1928-R Italy 5 Centesimi!

It's official. Italy was poor. Reason #1: this coin is pretty much the same size as a U.S. Cent. It's more deeply struck but there is little difference other than that. Another way to tell is the dedication to agriculture. Most American kids don't aspire to be a farmer when they grow up. But in poorer countries the one with the food is the one with the money. Speaking of money, this coin is worth a nice $3.00. Much more than the $0.25 I paid for it.

1862-M Italian 10 Centesimi!

Damn, that's a poor ass country! Well not exactly as this was the norm in Europe (excluding the U.K.) back in the day. This pre-decimal Penny sized coin has definitely seen better days. But then, it's obviously seen worse days as well. It features Victor Emmanuel II who, unlike his third version, wasn't involved in a world war or in support of any fascists. (Fun fact that has nothing to do with this post: Mussolini was an atheist but gave the Catholic Church more power while in office.) It's worth about $2.00 in this shape, which is 8x what I bought it for.

1925-A German 2 Reichspfennig!

 All hail the Weimar Republic! It is because of them that Germany was able to produce this coin. Germany's economy was plagued by serious inflation during and after WWI when they began using the Papiermark. Often times wages earned in the morning would be worthless by the evening. Following the Weimar Constitution, a new Mark was issued which was worth 1 trillion times the Papiermark's value, thus ridding them of the inflation problem. Silver coins were reintroduced, though they were worth less than the old, pre WWI Goldmark coins. The above coin is worth about $0.50.

British Caribbean Territories - Eastern Group 1964 1 Cent!

Don't pay any attention to the name of the country- it's just the fancy and archaic way to say East Caribbean States. I got this coin at the flea market, of course, and for 10 cents less than it's numismatic value. That's right, a whole dime. Too bad it wasn't a silver one. This coin is worth $0.35, though if it had been marked for a dollar, I probably would have bought it. Well maybe not considering my opinion that QEII looks monkey-ish in this portrait.

1910 British Penny!

Nothing really interesting at all here. Just that this coin was from the last year of Edward VII's reign. Not sure if it's because of that or because British coins just have high prices, but this coin is worth a nice $4.00 at best. I probably wouldn't have bought it for more than $3.00 and just by looking at it and knowing nothing of it's value, I would have guessed it to be worth closer to $1.00. It was quite the bargain, though, as I bought it for less than $1.00 ($0.25, $0.50 can't remember).

Netherlands Antilles 1957 Cent!

What a beautiful cent! And in AU, too. It's from the Netherlands Antilles which isn't a country anymore, but when it was it made awesome coins. First off, they made silver coins from 10 cents to 1 Gulden until 1970. That means they kept on after the majority of the world stopped. It also features a very intricate-looking design which just pops right off the coin. It's worth about $2.50.

1948 Netherlands 1 Cent!

A coin on a Monday! This one features the severed head of Queen Wilhelmina, or at least that's my interpretation of it. This coin was one of the last produced before Queen Juliana took the throne and if you ask me, it was a good move! I like the way the N and 1 look on the reverse. They're not something you see everyday, even back in those days. This coin, possibly because it looks creepy, is worth just $0.05. Well, it's either that or the fact that hundreds of millions were made.

British Caribbean Territories Eastern Group 1964 Cent!

Here's a nice coin. Too bad it features one of my least favorite portraits of the Queen. It was equal to a British Half Penny at the time it was made which explains why five of them makes a nickel-brass coin, like the British 3 Pence. It's a bit tarnished which is to be expected of these coins from more tropical areas of the world, but is otherwise in great condition. Too bad it's not the 1963 in this condition. It would be worth a whole dollar more than this coin, which is worth only $0.20.

1956-Mo Cincuenta Cenatvos!

Here's awesome half dollar. It's big and heavy like a coin should be and made of the beautifully inexpensive metal: bronze. Two of these coins put together made the also inexpensive Peso, which was only 10% silver and a tad bigger than this coin. I still wonder why they didn't reduce the size of the Peso or make it Copper-Nickel as both would have saved money, but the past is the past and they eventually did make it copper nickel. Just not before they made it the lowest purity of silver ever recorded in history. Anyway this coin is relatively cheap at $0.75 and has been demonetized so it's no longer legal tender.

1949 Irish Penny!

Mmmmm... a nice, meaty chicken! It makes me hunger even more for the chicken noodle soup I'm about to eat. Not at the time this posts, that is, but about 1 and 1/2 days before as this is being scheduled. OK, now that my is eaten, I can go on.

This coin was minted back when Ireland used the shilling and pound like the Brits, and their currencies were the traded 1:1. The only thing that made them different was the designs used on them. This coin has a chicken rather than Brittania on the reverse and the denomination written as 1ᵈ and pingin, which means penny. The obverse, rather than featuring the King, has the Irish harp, the word Ireland written in Irish, and the date. This coin is worth about $0.50.

 

 

Happy Easter Rising!

(Well, almost.)



1892 British Penny!

Not in the best condition but it's got a nice effigy of Queen Victoria and it's from the 1800's. If this coin was in just a little bit better condition, it would be worth a few dollars more than what I got it for. In this shape, it's only worth $1.00 and I got it for half that. There's been a discussion on Numista, going on here and here but regarding the same thing, about coins only being worth what someone will pay for them. I definitely would not have bought this coin for $1.00 by itself, but with a few other coins thrown in and a discount, I got it. I doubt anyone would actually pay $1.00 for this and as such its value is ≤, less than or equal to, the $1.00 price. Beauty and price is in the eye of the beholder.

1971 Irish 2 Pence!

Technically it's 2 Pingin but pence is easier and that's what it's called here. I saw this coin at the flea market and since I only had the boring British version I added it to my pile. It's got a "Decorative initial "U" resembling a bird, out of the "Book of Kells"" and an Irish Harp as it's main designs. It has since been demonitized as Ireland adopted the Euro and it now goes for around $0.10.