When co-workers discover you're a coindood

[coindood]

Was given a 1 gallon rubbermaid tub about 25% full to evaluate. It belonged to my co-worker's father who traveled Mexico extensively in the 1940s-70s.

Four days of joy ensued.

Anyone care to guess the following? (No prizes, just bragging rights ):

How many total coins? 852 (Rosco came pretty close )
How many different countries? 28
How many silver coins? 22
How many wheaties? 110
Oldest coin?

[beauanderos]

I hope they're planning to let you choose one or two coins from the pile for the trouble of your appraisal. Sounds like it was fun.

[Rodebaugh]

Oh man I love this sort of thing.

I'll get my guesses in later.

[coindood]

I hope they're planning to let you choose one or two coins from the pile for the trouble of your appraisal.

That'd be nice. The travel stories are cool too. She contributed some Egyptian coins from a trip in the 1980s.

[hirbonzig]

I'll take a guess at it...
Total--467 coins
Countries--10
Silver--55
Wheats--50
Oldest--1850

[hobo finds]

Total coins 600
Countries 12
Silver coins 39
Wheats 56
Oldest 1887

[Rosco]

825 coins
14 countries
47 silver
3 wheats
1905 oldest

[coindood]

825 coins

That's a pretty good guess Rosco. Doubt anyone will come closer. Actual total was 852. Nice going!

I'll answer one question per day (unless someone hits one on the nose) culminating with a pic of the oldest.

[coindood]

28 countries, from Austria to Uruguay.

[coindood]

22 silver coins (5.4806 oz. total).

[Rosco]

My kind of contest no cost and Close counted

thanks Rosco

[coindood]

Wheaties total = 110

[mtalbot_ca]

Nice....

I'll guess the oldest coin is 1888.

Cheers!

[coindood]

And the oldest coin in the batch was this Colonial Mexico 1804 ½ real. Despite the hole, it's a 200+ year old stunner.

The next seven oldest were also Mexican:

- Three copper ¼ reals (1832, 1836 & 183?) that were rather dinged up.

- An 1841-42 one-eighth real (octavo) that was a real challenge to ID, since most of it was worn away.

- 1844 Z ½ real, also holed

- 1881 Zs 50 centavos

- 1890 Go R.R. 8 reales, a heavy silver beauty.

The lady who shared these with me (at least temporarily) told me some of them were passed down from her grandmother who was born in the 19th century. She'll now give them to her teenage grandchildren.

We've had fun discussions about them. She was curious how coins became my passion, similar to her chosen hobby which is jewelry making. I said it's a combination of things, but mostly, it's that a coin is essentially history in my hands, a tangible link to the past, and that imagining who could have handled them over the centuries is fascinating, above and beyond any actual dollar value. When sitting a table with my catalogs, 2x2's, magnifier and a pile of coins, little pleases me more.

Thanks for the guesses guys.

[Chaboo]

Very neat!
Thanks for sharing.