At least 3 years ago, probably closer to five I developed an interest in a,mostly, forgotten series of coins that are often referred to outside of the USA as Luigino. "Luigino" is an Italian diminutive for  the French 5 sols piece. The coin  in the mid 17th century became popular for trade with the Ottoman Levant, and was imitated by a number of different producers in Europe. The series is cataloged in a French/Italian language reference by Maurice Cammerano "Corpus Luiginorum". With this series of coins, like many others the successful variants  are easy to find and cheaply purchased.  The failures of course are rare and , in relative terms expensive.  One very rare  example ( and likely a failure) is from the Netherlands. Cammarano  lists Zwolle mint in the Netherlands as producing a Luigino in 1662. A Dutch language reference  D Purma "Handboek van de Nederlandse Provinciale Muntslag 1573 -1806, Deel II"  lists two striking dates  for the same coin (described as a halve Schelling)  1662 and 1664.   I obtained an aF examp[le of the 1662 strike for  around US$800.00 a few years back and have kept my eye out for a 1664 strike ever since.    In communications with other collectors I was told that Cammarano, didn't believe the 1664 existed. It was  stated to me that his research had not  identified any sales of a 1664 date. I likewise started researching auction records and also found no records of a sale of  the 1664 coin.   Discussing it with a fellow ANA member at a summer seminar a couple of years ago the suggestion was made, to me, that perhaps the 1664 strike was  just a re-striking of the 1662.  It was an attractive idea as it explained the absence of sale records for 1664 while not casting doubt on Purma's research.    A few weeks ago all that changed. Heritage Auctions ( Europe) put their latest auction on line and in that auction was a rough example of the 1664 strike.   Of course I had to bid  and,  unsure as to whether I would be able to bid live, I submitted an absentee bid online well in advance.  It was clear before the Auction that there was only one other collector who was interested in the coin.  Before the online bidding closed and the live auction began  the other bidder and I took the coins pre-bids up to €1200.00.  I was able to log on and participate, unnecessarily, in the live auction. I, with no further bidding, became the owner of the first confirmed 21st century sale of the 1664 strike.  I say 21st century because Heritage auctions, as is now common in European coin sales listed the coins provenance.  The coin had resided in a collection since it was last sold in April 1975 ( Schulman's Amsterdam).   I am now hunting that 1975 Auction Catalog, I suspect I missed finding the coin in Auction records because I failed to search under the Dutch designation of "halve schelling".  All up with postage and BP I paid US$1600.00  for a coin that for me had taken on a mythological status. With only two interested bidders the coin might not  appreciate further in value and perhaps might depreciate over time... For me the important thing is I finally have proof the coin exists, and have the pleasure of it residing in my collection.    The coin is about the same size as a nickel.Edit(11/29/2016):   An update.  Cammarano states the Reverse of the coin bears St George and the Dragon.  I had never questioned that attribution.  I posted the find on a Closed face book group for the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and a member of that group took one look at the reverse and asked if it were St Michael ( the archangel) I responded stating I thought it was St Gerorge but that person then posted  pictures of medals and coins that bore St Michael and the visual evidence was  hard( I would say impossible) to deny.  I then scanned through Purma's book looking at Zwolle mint coins from the same period.   A number of coins had St Michael, as attributed by Purma,  in the Coat of Arms for , I assume, Zwolle on them.    Of course now it seems obvious: St George  is never portrayed with wings, so it is clear that the reverse bears the image of St Michael attacking Satan. If you look at the "dragon" you can see it  has arms and legs as well as serpent features.  I had been so focused on the story behind the coin that  I had  omitted to look at the story on the coin.

Noble Auctions in Sydney Australia had an auction over the period  17 -19 November I was interested in one lot which I won.  The lot consisted of two low grade( but still collectible) ducats  that Nobles had identified as from the Netherlands.   I had recently  become aware that Russian produced imitations of Netherlands Ducats  in the late 18th century and again in the 19th century. I wanted to add examples of the Russian strikes to my collection. The two ducats in the Auction were dated 1840 and 1849.  Both dates are good candidates for the Russian strikes.  In particular. Russia produced Ducats dated 1849 from that year through to 1867. The Dutch only produced around 13000-14000 ducats  in 1849 so my bet was that the coin would be Russian.  The coins finally arrived last week and for me the fun part of collecting began.   The task was to identify whether the coins were Russian or Dutch.   I posted questions on facebook, and two separate coin forums.  Very quickly some kind person sent me scans from a reference with identification information. That information confirmed the 1840 was Russian and suggested to my inexperienced eye that the 1849 was Dutch.  However I didn't quite trust myself so I emailed another expert in Poland  who came back a couple of days later with a very simple check for the 1849 strike. That information confirmed what I had originally thought before I received the coins:  the 1849 is Russian. the quick check  look at the third photo. A dutch 1849 strike will have the thumb covering all the arrows, as you can see on my coin the thumb, what you can see of it, only covers five arrows.  However for me I am still not finished I need to have solid documented evidence  so currently I am hunting down these two Jnl editions. If any one has copies I would greatly appreciate getting scans of the relevant sections( the ANA LIbrary does not appear to have these dates):Journal Of The Russian Numismatic Society - issue  Number 8, September 1982Journal Of The Russian Numismatic Society - issue Number 66, Summer 1998

I have been extending my collecting interest. Venice is now in my sights  and I have attached a photo pf my latest acquisition  a Venetian Grosso of  Giovanni Soranzo(1312 -1328). When I start in a new area of interest I explore the history, political, Social,  economic and the numismatic.   Venice is an intriguing  City  a bastion of capital based democracy surrounded by an Ocean of Feudalism and that republixs story makes for a great numismatic legacy.As part of the research I have been wading through  Norwich's 'a history of Venice"  one paragraph has me really intrigued:Page 179   "........in retaliation the Venetian Domenico Schiavo......penetrated into the inner harbour of Genoa with three galleys and, as a final insult, actually minted some Venetian coins there  before retiring"The coins aren't identified and neither is the date reported. From the general context I assume the incident occurred in the 1290's  perhaps the 1280's.   Perhaps the coins were ducats  that seems a good bet . Its an intriguing incident that I would love to know more about.  Does any one have any information to add to the story?

I used to love watching, when I could catch it, the late 1990s early 2000's James Burke Documentary "Connections". A, I assume, British programme it may not be familiar to Americans.  I didn't see it that often but recently found it on you tube.   I hadn't realized I had probably missed 80% of all episodes. The format of each episode was to lead up to one particular invention (the undeclared subject of the episode) discovery by linking a whole lot of seemingly unrelated inventions and discoveries.   It was interesting; at least I found it so, even when the links seemed to be a bit forced.   What I found particularly useful was the different frames of reference that were applied.  Too often we become so used to one way of looking at the world, or our hobby, that we fail to see another way of looking at it.