World's biggest gold coin

Many of you already knew which coin hold the records for World's biggest gold coin or the world largest gold coin, Perth Mint 1 tonne Gold Kangaroo coin. When I check Guinness World record website today, look like the record for the world largest gold coin had not yet changed. Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) 1 million gold coin is still in their record as the largest gold coin. RCM gold coin is still the purest gold coin with 99.999 pure gold. If RCM 1 million gold coin weighing at 100 Kilogram need 3 mens to lift the coins, how many mens are needed to lift the new largest gold coin?

Perth Mint 1 tonne gold coin, 1 tonne Gold Kangaroo coin, measures nearly 80cms wide and more than 12cms deep, weighing a massive 1000 kilograms of 99.99% pure gold. The first 1 tonne gold coin by Perth Mint is certainly the most valuable gold bullion coin in the world with a market price of gold right now, it has a USD$55 million price tag on it. The coin is legal tender in Australia. The coin reverse shows a bounding red kangaroo surrounded by stylized rays of sunlight and bordered by the inscription AUSTRALIAN KANGAROO 1 TONNE 9999 GOLD and the year-date 2012. Read More.

Photo by Reuters: It need 3 men's to lift up the coin.

On May 3, 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) unveiled a 1million Gold Maple Leaf coin by artist Stanley Witten, with a face value of $1 million Canadian dollar. The weight of the coin is 100 kilograms, and measures 50 cm in diameter by 3 cm thick. The coin is mainly a promotional product to give the RCM a higher international profile. The 100-kilogram coin was conceived as a showpiece to promote the RCM's new line of 99.999 percent pure, one-ounce gold maple leaf bullion coins. The coin is made only to order and so far five have been produced. It is not 'struck' like a conventional coin, but is instead cast then machined to the right size and shape. Read More.

The 31 kg (68 pound) "Big Phil", which was made to honour the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, a €100,000 gold coin, worth about C$153,000. The Austrian coin is 37 centimetres across and weighs 31 kilograms. It is minted by the 800-year-old Austrian Mint, each with a face value of 100,000 euros and bearing a replica of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's famed hall on one side and orchestral instruments on the other. (Hence the nickname Big Phil). With only 15 of the coin minted so far. The Big Phil were introduced in 5 October 2004.

World 1st 1 tonne gold coin

Yesterday, Perth Mint announce World 1st, 1 tonne gold coin, 1 tonne Gold Kangaroo coin. The coin measures nearly 80cms wide and more than 12cms deep, weighing a massive 1000 kilograms of 99.99% pure gold, make it the new largest gold coin in the world. Previous holder of the largest gold coin released by Royal Canadian Mint in May 2007, 1 million dollar gold maple leaf coin, only weight at 100 kilos and measures 50 cm in diameter by 3 cm thick. The first 1 tonne gold coin by Perth Mint is certainly the  most valuable gold bullion coin in the world with a market price of gold right now, it has a USD$55 million price tag on it.

The coin reverse shows a bounding red kangaroo surrounded by stylised rays of sunlight and bordered by the inscription AUSTRALIAN KANGAROO 1 TONNE 9999 GOLD and the year-date 2012.

The coin obverse of the coin features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the inscriptions ELIZABETH II, AUSTRALIA and the monetary denomination of 1 MILLION DOLLARS.

Here are behind the scene video's for the Australian Kangaroo One Tonne Coin:

Perth Mint also share a new websites to promote their new 1 tonne coin, visit 1tonnegoldcoin.com or youtube.com/user/perthmintbullion for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage. You can also view the Australian Kangaroo One Tonne Coin at Burswood Entertainment Complex until Sunday 30 October 2011. The coin also has Australian legal tender status.

Extremely rare £1million note on auction

Extremely rare £1million note on auction by British private collector and is expected to sell for only £50,000 ($80,000). Its sound like an easy way to make it to the millionaire club but the banknote is no longer legal tender. The banknote issued by British Treasury on 30 August 1948 for economic reconstruction but cancelled on 6 October 1948. This Treasury note entitles the Bank of England to payment of one million pounds on demand out of the consolidated fund of the United Kingdom. The notes were only in use for six weeks and were never meant for public circulation. They were only intended for internal use between financial institutions to track money, reported the Daily Telegraph.

'How it found its way from the bank in the first place is anybody's guess,’ auctioneer Chris Webb told the Daily Mirror.

The notes was one of only nine given to the UK by the U.S. in President Harry Truman's Marshall Aid plan after World War Two. Only two of them have survived (numbers 000007 and 000008). The latter went for £78,300 ($125,000) at auction three years ago. Number 000007 was sold in a private sale for £8,000 ($13,000) in 1977 and listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest denomination privately owned at the time. The U.S. loaned the money at the time because it thought a strong Western Europe would help be a buffer to contain the rise of Russian communism.

Source: Daily Mail

Video: Making Largest Gold Coin

How do Royal Canadian Mint make the largest gold coins? I think everyone of you knew about the World's largest gold coin; Million-dollar coin by now. Royal Canadian Mint has released a video: Making largest gold coin. In this video, they show how the biggest world coin in the world works process done by their stuff. Its not easy to make a big coin like that and from the video, look like almost all the job are done by hands. For a 100 kilos of gold and a pure 99.999/1000 gold, a careful inspection is a must. 

