Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Coins

I have what I consider a disappointing coin find. I collect Kennedy half dollars and for the last few years I have been buying uncirculated rolls. This year I bought my usual two sets and was breaking one set for gifts and resale when I discovered that the reverse of the Denver half was deplorable. The tail feathers, the designer initials and the field in that area were all in deplorable condition. So I looked at my uncirculated set and the half was in similar condition. Is this the new standard for the Denver mint or am I the only one who noticed or who caught this disappointing condition. P.S. I sent three sets back and bought one more and all were the same. Don (last name withheld) Springfield, Mo.…

WHEN THE United States Congress got around to authorizing a Mint, way back in the 1790’s, they made provisions for gold coins as large as $10. That was quite a bit of money back then, or rather, quite a bit of purchasing power, but the Mint set to the task and our first gold eagles were pounded out before the year 1800. For any collector new to gold, trying to land one is going to be quite an expense; and a person could thus be forgiven for thinking all gold is too expensive. But with both some patience and a bit of searching, we can come up with United States gold that is considerably more affordable. Let’s see what just might go into a basic collection of United States gold…

IN THE 1850s, when coin collecting first became a national hobby, the most popular coins were the old large cents and the early silver dollars. The interest in the older dollars is all the more remarkable because in those days a dollar meant something in buying power; wages of $10 a week were not all that uncommon. The story begins in the early 1790s. In April 1792, President George Washington signed into law the bill creating a mint and coinage for the United States. The keystone of this act was the silver dollar weighing 416 grains and containing 371.25 grains of pure silver. The fineness was thus set at .8924+, the only time this degree of fineness has been used in world coinage. The 1792 law was flawed in several…

WHEN YOU think about your collection, do you ever give any thought to which coins are the most beautiful? I confess that some of the coins I consider the most beautiful U.S. issues are not ones I collect. Of course, one reason for this is that they are just too expensive for my numismatic budget. The Stella, or $4 gold piece, comes readily to mind. If I limit my consideration to just 20th century types, I find that expense becomes less of a factor. In this article, I’m going to tell you about the ten 20th century types I consider to be incredibly beautiful. Along the way, I’ll also tell you whether or not I own one or more. I’ll list my most beautiful types by denomination, with the lowest…