Innehållsförteckning för March 11, 2025 från Numismatic News

Collectors and dealers can supercharge their submissions to Numismatic Guaranty Company® (NGC®) and Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®) with their new Fast Track service. This option cuts the turnaround time of the selected grading tier in half for just $15 per collectible. “Fast Track is another way we are enhancing our services to better meet the needs of collectors and dealers,” said NGC President Rick Montgomery. “By providing an option to significantly reduce turnaround times, we are ensuring that our customers can access our expert authentication, grading, and encapsulation services in a speedier manner.” For NGC, Fast Track can be added to the Standard, Economy, and Modern grading tiers. For PMG, the service is available for the Economy, Modern, and all Bulk tiers. In addition, selecting Fast Track will also slash…

■ Has anyone ever figured out how the extra leaf varieties of the Wisconsin quarter came to be? According to an Eagle Eye Rare Coins November 22 posting: “On the night shift on a Friday in late November 2004, the two dies with the Extra Leaf alterations were put in two of the five presses striking quarters at the Denver Mint. The presses started, and the Extra Leaf coins were created. The initial inspection was done shortly afterward. According to an internal Mint investigation on June 21, 2005, the pressman spotted the Extra Leaf quarters and stopped the two presses. He then went to lunch. When he returned after lunch, he found the presses had been turned back on. He turned all the presses off and stopped all coins from…

On Feb. 9, 2025, President Donald Trump announced that he had directed the U.S. Treasury Department to cease the production of new one-cent pieces, or “pennies,” citing the high cost of minting the one-cent coin. In a post on his Truth Social platform, he stated, “For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.” This would mark the end of the one-cent coin’s 233-year run. The U.S. Mint’s 2024 annual report revealed that the cost to produce and distribute a single one-cent coin was approximately…

Prior to 1834, gold coins of the United States rarely circulated. From 1829 through 1838, however, a whole series of changes not only took gold from the hands of the bullion dealers and put it into the marketplace but transformed its appearance as well. The beginning of the story goes back to the early 1790s and the first mint law. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton was asked by Congress in early March 1790 to prepare a report on a system of coinage for the United States as well as a Mint with which to produce the necessary coins. In late January 1791, after months of investigation, the report was presented and taken under consideration. Little then happened until November 1791 when President Washington, tiring of the legislative inactivity, prodded Congress in…

My favorite coin in this column is a PCGS-certified F12 1914 Barber half dollar. This is a Philadelphia-minted coin at the tail end of the series, which ran from 1892 through 1915. If you’re not familiar with the series, you might be thinking that this coin is probably not very expensive, coming as it does near the end of the series. After all, it was minted in Philadelphia, and such coins are typically the least expensive in a series because they’re usually made in relatively large quantities. Although those are reasonable assumptions, they don’t fit in this case. In fact, the 1914-P Barber half dollar has the lowest mintage of the entire series, with just 124,000 circulation-strike pieces produced and a proof mintage of 380, which is also the lowest…

One of the 24 highly-prized sets of Gemini space mission sterling silver medallions was included in the auction of a long-time NASA engineer’s estate. The set was previously owned by astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the second person to step on the moon. The medallions were among the many important U.S. space program memorabilia and historic artifacts consigned to Goldberg Coins & Collectibles (www.GoldbergCoins.com) by the heirs of aerospace engineer Mark C. McClelland. His collection (https://auctions.goldberg-coins.com/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/119) was offered for the first time at a public auction in Los Angeles and online by Goldbergs on Feb. 27, 2025. The two-man Gemini space missions were conducted by NASA in 1965 and 1966. This is the auction catalog description of the medallions (lot #1253). Gemini Silver Medallions, Complete Set In Lucite, Originally Owned by…

As I sat at my desk, finishing up my latest piece for Numismatic News, I received a text from my cousin and several friends informing me that our President, Donald Trump, wants to eliminate the U.S. one-cent piece. Trump announced this shortly after he departed the Super Bowl in New Orleans. He instructed the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies, a practice he said was “wasteful.” Of course, the standing president cannot do it alone, as Congress must also okay it. The penny, or more accurately, the one-cent piece, was first minted in 1792 and has had a run for 233 years. It is an incredibly long time for one denomination to be continually minted, especially with the higher cost of materials and manufacturing. The rising…

he year is 1886. A young boy stands in the doorway of a cabin in a railroad camp, looking out at the desolate plains of the Dakotas. The huge cherry-red sun dips into the horizon as purple and blue shadows blanket the land. The boy sees an Indian walking along a lonely trail. Suddenly, the Indian stops. In his path lay the sun-scorched bones of a buffalo. As the boy watches him, the sun disappears over the horizon. The Indian is drenched in multicolored shadows. He stands very still. Perhaps he was thinking of the past, the good times before the destruction of his culture, especially the buffalo. That was a time when millions of those majestic beasts roamed the Great Plains. The Indians were happy back then, for there…

Not much has changed in this month’s Mint Statistics. The first few coins of 2025 have been released by the Mint, but there haven’t been any new coins added to the report this time around. Most 2024 and the few 2025-dated coins have increased by a little, but nothing particularly noteworthy. The biggest jump is in the 2025 American Eagle 1-ounce Proof, which went from 188,000 to almost 194,000. This coin is listed under the Collector Eagle Sales heading at the bottom of the first column. Not as big of a difference, but the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps 250th Anniversary Silver Proof had a nice increase from just under 15,000 to over 16,000. The Silver Armed Force Medals typically only increase by maybe five or less from month to month,…

