What we bought at the gun show. FOREIGN COINS and a DRAGON!

Gentle reader,

Now don't be thrown off by the title. Nancy bought some ammo, nothing we bought was gun related.

There is an amazing variety of vendors at large gun shows peddling their wares from things that THEY are interested in and/or collect:

Militaria: uniforms, patches, insignia, belts, packs, everything a soldier might have worn or carried, they collect and sell.

Books: Mostly gun histories, cleaning/repairing, military history, etc.

Videos: See above. Plus war movies, documented and dramatic ones. From all over the world.

Jewelry: One very attractive young woman makes very creative jewelry from shell casings. She's very good and has honed the skill of persuasion to a high degree. I stay away from her!

A couple, American husband, Russian wife, sell all kinds of stuff-mostly from the former Soviet Union. Southwestern jewelry: One my Mom likes. Being she has a lot of Navajo silver/turquoise pieces.

Survival/Preparation: Food, and other items one "should" have stored away for when either the "commies" or zombies arise to takeover the world. 

Coins: Several dealers of US coins. Amazing selections. 

We don't seriously collect coins, but Nancy's Dad did and we have some of them. Plus, we have a jar full of foreign coins and a few bills. 

The guy we bought the first item below from had the MOST interesting and varied of all. Including beautiful mounted and framed exotic insects. Asian Cicadas are gorgeous!

So, what did we come home with? See below:

First off is this really cool dragon. I forget where the dealer said it was made, but he said the natives make it from marble dust mixed with some kind of binder. 

Each coin below shows both sides. I have a ruler for reference. If there are more than 16 spaces showing, the coin is larger than one inch. If I have no idea where the coins are from, such as all the ones with a hole in them (Chinese?), well, your guess is a good as mine. Since I've done this, we can add them to the jar.

 From Austria. Once part of the 1000 Year Reich.

 Yugoslavian. From when is was part of the USSR.

Beautiful penny from the UK. Fifty years old! Well more than an inch in diameter.

Morocco? Looks like from 1937.

Viet Nam from 1960. Post-French Indonesia, prior to much US interest.

Philipine from 1963. Also in excellent condition for a fifty year old.

Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Lest we think WE are the only people from the "United States", frankly ANYONE born in the Western Hemisphere is an American!

From occupied France, 1944. I don't know if it was from Vichy France or not.

Had to Google "Cabo Verde" to find out where it is. $2.50 coin.

British 3 cent coin from WWII.

Brazilian coin made the same year as me.

From the freed-from-the-USSR, Czech Republic. I'm half-Czech.

From the USSR in 1961. Ten Kopeks.

Norwegian from 1975.

WWII era coin. Note: USA 1944 on one side. What's on the back? The USA obtained the Philippine islands from the Spanish as a result of winning the Spanish-American war. (Remember the Maine).

Viet Nam. Still pretty early for US involvement.

I was just told by a collector, this is from Burma / Myanmar.

Not sure why we had three steel 1943 pennies.

I have also been informed that all of the coins with holes in them are Japanese.

I suspect most collectors wouldn't look twice at this one, but who knows how old it might be?

OK, so not all of the coins with holes in them are Asian, these two are from Turkey.

And finally, for my niece, Ashley's graduation present, some Native American earrings. I told her that no one is EVER going to say, "I have those same earrings!" to her. She likes them.

Thanks for looking,

Scott 

Updated: April 18, 2019