Peru, 10 Soles, 1969. KM.253

Lebanon has one of the most interesting histories in the Middle East. At one time it was known as the Monte Carlo of the Middle East. Then it spent years in turmoil and civil war, now it is starting to regain its place in the world and starting to regain its stature. We are very lucky to be able to get a 5-coin Mint Set from Lebanon, as coins are not all that easy to get out of the country, especially current coins in Brilliant Uncirculated condition. You get the 25 Livres, 50 Livres, 100 Livres, 250 Livres and the 500 Livres dated 1996-2006 all in Brilliant Uncirculated condition.

On a recent trip to Germany I found a small quantity of two almost crownsized coins of Papua New Guinea. They were issued just 4 years apart, but boy are they different…! The 1 Kina of 2004 is a two year only type coin. The obverse has two fresh water crocodiles on it and it has a hole in the middle. The coin is 33.28mm in diameter and they are in Uncirculated condition. The 2 Kina of 2008 is a one year type coin and was issued to honour the 35th anniversary of the Bank of Papua New Guinea. It is bi-metallic and is also in Uncirculated condition.

A couple of issues ago we ran the George V silver type set of New Zealand coins, this issue we offer the King George VI silver type set. Because they are newer coins, they will be in slightly better condition than the George V set. All the coins were issued between 1937-1946 and you get the Halfcrown, Florin, Shilling, Sixpence and Threepence all struck in silver plus the Penny and Halfpenny in Bronze. In fact these were the last New Zealand coins struck in silver for general circulation. The population of New Zealand is rather small so they didn’t have to make so many coins and remember these are the last silver coins of New Zealand.