On May 3, 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) unveiled a Gold Maple Leaf coin by artist Stanley Witten, with a face value of $1 million Canadian dollar. The weight of the coin is 100 kilograms, and measures 50 cm in diameter by 3 cm thick. The coin is mainly a promotional product to give the RCM a higher international profile. The 100-kilogram coin was conceived as a showpiece to promote the RCM's new line of 99.999 percent pure, one-ounce gold maple leaf bullion coins.

In June 2010, a piece of this largest gold coin auctioned by Dorotheum auction house for 3.27 million euros ($4.02 million). The auction was ordered by the administrator of Austrian investment group AvW Invest, which filed for insolvency in May after its owner and chief executive was arrested on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and other charges. the auctioned won by ORO direct, a Spanish precious metals trading company. So far, only 5 of this coins exist; including Queen Elizabeth, who is also displayed on one side of the coin, two unidentified investors in Dubai and one who is so reclusive even his or her residence is unknown.

World’s first paper money

A reader asked me via Facebook, what is World’s first paper money? Nowadays, almost all banknote collectors knew that it is the Jiaozhi banknote and I had share about it before in my 2008 post; World's First banknote. The banknote is from China Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD). The notes are widely used in Chengdu and were stamped with manifold Banknote seals in order to combat counterfeits. The first Bank saving management in the world also started in Chengdu which were called Jiaozhiwu (Office of Jiaozhi).

It all started when people used paper money as a circulating medium after a shortages of metal for coins. In ancient China coins were circular with a rectangular hole in the middle. Several coins could be strung together on a rope. Merchants in China, if they became rich enough, found that their strings of coins were too heavy to carry around easily. To solve this problem, coins were often left with a trustworthy person, and the merchant was given a slip of paper recording how much money he had with that person. If he showed the paper to that person he could regain his money. Eventually from this paper money jiaozi originated.

Jiaozi, also named jiaochao, appeared in China in 1154 during the reign of the Jin regime (1115-1234). It was believed in the past that Jin regime hired coining workers of Song (960-1279), Jin's preceding dynasty, to make the paper notes. Made of coarse jute paper, jiaozi was too hard to be preserved and not a piece of such paper has been discovered so far. The copper printing plate used during the Zhenyou period (1213- 1217) of the Jin dynasty is kept in the Museum of the Chinese History now, has become the only proof to tell the identity of jiaozi.

Source: Wikipedia

First gold coin minted in USA

What is the first gold coin minted in USA? The answer will be $5 Half Eagle also reffered to as the Capped Bust to Right Small Eagle. The Half Eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since the 1980s. Composed almost entirely of gold, it has a face value of five dollars. Its production was authorized by The Act of April 2, 1792, and it was the first gold coin minted by the United States. Many of the gold coins had been melted for their gold content. Its a very rare coins and very expensive.

Picture by Heritage Auction

The design and composition of the half eagle changed many times over the years, but it was originally designed by Robert Scot. At this time the coin contained .9167 gold and .0833 copper and silver. It had a diameter of approximately 25 mm, a weight of 8.75 grams, and a reeded edge. The obverse design, or "Turban Head", depicted a capped portrait of Liberty facing to the right. The reverse depicted a small eagle. This type was produced from 1795 to 1798. Simultaneously, another type was minted that depicted a larger heraldic eagle on the reverse with the inscription "E PLURIBUS UNUM". This type was produced through 1807.

Technical Specification:

Content: .9167 gold and .0833 copper and silver

Denomination: $5

Diameter: 25 mm

Weight: 8.75grams

Edge: Reeded

Year: 1795

Mintage: 8,707

Designer: Robert Scot

Source: Wikipedia, Heritage Auction.

The Most Famous Ancient Coin

The Most Famous Ancient Coin in History, The "Ides of March", Silver Denarius minted by Julius Caesar assassin Marcus Brutus will be auctioned by Heritage auction on 9 September 2011. The coin pre-auction estimate is $500,000+ and if it reach that, it will establish a record price for a Roman silver coin. The coin has been in collection of many famous people including Hollywood producer Sy Weintraub and the actor Peter Weller. It was also in the world-famous Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection. Since the early part of the 2000s, the coin has been part of a private Arizona holding.

The dime-sized silver coin depicts the head of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the ringleaders of the assassination plot, on its obverse. The reverse depicts a dome-shaped liberty cap (traditionally given to freed slaves), flanked by two drawn daggers and the Latin inscription EID MAR “Ides of March”. The dome-shaped liberty cap and two drawn daggers indicates Brutus' intention of freeing Rome from Caesar's imperial ambitions and the murder weapons employed to do so. The coin celebrated an assassination of Julius Caesar on the 15 March 44 BC.

Marcus Junius Brutus were born about 85 BC. Brutus was from a long line of Romans famous for resisting tyranny and defending Republican liberty. He was a close friend and protégé of Julius Caesar, but when Caesar seized power as Dictator in 49 BC, Brutus joined the Republican forces opposed to him. After the defeat of the Republicans the following year, Caesar pardoned Brutus and gave him every preferment. As Caesar became more megalomaniacal, however, Brutus joined the conspiracy against him and is said to have delivered the fatal dagger thrust, prompting Caesar’s final words (spoken in Greek), “You too, my child?”

Brutus had carried out the attack with some fellow Roman Senators in 44 BC when Caesar had come unarmed to address the Senate on 15 March. This day was known to the Romans as the ides, or the middle day of the month and was recognised on a new calendar system that Caesar himself had established just two years before.

