Welcome to the Coin Club. We are an assortment of newbies and oldbies, amateurs and experts with questions and answers for oldbies and newbies, amateurs and experts in coin collecting, also known as numismatics. Whether you are just getting started, have been collecting for years or have simply found some old coins about the place that you’d like to sell, this is the place to ask your questions.

No one has all the answers, and you may get five differing answers to the same question, yet each may be right in a manner of speaking, especially if opinions are involved. Opinions often vary. If you receive no answer to your query within 48 hours, please ask again.

translateltd - 2015-01-11 17:43:00

translateltd wrote:

If it's genuine there'll be a market for it. Of course, if you just want to throw it away, be sure to throw it in my direction :-) The pictures are a bit small to tell, but you'll need to check it carefully to make sure there are no traces of a proper reverse under the "mirror-image" portrait side. Someone could just have pressed another farthing against it, though that in theory would cause damage to the other side.

Will take some photos and repost to see what you think and thank you.

bizarre67 - 2015-01-11 17:47:00

bizarre67 wrote:

Will take some photos and repost to see what you think and thank you.

Ok, do these photos tell you anything?
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/356883085.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/356882833.jpg

Thanks, Dee

bizarre67 - 2015-01-11 18:03:00

bizarre67 wrote:

Ok, do these photos tell you anything?
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/356883085.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/356882833.jpg

Thanks, Dee

Less certain now - the design on the reversed side looks oversized, and the tail of the ribbon looks split, but not on the normal side, so it could be an impression from a not-quite matching coin. When you look at the reversed side closely, can you see any traces of the Britannia reverse and the normal wording (FARTHING around and date below)? They wouldn't be there at all in a genuine brockage.

translateltd - 2015-01-11 18:54:00

translateltd wrote:

Less certain now - the design on the reversed side looks oversized, and the tail of the ribbon looks split, but not on the normal side, so it could be an impression from a not-quite matching coin. When you look at the reversed side closely, can you see any traces of the Britannia reverse and the normal wording (FARTHING around and date below)? They wouldn't be there at all in a genuine brockage.

Reverse side has no farthing imprint, looks like Victoria D.G. and E.G.F.D. back to front if that makes sense but looks a bit big for the coin

bizarre67 - 2015-01-11 19:14:00

bizarre67 wrote:

Reverse side has no farthing imprint, looks like Victoria D.G. and E.G.F.D. back to front if that makes sense but looks a bit big for the coin

Yes, the reversed lettering is clear - but if it's a concoction there should be very faint traces of the FARTHING legend and Britannia from the original design visible under magnification - or very close squinting. There would of course be no trace at all if it were a true brockage, because the reverse die would never have touched it. The slight size difference in the design detail and the apparent difference in the tail end of the ribbon on the Queen's neck concern me - if it had been a proper brockage the design details would have been exactly the same, just mirrored.

translateltd - 2015-01-11 19:58:00

translateltd wrote:

Yes, the reversed lettering is clear - but if it's a concoction there should be very faint traces of the FARTHING legend and Britannia from the original design visible under magnification - or very close squinting. There would of course be no trace at all if it were a true brockage, because the reverse die would never have touched it. The slight size difference in the design detail and the apparent difference in the tail end of the ribbon on the Queen's neck concern me - if it had been a proper brockage the design details would have been exactly the same, just mirrored.

Thank you for all your knowledge :-)

bizarre67 - 2015-01-11 20:14:00

Question from me this time - anyone else having trouble with the "import products based on your current, sold or unsold listings" function since My Products was "upgraded" late last year? I can't work out why they insist on showing all your listings (including existing Products) now, whereas previously you just saw the new items that needed converting into Products.
I currently have 60 items listed, 58 of which are Products. When I go to convert the last two, I get a full screen of 50 items, but have no way of getting to the last 10 on the second page. Clicking the "next page" arrow or the "page 2" button just reloads the current page, so the only way is to wait for a few listings to expire so the new items move up to the first page!
Very inefficient and frustrating.

translateltd - 2015-01-11 20:54:00

dtpapa wrote:

do these show up, every now and then, on trademe (I wouldn't mind one!)?

http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/199160

Peter may have been watching this thread :-)

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=832508312

translateltd - 2015-01-12 21:32:00

translateltd wrote:

Question from me this time - anyone else having trouble with the "import products based on your current, sold or unsold listings" function since My Products was "upgraded" late last year? I can't work out why they insist on showing all your listings (including existing Products) now, whereas previously you just saw the new items that needed converting into Products.
I currently have 60 items listed, 58 of which are Products. When I go to convert the last two, I get a full screen of 50 items, but have no way of getting to the last 10 on the second page. Clicking the "next page" arrow or the "page 2" button just reloads the current page, so the only way is to wait for a few listings to expire so the new items move up to the first page!
Very inefficient and frustrating.

