Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Coins

My boys, ages 7 and 11, and I have just recently gotten into coin hunting and collecting within the past year. We have found that buying $50 bags of pennies from banks is the easiest resource for us and we have met some great people that are willing to help us get coins to search. We have found the usual wheats, Canadians, minor varieties, a few errors, plus the occasional dime and washer. On July 29, 2019 we picked up one of those bags, went home, and split it three ways to hunt. As I was searching my portion I found a dateless Indian Head Cent along with several wheats. Hopeful that we found a great bag, I made sure to check every variety that I know of with a…

MOST MODERN collectors think that the Peace dollar came about solely because the public wanted something to commemorate the end of the War to End All Wars. The first steps to this end, although not of course realized at the time, actually began during World War I when Great Britain needed to strike a large number of silver coins for India. London purchased a considerable quantity of silver bullion from the United States, obtained by melting 270 million Morgan dollars. Not all of the silver was sent to India, however, as part of this metal was used in the heavy domestic silver coinage needed during wartime. One of the stipulations connected with the sale was that the government stockpile of silver had to be replenished after the war ended. This…

Fear rather than demand drove the price of gold and silver to their best prices in six years recently. Demand for coins composed of either precious metal increased significantly, but that demand was somewhat muted by a flight to cyber money as well as an alternative not only to stocks and bonds but from taking physical possession of precious metal commodities. Coin purchases are now competing with cyber money for anyone interested in alternative investment vehicles or better security when stock and bond markets dip. Collectors may not like it when anyone considers coins to be a commodity, but that is how they are viewed by investors and other non-collectors seeking a safe haven at a time when equity values correct. Cyber money is becoming an increasing challenge to physical…

PHILADELPHIA – The United States Mint marked a historic milestone today: the 50th anniversary of its fourth and current minting facility in Philadelphia, Pa. In celebration of this milestone, on August 14, visitors will have a rare opportunity to speak directly with Mint personnel who make our nation’s coins. The original “five-handed” shovel used for the ground-breaking of the fourth Philadelphia Mint will also be on display. “We have come a long way from our modest beginning in 1792,” said Mint Director David Ryder. “In those days, it took three years to produce our nation’s first one million coins. Today, the current Philadelphia Mint is a state-of-the art facility equipped with the technology to produce one million coins every 30 minutes.” The fourth Philadelphia Mint opened on Aug. 14, 1969.…

NUMISMATIC HISTORY was made in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Auction at the 2019 ANA World’s Fair of Money, where an example of the legendary 1894-S Barber dime sold for over $1.3 million in lot 5178. Certified Branch Mint Proof-63 by PCGS and verified by CAC, this coin is one of just nine confirmed survivors from an original mintage of only 24 pieces. The 1894-S Barber dime is among the most legendary rarities in all of United States numismatics. It has been well studied and publicized over the past century, since it was first noted in an article in the August 25, 1895 edition of The San Francisco Call. By the turn of the 20th century, its fame had grown through publicity surrounding major auction appearances and discussion in hobby…

My collecting history has followed a path that many of my readers may identify with. I began as a junior collector when I was in junior high school (today’s middle school), continued collecting throughout my high school years, and put my collection away while I was in college. My college years consumed the better part of a decade, but when I took my first (and only, as it turned out) major position, I dusted off my albums and resumed the life of a coin collector. Initially, I worked on completing collections that I had begun many years before. These were sets of familiar series such as Lincoln cents, Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, Washington quarters, and Walking Liberty half dollars. At some point, it occurred to me that I might enjoy…