After the murder, the conspirators or “freedom party” fled Rome to Macedonia to raise an army. Brutus assembled a pro-Republican power base in Macedonia (Greece) where he could wage war against Caesar’s successors, Mark Antony and Octavian. Looting gold and silver from the local population, he began to strike coins to pay his growing army. Amongst the coins the conspirators briefly struck to this end was this, the 'Ides of March' denarius.

In a final twist of fate, Brutus used the same dagger he had plunged into Caesar to take his own life following his final defeat at the second battle of Philippi on 23 October 42 BC. The Eid Mar denarii became rare because the type was deliberately recalled and melted down by the victors, Mark Antony and Octavian.

Source: Heritage Auction, British Museum.

The most perfect counterfeit banknote

A rare set of fake banknotes by Hitler will be auctioned by Mullock's auctioneers at Ludlow Racecourse, Shropshire on August 18. The fake pound notes printed in "Operation Bernhard" intend to ruin British economy during world war 2. A set of four bank notes (£5, £10, £20 and £50 notes) recovered from Lake Toplitz in Austria will be auctioned next month and are expected to fetch £2,000 at the auction. The forgery by Hitler is the most perfect counterfeit banknote in history.

In 1942, Hitler produced £134million of counterfeit notes in "Operation Bernhard". Nazi spies had been ordered to smuggle the cash into Britain and flood the economy with the fake money. But Hitler's plan was foiled when British spies got wind of the idea and intercepted the shipment of the notes. The Bank of England first learned of a plot from a spy as early as 1939. It first came across the actual notes in 1943, and declared them "the most dangerous ever seen."

The initial plan was to destabilize the British economy by dropping the notes from aircraft, but Hermann Goering's Luftwaffe declared it did not have enough planes to deliver the forgeries, and the assets were put in the hands of SS foreign intelligence. Many were transferred from SS headquarters to a former hotel near Meran in South Tyrol, Northern Italy, from where they were laundered and used to pay for strategic imports and German secret agents operating in the Allied countries.

The Nazis forced Jewish prisoners, experts in engraving and printing, held at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to produce the notes. By the time Sachsenhausen was evacuated in April 1945 the printing press had produced 8,965,080 banknotes with a total value of £134,610,810. At the war's end the mint notes still in Germany were dumped in Lake Toplitz together with the printing plates made to produce them after 'Operation Bernhard' was abandoned with just a handful of notes having made it into British circulation. The notes are considered among the most perfect counterfeits ever produced, being almost impossible to distinguish from the real currency.

In 1959, German magazine, Stern, finance a diving team to retrieved the forged sterling currency Operation Bernhard hidden in boxes, and a printing press. They were taken out of the lake by divers but have amazingly stayed in great condition.

Source: Daily Mail UK

China dragon coin auction record

A gold China dragon coin auction record for £46,000 in a recent Spink auction. The China Kuping Tael, depicts a symbolic Chinese dragon surrounded by clouds on its face, with the value, date and inscription 'Ta Ching Gold Coin' on its reverse. Many people target the coin price can go as far as £97,000 but its only come a little bit over its lower estimate. The gold pattern K’uping Tael coin broke Spink previous record for dragon coin at £36,800.

Detail of the coin from Spink:

China, Empire, Kuang-hsu (1875-1908), gold pattern K’uping Tael, 1906, Tientsin mint, plain edge, dragon surrounded by large clouds within plain circle, no inscription, rev. four characters, ‘Ta Ching Gold Coin’ within beaded circle, date over, value below (F.1; Kann 1540; L&M.1023), in NGC holder graded MS62, extremely rare.

World most expensive banknote

I have write a post about World most expensive banknote in my post the best paper money blog before but a reader still asked me about it. "You have a list of worlds most valuable and expensive coins in your blog but you never post what is the world's most expensive note yet". A highest price for a banknote that ever paid in auction is a US Grand Watermelon note. According to a press statement by Heritage Auction Gallery dated 16 December 2006, a buyer paid a world's record price of $2,255,000 for the United States bank note, more than double the previous record.

"The only other known red seal Grand Watermelon is in the museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco," said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage.

"This note is graded PMG VF-35. It is pedigreed to the famous Albert A. Grinnell collection and was sold at auction by Barney Bluestone for $1,230 in November 1944."

The anonymous seller of the record-breaking bill is described as "a private collector who owned the note for a number of years," and the anonymous buyer was described by Rohan as "a very advanced and sophisticated East Coast collector of art and rare currency."

The $2,255,000 price is more than double the previous record for a Grand Watermelon note, paid in a March 2005 auction for a brown seal, graded PCGS Currency-50. The previous world's record for any bank note was $2,100,000, set this past March each for a Series 1863 $100 denomination Gold Certificate (Fr. 1166c) and a unique Series 1891 $1,000 Treasury Note (Fr. 379c), both privately sold by Heritage.

The portrait on Grand Watermelon notes is Civil War-era General George Gordon Meade who commanded Union Army troops at the Battle of Gettysburg. The banknote get the name Grand Watermelon because of the large numeral fills and the zero on the reverse look like a big watermelon.