Appears to be working now - maybe someone tweaked the Firefox settings after I complained last night!

translateltd - 2015-01-12 23:35:00

nice, but a bit pricey I think!

dtpapa - 2015-01-13 10:17:00

am I the only one who uses youshop to import coins?

I'm a bit nervous at the minute, I've got a coin delivered 3 days ago to the portland warehouse, at least according to the tracking. But not had any confirmation yet from youshop that they have it. I checked the "fine print" of the youshop conditions. Apparently your item has to be signed for at the warehouse before they will consider compensation, tracking alone is not enough. Learning all the time!!

dtpapa - 2015-01-13 10:23:00

if I send a fairly valuable, slabbed coin, to the portland warehouse. With signed for delivery. And then it goes missing. Will NZ post compensate me, or can they pull a swiftly using their not allowed to post collectible/coins/anitques clause (even though you can do in the US)?

dtpapa - 2015-01-13 10:28:00

The member deleted this message.

muzz8 - 2015-01-13 12:28:00

muzz8 wrote:

Can someone help identify this please- bound to be fake???
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/357211696.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/357211668.jpg
i am guessing copy of one of the german states

Yep, Readers Digest giveaway, circa 1970s. It's a copy of an Austrian ducat. Google "TU DOMINE SPES MEA 1752" for more info.

translateltd - 2015-01-13 13:03:00

muzz8 wrote:

Can someone help identify this please- bound to be fake???
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/357211696.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/357211668.jpg
i am guessing copy of one of the german states

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.asp
x?id=1509585&topic=16

chefman1 - 2015-01-13 13:05:00

I don't know anything about collecting coins but have found some old pennies around home.
There is a 1874 one, 1920' 1938 and a 1963 one. Where can one find out if they have any value ?

maureenh - 2015-01-13 16:39:00

dtpapa wrote:

am I the only one who uses youshop to import coins?

I'm a bit nervous at the minute, I've got a coin delivered 3 days ago to the portland warehouse, at least according to the tracking. But not had any confirmation yet from youshop that they have it. I checked the "fine print" of the youshop conditions. Apparently your item has to be signed for at the warehouse before they will consider compensation, tracking alone is not enough. Learning all the time!!

Some of my Items have been taking up to a week to show in my youshop account after the tracking says it has been received they started to appear slowly but seems like they are still working on the backlog from christmas

mudeki - 2015-01-13 18:19:00

tsuba wrote:

The 1945 is 11.9 grams and the 46 is 14 grams. If the alloy mix was scewed up do you think it is reasonable to think that the 45 has a much higher silver content than normal since it can be scratched by my finger nail. The 46 shows no sign of tarnishing which is normal for 99% pure silver. Not suggesting it is 99% just that if it were higher than 50 it would not tarnish as readily although it also depends on the alloy mix.

Here is the latest on this coin. Alan got it checked for me. He is going to drill it to see what the base metal is.

Hi Ross.
Picked the coin back up this afternoon from the refinery.
Well, the testing has thrown up more questions than answers .
The outside of the coin is 95.5%silver (above sterling which is 92.5%) and this is why it can be easily scratched .
A normal minted 1945 1/2 crown would be only 50% silver .
Because of its exact size and thickness to a normal 1/2 crown , it must be a copy coin ( probably an alluminium base) to be under in weight by so much .
The thickness of the outer silver is far greater than a plating process, and even in the deep scratches and nicks, no other base metal is present or showing.
The coin is so good a copy and that outer silver is so thick, I still do not know how it is has been made.
Without drilling into the core ,through that silver layer ,there is no real other way of confirming the inside metal, as Aluminium is the one metal the spectrometer won’t detect through an over plating.
It is so good a copy, I can only believe that somebody would have had to purpose make this blank to end up with the exact sizes including the outer silver layer.
The detailing is so clear that You could not tell any difference to the normal coin, and could have quite easily actually been minted along with the normal year coins
You hear of a few tales of workers at the mint , placing their own blanks or making rare error coins, that turn up on the open market years down the track.
I think that this is something special as well and will let you decide how to wish proceed.
All the very best
Alan

tsuba - 2015-01-14 11:07:00

tsuba wrote:

Here are some shots of it.

