Buzz with Dave Harper

The Thomas Jefferson dollar will make its debut Aug. 15 at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

This will put the third President of the United States under the microscope as Numismatic News readers look for elements and events in his life to comment on.

I have already prepared myself by reading another biography of the man. It should be interesting. Readers have shown a great fondness for history and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of America’s Presidents. Admittedly, we have only gone through the first two as far as the coins are concerned, and nearly all the commentary was directed to John Adams after I offered my opinion of him in a "Class of ’63" column.

This tendency to comment will likely be fueled by the manner in which the Mint introduces the coin. Jefferson re-enactors will quiz the public at the Memorial about Jefferson and will reward correct answers with free Jefferson dollars. I like the idea. I hope it is well received.

One question I am sure they will not ask is what cabinet secretary was the first one to oversee the U.S. Mint. Numismatic News readers know it was Jefferson in his role as secretary of State.

I hope a few readers can make their way to the Memorial on that date and test their historical knowledge. It should be great fun. If you happen to be one of them, let me know how you do. Let me know what the question was. Comment on a future blog, or send me an e-mail at david.harper@fwpubs.com. Good luck.

7/31/2007 9:03:55 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Monday, July 30, 2007

Watch this space
Posted by Dave

Remember the old ad that said “Watch this space”? I do. It wasn’t particularly clever, but it apparently was effective enough to make people curious.

Watch numismaticnews.net. Something is coming.

The staff here is winding up and getting ready to throw a pitch about our 55th anniversary.

The very first issue of Numismatic News was the Oct. 13, 1952, edition. Since that time, the paper has changed and grown along with the hobby. It grew fatter in good times, thinner in bad times, but always was a part of the hobby scene.

This involvement couldn’t have been achieved without the support of our readers. To keep them active and interested for five and a half decades is quite a record.

I have been personally involved with the paper both as a subscriber and as an employee for more than 38 years. I have seen a lot, but I clearly haven’t seen it all. The nearly 17 years that passed before I first encountered a copy were as rich and interesting as any years that have followed.

What hasn’t changed is that collectors want to collect. Anything that helps them along the way is considered a good thing. They ask what is it? What’s it worth? Where can it be purchased? Numismatic News has tried to answer those three questions ever and always as its basic approach to hobby news.

We have brought this philosophy online. The medium is much newer than paper and a printing press, but the quest to collect does not change. Answering the three basic questions is still the mission.

Watch this space. Something is indeed coming.

7/30/2007 9:02:11 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Friday, July 27, 2007

Better keep an eye on that Iola place
Posted by Dave

If geography means anything on the new American Numismatic Association board of governors, Iola, Wis., has it wired. This little village of 1,320 people is home to three of the nine incoming members.

The top two vote getters, Cliff Mishler and Chet Krause, have called this place home for many years. Chet was born just outside of town and Cliff moved here in 1963 to take up duties with Numismatic News that ultimately led him to become the president and chairman of the board of directors of Krause Publications, which publishes it.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Vice President-Elect Patti Finner also lives here and has been active in community affairs. When she married Rollie, she moved here and dove right into community matters.

As they say in TV commercials, there’s still more.

Former ANA president and executive director Ed Rochette lived in Iola for six years when he served as editor of Numismatic News. He left here in 1966 to become editor of the Numismatist when it was given its first permanent home out in Colorado Springs, Colo., as ANA headquarters was built.
That’s four persons out of nine.

Fortunately, though, there are no geographical agendas in the hobby. Iola isn’t vying for any favors from the ANA board and there is no reason for geographical proximity to be viewed as anything other than happenstance.

For many years Chet Krause had a large billboard just south of town calling Iola the Coin Collectors’ Capital. Charles Kuralt of CBS even heard of it, but unfortunately only after the billboard had come down, so we didn’t get a nice human interest story on CBS Television that might have happened had the moniker still been actively used by Iola.

Of course, perhaps there are conspiracy theorists who will make something of this. Perhaps Iola is going to make a secret bid to move headquarters out of Colorado. After all, I was once president of the village and was always looking for economic development opportunities.

Yah think? Nah.

7/27/2007 9:02:26 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Thursday, July 26, 2007

ANA election results should guide transition
Posted by Dave

A new chapter will open for the American Numismatic Association when it meets in convention in Milwaukee, Wis., the week of Aug. 5. A lameduck board has at least one critically important issue before it, which is review of the new bylaws proposals.

