valentinian Solidus / Toulouse, France
Year: 450-460
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Gold
Value: Hundreds(museum pieces often carry an unknown premium)

Type/Country: Imitating Justinian Solidus / ?
Year: Mid-500s
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Gold
Value: Hundreds(museum pieces often carry an unknown premium)

Type/Country: Imitating Imperial Tremissis / ?
Year: Mid-500s
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Gold
Value: Hundreds(museum pieces often carry an unknown premium)

Type/Country: King Reccared Tremissis / Mérida, Spain
Year: 586-601
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Gold
Value: Hundreds(museum pieces often carry an unknown premium)



Fake coins have always been all the rage especially in Egypt around 308-320. Real coins were pressed in clay then the after they dried you have these terracotta molds. Next coins were cast with molten/soften metal of equal or lower quality. Not all forgeries were intended to scam instead it was for the lack of circulating money throughout the Roman empire.


The case was full of coins but the reflection and my camera skills made shooting difficult. The coins were in a corner next to the elevator showing a complete lack of respect.


Type/Country: Augustus/Capricorn Silver Cistophorus / Ephesus (Turkey)
Year: 25 B.C.
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Silver
Value: Hundreds(museum pieces often carry an unknown premium)

I'll show a few more at a later date and maybe do a little more research on what I saw and the museum experience altogether. I will post some more images on my other blog as soon as possible.

Do you have old coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.