Post a coin and a story

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We all collect for different reasons, what is interesting to us may not be interesting to others and visa versa. In this thread I'd like you to share a bit about your collection. Post a picture of a coin from your collection and give us a story about it. Either some background information about the coin that you find interesting, a reason why a certain coin has a special meaning to you, etc.

I'll start us off.

This is my Hannover Thaler:



I saw this on a local auction site, the seller didn't know what it was and just had it listed as "Old coin?" I was really interested so I did some google research and found out that it was a silver 1 Thaler coin from Hannover. It was given as a pension to the surviving veterans from the battle of Waterloo on the 50th anniversary of the battle. I thought that was so cool, this coin was presented to a soldier who may have taken pot shots at Napoleon. I bid on it, and apparently nobody else had noticed it or done the research on it because I got it for the NZ$10 reserve price and it now takes pride of place in my meager German States collection.

This is a 1774 A 'Vieille Tête' Louis XV 1/10th Écu.
The thing is, I got it for absolutely free.

I was digging around in one of those trays with junk silver in it at something in a UK coin fair, where it was £1 per coin, but £8 for 10. I took out 11 coins, including this one, but evidently the seller was busy chatting to his colleague or something, because they absent-mindedly glanced at my tray and asked for £8. Not to seem too much like Scrooge, but there's a story.
Recently, I am on a low coin collecting budget so I have haven't got anything that's too exciting, but I recently picked up this coin from the Congo Free State.



It was being sold as a 1909 5 centemes coin from the Belgium Congo for $5.00. I thought that sounded like a fair price so I bought it. When I got home I couldn't find the coin in the catalog. So I looked up Leopold II, which was on the coin, and I found that he also ruled when the Belgium Congo was known the Congo Free State. The coin was 1906 instead of 1909, and it was worth $25.00. I had never heard of the Congo Free State before getting this coin, either. So I learned something that I'll remember for a change, and the coin was worth more than I paid. Not bad for my usual outcomes.
never kill a mockingbird: it's bad luck.
Well Neil it not about one coin. It about my odd little town , or me being very lucky. Or both. About two months ago I got a 1937 quarter , 1938 penny, and a1939 nickel. In change, not the same day .yes I still find US and Canadian silver in change. I put the 1 cent coin in my wheat jar already.
Yesterday I went to the gas station and got a new error and a 1985 S nickel. The 1cent error called finning.

The thing that wowed me the most is the Canadian coins I get here. I put aside the ones I got so far this year

Yes I took out the two silver dimes already. But the high grades are unreal. mostly are 1 cent coins. The dates so far this year are 1943 to 2004. Mostly 40 to 70. And have around 25 king George VI coins. I think it would be easyer to find a Canadian penny here in the US than Canada. But the very nice grades get me When was the last time anyone got a George Vi coin from circulation looking like this

some of the nice looking ones sorry my images are not very good



So I would have to say my odd little city is a story in itself.
It is, what it is, or is it.
I should say I ask everywhere I go you have any non-US coins. I roll hunt and everyone know I collect and just gave them to me.
It is, what it is, or is it.
Oh it just not Canadian the beginning month the gas station gave me these two little gems. Cayman Islands 10 cents 1977. two of them ,he said they were in a roll of nickels
It is, what it is, or is it.


In the 1860s-1870s there was a huge influx of people into New Zealand due to the Otago gold rush. New Zealand's population swelled from less than 100,000 to over 500,000. As a result there was a shortage of small denomination coins and so merchants took the matter into their own hands and minted halfpenny and penny tokens, which circulated alongside official currency. Otago was the financial hub of the country and for a short time Dunedin was the largest city in New Zealand. It's now my home city and so I was pleased to pick up this memento from that era. It says 1857 on it but it was likely minted in the 1860s-1870s.
Somewhat like Neil's example above, I picked this up for a grand total of $2 Cdn at the local antique market (You know the seller. Selling tea cups, jewelry, old books, etc.)



The originals were struck in Great Britain in 1825 on Canadian order. But currency regulations enacted in 1825 forbade their importation so they were over struck with a 0, thus evading the law. The "Bust and Harp" tokens became very popular with the Irish immigrants of Lower Canada and were soon widely imitated in brass (as above) and competed with legitimate colonial coinage for 20 years.

