Innehållsförteckning för October 2021 från Coins

A discerning eye taking advantage of important opportunities led to the formation of The Arizona Collection of United States Large Cents, a special collection named after the home state of the shrewd collectors who assembled it. The trove features more than 150 coins, mostly within the Condition Census for their individual varieties. These coins carry the provenance of many collectors including Boka, Eliasberg, Holmes, Husak, Koshkarian, Naftzger, Pogue, Reiver, Starr, Twin Leaf and several others. This Arizona collector chose some of the best examples out of those past collections. The collection spans from 1793 to 1857, including exceptional quality and historically important examples of all types that will be offered without reserve during Heritage Auctions’ Florida United Numismatic Convention U.S. Coins Auction in January 2022. The FUN Convention is slated…

WHO DO you think designed more U.S. coins, James Earle Fraser or his wife, Laura Gardin Fraser? The former is well known to coin collectors for the Buffalo nickel, and he also deserves credit for one side of the Oregon Trail commemorative. His wife, on the other hand, designed either one or both sides of four commemorative half dollars and a commemorative gold dollar. In addition, according to all accounts, she should have been credited with the design of the largest denomination U.S. coin circulating today, the Washington quarter. Laura Gardin was born on September 14, 1889 to John Emil and Alice Tilton Gardin, who lived at the time in a suburb of Chicago. Laura’s sculpting ability was recognized early, and in this, her mother, an artist herself, encouraged and…

VIRTUALLY EVERY collector who has any knowledge of classic United States coins knows that the famous sculptor, Augustus St. Gaudens, designed the $20 gold double eagle image that bears his name today. This St. Gaudens design is routinely touted as one of the most beautiful coins ever minted, with an artistry plucked straight from classic Greco-Roman imagery. There are some high rarities at both ends, the early ones of 1907 being those in terms of design elements, and those at the tail end in 1933 being in terms of the legality of private ownership. Yet Mr. St. Gaudens did more than design a single type of gold coin for the United States. His work extends to what are often called the Indian Head $10 eagles. Let’s take a look into…

The thirst for coins, be they bullion, collectible or rare, is almost unrelenting. Sales typically slow during the early summer each year, followed by a burst of energy triggered by the annual August convention of the American Numismatic Association. The only difference this year appears to be a lack of any significant business slowdown during June or July. The spot price of gold and silver continues to be dictated more by the standing of the U.S. dollar on world currency markets than by any fear of inflation or “irrational exuberance.” No matter what the spot price may be, demand for coins composed of either of these two metals continues not only from collectors, but from “gold bugs,” investors and speculators. The interest in coins is worldwide. On July 4, a…

Isn’t that a catchy title? It certainly caught my eye at the top of a CoinTalk (CT) thread I joined recently. The original poster (OP) began by recounting the story of a recent COVID-19 victim, a physician, who willed his $20 million sports card collection to his family. The collection is going to be or has been auctioned. The OP’s question? “I’m curious to know if you already [have] some arrangements’ about your coin collection in the event of your death. Or maybe you just want your family to liquidate it in a big yard sale?” The first answer came from a collector of ancient coins. He wrote, “Bury me somewhere in Gaul in Roman legionnaire clothing with all my coins. Hope I’m not found for a while. Future historians…