Born Dec. 6, 1927, in Paia, Hawaii, Patsy Mink would become the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress. She was also the first Asian-American to run for U.S. President. Mink graduated valedictorian in 1944 and went on to attend Wilson College in Pennsylvania and the University of Nebraska. She eventually transferred to the University of Hawaii in Honolulu after facing racial discrimination and getting diagnosed with a thyroid condition that required surgery. She graduated in 1948, majoring in zoology and chemistry. During her time there, she had hopes of becoming a doctor. She was elected president of the Pre-Medicine Students Club and also became a member of the varsity debate team. When none of her applications…

We have been busy at NumisMaster as many mints are releasing their first 2025 coins. We have also been involved with planning this year’s Coin of the Year program. As the nominations are coming in, we are making sure each coin is on the website and readily available for our members. With over 500 nominations, ensuring each coin has a KM number is a task that keeps us occupied. As each year ends, I notice that fewer coins are being minted, apart from a couple of countries like Niue, which appear to mint more. With NumisMaster being the most up-to-date it has ever been, and with the assistance of many of our readers and members, missing coins and inaccuracies are being caught and fixed. With technology so close to our…

The weekly Show Directory lists all coin and paper money events scheduled within one month of the issue cover date. Show dates and times sometimes change at the last minute. Please contact the show promoter BEFORE traveling long distances. SHOW PROMOTERS: Run your show announcement FREE! Just email the information indicated in the form below to numismatics@aimmedia.com. All timely listings are also included in both Bank Note Reporter and World Coin News at NO CHARGE. *Dependent upon date of submission relevant to deadline and space availability. Want to make your show really STAND OUT? Whether you need dealers on the floor or collectors at the gate, Numismatic News offers the best, most qualified coin and paper money collector and dealer audience around – AND we have the means to reach…

Here are some answers sent from our e-newsletter readers. Read more responses at www.numismaticnews.net. Do you think the U.S. should stop the production of the one-cent coin? Why or why not? Pennies & nickels are literally worthless and expensive; stop throwing away money. Dump the half dollar, too. These all need to be retired ASAP. Make an 11-sided “gold” dollar of a similar size as the current one. 11-sides was planned for the 1979 SB dollar, but then the mint got stupid. Stop making $1 bills; retire all of them, and release 20 billion new dollar coins. Canada did this years ago without a problem, but then again, Americans aren’t as smart as Canadians. None of this works unless the antiquated coins & bills are removed ASAP. Time to modernize.…

A huge portion of the collecting community tries to add coins to their collections that are free of problems and that have tremendous eye appeal. Sure, we will take a coin that has some hiccup on it, as it were, but we’d prefer problem-free coins. One area where this collecting philosophy becomes a problem is when we encounter an otherwise impressive piece, yet it has a chop mark on it. Some definitions and basics Since we are going pretty far out of the mainstream here into one of the many eddies that a person can find in their collecting pursuits, we’ll need a basic definition. A chop mark can be defined in a couple of different ways, but this works: some stamp or impression that in some way verifies a…

As I write this, we’re in the midst of a winter storm locally, the yard covered with snow and the streets icy. If you live in the northern part of the country, you may be thinking that what I’m experiencing is nothing new. But if you live in Mississippi, it is something new. I found a lengthy thread on CoinTalk (CT) titled “Starting Some Serious Inventory” that addresses what one collector is doing with his winter downtime. He wrote, “I decided to start some inventory today. Too cold to play golf or fix fences.” In response to the original poster (OP), another collector wrote, “Forget the inventory; I just need to downsize some of my collection.” OP wrote, “Me too, and this is a start. I am giving my stuff…

In California, it was a time for celebration. April 3, 1954, marked the 100th anniversary of coining operations at the legendary San Francisco Mint. On Tuesday, April 6, 1954, in a scene reminiscent of the days of the California Gold Rush, the mint anniversary would be celebrated with the arrival in San Jose of a gold-laden Wells Fargo stage, accompanied by the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s posse, as it retraced the overland stage route from Sonora through San Jose and on to San Francisco and the mint. Upon arrival in San Jose, the Sonora group, attired in 49er costumes, were to be greeted by city officials, including Mayor Parker L. Hathaway and City Manager Anthony P. Hamann, on the City Hall steps. “Then the sheriff’s posse will perform, and an authentic…

The question has been asked if AI might be a threat to the future of coins and perhaps of coin collecting. Caveat emptor or beware should always be the watchword. Recent AI-created likenesses of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk falsely marketed the “Golden Eagles Project” pendant and coins as being some wonderful investment. Victims were told these Golden Eagles could be traded at the Bank of America for a profit, exchanged for a car at any Tesla shop, or used to invest in either Tesla or SpaceX stock. The so-called coins were supposed to be composed of gold or silver, which none of them were. This example may be one of many con jobs. Still, it should be known Professional Coin Grading Service and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (and likely…

Condition rarity is something not every collector fully appreciates. Those who collect circulated coins don’t really face the problem. Still, if you collect top grades like MS-65 and better, there can be coins that, for seemingly no apparent reason, are either unavailable or, if they can be found, are sometimes priced a bit higher than your house. Such coins are condition rarities, and they are a group of coins we are still learning to identify. Oftentimes, to really identify condition rarities, it takes a wave of interest in a particular set. Where Morgan dollars are concerned, that is no problem, but for other issues, there is sometimes too little demand in top grades to really suggest just how rare a certain date is. When a coin is identified as a…