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 Friday, May 04, 2007
Posted by tom
Focus Country
Yesterday the Royal Canadian Mint announced that they had struck some huge gold coins. I mean very, very large. At 21 inches or 53 centimeters across and with a thickness of 1.2 inches or three centimeters, I think this is the biggest coin ever struck! There are plenty of stories in the Canadian press as well as the U.S., Indian and New Zealand press. One of the ones I read at Canada.Com with Canadian Press credit, had an excellent perspective image with Sanjay Gupta, CEO of Shirpur Gold Refinery Ltd taking a good close look. Just imagine the press power it must have taken to strike this thing!
British Colonial enthusiast and writer, Aidan Work applied the term "Coinzilla" to this new mammoth effort and I think it fits very nicely! Word from Aidan is that "There's been a report of 10 pieces having been struck of the Coinzilla with 3 of them having being sold so far at C$3,000,000 each,even though their denomination is C$1,000,000!". Yahoo News mentioned that this new denomination only came about through an amendment to the Canadian currency act. But that's the fun of it, this is the largest denomination coin in the wolrd. In fact, I'm pretty sure this carries a larger denomination that any banknote in circulation as well.
- Melt value, using todays london pm fix, would be about $1,822,565 in U.S. dollars.
- Face value is $1,000,000 Canadian, or about $900,000 in U.S. dollars.
- Reported sale price is $3,000,000 Canadian, or about $2,700,000 in U.S. dollars.
While that may seem like a healthy profit, remember that the Royal Canadian Mint engineers had to develop the technology to strike a coin of this size. I am sure that was no small task! The press they got from this is not small either and I am sure this was part of their mission, as this coin and all the new Maple Leaf series are moving to a five digit fineness at .99999 fine. That's about as close to pure as you're going to get.
Focus Country
5/4/2007 6:26:36 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Update on British Commonwealth catalogs
Posted by tom
Old to New - Book Review Update
Just heard from Aidan Work, who let me know that Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins will be available as a FREE download from www.coincraft.com sometime later this year. Check it out at their website.
Old to New - Book Review
5/4/2007 5:23:41 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Posted by tom
Friday Fix
 London pm fixes for 5-04-07
Gold $688.80
Silver $13.40
Platinum $1311.00
Palladium $374.00
Friday Fix
5/4/2007 12:07:28 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Last Orders
Posted by tom
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
Finally found a real standout film among all the Helen Mirren films I have been watching. It's a British film from 2001 titled Last Orders and starring Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone. The story basically presents a man's life through the accounts of his mates and family after his death. The plot is set in a road trip format, as the survivors travel to scatter his ashes. With a great ensemble cast, fine depth of passion, excellent acting and a compelling story line this film really holds your attention while presenting good entertainment value for the viewer.
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
5/4/2007 11:58:24 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, May 03, 2007
Responsibility
Posted by tom
Tom's Inescapable Truths
As a teen I ran towards responsibility, in my middle years I embraced it, but in my twilight years I plan on running away from it as fast as possible!
Tom's Inescapable Truths
5/3/2007 3:57:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, May 02, 2007
British Colonial collecting
Posted by tom
Old to New - Book Review
I had a call yesterday from a collector who wanted to know what books were available for specialists in British Colonial coinage. That really made me think. Back in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's this was quite a popular collecting field, and there were several books produced, but today the emphasis is much more on broad catalogs like the Standard Catalog series from Krause Publications or country specific guide books like Coins of England and the United Kingdom from Spink.
To build a nice working library for British Colonial coinage today, you would have to buy between ten and twenty books. First I would recommend tracking down one of the two major older catalogs on British Commonwealth and Colonial coins:
- The Guidebook and Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins by Jerome Remick, last published in 1971
- Spink's Catalogue of British Colonial and Commonwealth Coins by Andre de Clermont, last published in 1986
Next it would be wise to acquire a set of The British Commonwealth of Nations series by F. Pridmore. Spink published these in various bindings over the years. Some volumes are difficult to find and none are cheap, but the information compiled by Pridmore stands up to the test of time. The series had volumes covering the West Indies, European Territories, India, Asia and such. The West Indies volume has always been very useful, coupled with a few cut and countermarked auction references and the classic West Indies Countermarked Gold Coins by Ralph Gordon.
