Fly Me To The Moon On the Wings of a Goddess By: Wayne Hansen Greek staters and tetradrachms from the classical era are so varied and fascinating that they could easily become a lifetime pursuit. Coin technology had already spread from the workshops of Asia Minor to all parts of the Greek world by the end of the archaic period around 480 BC. By then, individual tribes, kings and city-states were increasingly interested in creating high-value silver coinages to facilitate trade and promote their success. At the same time, rigid archaic coin styles were gradually transformed into nuanced, … [Read more...]

An Electrum Stater from Kyzikos By: Terence Cheesman Over the last couple of years, a very large group of electrum coins has passed through auctions held both in Europe and the United States. Consisting primarily of electrum hektes from the mints of Phokaia and Mytilene, this group also included a large number of staters and hektes from the mint of Kyzikos. The whole group is very unusual. It is extremely large, involving over a thousand coins and with a great deal of duplication suggesting a hoard. However, the date range is from about 620 B.C. to about 322 B.C., which would be far more … [Read more...]

Finding 1969 Canadian error dimes At one of our ENS meetings James Murdoch presented his findings about 1969 Canadian dimes. When the 1969 dimes were made, there was an error in the matrices. Inadvertently, some large date coins where made instead of the small date. Because multiple coins are struck at the same time by different machines, some coins with the large date variety mixed with coins with the small date variety. There are approximately 20 known, but it is estimated that there are still from 20 to 30 in circulation. Some additional information on:  1969 Canadian Ten Cents … [Read more...]