Kwangtung Province 10 Cash

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It took a long time to identify this coin, mostly because some versions of world coin books reference this coin but never actually show it. In the Krause books this one is referred to as Y# 193 but in the 2010 World Coin Book it is not shown. 

Also there are mule versions where Y#192 and Y#193 have their reverses switched. Yes, confusing especially when you do not know the language.

Kuang-tung Sheng Tsao,  Kuang-hsü Yuan-pao around Board of Finance and Copper Coinage 10 Cash

 

 鄺盛東曹光緒元報董事會財務和銅硬幣十個現金 (pardon the translation)

Kwang-Tung is the province in China and ten cash is equivalent to one cent. The back of this one seemed to have something spilled on it. It has since turned into a powder and is falling off. I am sure it is a real coin so this is not casting residue. I hope one day to use distilled water to clean it off but that is not a priorty since the whole coin has verdigris damage.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 10 Cash (1 Cent) / China-Kwangtung Province
Year: 1900-1906
Mintage: 1,211,487,000 for the Y# 192 and I assume this Y# 193.
Metal: 95% Copper, 4% Lead, 1% Tin
Value: Fine about $2.00 but only if I can safely remove the powdery thing.

Oh yeah and varieties exist in the lettering and spacing.

Do you have a coin from China 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.

2002 $5 Gold

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Buy them gold.

For whatever holiday you celebrate in the upcoming few weeks nothing would make a nicer gift than a bit of gold. I got this for myself in 2002 for Christmas from the mint for $42.95. Currently they are $175.00 on average, subject to the changing value of spot gold.

 

Check out the size compared to a dime, yup slightly smaller but worth so much more.

This tenth ounce (1/10 oz.) bullion coin has quadrupled in value and yes occasionally I feel like kicking myself for not buying a dozen and saving in the bank with this one. Slowly I am turning away from silver since even in a bank vault the silver coins are beginning to tarnish but gold barely changes.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Dollar / United States
Year: 2002
Mintage: 230,027
Metal: 91.67% Gold, 5.33% Copper, 3.00% Silver
Value: $200.00 in Uncirculated

Do you have a gold 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.

1997 Chile 10 Pesos

Do you have a Chile coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment

I always think I have more South American coins than I actually own. Mostly because I know a lot of people from that continent so the coins seems common. It turns I only have two coins from Chile.

This coin is much more silver color in hand but halogen lights and a lack of proper photo setup makes it look a bit yellow. Trust me it is more nickel than brass.

REPUBLICA DE CHILE LIBERTADOR B. O'HIGGINS (mintmark is an o on top of an S)

10 PESOS 1997

Although this one has the Santiago mint mark on the front it has no real affect since all these types of 10 Pesos have it.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 10 Pesos / Chile
Year: 1997
Mintage: Not yet known.
Metal: Nickel-Brass
Value: $0.10 in Very-Fine

Do you have a Chilean 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.

1990 Cayman Islands Quarter (DDO?)

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One of six Cayman Islands coin I have and for the first time I noticed it has some doubling actually it is tripling. Looking at the word CAYMAN and the 1990 just with your eye it looks blurry. A closer look there is some doubling.

This picture was as clear as I could get as the camera was showing the shaky camera symbol. My poor Canon G11 could not auto-focus on half of the coin.

Check out this close up on the A you see clear flat machine doubling. Oh but the next picture it gets better.

 

Check out the 199 and  you see tripling. But the tripling is like steps each layer is flat and slightly lower then the one before that is clearly machine doubling and not true doubling. Even the rim has some doubling and at the point the rim is spilting is where the design is also affected. 

Anywhere the rim is normal so is the design. This is because the die hit the coin and then jumped on the coin a second and third time as the coin shifted slightly.

Back of the coin is normal.

So at the end this coin has no extra value. It is not an error but it is very cool to notice after years in my collection.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 25 Cents / Cayman Islands
Year: 1990
Mintage: Not yet known.
Metal: Copper-Nickel
Value: $0.25 in Fine (although the tripling may change that for some)

Side note: This should be a Cambodian post but I cannot find it. All I have is a notebook scribble that says Cambodia 1979 with no other reference, whether it was a coin or note it is gone, for now.

Do you have a quarter from the Cayman Islands 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.

Nightline: Penny Hoarders

Tonight the team at Nightline exposed the society of penny hoarders.

Here's the official link...Nightline Penny Hoarders.

My position is that people who hoard coins are slightly nuts. I mean take the money now and buy some silver, gold, or platinum. You now what buy dinner for your family that would be more rewarding.

Nightline first teased it as a scheme then said it is enterprising.

First up Joe Henry has 200,000 pennies or $2,000. He uses the analogy if he had Enron stock or some dot.com stock it would be worth nothing. (I would say what if he had Google or Microsoft stock.)

Next is Adam Youngs is a professional penny sorter who sells $100 of pennies for $176. He is so giggly it reminds of a kid who knows their doing something naughty and is getting away with it.

The Laws
It is against the law to transport $5.00 in pennies outside the country.
It is against the law to melt pennies or nickels.

The law against penny melting may be changed the next time the lawmakers meet.

At the end the buyers and hoarders are hoping They watch copper values go up, the theft of copper going up, and see the market for copper get larger. Unfortunately even if the law does change the market is bound to crash. Imagine billions and billions of pennies being turned to copper-smiths.


Update from an early story done on Joe Henry:

Joe Henry says the time it takes to get enough pennies to get a major windfall isn't worth it, but says he is continuing to collect for his son.

Joe Henry has a son diagnosed with autism and he used collecting to teach the boy to be more social.  

The ABC story focused on the business of penny hoarding  while the local station got the back-story. I think an Autism penny drive would do this family good.

Coin Jewelry

What is the point of collecting such ordinary circulating coins?

Well try gold plating them and putting them on a gold chain and bam you got something good. Looking over a recent ad from Macy's the coins instantly jumped out at me. They are Euros on a thin 14 karat 8 inch gold chain at one overvalued original price.

Maybe quality adds some value. Plus gold is doing well too. Seriously $1,200 for this.

I see a Luxembourg Euro Cent and an Austrian 2 Euro Cent piece but none of these have any special value,despite the year being hidden.

Now I may have missed something. Could it be these are solid gold Euro copies, highly doubt it. Are gold chains more valuable then I think at 14k? Maybe I will stop by Macy's and take a look in person.

Well in the future when you find a gold Euro cent in your change and you wonder why please refer to this post. This also applies to any other low grade coin that seems off metal but still weighs the same as a normal coin.

Side  note: This post was possible because I cannot find the Cambodian money I once had and can no longer locate. I may skip it and go to Cayman Islands coins next.