Will the old board act on them just days before the new board is sworn in on Aug. 11, or will it defer the issue? Suspicions that bylaw reform was simply code for disenfranchising the ANA electorate helped fuel the voting that swept out all incumbent governors and swept in seven new ones, six of which are basically pledged to overturn any action taken in the waning days of the old board that they disagree with.

There are all the makings of confrontation. Will it happen? It depends on how the two sides will act between now and Aug. 11.

I hope some good will can be drawn upon to make the transition period one of bridging differences rather than trying to make the divide deeper. We will see.

I have already heard some mutterings about what the vote totals mean. Some think it significant that only 7,171 ANA members out of 31,263 bothered to vote. The conclusion that one is then asked to make from this is that the anti-incumbent slate has less than a ringing endorsement. I would not draw that conclusion.

In my time as a member, which is almost 30 years now, I don’t remember a result that was considered a heavy voter participation rate. Perhaps someone will analyze the historical data and see what has happened the past 116 years.

The election result looks to me to be pretty unambiguous. Unless members want to see a continuation of strife and tumult, I hope the outcome will guide the actions on both sides so that amity can be restored.

7/26/2007 9:01:23 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Newcomers take over ANA board
Posted by Dave

It was a clean sweep for the anti-incumbent slate in a tension-filled election campaign to select the 2007-2009 American Numismatic Association board of governors.

The results were announced July 25.

Voted into office were seven newcomers led by veteran hobby publisher Clifford Mishler, with 4,609 votes; followed by Chester L. Krause, 4,518 votes; Edward C. Rochette, 3,541 votes; Joseph E. Boling, 3,442 votes; Radford Stearns, 3,073 votes; Walter Ostromecki 2,882 votes, and Wendell Wolka, 2,850.

Even before the results were released, it was known that Barry Stuppler would be president and Patti Jagger Finner would be vice president. The two ran unopposed after the anti-incumbent faction failed to field candidates.

That left the battle to be fought over the seven governor’s chairs.

“I am overwhelmed by the knowledge and experience of the numismatists on the new ANA board of governors,” said president-elect Barry S. Stuppler, "and with three of the new governors being members of the ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame on my board, I feel like the quarterback of an all-star team.

“The next two years are going to be very exciting for the ANA,” Stuppler concluded.

“The people who took the time to vote have prevailed,” said Patti Jagger Finner, vice president-elect. “Out of 32,000 members, apparently the true supporters of the ANA voted.”

Finner wonders if the incoming members of the board know what level of commitment of time and money that it takes to serve on this board and be effective.

“You really have to love the hobby to serve the ANA, especially in the light of the last two years,” she said.

What is the priority of the new board members?

“A complete audit of the last five years,” said Mishler. “Well, you know, there simply has been a lot of controversy or whatever, a lot of questioning of the way money has been spent, comparisons to previous administrations and all that kind of good stuff. It is time to clear the air from a financial standpoint.”

Chet Krause echoed the call.

Outgoing president William H. Horton Jr. said, “I think the process worked well. Whoever the newcomers are on the board, I wish them all the best. Now they will see what it is like to sit on the board. It is not as easy as you think it is. The election is over. I understand all the campaign stuff, but now you have to sit down and dig in and do what is overall best for the hobby and the association.”

The election sweep pushed out incumbent governors Alan Herbert, 2,243 votes; Don Kagin, 2,068 votes, and Remy Bourne, 1,900.

Should a winning governor be unable to serve out his term, Herbert, as next highest vote getter, would serve out the term.

The incumbent board in the prior two years did a number of things to rile the membership. The first was a fight with Mishler and Krause over the naming rights to the ANA museum. It was only after an old press release was discovered that backed up the Mishler-Krause claims that the board backed down and granted their wish that the museum be named after Rochette.

Another high profile issue that galvanized opposition was the expulsion from the board of Gov. Walter Ostromecki in October 2005, just weeks after his swearing in. Lack of a full explanation for the action at the time helped to fuel a sense that the board was somehow not following the wishes of the ANA membership, which had so recently put Ostromecki into the office.

The most recent brouhaha was proposed bylaws revisions. The anti-incumbent faction suspected that any revisions would be used to disenfranchise the membership even before there were any specific proposals put forward.

The current board promised publications of the bylaws proposal so the membership could review it, but this sparked yet another controversy.

Hand-inserting the bylaws proposal in the same envelope as the election ballot delayed the mailing of many of them until the middle of June. This unexpected delay simply fueled suspicions of the anti-incumbents, who daily traded e-mails about who had or had not received an electoral ballot.
To these specific issues was the general sense that the ANA was spending beyond its means and the executive director was paid too much.

