Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i Coins

WHEN IT COMES TO COLLECTING modern United States commemorative coins, many people seem to do it one set at a time. What we mean is that since the mid-1980’s, when the Olympic sets came out, or when the set of half-dollar, silver dollar, and $5 gold pieces came out honoring the 100th year of the Statue of Liberty, our commems have always been sold in some kind of set. It’s quite logical then to purchase a set, and to add that small group of coins to any growing collection of commemoratives. But how many of us focus just on a single denomination? Specifically, how many of us look only for the $5 gold pieces – the gold half eagles – and attempt to string together an entire assembly of them?…

I got another San Francisco mint quarter in change at our local ice vending machine on Jan. 6. It is a Pictured Rocks (Michigan) quarter from 2018. It is in amazing condition especially considering it is going on four years old, it should rate an MS65 or 66. it has just a few tiny marks under the rock structure on the reverse. I have found perhaps a dozen ‘S’ mint quarters over the past few years, and all of them have been in mint-state condition. While checking my change this morning I found this interesting 1989 cent. It looks like an extra rim from Lincoln’s shoulder to the top of his head. I have seen similar examples over the years, but none this pronounced. Could this have happened while creating…

In a recent column, I wrote about a disastrous trade involving a fake 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent and a 1916-D Mercury dime. In that column, I mentioned that the terrible trade began with a classified ad I ran in a numismatic periodical in which I listed my name, address, and home telephone number. Note that this was long before smart phones or even flip phones. At the end of the column, I wrote: “Although we’ve reached the end of this bad trading experience, it’s not the end of the negative events that befell me as a result of my ads in a coin periodical. But that’s a tale for another column.” This is that other column. The day of the event began like any other day: I got up, fixed,…

Both the business and hobby of coins remain on solid ground. Truly rare coins continue to come out of storage as their owners view the current climate as being the moment when the coins should command their best prices if offered. Even the market venue for these coins is changing. Rarities no longer need to be offered in a public auction to realize a strong price. Some of these coins are being bought and sold over the counter between dealers and collectors, while others are appearing in online rather than traditional public auctions. Grade rarity coins are likewise selling well, but the attention is on the classic rarities. Grade rarity continues to be particularly important for modern issues, especially non-circulating legal tender commemoratives and made-for-collector gold and silver American Eagle…