Dec 5th, 2012 by Jennifer Lynn
Okay, this is why it totally is dangerous for me to have expendable cash burning a hole through my pocket. Because I will go all out pirate rogue and that sometimes can be a very thorny issue. Or in this case, horn-y. No, not like that, you pervs. Recently I acquired THIS from a private collector:
Some pirate booty for the family coffers. My lustrous itty-bitty 1/20 oz gold unicorn is killing it with her miniature awesome-ness.
Merry Christmas to meeeeeee!
So I’ve plumped up the family coffers with a new member to my coin collection. (Remember my recent purchase: an Isle of Man 1 oz gold Angel coin? Hey, that one was not my fault. Discover card practically twisted my arm with their cash back incentive, those cheeky muffs.)
This latest addition has been dubbed LuLu the Unicorn and she is sheer miniature awesome-ness.
My mystical unicorn coin is a teensy 1/20 ounce of gold, roughly the size of my pinky nail, and she arrived snugly sealed in the original packaging from the Mint, accompanied by a tiny scroll of authenticity scribed in Chinese. I can’t read it, of course, so maybe it’s really a treasure map to a hidden portal leading to a magical dimension, full of real dragons waiting to rend away our fleshy bits! And unicorns to slay the demons. Or maybe it’s really a tiny magic carpet for other miniature unicorns to frolic on and all cruise around racing each other. Because even though LuLu is only a bust portrait I am pretty sure she lacks wings.
Regardless.
The Chinese Mint released their mystical Unicorn coin series from 1994 until 1997, which features different depictions of Qi’lin (the Asian Unicorn) on the obverse and the Western Unicorn on the reverse. LuLu is from the 1996 breed and eventually I hope to collect more of these rare coins from this limited series. I do find the Chinese artwork and detail on these coins stunningly beautiful. Also it would be neat to gradually hoard accumulate a unicorn coin collection for Lexi. However, although LuLu herself is not a rarity, some of her more elusive coined cousins can cost upward of thousands of dollars.
So that is LuLu, the teensy gold Unicorn, and she’s now all mine. My preciousss.
Isn’t she swell?
=^..^=
Oh she's swell alright lol. How many coins do you have? What are your plans for your coins to pass them down? and How much do they typically cost?
This itty unicorn coin cost me roughly $100 (or the spot price for 1/20 oz of gold—approximately 1.5 grams, give or take) which is why I pounced on the opportunity to bring her home with me. And I have collected coins, treasures and other various oddities for several years now. Hmmm, six or seven years now, is it? Cripes, I am getting old!
The plan eventually is to build toward an ancient coin collection of sorts. Or just pile all of my loot neatly into a huge pile in our living room and face plant into it à la Scrooge McDuck style. Bwahahahaha!
That's a pretty neat looking coin. I've never purchase gold in any form. But like you, i'd love to pile it all in a big pit and swim around like Scrooge. Ducktales was one of my fav shows as a kid because of that vault.
Hey, that is so cute!!!
That is pretty cool, how do you go about finding things like that?
Nice addition to the coffers! It is great that you got about spot price on the coin, usually the markup is pretty high, making it hard to resell if you want/need.
That's pretty cool. The only things I have ever collected are key-chains and VW Beetle miniatures, neither of which are really worth anything.
That's so freakin' awesome! I would love to add a gold unicorn coin to my pirates gold stash.
Yarrrr! Pirate Booty! Grub n' Ale to celebrate new loot! Hehehe, I'm being a naughty Swashbuckler
Woops, lost my bandanna.
Is this just a hobby or do you have some ultimate goal in mind?
I don't know the first thing about coin collections, but that coin looks cool as!
Do you expect them to appreciate in value? Or do you collect them for fun?
I know nothing about coin collecting (but oddly know a bit about gold value from dentistry since it drives our market prices too) but she's pretty! Enjoy it!
That coin looks awesome, but I'm with Justin in that I've never purchased anything that contains gold. I guess my wife's wedding ring is "white gold" but other than that we don't invest in gold or own any gold coins. It'd be kind of neat to collect something though and keep it in the family for generations (in hopes that it could one day be worth something).
LuLu is bad-a! I love how they have the Asian design then the western one on the reverse. What a great idea to build up for the little one!
Awesome purchase!!!
This looks really good; well done. Btw, I would have done the same and managed to justify it somehow (in my case, probably not with Christmas but somethign else…). Enjoy!
Super cute. We have no gold investments, but with as much yarn as I hoard, you'd think it was gold
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@Justin, Scrooge McDuck also was one of my financial heroes as a wee one, hah!
@Debtgirl, isn't LuLu the cutest?
@The First Million, frequently I obtain coins like this relatively cheap at local estate sales or through private trusted collections. I am an avid treasure hunter and collector of oddities.
@Pauline, yes, it is extremely important to carefully consider the ease of a resale. Fortunately there is a healthy demand behind this unicorn coin series due to limited production from the Chinese government and the beauty of the actual coins.
@Edward, I am intrigued to hear about creative items that others enjoy collecting. Key chains sound pretty neat actually! I would love to travel to different exotic countries to bring back a unique key chain or memento from each destination.
@Jen, isn't she a weensy beauty?
@V., for now this is just a quirky hobby of mine. Some day however I'd like to transition into artifacts and ancient coins.
@Glen, a bit of both, I do have a love for collecting older coins due to the historical value. And I do expect this gold unicorn to hold its own—as much as (if not better than) fiat currency, at any rate.
@Catherine, thank you!
@Jason, the boy likes to poke fun at me because I prefer oddities (ie, a coin over, say, a ring or other piece of jewelry.)
@Femme Frugality, isn't that totally neat? The Asian designs for the rest of the series are so interesting. One even depicts a little Buddha riding on the back of the Qi'lin.
@Marvin, thank you, sir!
@Maria, are you a treasure
hoarderhunter as well?@KK, oooh, yarn! Knitting actually is on my 'to-learn' list this year.
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Random! But nice!
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