World Coin News March 2021

The Andaman Islands in the NE Indian Ocean are a country that has only two coins. Both were struck in copper. Both are regarded as penal colony tokens: a rare rupee of 1861 (KM-Tn1) and an even rarer rupee of 1866 (KM-Tn2). Both are characterized by the monarch of the day, Queen Victoria, having a hole in her head. An example of the 1861 token was offered for sale in Spink’s Hong Kong auction of South East Asian banknotes and coins held on January 30. It came certified NGC MS55 BN with what would prove to be a conservative estimate of HK$62,000-93,000. On the day the lot was enthusiastically bid up to realize HK$220,000 [US$28,382]. My aging SCWC 1801-1900 clearly needs updating. The maximum value given for a coin in XF is…

What is involved when a coin is enameled? Coins enameled by a mint rather than in the aftermarket will likely use a cold enamel process involving one or several layers of paint. Surface cells are filled with different colors that enhance the images. The affect can be that a coin may resemble a miniature painting or may be left with what I will call a stained glass impression. Is coin enameling done by hand when it is done by a mint? The Royal Canadian Mint uses a process that is done by machine, while enameling done by mints such as those in France and Bulgaria were still being made by hand, according to my information. I’ve seen images of coins being left on a headstone. Can you explain this tradition? This was initially a military…

In the New Testament of the Bible in Luke 21: 1-4 it reads, “And He [Jesus] looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.’” Luke is believed to have been a Greek physician. He was no numismatist. What coins are the so-called widow’s mites of which Luke writes? There has been conjecture regarding this almost since when Luke recorded the incident. We do know the story was meant to emphasize the…

Coin collectors are unlikely to be gardening enthusiasts, but at least twice recently weeding someone’s garden has resulted in significant coin finds. Most of us are pleased to see 2020 go away. The year 2020 has been the year of a pandemic, a resulting economic decline, and a year of political upheaval in several parts of the world. It has been a year in which many of us were voluntarily or involuntarily quarantined due to the highly contagious coronavirus outbreak. What do you do when you are quarantined at home with little to occupy your time? If you are a coin collector perhaps you spent significant time on the internet shopping, but there is more you might have been doing. On December 6 the British Museum (BM) announced that the majority of the…

People who don’t collect coins sometimes view those of us who do as being odd and introverted. Bird watchers are viewed in a similar manner by those who aren’t familiar with that pastime. How would you as an outsider to either pastime react to a cross pollination of the two hobbies, especially when a birdwatcher encounters a 2,000-year old cache of Celtic gold coins estimated to be worth about £845,000 or close to $1.5 million US? Admittedly, the unnamed individual is also a metal detecting enthusiast. He was quoted by Treasure Hunting magazine as saying, “Although I am a keen detectorist, that evening I was doing a bit of bird watching. After watching a dogfight between a buzzard and a pair of magpies I stared down and spotted something lying in a…

Britain’s Portable Antiquities Scheme is considered by most to be a success. Upon the discovery of treasure, including precious metal composition coins, the finder is required to report the discovery to local authorities. The finder is likely to either receive cash from the liquidation of the find or may even receive the find itself. The PAS helps archaeologists as well as treasure finders, since once a discovery has been announced to authorities the treasure can be studied in its original context before that treasure is disbursed. Unfortunately, the rules aren’t the same everywhere. Even in Britain there have been cases where the finder purposely hid a find from authorities in an effort to gain an otherwise unearned profit. In other countries there may not be any benefit to alerting authorities to…