The third step would be to purchase a pair of the basic catalogs on England - United Kingdom and Scotland - Ireland. There are two available options. Spink produces the annual Coins of England and the United Kingdom, plus the sporadic Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man and Lundy), while Coincraft has compiled Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins 1066 to date and Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of the coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands & Isle of Man. I like the Coincraft books for ease of use, but the Spink books are more current. Either set will do the job.
To cover what may have been missed in the above group I would also suggest filling in with two major world catalogs from the KP series:
- Spink Coin Auctions No. 79 from October 1990
- Spink Coin Auctions No. 88 from October 1991
These two sales offered parts one and two of the R. J. Ford Collection of British Colonial coins. Part one was comprised of coins from Europe and the West Indies, while part two offered coins from Africa and the Indian Ocean countries. Together these sales offer a great deal of market information and illustrate a wide spectrum of British Colonial coinage. While there are many other worthy auction catalogs for British Colonial, I know of no others, which offer so much in such compact form.
So there you are, at about a dozen books and auction catalogs, with a good working numismatic library for British Colonial coinage. Of course I have stayed with those references, which are most cost efficient and have the most coin coverage. There are many more expensive references which can give the collector more historical perspective, but that is a pursuit for the more advanced. Also I have excluded British tokens and Colonial America, since those are each strong individual collecting areas on their own, which can be covered in future postings.
If you find yourself wanting more for your British Colonial reference library, check out some of these peripheral titles.
Other moderately priced books you might consider adding to your British Commonwealth library at some future point, as your interests become more specialized would include:
- Rennicks Australian Coin & Banknote Values
- The Pocket Guide to Australian Coins and Banknotes by Greg McDonald
- Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins
- A History of Currency in the British Colonies by Robert Chalmers
- The Coinage of British West Africa & St. Helena 1684-1958 by David Vice
- Illustrated Catalogue of Hong Kong Currency by Ma Tak Wo
- Standard Catalogue of Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei Coin & Paper Money edited by Steven Tan
- The Scottish Coinage by Ian Halley Stewart
- The Crown Pieces of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth by Howard W. A. Linecar
- Rennicks New Zealand Coin and Banknote Values by Dion Skinner and Alistair Robb
- The Coins and Tokens of British Oceania by Robert L. Clarke
Other auction catalogs you might consider adding to your library as your interests become more advanced would include:
- Spink London No. 184, October 2006, The Jerry Remick Collection of Colonial and British Commonwealth Coins, Part I - Australia and Asia
- Whyte's of Dublin, April 2000, The Millennial Collection of Irish Coinage
- Bowers and Ruddy Galleries in conjunction with Spink & Son, Ltd., February 1976, The Dundee Collection of Scottish Coins
Some inexpensive older books, which may still retain some usefulness to British Colonial collectors, include:
- Coins of the British World - Complete from 500 A.D. to Present by Robert Friedberg, which really covers British Empire from 1600-1962 and British Isle from 500 A.D. to 1962 by coin types.
- A Guide Book of Modern British Commonwealth Coins by Robert P. Harris
- British Colonial Coins and Tokens by J. Verner Scaife, Jr.
- Coins of the World - British Colonies and Dominions in Asia and the Pacific (except India) by Wayte Raymond
- Coins of the World - British Colonies in Africa, Union of South Africa, Independent African Countries by Wayte Raymond
Old to New - Book Review
5/2/2007 11:07:01 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, April 27, 2007
Babel
Posted by tom
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
Most of this week I've been watching Helen Mirren films, but I'm going to cheat a bit for this weeks recommended film and choose one I viewed a few weeks back called Babel, starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It's an intersection type of story with good world ties, fine acting and an interesting moral message. What I take from Babel is the idea that no matter how small we think the world has become through quicker communication methods, we are all still pretty isolated. We stand alone, though we touch many, many lives every day, every minute and our decisions have far reaching effects.
