Blog Profile / A Gift For Polydektes
| URL : | http://digitalhn.blogspot.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Collecting / Currency Collecting | |
| Posts on Regator: | 352 | |
| Posts / Week: | 1.4 | |
| Archived Since: | June 9, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Bitcoin mining machine
I haven't had much to write about for the past couple of months. I did read an article on Bitcoin mining. Highly recommended for techies. The article covers the mathematical bitcoins, not the physical Bitcoins that can be used to carry them.
3D Gadhaiya Paisa
As before, although the image looks OK without glasses you really want to use red/cyan 3D glasses to see this coin. This enigmatic coinage was struck in India, 800-1300 AD. It's usually called “Gadhaiya Paisa”. I realize I know almost nothing about Indian coinage during this time. Show More Summary
3d Menander
I have been taking 3D scans of a few favorite coins. The image is of a drachm of Menander. Red/cyan glasses should be worn to see the image properly. Last month I posted a bronze coin scanned this way and got no comments. I would be curious to know if any of my readers have tried looking at these images with 3d glasses. Show More Summary
Forgery workshop uncovered in Italy (2004)
FORVM user Taras has posted a description of two 2004 seizures of counterfeit ancient coins and forgers dies in Italy. I was surprised the seizures included 870 counterfeit dies but only 371 fake coins. The post is worth reading for Taras' speculation on this workshop's methods.
Lost World of the Golden King
Frank Holt, Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan (2012, 343 pages) It's good! Holt retraces the development of Baktrian numismatics from the tetradrachm of Eukratides published in 1738 by Theophilus Siegfried Bayer to the present day. Show More Summary
Pan from Pantikapaion
To view this 4th or 3rd century BC head of Pan properly red/bluegreen 3D glasses should be used. Click to view at full resolution. This image was created using two scans on a flatbed scanner and Photoshop. Gimp can also be used. This is my first attempt at Anaglyph 3D coin photography. Show More Summary
Two more BMC Greek titles online
Sir George Hill's 1910 Catalogue of the Greek coins of Phoenicia and 1914 Catalogue of the Greek coins of Palestine are both available online in a searchable format through HathiTrust Digital Library. They can also be purchased on Amazon, in paperback replica format, for about $40 each.
Cleaning an ancient Roman coin with a steel scalpel
I had never seen scalpel cleaning. I was surprised by the uniform shortness of the blade strokes. The video is ten minutes long. Two minutes in they speed up the process 5x. At five minutes in they go back a montages of different co...
Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia
George Hill's 1900 Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia is finally available for download at Google Books. It can also be printed on demand, for as little as $9.92. The plates seem much better in quality on the PDF than Google's web site, although on both the plates are cropped at the top and bottom.
Istros auction tomorrow
A major collection of the coins of Istros will be auctioned tomorrow in Switzerland by new firm First Auctions. There are also extensive Celtic lots. The coins are listed on Sixbid in addition to the vendor's own site. The vendor's site is terrible - no search and if you log in the images become unavailable.
Children's exhibit at Arizona Museum for Youth
An excellent museum exhibit on money and banking for young children is showing at the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa Arizona. The web site gives few details but my four-year-old loved it. The exhibit combines some wall art, including...Show More Summary
Countemporary Counterfeits Today
The Bichester Advertiser is reporting (no byline) on a counterfeit coin factory discovered by police in an active snooker hall.Prosecuting, Colin McGregor alleged: “The defendant has spent in excess of £3,000 in order to create what is described as an ‘illicit mint’.”... Show More Summary
Obol (2012)
There is a raft filled with pennies in the East River. I didn't have my camera with me and can't find a thumbnail with usage rights to illustrate this post. There is a good photo of the thing on Flickr. It's by Jessica Feldman. She discusses it on her web site. It will be up until March 31, 2013.
Sterling Enclave
Sterling Enclave, a defunct blog fro July 2010, is one of the strangest New York numismatic web sites I have encountered. An architecture student pondered the design of a clubhouse for numismatists in New York. In various entries he (or she?) visits the NY Fed, the ANS, and reads about the New York Numismatic Club. Show More Summary
LookTel Money Reader
LookTel Money Reader is a $9.99 iPhone app for the blind. Using the cameras phone it identifies dollar bills. There is support for the US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, and Australian Dollar. There is a cool minute-long YouTube video showing it in action.
5,500 counterfeit coins submitted yearly to PCGS
PCGS is reporting that they received 5,500 fake coins in the last twelve months. It costs about $25 to submit a coin, so no obviously false coins would have been part of this count. All 5500 coins were at least deceptive enough to fool typical collectors of slab-quality coins.
Quzhou Fake Ancient Coins Factory
Quzhou Fake Ancient Coins Factory is a supplier on Alibaba.com. The factory's Alibaba page offers fifty different ancient coin types. I have not inspected any of them personally but a coin from the same dies as the one in the photograph above was published in 2007 by a noted Bulgarian scholar as genuine (I think... Show More Summary
The future of money?
The Royal Canandian Mint is proposing a digital currency. A developer is showing some details.
Thomas Levenson's Newton and the Counterfeiter
I have been too busy to post. Mostly learning Ruby, not collecting unfortunately. Anyway, I wanted to mention Thomas Levenson's Newton and the Counterfeiter. Amazon has the hardcover at $10 and the paperback at $6. If the historical Isaac Newton had never become mint master the theme of this book would have been ridiculous. Show More Summary
Shutty's One Coin is Never Enough
Michael S. Shutty Jr., One Coin is Never Enough. Paperback, 251 pages, $25. In this book Shutty discusses his collecting practices (Buffalo nickels and large cents). Shutty is a psychologist and he explains various experts' psychological theories of collecting. Show More Summary