In a small U.S. colonial coin consignment from a Midwestern collector that at first glance appeared to be rather mundane, a numismatist at Stack’s made a once in a lifetime find that is certain to reverberate throughout the entire colonial coin collecting community. An unattributed assortment of middle grade colonial type coins proved to include a Fugio Cent struck using a heretofore unpublished reverse die. The coin in question weighs 167.9 grains and is a smooth, medium brown Fine to Very Fine example bearing the familiar Newman 13 obverse.

Unlike any of the other reverse dies that were previously known to be married to Obverse 13 (namely reverses KK, N, R, and X, all of which exhibit the circular reverse legend arranged with STATES at left and UNITED at right), this discovery coin displays the circular reverse legend with UNITED at left and STATES at right. (more…)

Mike Byers has just published the latest issue Of Mint Error News Volume #21.

For Error Coin enthusiasts, the Mint Error News has become in indispensable resource for the latest discoveries within this specialized area of coin collecting. However it is also the only comprehensive source for regular pricing information on error coins of all types. The print version of the magazine, published quarterly, is difficult to come by as all copies are distributed quickly, however Mr Byers makes the full magazine available in PDF format on his web site www.minterrornews.com

Both the print and online version of the magazine are filled with excellent photos that accompany the articles and news stories. However the magazine offers collectors much more.

Contributing editor Allan Levy (www.alscoins.com) has compiled price information from prices realized on recent ebay sales and other sources to present the only up-to-date pricing information on a wide assortment of error coins. We know of no other source for error coin pricing that even comes close to the charts and scope of Mr Levy’s contribution. (more…)

A PIECE of gold treasure found by a man with a metal detector dates back to the 17th century and is a unique find for Wales.
The gold touch-piece of James II is almost certainly the only one of its kind to be found in Wales after being discovered by Philip Richard Jones on his land at Overton.

Yesterday the item was declared treasure by North East Wales coroner John Hughes at an inquest at Flint magistrates court.

The inquest heard how the coin-like piece dating from between 1685 to 1688 was unearthed in July and transferred to the National Museum in August.

The touch-piece has a sailing ship on one side and St Michael and the dragon on the other, is punctured by a small hole and is made of gold “of a high fineness”.

Touch pieces form part of the ceremony of touching for “the King’s evil”, a complaint called scrofula. Dating back to the time of Edward IV in 1465, there was a belief that the King’s touch cured the condition and patients were touched by the King by a coin called the angel or angel-noble.

Angel-nobles were coins of the realm and the last one was minted by Charles I who reigned between 1625 and 1649. (more…)