Belgium is to mint a silver 10-euro coin to celebrate the 75th birthday of cartoon hero Tintin in January, news reports said Wednesday.
The first coin will be struck in the presence of the widow of the diminutive reporter's creator Herge, Fanny Rodwell, ahead of the anniversary on January 10.
Tintin, who with his faithful dog Snowy is among Belgium's most recognized figures, was born in January, 1929 in a children's supplement to the Vingtieme Siecle (20th Century) newspaper.
His first adventure was "Tintin in the land of the Soviets." It has been followed by 23 full-length albums which have been translated into 50 language and sold 200 million copies worldwide.
The cartoon books and related merchandising -- much of which is sold to tourists visiting Belgium -- have become the centre of a multi-million euro industry.
As well as Rodwell -- president of the Herge Foundation -- the ceremonial first minting of the Tintin coins will be overseen by Finance Minister Didier Reynders.
In 2003 Belgium produced a 10-euro coin with the effigy of novelist Georges Simenon, to celebrate the centenary of his birth in the eastern city of Liege.
If Belgium did this on its own (which I doubt), it reeks of the Articles of Confederation.
Oh, God, I just referenced the Articles of Confederation. Curse you, Mr. Kiley and all your educational ways!
Originally posted by CRZ on January 4, 2001Somebody should remind Jericho that Y2K is over and he risks dating himself.
Originally posted by CRZ on December 24, 2001Look, it's almost 2002 - is there ANY chance we'll see the "Y2J" moniker fall by the wayside ANY time soon?
Any idea how one would come to own one of these coins? My God, am I actually going to have to go into the (supposed mafia front operation*) coin shop near my house?
*I say this because I have NEVER seen anyone in this place. I mean, I at least see the tax guy around April, but the coin shop - it couldn't be emptier. How the hell do you pay the lease on a coin shop with no customers?
Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
Simple....underreport your revenues, overstate your expense, the business is probably a cash business "Cash is King" but that would be a nice front for a mafia money laundering scheme...big amount of cash due to people supposedly buying coins, then use the cash from the bad business to buy valuable coins which are probably sold on Ebay (a lot of these coin/stamp/baseball card stores make a killing on there)...nice laundering scheme if you ask me :)
Originally posted by Guru ZimAny idea how one would come to own one of these coins? My God, am I actually going to have to go into the (supposed mafia front operation*) coin shop near my house?
*I say this because I have NEVER seen anyone in this place. I mean, I at least see the tax guy around April, but the coin shop - it couldn't be emptier. How the hell do you pay the lease on a coin shop with no customers?
I'd stop asking questions if I were you. Know what I mean?
I finally found a picture (on the tintin.com page):
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The Royal Money and Moulinsart commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Tintin. A Tintin silver coin of 10 EUR shall be launched at this occasion.
The striking of the first Tintin coin shall take place next January 8, 2004 in presence of Fanny Rodwell, chairman of the Hergé Foundation and Didier Reynders, Finance Minister at the Royal Money, 32 Blvd Pachéco, B- 1000 Brussels.
I used to work at a coin shop back in high school, The Maryland Coin Exchange.
Most shops do face-to-face business by appointment only. They got 66% of their business by their mail order (probably net orders now) company, Gobriect Numismatics (sp?), and the rest at coin conventions.
We did almost $10K in mail order business a day, and all that loot had to be taken to the post office every afternoon at 4:30pm. The owner, his son, and their guns, escorted me as we did the post office drop. We were 1 mile north of the DC border in downtown Silver Spring.
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