Aussie Half Penny Sets $500,000 Record and 1930 Proof Penny Being Offered
|
|
Coinworks has just sold the Proof 1923 Halfpenny for a world record price of $500,000. The only proof example of Australia’s rarest halfpenny available to collectors, the iconic copper was quickly snapped up by a prominent Sydney family. |
|
Austria releases Year of Astronomy 25 Euro Coin
|
In order to celebrate the 2009 Year of Astronomy the Austrian Mint is set to release a bi-metallic 25 Euro Silver-niobium coin on 11 March 2009.
|
|
Birth Year Set Completed
|
It was well over a year ago when our numismatist made the decision to assemble a world coin birth year set honoring his birth year of 1941. The announcement of this quest was published in the February 2008 installment of this column. The task was simple, he would acquire one 1941-dated coin from each country.
|
|
Memo Bans Chinese Coin Import
|
|
On the 30th anniversary of entering into diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, the outgoing Bush Administration announced Jan. 14 that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the PRC that will make illegal the export from China, or third countries into the U.S., certain cultural properties more than 250 years old. |
|
Market Strength Evident
|
It appears that 2008 ended on a strong note for at least two of the three precious metals. There remains unprecedented demand for small (easily stored, hidden and transported) gold and silver. This proved helpful for the entire numismatic market with the exception of some entry level items like proof and mint sets and modern issues, especially the heavily promoted MS/PF-68 to -70 items.
|
|
Slovakia Transitions from Koruna to Euro
|
Slovakia is ringing in the new year with a new currency. Slovakia is now the 16th country in the so-called Euro Zone, a European Union member nation that has adopted the euro as its currency unit.
|
|
Gold, Silver Headed for New Records
|
As gold nears the $1,000 Rubicon yet again, the economic world is topsy-turvy.
The Dow Jones industrial average is in a downward spiral, and fundamental economic laws that we have come to expect simply no longer hold. Some people are beginning to say that the "R" word and the "D" word are not political terms, but rather economic ones. |
|
Charles Darwin 1809 - 1882
|
Destined to become one of the most influential men in world history, Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury on 12 February 1809. A £2 coin now marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and focuses on his theory that man descended from apes, featuring a portrait of Darwin in profile along with that of a chimpanzee. The edge inscription, meanwhile, recalls the publication of his theory with the words ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859.
|
|
Secretary Bird in South African Coat of Arms
|
In my opinion, one of the world's most interesting birds is one I have never seen alive, only figures and photos in guide books. If observed at a distance, it is said to resemble a crane, likely a blue crane in South Africa, and its head could remind one of an eagle's head with hooked beak. It is neither a crane nor eagle, but it is an odd-appearing raptor belonging to the Order Falconiformes and its own family - Sagittariidae. Give up? It's the secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius).
|
|
COTY Goes to Mongolia
|
The 26th annual Coin of the Year award winner is a 500-tugrik silver coin issued by the National Bank of Mongolia promoting wildlife protection. It portrays a gulo gulo, a wolverine-like creature depicted with diamonds for eyes.
|
|