Source: Heritage Auction

Worlds most expensive gold dinar

A specialist auctioneers, Morton & Eden in London, make it in a record book for Worlds most expensive gold dinar and Dirham. The Umayyad dinar, one of the rarest and most highly-prized of all Islamic gold coins, struck possibly to coincide with an occasion when the Caliph himself led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, sold for a record £3,720,000 in a sale at specialist auctioneers Morton & Eden in London. First Islamic coins struck in the Sultanate of Oman, an extremely rare Umayyad silver dirham, one of only a handful known today dating from the Hijri year 90 (709 AD) sold for £1,080,000.

The Umayyad dinar, dated 105h (723AD) was struck from gold mined at a location owned by the Caliph himself; known on the coins as the “Mine of the Commander of the Faithful”. An additional legend which reads: “bi’l-Hijaz” (“in the Hejaz”), makes it the earliest Islamic coin to mention a location in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It had been expected to realise £300,000-400,000, but four bidders in the saleroom sent the price spiraling ever higher. It was purchased by the British trade on behalf of a European private collector.

A second, slightly earlier dinar (92h - 711AD) struck from gold from the same mines sold for £648,000. It had been estimated at £250,000-300,000.

Morton & Eden Islamic coins specialist Stephen Lloyd said: “We are absolutely thrilled and delighted with the results from this sale. We had worked very hard to promote these particular coins internationally, but the prices they have achieved have surpassed all expectations. Their success also demonstrates that sales by public auction are the only way to achieve the very highest prices for the very finest pieces.

“The excellent results for the two gold dinars early on in the sale, which was dedicated to important coins of the Islamic world, set the stage for the remainder and extremely strong prices were paid throughout.”

Scholars have identified the site of the mine itself as Ma`din Bani Sulaim, located north-west of the Holy City of Mecca. Gold has been mined there for thousands of years, and the site is still worked today. Remarkably, mediaeval Arab writers record that the Caliph bought a piece of land in this area, containing at least one gold mine, almost exactly when these coins were made. But while there is general agreement on the source of the gold, the question of exactly where these coins were struck is harder to answer.

“The capital, Damascus, is a strong possibility, but mint workers and their tools could easily have travelled with the Caliph and struck coins wherever he stayed,” Stephen Lloyd said. “Scholars have noted that the dates of these very rare dinars seem to coincide with the occasions when the Caliph himself led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, while an old inscription also shows that a road built specially for the pilgrimage went right past this mine. So one plausible theory argues that the Caliph visited his gold mines while en route for Mecca, and it is possible these coins might have been struck while he was travelling.”

“This coin reflects the importance of Oman and the Gulf region as a key commercial centre, then as now,” said Stephen Lloyd.

The sale raised a total of £6,673,560, against estimates of £886,000-£1.16 million.

Source: Morton & Eden Ltd.

Most valuable British coin: Double Leopard

What is the most valuable British coin today? England’s first large gold coin, the Edward III 1344 Double Leopard. The coin sold on 26 June 2006 for a staggering £460,000 (US$841,800) by Spink in London. This is a small amount compare to world's most expensive coin: 1794 Silver Dollar. This coin was discovered and dug up by a metal detectorist in the south of England. Only 3 known specimen for this coin. The two other examples, found in the bed of the river Tyne in 1857, are now both in the British Museum. This is therefore the only example in private hands. It is a slightly different variety to either of those in the British Museum.

The Gold Double Florin, authorised on 14 December 1343, was to circulate at a value of six-shillings. The Double Leopard was an attempt by English king Edward III to produce a gold coinage suitable for use in Europe as well as in England. The florin, based on a French coin and ultimately on coins issued in Florence, Italy, in 1252, was a standard coin widely used internationally, with a value of six shillings. Unfortunately the gold used to strike the coins was overvalued, resulting in the coins being unacceptable to merchants, and the coins were withdrawn after only a few months in circulation, in August 1344, to be melted down to produce the more popular gold Noble.

Edward III (1327-77) gold "Double Florin", also known as Double Leopard, struck in 1344. It had a face value of 6 shillings, and is 35 mm diameter. It was first authorised on 14 December 1343, but was replaced by a new coinage of Nobles on 9th July 1344. It was therefore only issued for seven months.

The obverse of the coin shows the King enthroned beneath a canopy, with two leopards' heads at the sides (the leopard being the heraldic "lion" on the English coat of arms); the legend is EDWR D GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC DNS HIB (Edward by the Grace of God King of England and France Lord of Ireland). The reverse of the coin shows the Royal cross within a quatrefoil, a leopard in each spandrel; the legend is IHC TRANSIENS PER MEDIUM ILLORUM IBAT (But Jesus passing through their midst went his way).

Source: Spink, Wikipedia.

Most valuable coins in the world

What are the most valuable coins in the world today? This are some collection that most of us will probably don't afford to buy. Don't waste your time asking around where to get this for your collection. The best thing you can get maybe a replica for this coins but don't get cheated by thinking that a seller has sold you a jackpot. For your information, most of the worlds valuable collection come from United States since they're lots of collectors over there. Here are my list of most valuable coins in the worlds:

1. World's most expensive coin: 1794 silver dollar

A 1794 silver dollar owned by Steven L. Contursi. He owned the mint-condition 1794 Liberty dollar for the past seven years. The Neil/Carter/Contrusi 1794 flowing hair dollar, sold for $7.85 million to the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation of Sunnyvale. The Name "Neil/Carter/Contrusi 1794 flowing hair dollar" came from the previous owner of the coin. The previous record price paid for a coin was $7.59 million for a U.S.-minted 1933 $20 double eagle gold piece, according to the American Numismatic Association.

