Buzz with Dave Harper - Monday, September 21, 2009

Free Updates

Let us tell you when new posts are added!

Email:

Click to subscribe via RSS

Navigation

Numismatic News

Blog Home

Categories

Search

More Links

Monday, September 21, 2009

Rest in peace, Rollie Finner
Posted by Dave

Rollie Finner died Friday at the age of 75. He was the husband of Patti Finner, current president of Central States Numismatic Society and former vice president of the American Numismatic Association.

A visitation/wake occurred yesterday afternoon at their home in Iola. It was Rollie’s wish to do it that way. He had a long battle with cancer and he hoped his family and friends would feel better in familiar surroundings.

The coffin was placed in the living room not far from the chair I last saw him sitting in in August.

Rollie came to Iola in 1969 in the way many of us have. Chet Krause hired him. He was working at the time at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

Chet liked Rollie’s photography and wanted to see his photos in Numismatic News. Photo pages were the result.

Rollie had a 28-year stint in the National Guard and his photos in service were award winners.

As might be expected, in addition to family, friends and neighbors came to pay their respects. Current and former employees of Krause Publications were among them.
Chet Krause himself also came as did Larry Shepherd, executive director of the American Numismatic Association, and Carol Shuman, ANA controller.

Rollie moved on from Krause Publications in August of 1970, but he remained part of the Iola community and an avid numismatist. His papers and his interest stayed with him until almost to the end.

I think Rollie would be pleased if he knew who came for the wake and the nature of the conversations. Sadness is unavoidable, but I think he was right, it was a much better gathering at his home.

The funeral and interment is at 11 a.m. today at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church Cemetery in Iola.

Monday, September 21, 2009 2:09:55 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Friday, September 18, 2009

Buy as many UHR gold coins as you want
Posted by Dave

Order limits come off on Monday for the 2009 Ultra High Relief Saint-Gaudens $20 gold piece.

For the first time since the coins went on sale in January, any buyer can buy as many from the U.S. Mint as he can pay for.

The limit had been set at one when the program started to assure the widest possible distribution among collector buyers. It rose to 10 in July and to 25 in August.

So at 9 a.m. Eastern Time Sept. 21, it is a whole new ball game.

What does this signify?

The Mint must now feel that it has enough supply on hand to meet all likely demand. But how much might that be? I don’t know. I heard talk by private collectors at ANA putting the final demand around 125,000. But how much credence should be put in talk?

This order limit change could also signify the program is winding down and this is the way of cleaning out the pipeline. The Mint does this at the end of commemorative programs. That would confirm ANA chatter.

This possibility seems less likely than the first because it is only September and the maximum mintage limit for the entire program was set at 300,000. Buyers haven’t even hit the 100,000 mark yet.

However, if the program is winding down, what would that signify?

Perhaps ending the program early would be the mechanism to free up gold bullion to be made into blanks for the proof American Eagle program. That’s another program that is leaving collectors in an expectant mood.

Gold has given the hobby an exciting time in recent months, but the downside is that there are more questions than answers.

Anybody who is interested in getting an example of the UHR gold coin should probably think about purchasing it now. Why take a chance in being disappointed if you really do want one?

If you happen to want 10,000, you can probably have them, too.

Friday, September 18, 2009 2:17:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Personal hobby interaction still matters
Posted by Dave

I had an conversation with Jon Lerner for tomorrow’s Coin Chat Radio program. He is the bourse chairman of Coinfest, which will be held Oct. 9-11 in Stamford, Conn.

What I found most interesting about our conversation was at the point I was asking him just how important it is to have face-to-face interaction of collectors and dealers in this age of the Internet.

For committed collectors, this personal knowledge is still critical in many ways, perhaps not if you are looking solely to buy the proof sets issued since 1950, but to find out if there is a fit of personality and attitudes for the long-term building of collections.

In the history of numismatics dealers and collectors have built amazing collections together, but it doesn’t get done if one or the other’s traits rubs the other party raw. You might be able to get through a single transaction in difficult conditions, but the dealer for sure is not going to take a want list and start acting on it without feeling very comfortable with the other party.

What do I mean?

Lerner illustrated his comments at one point with an anecdote of a recent show. He had a junk box on his bourse table. Someone searched through it and pulled out a silver half dollar marked $5.

At the time, the silver in it was worth about $6. Lerner said he was going to let the potential buyer have the coin for the marked price until he said, “Will you take $3?”

Lerner said no and took the coin back without further negotiation.

Something as simple as this short personal interaction is enough to make or break any kind of profitable potential long-term commercial relationship.

So even in the age of the Internet, personal compatibility still matters.

Thursday, September 17, 2009 2:01:11 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

More 1933 gold $20s to hit market?
Posted by Dave

Imagine if 10 more 1933 $20 gold pieces are about to become available to the collector coin market, what would they bring?

The only legal one sold for $7.59 million plus a $20 government monetization fee.

