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Game of Thrones coins


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I'm working on a die for a Dornish piece... I've got the Sun and Spear done for one side and looking pretty nice... just needs the NYMEROS MARTELL inscription cut in. But I'm stuck for the other side... there are lots of ideas but nothing that is clearly THE THING for it.

Starfall??? I must have missed that one somehow. Tell me more about Starfall.

Starfall is based in dorne and is the seat of House Dayne (Arthur Dayne, Sword of Morning) so essentially they are sworn to house Martell but they have a pretty cool emblem...

http://awoiaf.wester.../e/e9/Dayne.png

http://awoiaf.wester...php/House_Dayne

Also for the other side you could have something relating to how Dorne was Never conquered by the Targaryens...

"Rhaenys flew directly to Sunspear to demand Princess Mariya's surrender. Mariya instead informed her that, "This is Dorne. You are not wanted here, return at your peril." Rhaenys replied that she would return with "Fire and blood," but Mariya simply replied, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." The Targaryen army withdrew from Dorne, leaving the country untaken.[7] A thousand pinpricks did what a single pitched battle could not, and Aegon chose to withdraw and leave Dorne an independent nation."

Dragons tail in a knot?... or something along the lines of :)

(excerpt taken from : http://awoiaf.wester...ttle_with_Dorne )

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Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken... that makes a great motto for a coin.

In the meantime I've got something new for the Lannisters to pay their debts with:

http://www.shirepost...-casterly-rock/

Here it is up on eBay!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130842382953?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

This is a BIG coin of pure silver. Seems that they had a lot of silver and gold in the mines at Casterly Rock!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently posted a set of the nine different types of the Faceless Man coin on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140916707919?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Now that I've retired the master die set I went back and looked in boxes and drawers to see what was left of the early types, and realized there was just enough to put together exactly 24 sets that include an example from all six pressings in iron, two of the brass ones, AND one of the ultrarare heavy copper geocoin version that was never actually released.

The master dies and the remainder of the 5th pressing coins will go to the engraver's widow to be part of the museum to his work that she's planning in Silverton Oregon.

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So far I've been listing coins individually, but I've been having a lot of requests for "sets". Here's a new effort to put together a boxed set of ten coins stags, stars, and a moon, along with five printed coin bags. I've been working on the packaging and documentation, and would like to hear whatever people think about it. I've got it on eBay right now at

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130854462461?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Have fun! Tom

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  • 1 month later...

***THERE WILL BE DRAGONS***

The big news, recently announced over on the Brotherhood Without Banners forum (Lonestarcon thread) is that there will be dragons at Lonestarcon3! That is the provincial name for the 2013 WorldCon (World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention) that will be in San Antonio Texas August 28-Sept 2, 2013. website here: http://www.lonestarcon3.org/ (If you want to go, better sign up soon!)

When I say "there will be dragons"... I am referring to dragon coins! Yes we are finally making dragons! Shire Post Mint will have a booth in the dealer's room, and the coins will be available there first. They will not appear in the online store until we return from San Antonio (if there are any left). There will be three different dragons actually, with three different kings of Westeros represented... all different than any kings we've done to date. There will be two types of each coin... one struck in 1/2 troy ounce of real gold and a much more affordable brass (aurichalcum) version. They will be struck from separate dies, identical at arms length, but with certain special markings on the real gold ones so that it will be impossible to gold-plate a brass one and try to pass it off as gold. Also there will be distinct differences in the packaging. The real gold ones will be done in very limited numbers and exclusively for George. I hope to have one set to show at the Con, but it will be primarily the aurichalcum version that we'll have at the booth.

By the way, on the first page of this thread there is a mintage list, which I go back and edit as needed, so that you can know the total mintage is of any particular coin or type. Most of the early types are completely sold out, but since I always ship from the newest type, there are examples of some early types lurking about, and available on request. There are also a small number of errors (unlisted) available on request for those who enjoy that sort of thing. I don't make errors on purpose... got that out of my system long ago. But stuff happens from time to time...mostly brockage errors, which can be rather spectacular. (a brockage is when a coin gets stuck on the die and a second blank is inserted such that the coin and the blank are smashed together) Brockages are always collected in matched pairs, and I do not charge extra for them... they are the same price as regular coins. In a press-run of say... 200 coins I might end up with two or three brockage pairs on a bad day. I have a couple in silver and a couple in copper from the most recent pressing of the Torrhen Stark Winterfell coins.

Most mintages are in the low hundreds, with a few under a hundred. The largest mintage to date was the sixth pressing of the Iron Coin of the Faceless Man at 3,000 pieces, struck on new dies and very distinct from all previous pressings.

If you place an order through my online store or via the eBay sales, (my seller name there is "tmaring" ) please add a note telling me that you're from this forum and I'll add a little something extra!

Have fun!

Tom Maringer

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Exciting news about the Dragons, Tom! I hope I'm able to score one. Pretty sure I have 1 of every coin so far. Still need to figure out a nice display. Right now they are sitting in the chest that came with my Valyrian Steel Night's Watch dragonglass dagger set.

Very cool! Can you give me some ideas about what kind of display would be good? I am working on packaging and display but there are so many options it's hard to guess what people will like better. Something to hang on a wall, like a shadowbox? Something to shelve with books or DVDs, like a booksafe? Something that is like a coin-album with clear pages and places for each coin?

can you make me a real gold dragon please?

They won't be ready until september. The price will be going price of one troy ounce of gold at the time payment is received. I will accept either the actual ounce of gold or the $USD equivalent. I usually use the Kitco page to check current gold and silver prices: http://www.kitco.com/market/ it changes hour by hour. So... if you think gold will go down then you can wait for september and just buy it then. Or if you think gold will go up you can go into the marketplace now and purchase an ounce of gold and hold it so that you can pay with it when the coins are ready. Please don't send anything now, I am not yet ready to accept pre-orders. Most common forms of gold bullion will be acceptable, but 1/2 oz American Eagles are preferred.

I will strike up a quantity of the brass version of the dragons, but for the actual gold ones we strike only what are ordered. There will be three different designs with three different kings, so if you want all three you'll need three ounces of gold.

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They won't be ready until september. The price will be going price of one troy ounce of gold at the time payment is received. I will accept either the actual ounce of gold or the $USD equivalent. I usually use the Kitco page to check current gold and silver prices: http://www.kitco.com/market/ it changes hour by hour. So... if you think gold will go down then you can wait for september and just buy it then. Or if you think gold will go up you can go into the marketplace now and purchase an ounce of gold and hold it so that you can pay with it when the coins are ready. Please don't send anything now, I am not yet ready to accept pre-orders. Most common forms of gold bullion will be acceptable, but 1/2 oz American Eagles are preferred.

I will strike up a quantity of the brass version of the dragons, but for the actual gold ones we strike only what are ordered. There will be three different designs with three different kings, so if you want all three you'll need three ounces of gold.

Awesome I look forward to getting all three!

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Eddard Stark Dies! Disaster at the mint.

There's been a brockage incident at the press during the latest run of Eddard Stark pfennigs. As a result the dies have been ruined. Explaining briefly... the steel dies are set up in a 150 ton press so that they come together with a certain clearance between them, pressing both sides of the coin blank at once. A brockage error occurs when a struck coin fails to be extracted before the next blank is inserted. Then the press closes and smashes the struck coin into the fresh blank. Of course both coins are ruined, but for most setups it does not damage the dies. Unfortunately in this case... the one-pennyweight blanks are so thin at 0.020" (about 1/2mm) that the excessive force against the die from the brockage caused irredeemable collapse of the center, such that on subsequent strikes Eddards face does not strike up. Aaaack! So... those dies are now retired and the extant number of coins is all there will ever be from that die, which was hand-engraved by the late Greg Franck-Weiby.

This latest run was intended to be 220 pieces. On the 200th strike I stopped to check the count, and that's when I failed to double-check the extraction and put a new blank in before the old one was out. So the error occurred on the 201st strike.

I have edited the mintage list on the first page of this thread to reflect the newest mintages.

It's intriguing to me that the Eddard Stark coin seems to have followed the fortunes of Eddard himself... he's lost his head!

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  • 2 weeks later...

By the way... gold and silver market price appear to be in free-fall at the moment. This represents a buying opportunity for anyone wanting to stock up now. Not sure how low it will go of course... but gold is down over $200 from just a couple weeks ago. If I was in a buying mode I'd pull the trigger now.

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We are now in full swing on the seventh pressing of the iron coin of the Faceless Man. Often I would make separate pressings clearly different in some way, such as flipping the registry between the obverse and reverse. This time I'm trying to make them as indistinguishable as possible from the sixth pressing. The only way to tell them apart should be the documentation. The finish is the most difficult part... and trying to reproduce the finish I like the best. A bright fresh looking coin would be easy... but clearly inappropriate to the theme. A brutally rusted and weathered appearance might be authentic, but it's displeasing to the eye and hand. The goal is a finish like a worn knife-handle... something that's been handled much, yet treasured and respected as well. I think the sixth pressing met that goal better than any of the earlier five. So for this round I will try to emulate them as best I can.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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