On the reverse: The dollar coin shows a small eagle perched upon a rock with wings spread and surrounded by laurel branches. Along the border is the motto “United States of America.”
On the edge: Has the words “HUNDERED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT” inscribed with decorations separating the words.

2. The King of Coins-King of Siam 1804 silver dollars minted in 1834

The first 1804 silver dollars minted in 1834 were presented as gifts to Rama III, King of Siam and Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman. The other five were dispersed under unknown circumstances after Ambassador Edmund Roberts died en route during the voyage. One was retained in the US Mint Coin Collection. In 1842, numismatists first learned of the 1804 dollar through a book displaying an illustration of the 1804 dollar from the Mint Cabinet. These silver dollars are known among numismatists as “original” or Class I 1804 dollars. Eight of these coins are known to exist. One currently resides in the Smithsonian Institution, one is in the American Numismatic Association museum, and the other six are in private collections.

Popular legend states that the rare coin given by King Rama IV of Siam to Anna Leonowens, as seen in the story of “Anna and the King of Siam” and the movie The King and I, was indeed the same 1804 silver dollar produced in 1834 as a gift to Siam. This coin was kept in Anna’s family for several generations, until in the 1950s it was sold by a pair of British ladies claiming to be Anna’s descendants. This coin was displayed as part of the “King of Siam” collection at the Smithsonian Institution in 1983, where it was given the name “the King of Coins.” It was purchased by an anonymous collector in 2001, who purchased the entire set of coins from the King of Siam collection for over $4 million.

3. World's largest gold coin; Royal Canadian Mint Million-dollar coin

Photo by Reuters: It need 3 men's to lift up the coin.

On 3rd May 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) unveiled a Gold Maple Leaf coin by artist Stanley Witten, with a face value of $1 million Canadian dollar. The weight of the coin is 100 kilograms, and measures 50 cm in diameter by 3 cm thick. In October 2007, the Million Dollar Coin was certified by Guinness World Records to be the world's largest gold coin. . The reverse features an elegant, hand-polished maple leaf design by Royal Canadian Mint artist and senior engraver Stan Witten, and the obverse bears the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by celebrated Canadian portrait artist Susanna Blunt. The coins are both adorned with a maple leaf and boast 99.999 percent purity, a notch above previous purity peaks of 99.99 percent. One of this coin had been auctioned by Vienna auction house, Dorotheum; ORO direct, a Spanish precious metals trading company bought the world's largest gold coin for 3.27 million euros ($4.02 million).

4. Mona Lisa of Rare Coins: 1913 Liberty Head nickel

Photo by Heritage Auctions Gallery

A rare 1913 American nickel five-cent piece also known as The Liberty Head nickel, sometimes referred to as the V nickel due to its reverse design, Recently dubbed "The Mona Lisa of Rare Coins," was sold for more than $3.7 million (2.3 million pounds) in Heritage Auctions Platinum Night. The so-called Liberty Head nickel, one of only five known of that specific date and design, was sold "in spirited bidding" to a private East Coast coin collector in Orlando late on Thursday, said Greg Rohan, president of Dallas, Texas-based Heritage Auctions. The buyer wished to remain anonymous.

5. World's most expensive penny -1943D Lincoln cent

A Lincoln cent struck in the wrong metal at the Denver Mint in 1943, has been sold for a world's record price of $1,700,000 by Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey. The buyer is a Southwestern business executive, who wants to remain anonymous. The historic World War II era coin's former owner arranged for the entire proceeds of the sale to be given to a charitable organization. This one of a kind Lincoln cent, mistakenly struck in 1943 at the Denver Mint in bronze rather than the zinc-coated steel used that year to conserve copper for World War II. Most 1943 pennies are steel-gray in color and not worth much more than face value.


6. Worlds most expensive gold dinar-The Umayyad dinar


A specialist auctioneers, Morton & Eden in London, make it in a record book for Worlds most expensive gold dinar and Dirham. The Umayyad dinar, one of the rarest and most highly-prized of all Islamic gold coins, struck possibly to coincide with an occasion when the Caliph himself led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, sold for a record £3,720,000 in a sale at specialist auctioneers Morton & Eden in London. The Umayyad dinar, dated 105h (723AD) was struck from gold mined at a location owned by the Caliph himself; known on the coins as the “Mine of the Commander of the Faithful”. An additional legend which reads: “bi’l-Hijaz” (“in the Hejaz”), makes it the earliest Islamic coin to mention a location in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Do you have any suggestion for Worlds most valuable coins? Share with us in here.

King of Siam coin

A reader asked me "What is King of Siam coin"? He heard a friends is selling his King of Siam coin at adorable price but the coin is a 1804 United States coin not Thailand (Siam). Is this some kind of fake or a scam or is this for real? How much is the value? To that particular reader, I suggest you search anything you want to buy at a high price like that in the Internet first before making any decision. Its not that hard to do some research about anything nowadays. Just go to Google and type what information you want to search. Yes.., that coin a fake. 1804 silver dollar is very rare and you can only see them in museum or private collections. Real 1804 silver dollar is worth millions dollars, fake only cost you few hundreds ringgit. 

