Today I Bought...

[hyphenated]

Here's a comparison Koban

This one is a replica - it's from a Japanese theme park, I think. Not gold.

 

[Luker]

10oz Skulls from YPS

 

[Luker]

Not made of a precious material, but sculpted by an artist whose work I admire very much! (Haven't yet made the purchase but intend to )

*********************************************************************************************************

 

[Gatito Bandito]

Luker is on a roll!


Are those antiqued brass? Or bronze?

And you're going to have to share with us, who & where.

 

[phrenzy]

I got this not long after I got my koban, just arrived, it's all the Meiji era gold and silver ingot coins, life sized in gold and silver plated metal mounted with their japanese names. It's pretty big and I wasn't planning on buying more japanese ingot coins but having this board on my wall is making me feel like I gotta catch 'em all.

 

[Luker]

Luker is on a roll!


Are those antiqued brass? Or bronze?

And you're going to have to share with us, who & where.

Heidi Wastweet (Sculptress/ Medallic Sculptor)

"Heidi Wastweet is a leading American Medallist and sculptor who specializes in bas-relief bronzes. In conjunction with a wide variety of private mints she has produced over 1000 coins, medals, tokens and rare coin replicas since 1987. She was chief engraver for Sunshine Mint for 11 years and lead designer/sculptor for Global Mint for 5 years. In 2001 she opened her own studio and relocated from Idaho to Seattle Washington in 2003 and then to San Francisco Bay in 2013. She serves as vice president for the American Medallic Sculpture Association and is former president and founder of Seattle Sculpture Guild as well as a member of FIDEM. She has been shown in Coin World and Coinage magazine and exhibits her non-commission work regularly including the National Sculpture Society in New York and the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington. In 2010 she was invited to serve a four year term on the Citizen's Coinage Advisory Commitee for the US Mint in Washington DC and is now serving her second term.



Medal and coin credits include a 7 coin set issued by the Sultanate of Darfur, Asian Hall of Fame Award medal, the Dean's Award for Seattle University School of Law, Alumnus Award for Stephen F. Austin University, Mayo Clinic visiting physicians medal, Stanford University Alumni medal and Island records Willie Nelson portrait. In addition to medalic art she has also created a number of public art pieces including a recent commission for the University of Washington's Medal of Honor Monument in Seattle and eight bronze relief panels for 12 foot high church doors for St. Paul's in Pensacola, Florida."

http://www.wastweetstudio.com/resume.html


20 numbered limited edition artist's proof Dante medals (not sure whether she has any left as her post on Facebook generated a lot of interest )
This was made from her larger Dante bronze relief with added unique reverse. ( http://www.wastweetstudio.com/ss_Dante.html )

 

[mick143]

This week I bought 10oz RCM bar, 1oz 1993 Kookaburra, 1oz x10 American Silver Eagles and 1oz x10 2011 Koalas!

Awesomeeeeeeee

 

[opeyl9]

Maybe after use for a long time...

 

[Luker]

10 oz. Fine Silver Coin 100th Anniversary of In Flanders Fields Mintage: 500 (2015)

I purchased this coin today- Admittedly quite pricey, but I really like the design and that it is low mintage for an RCM product (The most recent/? first ever RCM 10oz coin (Einstein) had a mintage of 1,500) , but also since I grew up on McCrae Street (the namesake of the poem writer) in my hometown.

Cheers,
Luker



In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

- In Flanders Fields, John McCrae (1872-1918)

Specifications

No.147042
Mintage500
Composition99.99% pure silver
Finishproof
Weight (g) 311.5
Diameter (mm) 76.25
Edgeserrated
Certificateserialized
Face value100 dollars
ArtistTony Bianco (reverse), Sir E. B. MacKennal (obverse)

 

[hiho]

1886 M Sovereign
[imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/1403_australian-50c-coin-round-in-pure-silver-c1966-very-rare8u9kg6wx.jpg]

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[imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/1403_australian-50c-coin-round-in-pure-silver-c1966-very-raretnf4sgi3.jpg]

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[Silverpv]

2015 wedge tail BU

 

[trozau]

This one makes me a little sad. It's probably the coolest thing I'll ever own, it's all down hill from here, I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of my life, maybe take up nitting? No point looking for something better than this.