For more information and reviews of Babel you might like to check out the Internet Movie Database. IMDb has tons of information on all films, plus reviews from users and lots of good biographical and filmography data. In fact, for your future reference I think I'll add IMDb to my link list.
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
4/27/2007 5:26:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Posted by tom
Friday Fix
London pm fixes for 4-27-07
Gold $677.50
Silver $13.35
Platinum $1281.00
Palladium $371.00
Friday Fix
4/27/2007 11:27:59 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Posted by tom
KP Update
Work is almost finished on the 2nd edition of The Standard Catalog of World Coins 21st Century and the brand new Standard Catalog of Modern World Gold Coins 1st edition. Editorial work has been completed on both books, and they are now in the hands of our fine production and design staffs, who will wrap them up and send them off to the printers within the next three weeks. By early July both books should be available for purchase.
Begining now and running through the summer months the editorial staff will be working on new editions of the 18th Century Standard Catalog of World Coins 4th edition and an expanded 5th edition of the ever popular Unusual World Coins . By the beginning of August we should have all editorial content set for the 18th Century book, while content for Unusual World Coins will be wrapped up by the end of September. If anyone has comments, additions, or suggestions for these two catalogs, just drop me a line!
KP Update
4/27/2007 10:46:02 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Snippets of fun stuff
Posted by tom
Auction Lot of the Week
I’m always looking at auction lots, both on line and in catalogs, so each week I’ll share with you one of the more unusual ones I’ve come across. Tom’s Inescapable TruthsWe’ll attempt to inject a little humor into this Blog with some funny little quips on family and office life.  Price Change of the WeekValues are continually being changed in our database. Each week I’ll cue you in to a single price change of prominent significance. Tom’s Recommended Film of the Week I watch a lot of movies, so each week, just for fun, you’ll get to find out which one I thought was the best. Focus Country
Here I will try to give you a little news you can use. This segment will feature a country, which is on the move price wise, or has some significant news worthy event happening that day or week. Friday FixEach Friday I’ll post the precious metals closes, London fix.  Commemorative Showdown!With commemortive coinage exploding all over the market, I thought it would be interesting to create ratios of population compared to number of commemorative coin types by country. Over time we'll be able to rank counties by their ratios to see which ones produce the most commeorative coins per capita. Population data will be derived from the CIA website, while commemorative type totals will be compiled from the Standard Catalog of World Coins database for issues from 1901 to present. Old to New – Book ReviewA guide to building a working numismatic library, based on brief reviews of older references and classic auction catalogs, along with reviews of new works and recent auction sales of significance. KP UpdateFor those who like to be in the know, I'll give you the inside track on what Standard catalogs and other new coin books are on the horizon from Krause Publications, plus Numismaster updates and news of other web offerings.
Auction Lot of the Week | Commemorative Showdown! | Focus Country | Friday Fix | KP Update | Old to New - Book Review | Price Change of the Week | Tom's Inescapable Truths | Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
4/24/2007 5:49:59 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Welcome
Posted by tom
Welcome to my Blog! Here’s your chance to peer a little way into my mind and learn a bit about the way I think, the things I feel are significant and the way I view the world in it’s ever shifting facets. It’s been almost 20 years that I’ve been charged with the responsibility of market analysis for the standard Catalog of World Coins series. During that time I’ve had the privilege of working with some great numismatists! I’ve also had the opportunity to refine the catalogs, bring some old books back to life, start a few new ones and in general, give back to the hobby that opened me up to a wider world as a child. It’s been fun, and I’m looking forward to this new venture as an even more efficient means to better communication and idea exchange among my friends, associates and those who use KP products. Each Wednesday I’ll make some kind of text based Blog entry. During the other days of the week I plan on putting up a few snippets of fun stuff from the list displayed in my next blog entry. Some you’ll see weekly, others only on occasion. You’ll be able to follow threads on these short entries in the category section on the left hand navigation bar, just check by title, or you can scan the Blog field for the icons and titles. Just so you know what I’m up to I’ve included a brief explanation of each one in the next posting. Read, enjoy, get riled up, agree, disagree and above all, feel free to comment at will!
4/24/2007 12:10:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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