By Mike Thorne, Coins Magazine February 01, 2010

Do you have any unusual world (including U.S.) coins? By unusual, I mean coins (or medals) that are not included in standard catalogs. If you’ve been collecting for any length of time, I suspect you have a few of the coins identified and evaluated in the book I’m going to review this month: Unusual World Coins by Colin R. Bruce II (5th edition, edited by Tom Michael and George Cuhaj). It was published in 2007 by Krause (www.krausebooks.com).

First of all, what are “unusual world coins?” According to an opening letter from the editors, unusual “coin-like” emissions include “salesman’s samples,” “issues of governments in exile,” and “probes” (“Euro issues for non-Euro nations including some regional areas”). There are also coin-like objects minted by “wannabe micro nations, duchies, and outright fantasy lands…, which are popping up like spring flowers in a pasture.”

In other words, these are oddities, often minted in precious metals, that usually have the appearance of coins, but you can’t find them in standard world catalogs. I’ll first describe a few that I have and then tell you about my efforts to find them in this catalog.

The first is a coin that a former graduate student from Taiwan gave me several years ago. On the obverse, there’s the bust of a bald-headed man, with Chinese characters around the rim. The reverse features an outline map of an island (Taiwan?), with apparently repeated characters around the rim. I spent a fruitless half hour or so trying to find it in one of my Krause “telephone books” (Standard Catalog of World Coins), searching the listings for both China and Taiwan.

Next, I sent pictures online to Alan Herbert, who thought it might be from Thailand. He also referred me to another person, whose name I no longer remember. Eventually, I was able to determine that the coin was actually a silver medal, which I would be able to find in Unusual World Coins.

On p. 93, I found the coin listed along with other Chiang Kai-shek issues. It’s a 2,000-yuan piece issued in 1976 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Chiang Kai-shek, who ruled Taiwan until his death in 1975.

In terms of bullion value, at the current price its 0.4195 ounces of silver is worth $7.72. According to the catalog, in uncirculated the coin is worth $30. I found it listed on eBay by a seller in Taiwan for $28 (Buy It Now), with a shipping charge of $7. It’s too bad that my former graduate student didn’t give me the gold version, as it lists for $750 in uncirculated condition.

My other unusual world coins were made by the Gallery Mint Museum. One is a 1793 wreath cent in Brilliant Uncirculated and is listed on p. 546, with a value of $8. Quite a few other Gallery Mint Museum pieces are listed, but most are unpriced, which limits the value of the catalog for these coins.

My other Gallery Mint Museum piece is a copy of a 1786 New Jersey cent, which features a shield on one side and a horse’s head above a plow on the other. The example I have has the date under the draw bar of the plow. If it were a genuine piece, it would be “extremely rare” and worth $48,000 in Fine and $110,000 in Very Fine, according to the 2010 U.S. Coin Digest. It’s not listed in Unusual World Coins.

Many other odd American “coins” are listed, however. On the same page with the Gallery Mint Museum products, there are some pieces made by Square Deal Productions. As you would expect, these are square. All are quarters that look a lot like a standard Washington quarter that has been flattened on all sides.

The designer of the obverse of these fantasy pieces is listed as Andor Orand (and-or-or-and), which sounds like a pseudonym to me. A note with the first example states, “This was the first successful attempt of creating a square coin with reeded edge intended for the artist’s community.” If you have any of these, they all have small mintages, and the ones with listed values are worth a good bit for coins with slightly less than a quarter ounce of silver (i.e., $200 and $300).

Of course, this is a huge book, with nearly 600 large-size pages. Open the book to almost any page, and you’re bound to find something interesting.

On p. 426, for example, I found a “coin” from the Philippines celebrating the opening of the Manila Mint. On the obverse, there’s a bust of President Woodrow Wilson, with the legend “PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” On the reverse, there’s the figure of Justice kneeling, with a cherub in front of her. With a mintage of 2,200, this 1920-dated silver piece is worth $200 in VF, $250 in Extremely Fine, and $825 in BU.

Throughout the catalog, there are strange countries and issues I’ve never heard of. For example, on p. 408, I found the Fantasy Milled Coinage of Nichtsburg-Zilchstadt. If you have one, a copper MIDEN dated MMIII (2003), with a mintage of 65, is worth $20 in EF. This leads me to the question, “Where did the thing circulate?”

At the top of the following page, there’s the Republic Fantasy Coinage of Nigerian Scams. A two-skams piece, which is not pictured, features the legend “REPUBLIC OF NIGERIAN SCAMS” on the obverse. The reverse shows peanuts above the coin’s value and a stylized pyramid (for pyramid scheme?).

I could go on like this, but you get the picture: There’s lots of interesting stuff here. If you have any pieces you can’t identify and they’re not tokens or advertising pieces, then you may be able to find them in Unusual World Coins.

More Resources:

• Subscribe to our Coin Price Guide, buy Coin Books & Coin Folders and join the NumisMaster VIP Program

• 2010 U.S. Coin Digest, The Complete Guide to Current Market Values, 8th ed.

• State Quarters Deluxe Folder By Warmans

• Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money, 1928 to Date

• Strike It Rich with Pocket Change, 2nd Edition