Membership had until July 19 to mark the ballot and return it to BiggsKofford, the Colorado Springs, Colo., auditing firm, handling the election. The president and executive director were to be informed of the results July 24 and a public announcement followed July 25.

The other losing candidates and vote totals are as follows:

Anthony Tumonis, 2,048; Carl Schwenker, 1,891; Arthur Fitts, 1,867; Michael Doran, 1,836; John R. Eshbach, 1,829, and Don Dool, 1,235.

Perhaps the membership was not as indignant over bylaws changes as at first expected by the anti-incumbent group. More than 10 percent of the membership expressed its view on the bylaws by mailing the form back to ANA headquarters, said Christopher Cipoletti, ANA executive director.
Of the 3,456 responses, 62 percent backed the new bylaws, or 2,124 yeses.

Those opposed were 25 percent of the respondents, or 876
.
Partial agreement or partial disagreement, depending on how you look at it, was registered by 13 percent of the respondents, or 456.

Cipoletti said 33 forms were marked in contradictory fashion or were blank. He also said these forms would be available for the press to view at the ANA convention in Milwaukee.

7/25/2007 4:56:51 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [10]

Clean sweep for anti-incumbents
Posted by Dave

7/25/2007 4:18:35 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Dollar always go down, or does it?
Posted by Dave

You probably saw the same news yesterday that I did about the U.S. dollar hitting new lows against the British pound and the European Union’s euro. It has become a regular feature of financial news in recent weeks.

What is interesting to me is that collectors have had an eye on foreign exchange rates as long as I have been plugged into the hobby via the media.

I subscribed to Coins Magazine in the summer of 1967. It was a heady time. The British pound was devalued in November of that year from $2.80 to $2.40. Some months later France’s President De Gaulle tried to force a dollar devaluation on the United States by presenting as many dollars as he could muster for payment in gold at the official $35 an ounce rate. His gambit failed. In the end, it was the French franc that was devalued.

That doesn’t mean the U.S. dollar wasn’t weak then. It was. It just means other currencies were even weaker.

The 1970s had one dollar crisis after another. The gold window was shut in 1971 and the dollar was officially devalued. It was officially devalued again in 1973. Then the idea of official devaluations became quaint and not used anymore.

In the following years we collectors got used to floating exchange rates where the dollar’s value changes every day.

The dollar has become cyclical. The dollar was weak in the 1970s. In the first half of the 1980s it soared. Then it became weak again. Then it soared again once Robert Rubin became Treasury secretary in the 1990s. Gold moved inversely to the dollar’s fluctuations.

Since 9/11, the dollar has become weak once again and as during the Vietnam War, we are spending more than we are taking in, causing further weakness.

What does the future hold? I don’t know precisely, but the long-term trend is pretty clear. The dollar will head lower in terms of purchasing power no matter what the trend on foreign exchange markets. Central banks seem to prefer an annual 2 percent depreciation.

A second observation I will make is that this virtually guaranteed rate of dollar depreciation doesn’t prevent market snapbacks and years-long upward thrusts in value. Just about the time everyone has bought as much gold and other assets as they can, the dollar snaps back. Usually the new uptrends start when just about everybody is pronouncing the currency dead.

For collectors, this means two things: if you want to speculate, make sure you can ride through the dollar upward movements. The other is don’t be mesmerized by the dollar’s value when making collecting decisions. Just as the very long-term value of the dollar is downward, the very long-term value of U.S. coins is upward.

7/25/2007 9:04:44 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Will ins be out or outs in?
Posted by Dave

What do you think of conventional wisdom? That’s a big topic, so let’s apply it only to the American Numismatic Association board of governors election. Tomorrow afternoon we will find out the results. I have my hunches about the results. I have conventional wisdom. I have a professional opinion.

But I do not have the results.

Depending on who I talk to, the results can go dramatically in either direction in favor of the anti-incumbents or in favor of the incumbents.

But I think it is important to see what conventional wisdom says.

Conventional wisdom has it that ANA members believe in orderly transitions of power. Vice presidents always succeed the outgoing president.

Insofar as this year’s election is concerned, that will hold true. Barry Stuppler, the sitting vice president, will become president. Patti Finner, a sitting governor, will ascend to the vice presidency.

Conventional wisdom tends to favor incumbents. They have survived the electoral winnowing process before and will likely survive it again. That would put Gov. Don Kagin back for another term and Gov. Alan Herbert. Both are incumbents. Both are widely known.

You can argue the other side. Don Kagin recently was exonerated by the board in a Dwight Manley complaint. While he won, the publicity can’t be counted as a plus. Alan Herbert has lost an election before. He could do it again. However, conventional wisdom says he will be back.

That makes a count of four incumbents.

For the anti-incumbents, widely known and widely liked candidates have the familiarity factor on their side. Chet Krause and Cliff Mishler come from a long tenure as founders and builders of Krause Publications, my current employer. They are both well known to the ANA electorate.

Former ANA president and executive director Ed Rochette is also widely known and widely liked.

A fourth candidate for this slate, Walter Ostromecki, is widely known and widely talked up by anti-incumbents because he has the distinction of being the first governor to be voted off the board.

There is a huge electoral element in the sentiment to correct the present board’s action to toss him off the board.

That puts the new board at a 4-4 tie. This is not exactly a sweeping victory for either side.

Conventional wisdom can argue the final board member either way. Arthur Fitts, a former governor whose wife currently is retiring from a seat, is viewed as part of the incumbent group. He might provide the fifth vote and a majority for incumbents.

Joe Boling, who is currently chief judge, might provide the fifth vote on the other side. He is widely known as a hard worker and he has done an outstanding job as chief judge. Will that be enough? It could be.

Boling on the board would be the fifth vote for the anti-incumbents.

What will happen? I still don’t know, but I have, I hope, explained conventional wisdom.

7/24/2007 9:01:54 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Monday, July 23, 2007

Nickname for coin or for congressmen?
Posted by Dave

One day last week I was handed my 88 cents in change from lunch at the Crystal Cafe. As is my habit, I checked the coins handed to me.

There were three quarters, a dime and three cents. The denominations were nothing special. One of the cents caught my eye. It was a Canadian cent. Living in Wisconsin as I do, Canadian coins are not unknown. They can’t be used in vending machines, but somehow or other, they often show up in change.

Canadian fishing trips have been a popular pastime for people around Iola for many years. Canadian coins come back with them. They find their way into commerce.

Technically, the coins are not legal tender in the United States, but people don’t usually behave on the basis of technicalities. Even with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the coins, there is a certain familiarity to them.

Canada has a cent, a five-cent piece, a 10-cent coin, a 25-cent coin and a 50-cent piece. Just don’t call them by their American nicknames. Dimes, quarters and halves just don’t cut it north of the border.

It isn’t because Canadians don’t like nicknames. They are fond of them for the $1 coin that depicts a loon. Not surprisingly it is called a “Loonie.” Americans probably could call their $1 coins by the same nickname, but most would think the name would refer to the congressmen who keep authorizing the denomination.

The Canadian $2 coin is called a “Twoonie,” the latter is difficult to remember how to spell, but it rhymes with Loonie.

The $1 and $2 coins circulate readily in Canada, but they don’t find their way to Iola. It is probably because Americans still don’t know what to make of them. We prefer our paper money, but Canada has not had a paper $1 for 20 years and the paper $2 disappeared more than 10 years ago.

Did I think all this as I got my change? Nah. Actually, all that crossed my mind that day was that I was losing much less than I used to by accepting the coin. The Canadian dollar has been on roll in recent years and it is almost back to even with the U.S. currency, but that’s a story for another day.

7/23/2007 8:59:57 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Friday, July 20, 2007

To what rite do proof sets belong now?
Posted by Dave

Proof sets went on sale yesterday. I wonder if this is considered a rite of passage as it was when I ordered my first proof set at the age of 13.

There are similarities and differences. I ordered the 1969 proof set by mail just before the Nov. 1, 1968, opening of sales. Nowadays online and telephone orders are quicker and more convenient.

The 1969 set was still a novelty. Proof sets had been abolished for 1965-1967 and only in 1968 did they make a comeback. They took a new form. They were in a rigid plastic holder rather than the polyester film packet. The coins had mintmarks. This was only the second year where that was true. They also had a high price: $5. Collectors have long memories and they were still comparing them to the $2.10 issue price of 1964.

There was also a speculative component. The 1968 proof set was doing rather well on the secondary market at the time, so would-be buyers sensed potential profits.

There are new elements to this year’s set, too. It is the first to include the four Presidential dollars. It also includes the Sacagawea dollar, five state quarters, a half dollar, dime, nickel and cent, making 14 coins in all. That’s a big set. It takes three plastic holders to contain them all. The 1969 set was just one.

The price is also pretty big, though I have not heard anyone complain yet: $26.95.

Put in perspective, that price is almost identical to the 1969 set in inflation-adjusted terms. You have to divide current prices by roughly 5 to get an approximation.

With the 1969 set, the issue price was 5.49 times the 91 cents face value. The 2007 set is 3.90 times the $6.91 face value. By this measure, the current proof set is actually cheaper than the 1969 set.

All of these thoughts and more can go through the heads of potential buyers. The new coins add novelty. The fact the Presidential dollars are in the first year of issue add the speculative component. I wonder, though, if that same sense of anticipation grips the buyer as he places his order? I hope so. That is a part of what has kept me in coins for the almost 39 years since my first proof order was mailed.

7/20/2007 9:03:23 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Thursday, July 19, 2007

No snooze alarm for us
Posted by Dave

Wake up. Summer is about to end. The seasonal slowdown where dealers can take month-long vacations and not miss much business is winding up.

At 1 p.m. the July 31 issue of Numismatic News goes off to the printer in Shawano (electronically, of course) and my attention turns to the Aug. 7 issue, which is the special issue for the American Numismatic Association summer convention called the World’s Fair of Money.

This issue of Numismatic News and this convention, which will be held Aug. 8-12 in Milwaukee, Wis., traditionally signal the beginning of the seasonal autumn pickup in business.

Adding to the fun, today is the deadline for the receipt of ballots by the accounting firm in the ANA election. BiggsKofford of Colorado Springs, Colo., then has until July 24 to communicate the results to the ANA president and executive director. They in turn inform the current board and all of the candidates.

If the plan holds, I will find out the results no later than Wednesday morning, July 25. That is in time for the front page of the ANA issue, which is where I will put the story. The results will also be posted here on my blog.

It has been an interesting electoral contest. If you want to know the ANA election results, let’s get together Wednesday afternoon right here. It could be sooner, but remember Colorado time is an hour earlier than Wisconsin time.

7/19/2007 9:00:22 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

We can all escape
Posted by Dave

I had a letter on Monday from a fellow who wrote that he had just checked himself into a nursing home. He is 72. He began reading Numismatic News and he found it both interesting and an escape from his daily concerns.

I am both sad and happy to get such a letter. I am sad because the writer is in a physical situation that I cannot help with. I am happy that he finds Numismatic News to be a pathway to escape from his daily situation and to offer a constructive diversion.

The diversion part is something I can help with. We collectors find the hobby so intellectually stimulating and the search for coins so challenging that it does indeed help us escape for a while from our daily cares.

People with hobbies benefit in all aspects of their lives from this effect. The benefits can take many forms. If it gets the collector’s mind off worries, or stress, it probably lowers his or her blood pressure and improves his or her heath and disposition.

If a collector makes astute purchases, it can aid him financially.

If he happens to learn something from history, his mind is improved and he becomes a better all-around person.

Coin collecting is not a cure all, but it does have the power to make life better. It offers goals that each collector alone sets for himself. Success is defined as each collector defines it. Satisfaction comes from having control of something and constructively utilizing the responsibility.

I wrote a note to the letter writer thanking him for his kind words and answering his question. Oh yes, he did have a question. If that doesn’t make him a typical collector, I don’t know what does.

7/18/2007 9:00:04 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

No basis for suspicions
Posted by Dave

It shouldn’t surprise me but it does that some readers think that the recent spate of Presidential dollar errors was created on purpose by the Mint.

Any manufacturing process has a rate of error. Striking coins is a manufacturing process. For a process that has been around a while, the rate of error is fairly low. That is true of the Mint, but because the Mint strikes 15 billion coins or so a year, even a tiny error rate translates into rather large numbers of errors, though most are minor.

When a new manufacturing process is introduced, the error rate is much higher. Adding edge lettering to the Presidential dollar coins is a new manufacturing process. It is no surprise that there are a number of errors generated by it.

When the creation of a coin like the Presidential dollar involves two manufacturing processes to reach the final struck state, the number of errors rises by the combined error rates of the two manufacturing processes. Even if the Mint has the best quality control in the world, stuff just happens.

Once Presidential dollars are struck and are ready to be sent out to the banking system, if a few have no edge lettering, or twice-applied edge lettering, it is virtually impossible to catch with a visual inspection.

It makes me feel old just to look at a Presidential dollar’s edge. The lettering is tiny and rather shallow. Imagine trying to find mistakes amid hundreds of thousands of coins moving by at once.

This is not an easy task.

I know the suspicions will not go away. I can’t change that. What I can do though is write that there doesn’t yet seem to be any Presidential dollar errors that seem to have been “helped” along as was the case with the Sacagawea dollar when its production began.

It also pays to remember that it was the error hobby itself that pointed out to the Mint that some of those Sac errors, the mules specifically, would be impossible without some kind of inside help.

The error hobby proved to be right and the Mint had to scramble to prosecute the employees involved.

I will watch those who are active in the study of errors and my actions will be guided by theirs.

So far, things look clean. Let’s enjoy the publicity we get as a hobby from the errors.

7/17/2007 8:52:14 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Monday, July 16, 2007

Sales start tomorrow
Posted by Dave

Ready, set, go! The Mint begins sales of the proof platinum American Eagle coins and the “W” mintmarked uncirculated American Eagle coins tomorrow at noon Eastern Daylight Time.

I was given 25 hours notice.

The proofs have limited mintages and the “W” uncirculated coins do not.

This year’s reverse design honors the Executive Branch of government.

Price of the proof one-ounce coin is $1,599.95 each. Mintage limit is 6,000 individual pieces and another possible 10,000 will be sold in the proof four-coin platinum American Eagle set.

The half-ounce proof is $809.95 and has a mintage limit of 5,000 plus another 10,000 in the set.

The quarter ounce is $439.95 and has a mintage limit of 5,000 individual coins plus another 10,000 in the set.

For the tenth-ounce, the price is $229.95. Mintage is 10,000 plus another 10,000 in the four-coin proof set.

The full four-coin proof set is $2,949.95.

Prices for the “W” uncirculated coins are a bit less expensive. The one-ounce coin is $1,489.95.

For the half ounce, the price is $759.95, the quarter ounce is $399.95 and the tenth ounce is $189.95.

The full four-coin “W” uncirculated set is $2,769.95.

There are no maximum mintages for the “W” platinum American Eagles.

Visit the Mint Web site at www.usmint.gov. By phone, the order number is (800) USA-MINT.

7/16/2007 2:32:37 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Detectives they're not
Posted by Dave

Spain has committed an act of war against Panama. Did you miss it on the news?

Last Thursday a Spanish patrol ship intercepted the vessel, the Ocean Alert owned by Odyssey Marine Exploration, in international waters after it had left the port of Gibraltar. The ship is registered in Panama and by marine law is the affronted party.

Coin collectors are interested because this is the latest salvo in a fight about sunken treasure.

On May 17 Odyssey Marine announced that it had found the treasure, but did not identify the lost ship.

Spanish authorities are seething because they figure a plot is afoot to grab treasure from an old Spanish warship to which it has rights under international law.

It uses as its evidence photos of coins that seem to show Spanish or Spanish colonial 8 reales coins.

As collectors know, that is pretty flimsy, but greed knows no bounds. Spanish coins were the international currency of the world in the 17th and 18th centuries. Through its colonies its mines produced vast silver supplies that colonial mints poured forth as coins and sent back to Spain. The coins were so common, that they were the currency of choice for the 13 colonies that declared their independence from England in 1776. Colonial paper currency promised to pay Spanish milled dollars and the basis of the U.S. dollar was the Spanish milled dollar, which is the 8 reales.

The United States melted and assayed the 8 reales to determine what the U.S. dollar should be. Because they were off slightly, the U.S. dollar was just a tad lighter than the Spanish version.

Collectors know just because Spanish coinage is present on a ship doesn’t make the ship Spanish.

Is it surprising that Odyssey Marine would want to keep its find’s location secret? Well, if you find something of great value in international waters and you cannot anchor a security force there 24 hours a day, what would you do?

Spanish authorities have already sued the company over the matter, but apparently the legal process is not fast enough.

Perhaps the U.S. government can start seizing hoards of U.S. currency wherever they are found in the world under the supposition that they must be originally stolen from us somewhere.

Oh, these notes circulate freely around the world?

Tell that to the Spanish government about its historic coins.

7/16/2007 9:06:49 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Friday, July 13, 2007

Rain not complete washout
Posted by Dave

You know what? You can run into coin collectors even in a downpour at the Iola Old Car Show. And I don’t mean fellow Krause Publications staff members.

I was about an hour into my volunteer shift yesterday afternoon selling Old Cars subscriptions and CD’s when the heavens decided to open up on us. The nearby Duesenberg had already been driven to cover, heading for the Krause garage in the early sprinkle stage of the inclement weather because hail was possible and with a $1 million car, you don’t want hail damage. The car’s normal location was an open-sided tent near an outside table at which I was working.

When the rain hit, there were seven or eight of us taking shelter in the Ultimate Garage Giveaway garage when we were joined by a another drenched passerby.

He was a recent high school grad down with his father, uncle and brother from the nearby city of Wausau. They had a car in the Car Corral.

