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 Monday, July 19, 2010
Mintages look interesting
Posted by Dave
There is an interesting mintage phenomenon developing this year.
Presidential dollars are being produced in greater numbers than America the Beautiful quarters.
When the Hot Springs National Park quarter production figure was revealed to be 59.6 million coins (divided 29 million to Denver and 30.6 million to Philadelphia), I thought perhaps the late introduction and more limited production time might be responsible for the low figure.
However, the Yellowstone National Park quarter has come in at a not much higher level of 68.4 million (divided 34.8 million Denver and 33.6 million Philadelphia).
Both numbers were handily beaten by the first two Presidential dollars struck this year.
Millard Fillmore came in at 74.48 million (divided 36.96 million Denver and 37.52 Philadelphia) and Franklin Pierce came in at 76.58 million (divided 38.36 million Denver and 38.22 Philadelphia).
To be sure, the Presidential dollar totals have declined dramatically from the 340.36 million Washington mintage level of 2007, but 2010 output seems to have found a plateau. That the plateau is higher than where America the Beautiful quarters are sitting is worth noting.
The quarter still is heavily used in commerce and presumably more collectors go for the quarter than the dollar coin, but then again perhaps not.
Have we hit the point where the denomination for the coin struck for circulation whether one cent or $1 no longer matters much to collectors?
Or is this still simply a phenomenon where the excess supply of state quarters continues to depress current quarter mintages?
I can make a case either way. Where the choice of collecting cents or silver dollars mattered a great deal to me in the 1960s when my funds were limited, nowadays inflation has reduced the relative importance of coin face values and age has upped my income.
Do the face value of current coins matter to you when deciding what to collect?
Monday, July 19, 2010 2:24:35 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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Friday, July 16, 2010
Time for a radio appearance
Posted by Dave
It’s that time again. One of the seasonal events in my numismatic year is being a guest on Harry L. Rinker’s Whatcha Got? radio program on Sunday morning.
This year as in many past years, the subject of conversation is the coin market as it has been recorded in the new 2011 edition of U.S. Coin Digest.
He has an audience of wide interests that includes coins. He is also a man of wide professional capabilities, describing himself on his website as doing “appraisal, consulting, editorial, educational, media, personal appearance, research, and writing services in the antiques and collectibles field.”
This year, as in the last several, I imagine one of the topics will be gold coins. With the continuing uptrend in bullion, everybody seems to have an interest in the precious metal.
There will also be time to mention new collectible issues like the America the Beautiful quarter series that began this year and runs until 2021.
I am scheduled to talk with Harry at 7:30 Central Time on Sunday morning. The program streams online at http://www.gcnlive.com.
If you want to find out more about Harry, visit http://www.harryrinker.com.
If you are interested in a copy of the 2011 Coin Digest, visit http://www.shopnumismaster.com/product/2011-us-coin-digest/us-coins.
Friday, July 16, 2010 2:14:37 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, July 15, 2010
Fractional gold has purpose, or does it?
Posted by Dave
Since sales of fractional gold American Eagle bullion coins began in June, the tenth-ounce coins have moved out the door at a reasonable pace.
As of July 13, buyers had taken 300,000 of the small coins. They are popular as jewelry and they also are popularly used by promoters to entice novice gold buyer’s to get genuine U.S. Mint gold at a price that doesn’t choke a horse.
One-tenth of the present $1,200 price of an ounce of gold is much easier for novice buyers to part with than the cost of the one-ounce coin.
Obviously, though ,with sales approaching 700,000 pieces, demand for the one-ounce coin is not hurting. Savvy investors need no introduction to it.
Sales of the half-ounce coin at 31,000 pieces and the quarter ounce at 44,000 coins are betwixt and between. They aren’t the standard investment coin and they are not nearly as popular as jewelry. So what exactly are they?
In days when $2.50, $5 and $10 coins were needed to make change for gold $20s, the smaller sizes had a purpose.
With investment coins, you don’t need to make change, though I have seen the concept bruited about online as the fractional gold coins are tipped as needed when the currency system breaks down and change in gold will again be required.