This is a Japanese Edo period 1 ryo koban. This is the unit of account for Samurai, Daimyo and merchants. Because the Shogun was in a contestant power struggle with the Daimyo and couldn't easily tax them they debased the currency with increasing amounts of silver. By 1819 when this koban was minted it was almost half silver, by the beginning of the Meiji period it was as low as 23% in some cases. This coin/ingot could have bought roughly 40 nice meals in an inn or 1 koku which was notionally enough rice to feed a man for a year (around 150kg), this was the way that local lords would measure the productivity of their lands and pay their samurai.

This koban might have been used to pay a ninja to assassinate a local feif or as part retainer for a low level samurai. It might have been held in the treasury of the shogun or given as a devotional item to a temple.

It's around 6cm long and came with a great authenticity certificate folder from JNDA which describes it and has a pictures of the obverse and reverse in it.

It was a little over spot but totally worth it.

http://s22.postimg.org/fmr5exuwh/20150815_160824.jpg
http://s14.postimg.org/3u5shg7yp/20150815_160844.jpg
http://s11.postimg.org/4ldybkblf/20150815_161030.jpg

Actually, in doing a bit of research for this post I came across something even cooler, so I still have a goal! An oban is worth 10 ryo which is roughly 10 times bigger than my koban. They're about 16cm tall and text on the front reads 10 ryo. Because you had to pay a fee to have the calligraphic wiring on the front re-done if it rubbed off they were generally pretty well looked after apparently. Unfortunately they seem to go for pretty penny, it's going to take all my powers of bargain hunting to get one of these.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Keicho_Oban_1601.jpg

Here are pics from the world wide web of my personal PM curiosities (bought quite a while back). The real things would NOT be affordable to me so I am happy to have modern day official mint reproductions...

Early kobans (c.1600) weighed 18 grams of 842 fine gold. Kobans made in the mid-1800s weighed 11.2 grams of 600 fine gold. And the last koban made in the 1860s weighed only 3.3 grams of 600 fine gold. Below is a modern day reproduction of the 1600's Japan Keicho Koban (pic from Panda America)...

1990 struck BU Japan Keicho Koban. This recently issued Japan Mint Keicho Koban commemorative is an impressive size of 75mm x 38mm and weighs 19.5 grams of pure (9999 fine) gold. They are made in the classic way, hand struck with a number of punches indicating the denomination, authority under which it was issued, the mint and the era during which it was produced.

In ancient times, the Chinese emperors kept Vault Protector coins to bring them good luck/fortune and to protect their treasures. Below is a modern day gold reproduction of the Bao Yuan Vault Protector coin (pic from Panda America)...

Undated, 1990 minted, proof China 1+ troy ounce (1 tael) .999 gold Bao Yuan Vault Protector coin (the only 1 troy ounce gold Vault Protector coin minted by the China Mint to date).

 

[SpacePete]

As mentioned, it's a real pity someone cleaned it.

 

[Dutchgreener]

Bought this for just a few euro.
Turned out to be number 8 known in the world
Can you spot why?

Going to sell it after slabbing in exchange for bullion I think...

 

[serial]

because it is spelt 1 penney instead of penny

 

[spannermonkey]

I was at my local branch this morning & an old lady was cashing these in
So I had to quickly borrow some $ for a couple of hours

 

[spannermonkey]

 

[excalibur]

Just WOW! How many did you get?

 

[SpacePete]

Did you get them for 50c each????!?

 

[spannermonkey]

Just WOW! How many did you get?

Can't remember
I get confused after "2" :lol: