Treasure!

[Manveruon]

Well well well, look what we have here! Many many thanks to our very own Mr. Wil Whitfoot for these wonderful artifacts, straight from Middle-earth!

One thing I’ve been trying to do lately is fill in some of the empty corners, so to speak, of my kit and persona, including some “pocket trash” (as it is often affectionately referred to ‘round these parts), and so forth. One thing I’ve felt sorely lacking in over the years is some believable Middle-earth currency, so as I mentioned recently in the “Coinage” thread, I finally broke down and placed an order to the Shire Post Mint!

I ordered 7 different coins - 1 Gondorian penny in copper, 1 Gondorian penny in fine silver, 1 silver Gondorian crown in nickel silver (which I think is supposed to essentially be a “Castar?”), and 4 brass shire tuppence coins. Now, combined with the 4 copper Dwarven pennies from Erebor I received from Gulli for this past Yuletide gift exchange, and the copper Bree penny I got a while back from Elleth, that makes a full dozen coins from across Middle-earth, in all different denominations and different materials! My coin-purse should have a nice jingle to it from here on out! I like the fact that the Gondorian coins are designed to commemorate the coronation of King Elessar, which helps date my persona right at the very beginning of the 4th Age. I also appreciate that all the different coins feature distinctive design elements, made by different people, so they really do look to be collected from all over. My only wish is that I was able to get one or two “gold” coins from somewhere like Gondor or Rohan - but I may have to nab a couple in jeweler’s brass from the place Eofor mentioned sometime, just to round out my collection.

The packaging was simply superb, including a beautiful wax seal that I really had a hard time bringing myself to break (as it was, I used a knife to avoid destroying the seal itself, although the paper underneath did get a bit scarred). Inside, each coin was displayed very professionally in a plastic sleeve, with an information card! It might be kind of hard to tell here, but the Gondorian Crown coin is BIG - like, MUCH bigger than I realized when I placed the order! But it makes a really great statement piece next to the others! Overall, I think my favorites in this batch are actually the brass Shire tuppence - one for each farthing of the Shire! The detail on those in particular is just gorgeous!

My only gripes are that, A: the reverse side of the Gondorian Crown coin is a little lacking in definition (which isn’t the end of the world, since I would expect some variation like this in real-world coins as well, and honestly the rest of the detail on all these coins is SPECTACULAR), and B: that all of the packaging was so nice - like something you would put in a proper coin collection - that I almost didn’t want to take them out and put them in with my kit! Almost.

Overall, as you can see, they mix beautifully with the other coins I have mentioned, and I’m very excited to finally have a bit of a jingle in my pocket on my next outing!

(The final pic here shows all the coins now in my collection, first from Elleth, then Gulli, and finally Wil Whitfoot!)

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[Cimrandir]

That is awesome! Such a diverse mix of coins certainly tells a story about your travels.

[Iodo]

a very nice collection

[Elleth]

SO COOL
I think Gulli's rendition of Middle-earth aesthetics grows on me more every time I see his work - for points east of the Misty Mountains especially.

[Eothain]

That's just downright totally freakin' cool!
Adds great detail and realism to an already thorough kit!
Congrats on the coinage!

[A Mayer]

Damn Manveruon, I had just put away the debit card when I dove in to the coinage post and straight on to your post. I’ve been looking at adding more personal items and pocket litter to my kit. I feel that, besides the occasional pint at public establishments and overt business with tradesmen, Rangers would have need of coinage for their less overt dealings with locals when necessary.
I ordered the four copper shire pennies, the Shire four tuppences, the Axe of Thrain copper coin, and two Old Dale Raven pennies(3rd age). I don’t see ever carrying this much, but I wanted to have the variety to choose from.

[Eofor]

Rangers would have need of coinage for their less overt dealings with locals when necessary.

I like adding a few extra non coin based trinkets to my purse thinking in the vein of certain groups having need of more than just coin. It all depends where your patrol takes you but I can see the wife of a remote steading more than happy to trade fresh bread and meat for some replacement sewing needles.

[ForgeCorvus]

Rangers would have need of coinage for their less overt dealings with locals when necessary.

I like adding a few extra non coin based trinkets to my purse thinking in the vein of certain groups having need of more than just coin. It all depends where your patrol takes you but I can see the wife of a remote steading more than happy to trade fresh bread and meat for some replacement sewing needles.

This is part of Barron's build. Far easier to trade small but needful things when out in the sticks, after all some peasants probably don't see or need coins from one year to the next and would rather have something they can use now.

[Elemmakil]

I do love the ShirePost offerings, and have collected them (at least the ME stuff) for many years now. I even have some real gold coins from BitD when those were offered, along with some of the very first coins that were made from the early, acid etched (?) dies - very different from his later stuff.