The photo makes it look darker than it is. It is a nice light aluminun color.

Have looked at lettering / design details using eye glass and it seems spot on.

http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/353618791.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/353618815.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/353619001.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/353619096.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/353620232.jpg[/q
uote]

The above 1945 coin is a bit of a mystery. Any ideas folks. It has been tested for metal composition. Here is the latest on it done for me by Alan.

Hi Ross.
Picked the coin back up this afternoon from the refinery.
Well, the testing has thrown up more questions than answers .
The outside of the coin is 95.5%silver (above sterling which is 92.5%) and this is why it can be easily scratched .
A normal minted 1945 1/2 crown would be only 50% silver .
Because of its exact size and thickness to a normal 1/2 crown , it must be a copy coin ( probably an alluminium base) to be under in weight by so much .
The thickness of the outer silver is far greater than a plating process, and even in the deep scratches and nicks, no other base metal is present or showing.
The coin is so good a copy and that outer silver is so thick, I still do not know how it is has been made.
Without drilling into the core ,through that silver layer ,there is no real other way of confirming the inside metal, as Aluminium is the one metal the spectrometer won’t detect through an over plating.
It is so good a copy, I can only believe that somebody would have had to purpose make this blank to end up with the exact sizes including the outer silver layer.
The detailing is so clear that You could not tell any difference to the normal coin, and could have quite easily actually been minted along with the normal year coins
You hear of a few tales of workers at the mint , placing their own blanks or making rare error coins, that turn up on the open market years down the track.
I think that this is something special as well and will let you decide how to wish proceed.
All the very best
Alan

tsuba - 2015-01-14 11:15:00

The spectrometer shows the composition as
Cu, Copper at 3.155%
Zn Zinc at 0.875%
Ag Silver at 95.514%
Pd Palladium at 0.428%
Cd Cadmium at 0.164%

tsuba - 2015-01-14 11:16:00

tsuba wrote:

The spectrometer shows the composition as
Cu, Copper at 3.155%
Zn Zinc at 0.875%
Ag Silver at 95.514%
Pd Palladium at 0.428%
Cd Cadmium at 0.164%

This is quite fascinating - I assume from Alan's quote above that these figures are just a surface assessment, though, not an analysis of all of the metal contained in the coin down to its core. It would be interesting to know what the overall breakdown is - and how many other oddities like this are floating around that have never been detected!

translateltd - 2015-01-14 14:22:00

I just sent Alan an e mail regarding those other 4 elements. It would be interesting to test a normal 1945 and see if those elements and those elements alone are in the normal 1945 plus the silver. If that is the case it could suggest a cock up at the mint maybe. Just a thought.

tsuba - 2015-01-14 15:02:00

The palladium and cadmium could be natural impurities since the percentages are very low. I'm intrigued as to what the overall content is, because the high surface silver concentration isn't too far from my original thought about a bad/incomplete alloy mix with too much silver at the outside. If the core turned out to have a lot more copper and much less silver, that would confirm it. Still the weight issue to resolve, of course.

translateltd - 2015-01-14 15:21:00

If there is too much copper internaly maybe the weight issue could be that as copper has a lower SG than silver.

tsuba - 2015-01-14 15:56:00

maureenh wrote:

I don't know anything about collecting coins but have found some old pennies around home.
There is a 1874 one, 1920' 1938 and a 1963 one. Where can one find out if they have any value ?

Hi Maureen, whilst my colleagues nerd out on mass spectroscopy (and I am following their conversation closely), may I suggest that you post some photos of each side of your coins in here so that we may give you a reasonably clear answer?

If unsure how to do that, please say so.

Edited by echoriath at 6:14 pm, Wed 14 Jan

echoriath - 2015-01-14 18:11:00

Hi all, Any ideas where I may be able to purchase a copy of New Zealand Postal Notes 1886-1986 by Jack Harwood. Also approx value on a 1948 Four Shilling and Six Pence Postal Note in nice condition without side strip? Many thanks in advance.

bjubes - 2015-01-15 18:57:00

This message was deleted.

oldecurb - 2015-01-15 23:11:00

oldecurb wrote:

Went to the Otago Settlers museum with a granddaughter the other day...bit sad seeing the stuff I grew up with in a museum!..but I digress.