In 1804, United States Mint records indicate that 19,750 silver dollars were struck. However, in keeping with common Mint practice at the time, these were all minted from old but still-usable dies dated 1803, and are indistinguishable from the coins produced the previous year. Silver dollars dated 1804 did not appear until 1834, when the U.S. Department of State was creating sets of coins to present as gifts to certain rulers in Asia in exchange for trade advantages. The U.S. Government ordered the Mint to produce "two specimens of each kind now in use, whether of gold, silver or copper". Since the silver dollar was still in use, but had last been recorded as produced in 1804, Mint employees struck several dollars with an 1804 date. Due to the cost-cutting measures of the US Mint in its early history and the reuse of 1803 dies, this act led to confusion.

The first 1804 silver dollars minted in 1834 were presented as gifts to Rama III, King of Siam and Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman. The other five were dispersed under unknown circumstances after Ambassador Edmund Roberts died en route during the voyage. One was retained in the US Mint Coin Collection. In 1842, numismatists first learned of the 1804 dollar through a book displaying an illustration of the 1804 dollar from the Mint Cabinet. These silver dollars are known among numismatists as “original” or Class I 1804 dollars. Eight of these coins are known to exist. One currently resides in the Smithsonian Institution, one is in the American Numismatic Association museum, and the other six are in private collections.

Popular legend states that the rare coin given by King Rama IV of Siam to Anna Leonowens, as seen in the story of “Anna and the King of Siam” and the movie The King and I, was indeed the same 1804 silver dollar produced in 1834 as a gift to Siam. This coin was kept in Anna’s family for several generations, until in the 1950s it was sold by a pair of British ladies claiming to be Anna’s descendants. This coin was displayed as part of the “King of Siam” collection at the Smithsonian Institution in 1983, where it was given the name “the King of Coins.” It was purchased by an anonymous collector in 2001, who purchased the entire set of coins from the King of Siam collection for over $4 million.

Value:  1.00 U.S. dollar

Mass Class I:  26.96 g 

Mass Class II: 24.711 g 

Class III: 27.15-27.41 g 

Diameter:   39-40 mm 

Edge Class I:  Lettered - HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT

Class II: Plain

Class III: Lettered - HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT

Composition:  90.0% Ag 10.0% Cu

Years of minting:  Class I - 1834; Class II, Class III - 1858-1860.

Obverse: Design Bust of Liberty facing right

Designer:  Robert Scot

Design date:  1804

Reverse: Design Heraldic representation of the Great Seal of the United States with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the rim.

Designer:  Robert Scot

Source: Wikipedia

There is no easy money in numismatic world nowadays. If that deal is too good to be true, most probably they're trying to selling fake items. I got so many phone call or sms like that. But some people do get lucky finding treasure in their own backyard.

Related Posts:

• World's most expensive penny -Lincoln cent
• New World's most expensive coin: 1794 silver dollar
• Worlds most expensive coin; USA 1933 gold double eagle
• World's biggest gold coin sold for $4.02 million
• World's First Coin: The Lydian Lion

World's most expensive penny -Lincoln cent

Last month, the world's most expensive penny, a Lincoln cent struck in the wrong metal at the Denver Mint in 1943, has been sold for a world's record price of $1,700,000 by Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey. The buyer is a Southwestern business executive, who wants to remain anonymous. The historic World War II era coin's former owner arranged for the entire proceeds of the sale to be given to a charitable organization. This one of a kind Lincoln cent, mistakenly struck in 1943 at the Denver Mint in bronze rather than the zinc-coated steel used that year to conserve copper for World War II. Most 1943 pennies are steel-gray in color and not worth much more than face value.

"This is the world's most valuable penny. It's the only known example of a 1943-dated Lincoln cent incorrectly struck in a copper alloy at the Denver Mint. Zinc-coated steel was being used for pennies in 1943 to conserve copper for other uses during World War II, and this one was mistakenly struck on a bronze coin disc left over from 1942. It took four years of aggressive negotiations with the coin's owner until he agreed to sell it," said rare coin dealer Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey who obtained the unique penny for the unnamed collector.

"The new owner is a prominent Southwestern business executive who's been collecting since he was a teenager, searching through pocket change looking for rare coins. As a youngster he thought he'd actually found a 1943 copper penny in circulation but it was not authentic. He still has that in his desk drawer, but now he's the only person to ever assemble a complete set of genuine 1943 bronze cents, one each from the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints, and he plans to display them," said Sperber.

The anonymous collector who formerly owned the coin "donated it to a charitable organization so they could sell it with all of the proceeds going to the charity," according to Andy Skrabalak of Angel Dee's Coins and Collectibles in Woodbridge, Virginia who acted as agent on behalf of the former owner.

"Don't think you hit the jackpot if you have a common 1943 cent in the sock drawer. There were tens of millions of pennies made of steel in 1943, and most are worth only a few cents each today. We estimate that less than 20 Lincoln cents were erroneously struck in bronze that year at the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints, and this is the only known example from the Denver Mint. That's what makes genuine bronze 1943 Lincoln cents so valuable," explained Don Willis, President of Professional Coin Grading Service of Santa Ana, California, the rare coin certification company whose experts authenticated the unique 1943 Denver bronze cent.

In addition to the $1.7 million coin, the anonymous Southwest collector also paid $250,000 for a 1944-dated Philadelphia Mint cent mistakenly struck on a zinc coin blank intended only for 1943 cents, and paid $50,000 for an experimental 1942 cent composed mostly of tin, according to Sperber. Sperber said the collector's valuable, mis-made World War II era cents will be publicly displayed at a major rare coin convention in Tampa, Florida, January 6 - 8, 2011.