This is the one that really started me on my Colonial Token collection. Besides the history, it was my 1st "brass" coin (verified with an Xref gun at the local recycling business) and it also displays some wonderful ghosting.

That $2 purchase has transformed into hundreds of dollarsB..
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.  It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so.  Mark Twain
Quote: "Peter M. Graham"​Somewhat like Neil's example above, I picked this up for a grand total of $2 Cdn at the local antique market (You know the seller. Selling tea cups, jewelry, old books, etc.)



​The originals were struck in Great Britain in 1825 on Canadian order. But currency regulations enacted in 1825 forbade their importation so they were over struck with a 0, thus evading the law. The "Bust and Harp" tokens became very popular with the Irish immigrants of Lower Canada and were soon widely imitated in brass (as above) and competed with legitimate colonial coinage for 20 years.


​I just picked up one of these from a junk bin (in somewhat worse condition than yours). I thought it might be Ireland because of the harp, and was surprised to find it was actually a Canadian token.
Great idea to post about the story of a coin.

the coin I choose is this Taler from Braunschweig Wolfenbüttel


In 1643 the 30 years war was still ravaging and the city of Wolfenbüttel has suffered and been taken for a long time by ennemy troops.
in the hopes that the city will be freed August the Second had 7 different thalers minted with bells to wish for the city to be liberated again. By chance this exact same year 1643 the city was liberated.
These coins are called Glockentaler (Bell Thaler) My example here being the seventh.

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glockentaler
If you like coins, medals and tokens with ship motives follow my new instagram account with regular updates @numisnautiker
From time to time I sell some coins on Ebay make sure to follow me @apuking on Ebay.
It's not a coin, but this is a communion token



They were given to members of the congregation after the minister had visited them to test that they had sufficient religious knowledge to be able to partake in communion.

I managed to get this one last year and it is special to me because the First Church of Otago was the church where my wife and I were married (15 years ago this December)

1848 is not the date when the token was struck but when the church was founded, right? If I'm not mistaken, that's what the date usually means on such tokens.
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When my granddad bought a land in 1960s, where he would build the house afterwards, and started digging and creating the base for the house, he found an old pot with a lid.

Similar to this one


He found inside a couple of Roman coins.
One of those is this one, the only one he preserved.


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces53361.html

He keep it a secret and never told anyone untill a couple of years ago because of the Serbian (Yugoslavian then) laws where if you dig out something it belongs to the Country and you must report it.
https://mnesiccoins.gitlab.io/    https://www.instagram.com/mnesiccoins/
The amazing story of the “Germany wrong map” 1000 lire Italy 1997
In 1997, Italy issued 80 millions of new 1000 lire coins. The map found on this coin was stylized, However, Denmark was shown as part of Germany, The Netherlands was included in Belgium, Luxembourg did not exist and the eastern part of Germany, the former Democratic Germany, was nowhere to be found. It made so much noise in Europe that Italy quickly introduced of a corrected version of the map issuing 100 millions new coins.
This error coin is commonly named as “wrong map of Germany” and a legend raised that Italy withdrawn these coins due to this map error so the price of this coin increased.
Just look at the mintages, 100 million of one (united Germany) and 80 other ... however, the coin with a divided Germany is paradoxically even more common, because, while the other coin went into circulation and stayed there (and is therefore also been retired at the end of 2001), that "wrong" was immediately hoarded (in due to the fake-story-telling that these coins had been withdrawn from circulation and therefore rare) by collectors, with the result that the 80 million coins are still almost all in the collectables market.
Referee of south atlantic islands
Quote: "Camerinvs"​1848 is not the date when the token was struck but when the church was founded, right? If I'm not mistaken, that's what the date usually means on such tokens.
​Yes, you're right. 1848 was both the year the church and our province was founded. I think the tokens were struck later in the 1800s.
Many coins have come and gone from my hands since i started collecting in 1999, but for me this 1972 Canada cent is still my fav. It was the 4th coin i got for my collection, and was the first one I traded for (I wont lie, 10 year old me was ecstatic). My friend let it go for a 70s Mexico 20c like the one pictured. We all have to start somewhere and this was it for me.

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