This exciting possibility becomes at least a little more probable because a U.S. District Court judge has given the government until the end of September to either prove that the 10 coins were stolen in court or give them back to the family of Israel Switt, a Philadelphia jeweler who died in 1990, according to a story in the New York Times.

What will the government do?

It is hard to imagine that the government will just fold after spending more than 60 years trying to enforce its view that ownership of 1933 double eagles is illegal.

Certainly many, if not most, collectors are rooting for the family to give the government a good poke in the eye. It seems like a classic case of David vs. Goliath.

Even if the government does give up this particular legal approach, it will have the fall-back position of dunning the family for overdue inheritance taxes on coins that are probably worth tens of millions of dollars combined.

With the IRS calculating penalties and interest, the family will probably owe another 10 1933 gold $20s.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 2:05:35 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Brass or bronze? Got me again
Posted by Dave

I see on the U.S. Mint’s list of products that are coming soon that the annual uncirculated coin set now has an Oct. 1 sales date. This contains an uncirculated example of every denomination and design struck at both the Denver and Philadelphia mints.

Sales of the uncirculated coin set were postponed when the Mint had a problem with toning on the new copper-alloy cents, or I should write the old copper alloy cents.

The law authorizing the four designs for the 2009 Lincoln cents also requires that they be minted for collector sets in the alloy that was used in 1909, which was 95 percent copper, three percent zinc and two percent tin.

It is perhaps not surprising that a problem of this kind would have occurred. The Mint is out of practice with such an alloy. Collectors know how prone to toning and spotting cents are. That is why they are usually the first coins looked at in sets to see how well preserved the overall uncirculated or proof set is.

In this blog I did not call the alloy bronze as I did in August. Alan Herbert, the Answerman, e-mailed me about that.

He wrote, “95 percent copper and both tin and zinc can go either way. If the majority is tin, then it’s bronze, but if the zinc makes up more than 2.5 percent, then it’s brass.”

By that definition, the cents will be brass. This is a good example of why Alan is the Answerman who writes the weekly Coin Clinic question and answer column in Numismatic News.

So, will you be a buyer of the uncirculated coin set containing brass cents?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:02:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Monday, September 14, 2009

Wow, I got a Guam
Posted by Dave

I might have said something like that when I was 10 years old, but the kid collector in me still bursts forth now and then. It did so again on Saturday.

I received a Philadelphia Guam quarter in my change at a Wal-Mart in Appleton.

This part of the country is the tail end of the coin distribution network. When something reaches me, it usually means it is pretty well distributed across the country.

Whether this is true this time is questionable, but it is interesting to be able to report that even with the reduced mintages totaling just 87,600,000, a Guam quarter has made it to me in Wisconsin. The Philly mintage total is 45,000,000. That is just 1/20th the Philadelphia total for the Virginia state quarter struck in 2000, a year of record Mint production.

Let’s assume for a moment that my obtaining the coin does indeed mean supplies are pretty well spread across the country. What would that indicate?

This design is just one behind the current one, which is the American Samoa quarter that was released at the end of August.

If distribution is occurring, even at lower quantity levels, the reports of the economy bottoming out might just prove to be true.

For many years I have taken a reading on the economy in January by how soon I get a cent and other denominations with a new year on it. When the economy is really humming, cents are usually out in the major metropolitan areas within a day or two of New Year’s and they make it to me by the second or third week of the month.

Of course, this year was different. Very different. We had the worst financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression. This depressed the usual commercial demand for coins and banks trying to survive weren’t ordering.

Time goes on. Conditions change. Perhaps the Professional Life Lincoln cent will be showing up in my change real soon.

Monday, September 14, 2009 2:17:04 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Friday, September 11, 2009

Go off the beaten path
Posted by Dave

I was editing a story yesterday about Seated Liberty half dollars. This is a series that many collectors tend to overlook. It is the hole in the historical doughnut.

Early federal coinage is avidly collected. Seated Liberty halves came after this period, starting n 1839. The series that followed the 1891 termination of the Seated half series, the Barber, Walking Liberty, Franklin and Kennedy half dollars are series that most collectors have some personal experience with.

But looking at the prices in the Coin Market price guide and you have to conclude that many collectors are missing an opportunity to put together a set in the circulated grades that would be both a challenge yet doable when the cost is spread out over a period of five or 10 years.

I am suggesting the circulated grades because the Mint State pieces can be terribly pricey, unless a collector needs just the pieces for a type set.

Why don’t more collectors jump into sets like this? Well, its partly our own fault.
Advice to collectors that used to be, “Buy the best you can afford,” has turned into “don’t buy anything less than Mint State.”

This perhaps was not done by conscious design, but we have gotten there anyway.
Novices with money come in and demand top grade pieces even when no such coins exist.

What to do? Well, Numismatic News published a piece by professional grader F. Michael Fazzari pointing out that About Uncirculated coins of a generation or so ago are now Mint State.

There is no profit to be made by telling would-be clients that what they want does not exist. So grading gets bent.

