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 an improved bill by James Charles (not the Yoda one shown above though) with activities for children such as a glow-in-the-dark bank and designing paper currency with ink stamping. The exhibit runs through January 20th. There are special Saturday events but we just went on a regular museum day.

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’.” ... About 2,000 fake £1 coins were recovered, the court was told. Specialist officers also found a large amount of metal, as well as notepads allegedly with “stage by stage” instructions and diagrams showing how to make fake coins.

We rarely think about what happens to modern counterfeits after they are seized. One man had an idea but his dream was denied by the UK's Royal Mint. Stephanie Cureton reports for the Wirral Globe that

Plans to build a sculpture made entirely out of fake coins used at Merseyside’s tunnel booths have been scrapped. Merseytravel asked the Royal Mint for their approval to commission a special piece of art made out of counterfeit £1 coins. ... Councillor Steve Foulkes, who is part of the committee, had said he was “sceptical” about the prospect of such a piece of art.

Commenting on the newspaper's web site, a user identified only as Spiffy opined “no Turner prize for us.”