There was a display on the wall of NZ tokens. They looked as if they had been cleaned but it was still quite a collection. Anyone know the history behind these?

http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/357809810.jpg[/q
uote]

I can't read the text at the bottom but wonder if it may have been put together by one of the prominent Dunedin dealers - H.G. Williams, perhaps. I think he was the one who put together a display of communion tokens (including privately commissioned replicas of the rare ones) that the RNSNZ has.

translateltd - 2015-01-16 08:03:00

tsuba wrote:

The above 1945 coin is a bit of a mystery. Any ideas folks. It has been tested for metal composition. Here is the latest on it done for me by Alan.

Hi Ross.
Picked the coin back up this afternoon from the refinery.
Well, the testing has thrown up more questions than answers .
The outside of the coin is 95.5%silver (above sterling which is 92.5%) and this is why it can be easily scratched .
A normal minted 1945 1/2 crown would be only 50% silver .
Because of its exact size and thickness to a normal 1/2 crown , it must be a copy coin ( probably an alluminium base) to be under in weight by so much .
The thickness of the outer silver is far greater than a plating process, and even in the deep scratches and nicks, no other base metal is present or showing.
The coin is so good a copy and that outer silver is so thick, I still do not know how it is has been made.
Without drilling into the core ,through that silver layer ,there is no real other way of confirming the inside metal, as Aluminium is the one metal the spectrometer won’t detect through an over plating.
It is so good a copy, I can only believe that somebody would have had to purpose make this blank to end up with the exact sizes including the outer silver layer.
The detailing is so clear that You could not tell any difference to the normal coin, and could have quite easily actually been minted along with the normal year coins
You hear of a few tales of workers at the mint , placing their own blanks or making rare error coins, that turn up on the open market years down the track.
I think that this is something special as well and will let you decide how to wish proceed.
All the very best
Alan

Here is latest :

Morning Ross
Just an update to say took it to my friend and can confirm it is definately a die struck coin, and not a replica cast coin.
Will be seeing my watchmaker today and will ask him about the possibility of drilling a spot hole through the rim edge to extract some of the core metal.
These drills are so small, that you can’t really see them.
Will check back with refiner if such a small amount would be able to be tested satisfactorly to give a result, before we do any drilling
I believe in 1945 , some experimentation was carried out on various blanks of different makeups to the 50% silver as a possible replacement for the silver coinage.
This could be one of those.

All the best
Alan

tsuba - 2015-01-16 16:03:00

translateltd wrote:

Question from me this time - anyone else having trouble with the "import products based on your current, sold or unsold listings" function since My Products was "upgraded" late last year? I can't work out why they insist on showing all your listings (including existing Products) now, whereas previously you just saw the new items that needed converting into Products.
I currently have 60 items listed, 58 of which are Products. When I go to convert the last two, I get a full screen of 50 items, but have no way of getting to the last 10 on the second page. Clicking the "next page" arrow or the "page 2" button just reloads the current page, so the only way is to wait for a few listings to expire so the new items move up to the first page!
Very inefficient and frustrating.

Well, I don't know what's going on, but I've just tried this again with Firefox, Chrome and Explorer, and none will let me access the last page of listings now. If I select 50 items per page, I can view page 1 but not page 2; if I select 10 items per page, I can view pages 1-5 but not page 6. Something screwy here.

translateltd - 2015-01-16 18:50:00

Hi could someone tell me are strapless 1955 pennies worth anything, have been circulated and were sitting in my uncles office draw, no patina and in good condition with no marks

werdnanz - 2015-01-17 10:23:00

werdnanz wrote:

Hi could someone tell me are strapless 1955 pennies worth anything, have been circulated and were sitting in my uncles office draw, no patina and in good condition with no marks

All '55s are strapless. I don't know why the catalogues call them 'strapless', as it isn't a variation for the 53-55 issues.

translateltd - 2015-01-17 11:58:00

how many have been hit for GST/customs fees when importing coins? If the value is less then $400 in theory it should not attract fees. What's the experience with importing more valuable items?

dtpapa - 2015-01-17 12:34:00

dtpapa wrote:

how many have been hit for GST/customs fees when importing coins? If the value is less then $400 in theory it should not attract fees. What's the experience with importing more valuable items?

I don't import at lot but did have to pay GST to clear one item and drive a reasonable distance to collect it a few years ago. It was about a $1500 purchase, so well within the "attracting fees" zone. The funniest thing was the call from a young lady at Customs first telling me I wasn't allowed to import stuff without an importer number or whatever it was called. So I said, OK, give me one. And now I have this number that I don't think I've used since.

translateltd - 2015-01-17 13:03:00

Hey guys I cant find my 2014 NZ Book but can you give me the price for a 1935 Threepence a/EF? Cheers

cashintheattic - 2015-01-17 14:06:00

VF $450, EF $1000 2014 Cat.

alpha111 - 2015-01-17 14:59:00

Cheers Alpha, I have been offered one for $695 but think it may be too pricey

cashintheattic - 2015-01-17 15:03:00

Look out!