Judging from current fractional gold American Eagle sales, perhaps that point is a rather hard one to make.
Thursday, July 15, 2010 2:13:25 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Does this seem interesting?
Posted by Dave
With all of the ways we have to communicate today, it may seem strange to note that I often find myself short of information.
When I fired up the computer this morning there was an inquiry:
“I am an individual small collector. A few months ago I bought a graded 1/10 bullion gold coin. The seller’s picture showed only the obverse. My story would end with an adjustment from the grading company. Would you give a free five-year subscription if you publish my story, yet to be written? I have all the e-mails to prove it’s true.”
Huh?
How many e-mail exchanges does it take today to get to the heart of a matter I often wonder?
Judging from just this, it doesn’t seem the least bit interesting. Perhaps with more information, it will.
Does it look interesting to you?
More frequently I receive e-mails from people asking about subscriptions, but no information is provided as to the address the periodicals are being sent to. Sometimes they don’t even include full names. I forward them to the circulation department, but then they have to initiate further exchanges with the sender.
To be sure, many of my e-mails are to the point and contain all of the information that I need. But there are enough of the other kind where a few extra seconds spent before hitting the send key would be of great help to me and all concerned.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 2:23:09 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Seeing is believing?
Posted by Dave
The U.S. Mint releases its United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set July 15.
As is often the case with other Mint product releases, I had an e-mail from a reader saying that a TV shopping show was offering the sets days ahead of time.
He demanded to know how the show gets coins early.
I telephoned the Mint July 12, as I have done from time to time with other offers, and received an official denial that the sets were released early.
I relayed this back to the original e-mailer and he does not believe it.
So, does anybody out there have actual possession of the official mint set or coins from the mint set that are slabbed as the first day of issue? These must be the actual coins, not images or promises.
Only actual possession before the release date of the set can prove or disprove the e-mailer’s suspicion.
Otherwise we chalk it up to marketing.
It has long been a practice in the coin hobby to begin advertising the availability of something slightly head of the release date to attract the maximum numbers of potential buyers. Fulfillment of the orders generated is then undertaken as soon as the release date arrives and the coins or sets are received by the advertisers.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 2:11:33 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, July 12, 2010
Depends on how you express it
Posted by Dave
The increasing number of reports of finds of the new 2010 Union Shield cent in circulation is no accident.
The U.S. Mint has been ramping up production.
Because the U.S. Mint doesn’t set coin demand, but only fulfills orders, this means the economy has worked through the surplus of cent coins and is once again demanding new ones in large numbers.
For the month of June, 585.2 million cents were struck. That one-month production equals a quarter of all cents produced in 2009.
Who would have thought that when the special commemorative cent designs for 2009 were authorized in 2005 that the year’s greatest characteristic would be a contraction of coin demand on a scale not see since the Great Depression?
Well, that is just the way it turned out, but in the long run that will probably help keep prices of the cents honoring the Bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth higher than they otherwise would have been had they been issued in a more normal year.
To be sure, 2.354 billion 2009 cents is not a small number, but when you divide it up among four designs and two mints, that brings things down to much more manageable levels.
The 129.6 million of the Philadelphia Presidential design when expressed in 50-coin rolls seems positively scarce at 2.592 million rolls.
That will mean something over the long term.
Monday, July 12, 2010 2:13:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, July 09, 2010
Silver dollar surprise
Posted by Dave
One of the first people I met on the grounds of the Iola Old Car Show yesterday where I worked the Old Cars Ultimate Garage Giveaway was Dean Oakes.
The veteran Iowa City, Iowa, coin and paper money dealer is also a car buff.
We traded notes about the state of business.
I said I thought the summer doldrums were in evidence and he said interest in gold and silver rather than collector coins was keeping his business activity up.
He had an interesting story to tell.
A woman called. She had some silver dollars from her uncle’s estate.
Oakes asked what dates they were.
She replied, 1921, 1922 and 1923.
