Taiwan Fifty NT Dollars (Yuan) 2005

The current issue Taiwanese fifty NT dollar coin was introduced in 2002 to combat the proliferation of counterfeits of the earlier bi-metallic issue. As well as having a front facing effigy of Dr. Sun Yat Sen on the obverse, the reverse contains a "latent image" of the denomination. When viewed one way the numerals 50 can be seen, viewed from another angle the Chinese characters for 50 are seen. Similar technology is also found on the Japanese 500 yen coin.

Nova Scotia Halfpenny Token 1832

During the nineteenth century many British Colonies suffered from severe shortages of small change. While it was unlawful for the colonies to strike coins of their own to alleviate the difficulties, there were ways around the law, thus we have this halfpenny token of 1832 from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Equal in size and weight to a British halfpenny, and bearing the effigy of King George the Fourth, despite him having died in 1830......

Czechoslovakia One Korun 1938

Coins bearing this design were issued as part of the new Czechoslovak Republic formed following the First World War. The One Korun coin was introduced in 1922 and issued in the large size format until 1938. The series was interrupted due to Germany invading Czechoslovakia. Following the second world war coins bearing the same design were issued but in a smaller size.

Great Britain Penny, 1853

These large sized pure copper coins were issued bearing the head of a young queen Victoria from 1838 untill their replacement by a smaller bronze issue in 1860. There were a couple of problems with this issue, the first being that at the time coins contained roughly the value in metal of the denomination, thus one penny contained roughly one penny's worth of copper. Secondly, pure copper is a relatively soft metal, so the coins wore quickly and were easily damaged.

New Zealand Half Crown 1934

New Zealand introduced it's own coinage in 1933. Prior to this British coinage was used, along with a small amount of Australian coinage. The halfcrown was the highest circulating denomination, with a value of two shillings and sixpence, that is to say 30 pence. King George the Fifth's portrait was short lived on New Zealand's coinage, as he passed away in 1936. Predecimal coinage was issued with the same reverse designs until 1965. New decimal coinage was introduced on July 10 1967.

Czech Republic Fifty Crowns 1993

Bimetallic coins have become popular in many countries during the past few years, predominantly used for a country's highest denomination coin. The Czech Republic struch large numbers of these for circulation in 1993, but there was a wide public preference for the 50 Korun (Crown) note, so the coin was seldon encountered in general circulation. This seems to have changed during the past couple of years, perhaps due to the central bank ceasing to issue the paper fifty, although I have no real evidence of this. There have been several attempts to introduce a dollar coin into circulation in the United States, but the general public prefer to use the paper version. I can't understand why the US government simply ceases the issue of one dollar notes, as occured in many countries including the UK, Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand and I'm sure many others.........

Great Britain Two Shillings 1964 Off Centre

The British milled predecimal misstrike is another seldom seen item, this 1964 florin is a particularly nice example. British coinage was redesigned in 1953 to coincide with Elizabeth the Second coming to the throne. These designs were in circulation until the changeover to decimal currency in 1971.

1927 USA Peace Dollar?

NUMBER 5. This week we have something a little different. It appears to be an American dollar coin from 1927, but in actual fact it is a cheap chinese copy, or COUNTERFEIT, purchased at a market in Taipei very cheaply. Alongside it were a wide selection of fake world crowns, with a bias toward chinese and US coins. They were not sold as genuine, and any collector worth their salt would not be fooled by the soft detail, light weight, dull ring and badly recut date. However I have seen fakes of this type being sold as genuine both online and in shops. Also, more worrying are the high quality forgeries also coming out of China, I've personally seen some very very good counterfeit US Trade Dollars, and French Indo-China piastres. It's definately a case of buyer beware........

New Zealand 198? Off Centre Fifty Cents

NUMBER 4. This week we have a real find. Being a New Zealander I'm always on the lookout for New Zealand off centre error coins, but they just aren't out there! Needless to say I was suitably stoked to stumble accross this large sized beauty some years ago........

Australia 1950 Off Centre Penny

Large sized off centre strikes are always impressive, and this Aussie penny is no exception. While Australian misstrikes such as this are relatively scarce, it's easier to find pre decimal examples than post 1966 decimal strikes, presumably due to the fact that a new mint was built in Canberra for the decimal changeover, which had better quality control than the old mints in Melbourne and Perth.

USA Undated Off Centre five cent

NUMBER 2. A wildly misstruck U.S. nickel. Collecting errors is a popular and well developed branch of numismatics in the U.S., probably bacause there are plenty of American errors to collect, especially one and five cent pieces, which are available quite cheaply. Dated examples attract a premium over undated specimens such as this. There are several other countries which also must have issues with quality control and or waste disposal, such as India, Mexico, Pakistan, Israel, with error coins from these countries being relatively common.

Great Britain 1861 Off Centre Halfpenny

NUMBER 1. To kick things off we have a British half penny from 1861. These bronze coins were introduced in 1860 to replace the larger and heavier copper issues. The farthings, halfpennies and pennies of this type are known as the "bun head" issue, and with numerous die variations are popular with collectors. They were issued until 1894, and in 1895 the "veiled head" or "old head" versions were issued, at which time the Brittannia reverse was also modified. This off centre strike also has a die crack running through the R of VICTORIA. The next few weeks or so will also feature some off centre mistrikes.