WightMeWorry Posted July 3, 2010 Share Posted July 3, 2010 Apparently, this website was offline, but now it's back up. Homepage and direct link to the GRRM-licensed ASOIAF coins here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Thanks for the heads up. I'd wanted to get some of their coins for ages but they were offline. Ordered today and got a very prompt reply from Will Whitfoot, so they're definitely active again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dryvus Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Aww, no golden dragons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Aww, no golden dragons?While that would be neat, they'd have to cost a few hundred bucks, unless they were merely "goldish". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Just an update, but I got my silver coins from SPM today, and they even threw in a copper for free. The coins are slightly larger than a medieval English penny (though maybe that would be the original size before they were clipped), a little thinker, and have milling around the edge (which I thought was a post-Renaissance innovation). Very nice overall! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Just an update, but I got my silver coins from SPM today, and they even threw in a copper for free..... Very nice overall!Greetings and I'm glad you're enjoying the coins! This is my first post on the forum as I've only just found my way here. I am Tom Maringer, mintmaster at Shire Post Mint, and maker of the various coin types.At the moment there are dies for three new issues currently being worked on by master engraver Greg Franck-Weiby. The first will be the iron coin of the faceless man... the coin that Arya receives that turns out to be a recognition token rather than a "coin" in the usual sense. For this project I have secured a small supply of metallurgical grade pure iron (NOT steel) in which the carbon content has been kept to below 0.01% This is an unusual material and is no longer being made. Blacksmiths sometimes call it "butter iron" because it can be hammered cold without cracking. Pure iron is far more resistant to rusting than the more common mild-steel. Greg is also creating dies for a new Winterfell copper... this one done in later style than the Torrhen Stark issue. It will feature Eddard Stark as Warden (NOT king) with a wolf rampant on reverse.And finally we are going to make a gold dragon! This has been a goal for a long time and it's uncertain how it will work out as far as price... what with the volatility of the gold market lately. I had originally thought to make it in brass as a stand-in for gold... something that people could own quite affordably. But GRRM was quite adamant that he wanted them in real gold. We've settled on a weight of 1 dwt... one pennyweight... 1/20 troy ounce, or about 1.56 grams. That will make it a small coin, something like the US one-dollar gold pieces of the 1800s or the Mexican 2 pesos of the 1940s. But they will be real gold, featuring the face of Aegon Targaryen on the obverse and a three-headed dragon on reverse. I don't have prices worked out on any of the new ones yet... will have to see how things work out when it comes to actually making them.Something else new is that I've lately been making a lot of buttons and pins and other sorts of jewelery and garb adornments. The Winterfell wolf head works quite nicely on a cloak pin, and the Aegon silver stag makes lovely earrings. The Dothraki denga and puli make a great bracelet/armband if left in a string of ten or more. I'm sure there are other possibilities I have not yet considered, so please feel free to offer suggestions. Have fun!Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theMountainGoat Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Hi Tom, welcome to the board.Parris donated some of your coins and jewellery to us for our Charity Raffles in Ireland last month. A few lucky winners picked up earrings, buttons including Ran (the admin of the board) who got a bracelet made of Dothraki Pul coins. John Bradley-West, the actor playing Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones, chose a Baratheon button pin as his prize. We also gave some coins to Extras who were at the Moot and they were thrilled with them.The coins and jewellery are beautiful and hopefully more people will buy them. They make great Christmas gifts for ASOIAF fans!Good luck with the new releases. I don't imagine we will be giving any Gold Dragons away as prizes though any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 The tool steel dies for the Faceless Man arrived from the engraver in the mail yesterday and I successfully heat-treated them today... quenching from cherry red in cold water. No cracks! Whew that's a relief! Yesterday I spent part of the day rolling the iron strip down to the correct gauge and punching blanks. I got as far as striking one test piece on a hand-finished blank in a temporary floating-die setup on the 50 ton screw press just to see how it was going to look. Heh heh! Yeah! Greg did a great job on the die work! Today I got the dies affixed and adjusted properly in the 150 ton knuckle press. Here are pics of one of the first pieces off the press.http://www.shirepost.com/facelessman01.jpghttp://www.shirepost.com/facelessman02.jpgI've got them up in the online store now... Shire Post Online StoreValar Dohaeris, Valar Morgulis!Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Hmmm... those pics didn't show up. Well... there are pics at the online store.So the idea with this "coin" is different. In the story it is not a coin at all, but a "recognition token" to let someone know that you have connections. I think that at moots and cons and other such gatherings this piece could serve for GRRM fans to meet each other... you show the coin and say "Valar Dohaeris" and the other person is either a dweeb and doesn't have a clue... or they respond with the proper "Valar Morgulis" and you know they're GRRM fans... perhaps they even show you their own coin. The ultrapure iron it's made from is an interesting material. The coin could be saved in its original archival plastic flip... or it can be carried. The iron coins gain a gorgeous quality of finish from being carried with other change and keys in a pocket for a long time. It's gun-barrel black as they come, but wear on the high spots makes a nice contrast. They also feel very nice rolling about in the hand. They're just a bit larger in diameter than a US or Canadian quarter-dollar piece... but about that same thickness. Pure iron is far more resistant to rusting than steel... turns out it's the carbon atoms in steel that form the initiation points for oxidation... even so I put a pastewax finish on them just to be sure. Despite the difficulties inherent in this rare material I'm pricing these at just $10 each. If you'd prefer to buy in bulk for gifting I will have small printed bags of two dozen (24) piece for $145Have fun!tOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Hi Tom,Good to hear about the new coins, the iron ones sounds like a great choice (another possibility down the road is Ghiscari coins; there was a Yunkish gold coin mentioned with a harpy on one side and a stepped pyramid on the other, and silver Astapori marks that were probably similar).What's the anticipated price for the gold dragon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 I wouldn't even hazard a guess on the final price of the gold dragon yet. Suffice it to say that gold pieces are the most difficult to make work as a project... the fact that the metal cost overwhelms all other factors totally messes with the economics. George does NOT want to emulate the gold coins with brass or plating... he wants real gold for the dragon. It is quite likely this will be the only gold coin we ever do, and it's possible that fewer than ten of them will ever be made, so please don't expect any more different gold pieces. I'm far more interested in base metals... common copper and brass coins used in the streets to buy small things... like a loaf of bread or a pint of beer. It's a lot easier to get a nice jingly bag of those together, and there are many possible design types that might be made. Coins (IMO) are more about the tactile experience than the visual... they have to FEEL and SOUND right. Silver is a nice bridge beyond copper... expensive but not as ludicrous as gold. The whole point (again IMO) is to create something that you can jingle around in your pocket so as to create a "sense of place"... making the fantasy world more real. Base metals are best for that.Be well!Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Oh, I'm amazed that a gold dragon is in the cards at all, especially with the gold price fluctuations over the last few years. But a run of just 10? Wow! That'll probably be one of the rarest IaF items ever.And an Astapori coin would be really cool, whether in copper or silver! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 Oh, I'm amazed that a gold dragon is in the cards at all, especially with the gold price fluctuations over the last few years. But a run of just 10? Wow! That'll probably be one of the rarest IaF items ever.And an Astapori coin would be really cool, whether in copper or silver!The thing that's especially nice about copper and brass and such base metals is that the value of the metal itself is relatively small... so that processing costs dominate the final price. That means that it just doesn't really matter much if a copper coin weighs 5 grams or 6 grams... so as the maker you have a far greater degree of freedom when it comes to making the blanks. But gold is so darned high that the slightest variation in weight is a really big deal... extraordinary care must be taken to assure proper weight and not to lose any snippets. At the moment I'm thinking that the price of the dragon will be tied to the fluctuating price of gold. The proposed weight is to be 1 pennyweight... or 1/20 of a troy ounce... or about 1.56 grams. (still subject to approval by GRRM) I am still trying to determine whether a price of one-tenth troy ounce will be enough, even though that is double the metal cost. We have yet to figure out if there's enough left over for the die-engraver and for George and for me and for taxes and shipping and all of that. The coins would actually be made by cutting 1/10 oz Canadian .9999 gold maple leaf bullion coins in half and remelting them to form the blanks. So the price of the gold dragon at any particular time would be tied to the current APMEX price of a 1/10 Canadial Maple Leaf coin (rather than the published spot price). in lieu of USD monetary payment, the maple leaf coin itself would also be acceptable valuta. You can search up APMEX prices easily. So Other-In-Law... can you give me volume and page numbers on the descriptions of Astapori coins? I don't seem to have noted those before. (these books are hard to search through for something)Be well!Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Hmmm, paying in existing gold coinage makes sense as a way not to get caught by market changes. I'm ordering a 1/10 oz Canadian gold right now in anticipation. For anyone who's curious, the current price is in the $170 dollar range, which is a lot lower than the worst my imagination could manage before I checked.On the Astapori coins there's not much mention, but aSoS p262 has:"To win his spiked cap, an Unsullied must go to the slave marts with a silver mark, find some wailing newborn and kill it before it's mother's eyes. In this way we make certain there is no weakness left in them."She was feeling faint. The heat, she tried to tell herself. "You take a babe from it's mother's arms, kill it as she watches, and pay for her pain with a silver coin?"We get the description of a Yunkish gold marks on p 480, aSoS:"Dany pushed open the lid of the chest with a small slippered foot. It was full of gold coins, just as the envoy said. She grabbed a handful and let them run through her fingers. They shone brightly as they tumbled and fell; new minted, most of them, stamped with a stepped pyramid on one face and the harpy of Ghis on the other."aSoS, p 257 gives a general description of harpy appearance:"She had a woman's face, with gilded hair, ivory eyes, and pointed ivory teeth. Water gushed yellow from her heavy breasts. But in place of arms she had the wings of a bat or a dragon, her legs were the legs of an eagle, and behind she wore a scorpion's curled and venomous tail.The harpy of Ghis, Dany thought."but then she rethinks:"Yet the symbol of the Old Empire still endured here, though this bronze monster had a heavy chain dangling from her talons, an open manacle on either end. The harpy of Ghis had a thunderbolt in her claws. This is the harpy of Astapor." Here's my take on what the Harpy of Ghis might look like.The pyramids and harpies are common to all the Ghiscari cities, so it could easily be that they appear on the coins of any of their marks, whether silver or gold. It might be a possibility to shoot by GRRM, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 I've got the coin bags and roll papers done for the Faceless Man bulk lots. The listing is now at my online store at: Bag of Two Dozen Faceless Man CoinsThat way they can be great inexpensive stocking stuffers and small gifts for all your fan friends... (or you can sell a few at the regular price and end up with some free). I've gone overboard to make these appear old... they've experienced about 12 hours of tumbling (an hour in the tumbler equals about a year of everyday pocket carry) and then they're exposed to chemical blueing salts (like those used to darken steel gunbarrels) and then pastewaxed to seal it. The result is a slightly mottled and old appearance that just gets better as it's rubbed and handledAnd while I would love to claim this as my own intent... sometimes the universe just tickles us with the fickle finger of fate and does something amazing. As you hold the coin in different ways to the light... the face seems to change! I swear I'm not making this up! There is the standard shadowy face with a slit mouth, but then each one also seems to have at least one different alternate personality that shows up depending on how the light hits it... very weird... I've been making this kind of thing for ten years and I've never seen this before. I have not been able to photograph the effect... it seems to exist only in the moment. Master of Coin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird of the Canals Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Man I'd love a bag of Facelessmen coins but $145 is a bit steep. any chance you'll sell one dozen or a half dozen with some discount? Or mayhaps a holiday sale? Free shipping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theMountainGoat Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Well Bird it just so happens that our Master of Coin posted a special offer of free shipping for all Westeros boarders in the other thread about Faceless Men coins in the BWB forum.What an uncanny coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Other-in-Law Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Well Bird it just so happens that our Master of Coin posted a special offer of free shipping for all Westeros boarders in the other thread about Faceless Men coins in the BWB forum.What an uncanny coincidence.Ah! I missed that when I placed my order the other day. Ah well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daralys Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 I missed it too, and I bought quite a few coins. :(Oh well, $5 in shipping's not too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master of Coin Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 I missed it too, and I bought quite a few coins. :(Oh well, $5 in shipping's not too bad. Many thanks to Daralys, Lord Mountain Goat, Other-in-Law, and others (in-law or otherwise) who recently purchased the the iron coin of the Faceless Man! He's on his way and should be arriving in your nieghborhood very very soon.I had mentioned that some of the examples from batch 2 seemed to show strangely morphing facial features. Here's a photo of 12 of them laid out side by side with the light angle varying across the array. There is a shadowy image visible in specular reflection in the upper left-hand corner... and on the others the mottled surface seems to form itself into different faces depending on how you look at it. http://www.shirepost.com/fm-iron-12diff-batch2.jpgThere are some differences in the finish from batch to batch. I am "circulating" them rather brutally in a rotating barrel filled with ceramic media from pea size to thumb size... then shaking them up with blueing salts and then rolling them in steel shot. The results are always interesting, but seldom the same. Here's what we've got so far. Batch 1 (24 pieces) Smooth black finishBatch 2 (120 pieces) mottled brown/blackBatch 3 (72 pieces) speckled black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.