The grad, it turns out, was a coin collector. He had collected Wheat cents, Canadian coins, state quarters, some euro coinage and a number of pieces from Guatemala. It was the kind of material that many a hobbyist has started out with. Alas, the state quarters were no more. He, like many young collectors, ended up spending them when he needed money. But the collecting bug has bitten him and it likely will be back more virulent than ever someday as is the pattern with many a collector who started in childhood.

He also has an interest in stamps, postcards and some items that I will lump under the heading of bric-a-brac.

With his interests in history and graphic arts, perhaps he has a future in numismatic publishing.

In 10 minutes or so the rain let up and he was on his way. Unfortunately, I didn’t sign him up for the Ultimate Garage Giveaway.

7/13/2007 8:57:58 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Thank you, Chet Krause
Posted by Dave

I put on an orange arm band this morning. No, it is not some weird pre-pre-Orange Bowl ritual that I have or a tribute to William of Orange of the Netherlands who became King William of England, who is either revered or hated in Northern Ireland every July, depending on which side is being considered.

It is, rather, Old Cars orange and I have been drafted into the Old Car Show helpers brigade to sell subscriptions to a sister publication to Numismatic News, Old Cars Weekly.

This product was acquired and renamed by Chet Krause in 1972 for two compelling reasons.

The first reason was that Chet happened to like old cars and had a great interest in the field.

The second reason was more important. In the coin market downturn that followed the roll and bag boom after its 1964 peak, Chet nearly lost his business. The revenue at Numismatic News and Coins Magazine were in a relentless downward spiral and employees used to be a part of the Friday pink slip lottery, which you did not want to win because it meant you were laid off.

To save his business, Chet stopped drawing a salary and was using the proceeds of sales of his personal coin collection to stay afloat personally and the business professionally.

As you know, Krause Publications survived and went on to thrive. The key was hobby diversification. Chet vowed to move into other fields. His interests were so wide ranging that he was good at picking winners. When his own experience was lacking, his trusted staff guided him to big winners, such as Bob Lemke and Doug Watson suggesting the sports card field.

Old Cars was the breakthrough, though. Chet hitched his star professionally to the field and Iola, Wis., came along for the ride.

The Iola Lions Club had an annual chicken fry. Chet invited a few car friends to bring their cars in 1972 and soon the car portion took over. The Lions still sell chickens, but there are more than 50 other civic organizations serving an expected 140,000 people over four days. I will spend two days cooking hamburgers for the Lions this weekend.

The profits all go to charity. It has benefited Iola enormously.

Thanks, Chet.

7/12/2007 9:10:15 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

New book, new twist
Posted by Dave

I had a phone call from Scott Travers late yesterday afternoon. I have known Scott for many years and we have worked together on Numismatic Literary Guild matters together. There was NLG business associated with the call, but the major news was he has written a new book. It is called Scott Travers’ Top 88 Coins to Buy and Sell. It was released yesterday.

It is a clever book. What makes it different from the usual books with lists is that it divides the field equally between good coins to buy and coins that should be avoided.

There are 44 good coins and 44 bad coins.

The usual lists are the top 10 coins to buy now, or the greatest 100 coins ever struck and things of that nature.

Well, Scott has taken a different path.

I have seen a sample of one of the bad coins. It is the 1933 Saint-Gaudens gold $20. Only one is legal to own and that was purchased by an anonymous buyer for $7.59 million.

Since that transaction, 10 more have been confiscated by the U.S. Mint from the family of Israel Switt, a Philadelphia jeweler, who is no longer living.

The government says these coins are illegal to own because they were never officially released. Quite naturally, at least in the eyes of collectors, the family is taking the opposite position and a lawsuit is proceeding to adjudicate the matter.

Neither Scott nor I know what the court will eventually decide, but he quite correctly points out that the mere existence of the 10 seized coins gives great credibility to the hobby rumors that more exist and they could be outside the country beyond the power of the U.S. Secret Service to grab them.

These rumored coins will tend to depress any future price that a buyer would be willing to pay for the only legal 1933 should it ever come up for sale again.

There is sound reasoning there. Would you want to buy something at a great price if you thought a large new supply was just waiting in the wings? I sure wouldn’t.

Scott got my attention. I bet he can get yours, too. I can’t wait to read about the other 87 coins in the book.

The book is a House of Collectibles paperback. It is priced at $13.95.

7/11/2007 9:02:57 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

This meeting was planned
Posted by Dave

One of the great pleasures of travel on the numismatic circuit is the opportunity to meet people.

Most encounters are of a serendipitous nature. I don’t know who I will run into and that makes things interesting and exciting. It is a little like a lottery of life.