Source: PR Web Release

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Top 10 coins list for 2010

Here is my blog top 10 coins list for 2010. This list is based on how many people read or view that story for a year. Not every story of coins will get a good read by reader all over the worlds. Most of you reader are looking for information about some particular coins like how to detect the counterfeit coins, How to check if your coin is rare, world record, details about the coins, where to buy and sell or the coins price and value. The first in the list is the highest ranking in the list. Some of the coins maybe don't have a good view maybe because my blog not focusing talking about them. I just want to share my top view post for 2010.

1. Rare 20 pence

This coin shock everyone in 2009 when many seller in eBay selling them with a buy now option as high as £20,000. This is also the first time since 300 years, British coin without date come into circulation. The problem occurred after all the coins from the 1p through to the £1 were redesigned in 2008. Recently, a Mint is offering £100 for the mule coin.

2. Rare silver 1 penny

After the story about the 20 pence, a news about a grandmother from Bridgwater, Somerset found a rare 1 penny silver coin emerged. The coin found by Tania Simmonite at the market stall where she sells cheese, the piece appears to have been released into circulation without undergoing the usual copper-plating process. Royal Mint had confirmed that this is a genuine monetary unit. I am not sure whether she sold the coins or not.

3. Toonie, canada 2 dollar

photo by: istock photo.com

Toonie is Canada 2 dollar bi-metallic circulation coin which bears an image of polar bear which was introduced on 19 February 1996. The name do not came from that polar bear instead come from Canada one dollar coin "loonie". The name Toonie became so widely accepted that in 2006 the Royal Canadian Mint secured the rights to it. In April 2010, a wrong report by a TV station in Toronto regarding a fake toonies make everyone searching for information about it. The different Queen images for two coins mistakenly thought as fake by the TV station.

4. Royal Spanish Mint 2010 World Cup

The Royal Spanish Mint has been releasing 2010 FIFA World Cup coin set. There are two coins in the set, a 2-escudos coin or 100 euro coin in .999 gold, and the other an 8-reales or 10 euro coin in .925 silver. In the final 2010 FIFA World Cup, Spain, the European champions, defeated third-time finalists the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time. To commemorate this great success for Spanish sports, the Royal Spanish Mint has minted a new coin set entitled "World Champions South Africa 2010" composed of two coins, one of .999 gold and the other of sterling silver.

5. One rupee British India

This is one of my coin collection; one rupee British India King George V 1918 silver coin. I bought this coin in Penang. This story of the coin, one of the earliest post I made for this blog in 2008. Some people still reading it maybe because the story about its history.

6. Malaysia 10 sen 1971

Even most of my readers are from Malaysia, this coin only make it in top 6. Most probably because there are many Malaysia blog talking about this 1971 10 sen with only 32,236 pieces minted. Story by local news about how only few of this coins minted, in 1971, Malaysia coin were minted in West Germany. That coin are the last time for a Malaysia coin minted overseas. In the same year, some coins were minted in the money factories of Bank Negara Malaysia in Shah Alam. However, the coin minted limited to only 10 cents coins. Floods that struck the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur affect the operation of mint when flood overflow into the printer. The incident caused only have time to 32,000 pieces minted.

7. 1983 new pence

Photo by: Weston & Somerset Mercury

This coin became a news when a couple Brian and Penny Drury, of Palmer Street, stumbled across the rare find in a collectors' pack bought 26 years ago. Many people have two pence in their drawer like this couple but only 1983 2 pence with the word new pence on it consider as rare. One website states that the odds of finding a 1983 'new pence' coin are around one in 14,000,000. Consider yourself lucky if you found one of this coin. If you're intended to sale your coin, the price on eBay is between £500 to £700.

8. World Largest Gold Coin

Photo by Reuters: $1 million Canadian dollar.

On May 3, 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) unveiled a Gold Maple Leaf coin by artist Stanley Witten, with a face value of $1 million Canadian dollar. The weight of the coin is 100 kilograms, and measures 50 cm in diameter by 3 cm thick. In June 2010, a Vienna auction house, Dorotheum, auctioned this coin for 3.27 million euros ($4.02 million),

9.Melaka Portuguse Tin Coin

A story about Melaka Portuguse Tin coin I found in Internet. The story tempted me to collect the tin coins. I normally don't buy tin since many of fake or replica out there. but if the price is right, I don't mind consider buying it and sharing it here.

10.Rare Straits Settlements Coin

This item came from my sale page. The Straits Settlements Queen Victoria half cents 1883 coin already sold. I am not sure if I can find them anymore. Only 2,740,000 pcs of this coin minted. Most of the coin is either destroy or in a very bad condition. The price for Extremely fine and uncirculated are very high because very hard to find any in the market.

Antique box with treasure found

A family from Dronfield, Sheffield found an Antique box with treasure in old mahogany box that had been kicking around their house for 30 years. Opening the box with help from a locksmith revealed the drawers filled with 1500 coins, some dating back 2000 years. The collections are auctioned at the online website ELR Auctions so people from all over the world can take part on the auction. The auction house has been established in Sheffield since 1840.

Photo by BBC: One of the Roman coins found.

