Bi-metal precious/exotic collector.

Hello everyone

My name is Bruce and I collect bi-metal coins but more specifically ones composed of a precious metal and one that is exotic (silver and niobium/tantalum/titanium).

My route to coin collecting is likely different than most but interesting none the less. I have been an element nut for years (and yes this includes silver/gold/platinum/palladium) and have a decent sized collection with a emphasis on on the metallic elements. I also buy exotic jewelery for friends and family and while researching anodized niobium/tantalum/zirconium I stumbled on the "Coin of Time" series of coins from Latvia and was curious enough to pick one up. I can tell you that as cool as these look online you just cant capture the way anodized metal changes color depending on the angle you view it at, you have to see these in person. I decided to expand my collecting and now have bi-metal coins from Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Austria and Latvia. I even picked up the silver/niobium coins from Canada even though the price was kind of unreasonable, not much you can do when the day 1 price is so high.

My goal now is to find and collect 2 complete sets of all precious/exotic legal tender coins. I will be keeping 1 set for 20 to 30 years and the other I have no plans to ever personally sell (same deal with my precious metals).

I am here to read the precious metal discussions and to research new potential coin sets that fit into my collection. I am also looking for 1 specific coin that I cannot for the life of me find (at least not one I can buy here in America). I have 1 2004 Latvian coin of time but need to find 1 more, They are commanding a very high price currently (considering their age and issue price) but this still does not seem to be encouraging many to come up for sale. If anyone has one or knows where I can find one I'd love to have a chat.

I work a lot so its going to be a while before I get a lot of pics up but they will be up eventually.