Oakes immediately thought what coin dealers think in those circumstances.
The 1921 is the most common Morgan dollar and the 1922 and 1923 are the most common Peace dollars.
Pretty standard stuff.
He quoted $14 each. He elaborated a little and said the price might stretch to $16 if they were higher circulated grades, or $12 if they were worn slick.
Lo and behold, when he got to see the coins he discovered that there were 11 1921 dollars and they were all the rare Peace dollar, which has a mintage of just over 1 million pieces.
There was not a single Morgan dollar in the group.
All of the 1921 coins had wear, so Dean paid what they were worth.
The woman said her uncle particularly liked the 1921s and had searched diligently for them.
His interest in them had paid off for her and I get an interesting story to tell in the bargain.
Friday, July 09, 2010 2:10:28 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, July 08, 2010
Chet Krause resigns from ANA board
Posted by Dave
I have just had word that Chet Krause resigned from the American Numismatic Association board of governors.
His letter of resignation was received by ANA President Cliff Mishler yesterday.
The 86-year-old Krause has had some health problems lately and he is reluctant to travel under the circumstances. Krause was first elected to the board in the 2007 in the anti-incumbent sweep in that year's election.
Succeeding to Krause's seat is former board member and Numismatic News columnist Alan Herbert. Herbert garnered the largest number of votes in the 2009 election without winning a seat and is therefore the next line for a vacancy.
"I regret Chet's departure from the board," Mishler told me. "We value his wise counsel and will miss him going forward."
At the same time, Mishler cited Herbert's experience and the expectation that he would pick up the duties of the seat without missing a beat.
Thursday, July 08, 2010 5:32:50 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Interest in state quarters expressed
Posted by Dave
Rolls of uncirculated state quarters are still grabbing the interest of average collectors almost two years after the conclusion of the 10-year program.
How do I know this?
Well, in this case, I just had a one-telephone-call poll.
The caller noticed that the new list of state quarter rolls in the monthly Coin Market price guide somehow omitted the uncirculated Pennsylvania rolls.
Whether the omission is a computer glitch or some sort of input error, I do not know at this point, but it is always useful when sharp-eyed readers point things like this out.
The quicker the response comes to something like this, the higher the level of interest is in what is being covered.
I also had an e-mail from a hobbyist about Young Collector Sets that were created by the U.S. Mint for various commemorative programs.
In this case, the price guide simply does not cover them.
Maybe it should.
What do you think?
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Thursday, July 08, 2010 2:07:10 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Will experience of youth be ignored?
Posted by Dave
Generational experiences matter in coin collecting. It helps determine what is being collected today.
I was thinking of this and what the future holds as I was taking a hike from a remote parking area to my desk.
This happens once each year when it is car show time in Iola. The grounds are set up and ready to go surrounding the Krause Publications building. With tents all over it looks like a circus has come to town.
The people arrive this afternoon. The theme is “Sensational Sixties.”
It suits me. I remember the 1960s. The cars of the decade bring back fond memories. I look forward to seeing them on display.
I have worked the car show for community service organizations since 1978. I remember when Model T and Model As were hot and collectors drove them here in car club groups. The club members had fond memories of the cars from their youth.
The popular cars of that hobby reflect the ages of the participants and what they remember when they were young. So now it is the 1960s.
Coin collectors do the same thing. They tend to focus on what they remember as well.
Once we get by my generation, which began collecting in the 1960s, what will be the focus of future generations of collectors?
We are the last, or youngest, depending on how you want to express it, individuals who still remember what silver coins look like in actual use.
We know the appearance of the shiny white surfaces when new and we have images imprinted in our brains as to how the coins wear, how the luster fades and what hints of wear progressing to massive wear look like.
This is all very helpful when trying to figure out grading and whether coin surfaces are natural or artificial.
What will the generation of collectors who grew up with clad coins focus on?
Will clad coins come into their own at that point, or will those collectors essentially chase silver or gold coins that they have no experience of from their youth?
It should be interesting to see.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010 2:12:05 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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