Auctioneers at ELR in Sheffield were surprised at how much they sold for. Rob Lea from ELR spoke to BBC Radio Sheffield after the auction in August 2010:

"I thought there may be some very good prices and there were. The odd one fell short but the vast majority sold for a lot more than we expected.

"The best price was a collection of Roman and ancient coins which we thought would go for £600-800, but they ended up going at £1700."

The collection included coins which were 2000 years old up to the 20th century. They had belonged to a collector who had passed them down to the people who found the box.

ELR put the auction online so that bidders from all over the world could take part:
"Lots of people bought over the Internet and the room was well attended."

Photo: Rob Lea, an auctioneer from ELR in Sheffield.

The collection was split into 50 lots for the auction:

"Different collectors want different types of coins," explains Rob Lea. "There are Roman collectors, people who want gold, silver, and so on. There were some very good coins among them.

"The sorts of people with an interest are coin collectors, traders who buy to sell them on and people who buy them to melt the gold and silver down.

"None of these fell into that bracket because they were all very interesting coins."

Photo by BBC: Some of the 1500 coins.

Rob Lea says it was an exciting moment when he first looked through the opened box:
"I was like a kid opening his Christmas presents. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to see but each drawer contained some real beauties, some really difficult finds. This doesn't happen all the time and to get the cream of the crop is quite exciting. I'm sure the owners will be very happy at the good news."

You can read more about the auction house at their official auction website-ELR Auctions.

Source: BBC News.

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US 100,000 dollars bill

Boston World's Fair of Money bring a very rare item for its exhibition, US 100,000 dollars bills, fabulous gold treasures dating back to the California Gold Rush era, rare coins including those tied to the first stirrings for America's independence and federal government securities worth more than a billion dollars. The money fair started on 10 August 2010 until 14 August 2010. More than 1,000 of the United States best coin dealers with the best inventory of coins, paper money, medals, tokens and other numismatic items gather in Boston for the largest coin show in the world.

Photo by AP: Kevin Brown displays a sheet of $100,000.

Photo by AP: US 100,000 dollars bill.

The sheets of America's largest denomination currency, the $100,000 bill, which is said to be worth about $1.6 million today. The gold certificate note, which bears President Woodrow Wilson's portrait, was used only for official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. It was not circulated among the general public and cannot be legally held by currency note collectors.

"The reaction from kids to grandparents is universally the same: `Wow, that's a lot of money.' So, they wouldn't mind having it," Kevin Brown, manager in the marketing division of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said while holding the $100,000 bills.

Photo by AP: Gold Ingot from SS Central Amerika.

The SS Central America, which sank in a 1857 hurricane off the coast of North Carolina with more than 400 passengers and 30,000 pounds of gold from the California Gold Rush, made its inaugural appearance in Boston. The exhibit features more than $10 million in gold treasure recovered from the ship, also known as The Ship of Gold.

The show, which already ends last week, includes a comprehensive collection of U.S. paper money that has never before been exhibited. It has coins from the Mexican War of Independence and Mexican Revolution that are being seen outside of Mexico for the first time since 1970. There also are rare coins worth several million dollars. Other historic items include one of the few known surviving copies of the Declaration of Independence printed in Boston circa July 17, 1776, and silver spoons crafted by Paul Revere.

Photo by AP: Boston World's Fair of Money.

"The economic conditions have not diminished the demand for material from the standpoint of collectors who seek and desire to own the rare and exquisite pieces," said Larry Shepherd, president of the Colorado Springs, Colo. based American Numismatic Association.

"Demand also has been fed by rich people who are increasingly willing to store some of their wealth in rare coins with a proven history of gaining value after traditional investments vehicles, including real estate and the stock and bond markets, dipped to woeful levels during the economic crisis," Shepherd said.

You can read more about this even by visiting World's Fair of Money official website.

Source: Associated Press.

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World's biggest gold coin sold for $4.02 million

What a disappointment auctioned for the world's biggest gold coin by Vienna auction house, Dorotheum. There were no counter offers in an auction room packed with more journalists than potential buyers. ORO direct, a Spanish precious metals trading company bought the world's largest gold coin for 3.27 million euros ($4.02 million), its exact material worth, from the estate of an insolvent investment firm at a rare auction in Vienna on Friday. It sold for the catalog sum, the coin's pure gold value based on Friday's market price. This was four times its face value.

Photo by Reuters: It need 3 men's to lift up the coin.

The auction was ordered by the administrator of Austrian investment group AvW Invest, which filed for insolvency in May after its owner and chief executive was arrested on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust and other charges. AvW had acquired the coin in 2007, joining an exclusive club of owners including Queen Elizabeth, who is also displayed on one side of the coin, two unidentified investors in Dubai and one who is so reclusive even his or her residence is unknown. AvW had lent its coin, 53 cm (21 inches) in diameter and 3 cm thick, to Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum where it had been on display as part of its coin collection.

Photo by Reuters: Auction day at Dorotheum.

The 100 kg (220.5 lb) piece, one of only five Canadian $1,000,000 Maple Leaf coins the Royal Canadian Mint has ever produced. The Royal Canadian Mint launched the coin in 2007 to showcase its production facilities and steal the entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's biggest gold coin. Its purity is 99.999 percent, the purest type in the market. That title had previously been held by the Austrian mint, who in 2004 produced fifteen 100,000-euro coins weighing 1,000 troy ounces (31.1 kg) to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its best-selling Philharmonics coin.

Source: Yahoo News, Reuters.

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