BUMP!!

echoriath - 2015-01-20 06:51:00

Hi - I am hoping someone here can give me an indication of value for these:
(and any other information)
Thank you!

http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/358403640.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/358403803.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/358403470.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/358403305.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/358403133.jpg
http://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/358402965.jpg

happygirl1000 - 2015-01-20 09:53:00

happygirl1000 wrote:

Hi - I am hoping someone here can give me an indication of value for these:
(and any other information)
Thank you!

The first looks to be a share or bond certificate, without resorting to the Russian dictionaries; the second and third are a Russian 50-rouble note (the date 1899 may not be the actual issue date - some were issued later); and a Greek 5000 drachma note. They're unlikely to be worth heaps but check your local library for a banknote catalogue in the first instance - bearing in mind that notes in average condition will be worth a lot less than top-grade ones, and also that catalogue prices are what you could expect to pay a dealer, not what you would be likely to get for them :-)
There are lots of Russian bonds around from the revolutionary period but I have no idea if they've been catalogued or where you could even start in terms of establishing value, unfortunately.

translateltd - 2015-01-20 11:24:00

#5490 Had a bit more time to look at these now. The 1899 note has the Shipov signature so was actually issued between 1912 and 1917. Catalogue is US$20 in average condition, which this appears to be. The 1932 Greek note catalogues only at a couple of dollars.

translateltd - 2015-01-20 17:09:00

translateltd wrote:

#5490 Had a bit more time to look at these now. The 1899 note has the Shipov signature so was actually issued between 1912 and 1917. Catalogue is US$20 in average condition, which this appears to be. The 1932 Greek note catalogues only at a couple of dollars.

Thank you so much for this information. I appreciate the trouble you went to.

happygirl1000 - 2015-01-20 17:15:00

And the "Bond" is listed in the Specialised banknote catalogue: it appears to be a 1919 (despite the 1917 date) 200 rouble "Committee Savings Loan Note" of the Government Bank, probably issued in Irkutsk. The place of issue would have been on the rubber stamp at bottom left, but it looks smudged/blurred on your example. Catalogue price is around the $10 mark for a used, well folded example like this. So nothing to retire on, unfortunately, but some interesting history for someone to find out some more about :-)

translateltd - 2015-01-20 17:19:00

Got some coins that I want to put on trademe soon, would it best to put them on individually, or all together.

From various country, NZ, USA, UK, OZ, Fiji?

Should I do it by country?

brett21 - 2015-01-22 19:34:00

836532857 hmmm... seems a tad pricey for a 1948 shilling in that condition. But no harm trying, I suppose!!!

here's a VERY similar one on the ebay, that went for a whole lot less!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Uncirculated-1948-New-Zealand-One-Sh
illing-Silver-Foreign-Coin-Free-S-H-/231431354624?pt=US_Worl
d_Coins&hash=item35e2623900&nma=true&si=qIQn9ic7
A24A2eBTfcGajuf%252BqTM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&am
p;_trksid=p2047675.l2557

dtpapa - 2015-01-23 07:58:00

The eBay one may be a smidge ambitious on the "uncirculated" front, looking at the enlargements, though.
Another from the same seller that caught my attention earlier this morning - these were the ones that the RBNZ briefly banned in 2012 after possibly over-reacting to them: 837341672

translateltd - 2015-01-23 10:08:00

at least with that ebay coin you can't complain that you did not know exactly what you were buying! Free shipping to boot!! As I said, both coins are VERY VERY similar (I added an extra VERY there!!)

I've seen a number of retro NZ coins around. Who makes them? They all seem to have very low mintage claims. Not sure how valid the claims are, because they do seem to turn up fairly often!!

dtpapa - 2015-01-23 16:53:00

For the retro items, Google "patina collection" and "INA", "UK Mint" and "Donald R. Golder", who seems to have designed most of the recent ones. UK Mint (a private entity, nothing to do with the Royal Mint) used to offer on its website to mix and match any of its dies to order, so you could get the Waitangi anniversary one paired with Queen Victoria if you wanted. All that had gone last time I looked.

Edited by translateltd at 7:10 pm, Fri 23 Jan

translateltd - 2015-01-23 19:08:00

Time for a hundy.

translateltd - 2015-01-23 19:10:00