This has also occurred in the circulated grades for coins like the Buffalo nickel. The demand outruns supply and corners get cut over time.

So why not jump into an area where this trend matters less? Seated Liberty halves are scarce enough that if VF today becomes XF tomorrow, the coins will still be scarce and they still will have value.

Friday, September 11, 2009 2:10:25 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Thursday, September 10, 2009

New U.S. bullion coins; who cares?
Posted by Dave

When next year’s quarter program honoring national parks and other sites in 50 states and six other territorial jurisdictions of the United States begins, a parallel issue will also kick in. It is a series of coins you won’t be able to acquire at the local bank.

As each new quarter is released, the program also authorizes the striking of another version of the design on .999 fine silver blanks with diameters double the size of the old Morgan silver dollar.

The even troy weight of the new issue will be five ounces. At the present $16.28 price, the bullion value alone will be $81.40.

When issued by the U.S. Mint, even as a bullion coin there will be a mark-up. That will bring the cost up, but to what? $90, $100, $110?

I think the whole thing makes a joke of American coinage, but then the solons in Congress thought otherwise and tucked the provision into the quarter bill.

Will bullion investors flock to it?

Why would they do so? The American Eagle is so much more widely traded and recognizable.

There is a value to being familiar. Five new five-ounce coins a year runs roughshod over the concept.

It seems to me that the design changes are intended to try to make collectors think they need to buy them.

How many will be willing to spend $500 a year or more on such an item that can only be described as little better than a novelty?

It also pays to remember that silver could rise in price between now and the conclusion of the program in 2021.

On the other hand, if high cost daunts enough collectors, the next generation of hobbyists might have a very low mintage series to look at when the program concludes more than 11 years from now.

Thursday, September 10, 2009 2:17:59 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Chomping at the bit
Posted by Dave

This has been a year where many in the hobby have wanted something or expected something to happen only to have to wait far longer to see it fulfilled.

In the Internet Age, patience is no longer a virtue or even acceptable. Rapid fulfillment is the expectation and anything less grates.

So, we have been waiting for gold to touch the inevitable $1,000, but have been teased relentlessly but not seen much fulfillment. We haven’t had a close above $1,000 since February and yesterday disappointed yet again.

Then there are coin deliveries from the Mint. When the Ultra High Relief $20 went on sale in January, stated delivery times ballooned and then contracted. Some buyers were livid.

Many hobbyists waited for the release of the new Lincoln cent designs only to find that the banking system was broken and the usual pipeline from Mint to customer was going into reverse as people and businesses desperate for cash took fewer coins or even sent coins back to the Federal Reserve System. Only in the last few days have collectors in some parts of the country reported all three 2009 designs in their change.

The run on bullion American Eagle coins has kept the Mint to the production of just the one-ounce gold and silver version. The proof collector versions have been long awaited and are still expected in the fourth quarter.

I could cite other examples, but the pattern of 2009 has been clear. Waiting has been the name of the game. It does no good to report that collectors in the past waited far longer and the old hobby self-help efforts that used to kick in nowadays are viewed as either terrible impositions or part of some sinister plot to enrich dealers at the expense of the little guy.

Will collector patience ever return?

I guess we’ll have to wait for that too.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009 2:04:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Of gold and unbacked notes of the past
Posted by Dave

Look at gold. It has broken through $1,000 a troy ounce for the third time. This will bear watching going forward, but having just finished a holiday weekend, my mind has been looking backward rather than forward.

A family gathering took me to St. Paul, Minn. It was a great time to catch up.
I took a look at Prosperity Heights grade school that I started kindergarten at 49 years ago this month. It looks remarkably unchanged except for what appears to be a gymnasium addition.

I have many memories from the place that I left in the middle of second grade. I remember the whole school watching the liftoff of John Glenn, who then became the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. A number of televisions had been placed at various spots in the halls.

Hobby wise, I date my coin collecting days as starting after I left the Twin Cities, though I do have one numismatic item from that time.

My father thought $2 bills were a curiosity that I should be aware of. He gave me one. I thought it was so neat that I have kept it all these years, though once or twice I used it in my young years as collateral for a loan from my father in anticipation of future allowance income.

My father was an accountant who wanted me to be aware of how the world of finance worked.

The note is a Series 1953 Red Seal, which is another name for a United States Note. This series was a legacy of the Civil War when the Union was forced to issue paper money that had no backing of gold or silver.

The U.S. Note issuance came to be frozen at $346 million and was not finally abolished until the 1990s. By that time, it was irrelevant to the economy and its issuance was a fiction. $100 U.S. Notes were moved around from an unissued vault at Treasury to a vault that had the designation as “Issued.”

But in my childhood, you could find $2 and $5 U.S. Notes in change if you watched closely. I obtained a $5 years later when I was a paperboy.

It is perhaps appropriate to discuss unbacked paper money from former times as a counterpoint to the present unbacked notes and gold’s price reaching four digits.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 2:01:41 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Free Updates

Navigation

Search

Archives

More Links