My recent trip to the Memphis paper money show featured such encounters, but there was also a planned one. I was looking forward to meeting Mart Delger’s wife of 52 years. He has been the chairman of exhibits at Memphis since the very first one in 1977, but in all that time, he has never been joined there by his wife.

This year it was different. He mentioned to me beforehand that she would be there to see what all the fuss was about. She has been the behind-the-scenes helper to make sure the exhibit process moved smoothly. She has typed many lists of participants. I have been the beneficiary of that effort as I publish them in Bank Note Reporter.

My mission on Friday after the ribbon cutting that opened the show was to find Mart and meet his wife.

It was a great pleasure to meet Chris. Her full name is Christal, but she is called by the more informal nickname.

I asked her why after all these years did she decide to come to Memphis.

“I decided I ought to,” she said with a smile. “I’ve never been to this one.” She has been to other shows, though.

She looked at Mart and said, “I’d better stand by this man.”

I thanked Chris for having made it possible for me to work with Mart for so many years. She was going to have a busy day. I wasn’t the only one who wanted to meet her.

“I hear all the names,” she said. She spent the convention connecting them to a set of faces, mine among them.

I hope to see her again in Memphis next year. I don’t think I’m alone in that wish.

7/10/2007 9:06:55 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Monday, July 09, 2007

Slab premium rules marketplace
Posted by Dave

I am just back from the annual paper money show in Memphis. It is the premier paper money event each year and experiences there tend to inform my editorial decisions in the following months.

If you are a veteran of the coin market from the mid 1980s, what is currently going on in the paper money field will be familiar to you.

Slabbing is affecting the business in a big way. Third-party authenticators and graders are slugging it out for market share. The reluctance of the hobby to embrace slabbing is now almost entirely gone. There is too much money to be made by feeding the trend and participating in it rather than opposing it.

Notes in slabs are tending to bring more money than identical notes not yet in slabs. Call it the slab premium. Why? It is a simple concept.

The owner of the very first note in a slab can truthfully tell one and all that there is no other one like it. Some buyers attach great importance – too much importance – to this statement. However, it takes a while for the grading services to saturate the market, so slabs can seem scarce. Scarcity might be real because a note is truly rare, or it might simply be that the grading services have not yet turned out a sufficient supply to satisfy market demand.

The lesson of the coin market is that it can take years to fully satisfy the demand for slabs. However, once this process is done, the slab premium will disappear. Any current paper money buyers who are paying premium prices for slabs might find themselves less pleased with their purchases when more slabbed notes become available.

How much longer can this present slab scarcity last? Good question. It will last as long as new buyers can be found to keep prices rising and to maintain the perception of scarcity. How long will that be? If I knew that, I would be out there trading like mad, now wouldn’t I?

Let’s just say that the summer slump has not been particularly evident in the paper money field. That should mean a strong start to the autumn.

I write the word “autumn” here because in a conversation at the convention hotel with a market participant yesterday I said it looked like we will have a “strong fall” and his startled reaction indicated that his first thought wasn’t about the season.

7/9/2007 9:04:32 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Friday, July 06, 2007

Grab the camera
Posted by dave

I am attending the Memphis paper money show. To come here is like visiting an old friend, many old friends in fact.

It is a tradition. Ribs on Thursday night. Steak on Friday. But that is only if you aren’t bidding in the auction, which is being called by Smythe this year. Bank Note Reporter staff tends to eat early and come back to watch the sale action.

One of my missions this trip is to take a photograph of Mart Delger and his wife. To my knowledge, I have never met his wife. She is attending the show for the first time ever.

Mart has been exhibit chairman at Memphis since the show was founded in 1977. He has done wonders in attracting quality exhibits in large numbers. It is a wonder to see what he achieves year after year.

This year there is a seven-case display of Serial Number 1 large-size notes by Jess Lipka. Amazing. I wouldn’t want to pay the insurance bill.

However, amazing notes aside, my mission is to get that photograph of Mrs. Delger. I have to say thank you for the hand-typed lists of exhibitors that she has given Mart to give me. I have to let her know how highly we think of Mart and how appreciative we are that he has been such a key volunteer all these years.

It is not an easy job. There are always last minute changes. In fact, there are enough of those to drive even Mart a little crazy. I hope he can still take it. I don’t know what the Memphis show would do without him.

7/6/2007 9:04:33 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Motto move likely
Posted by dave

The French say the more things change, the more they stay the same. That couldn’t be more apt in light of recent action in the House of Representatives June 29.

A vote was taken in the House of Representatives to cut off funding to the Mint that is used for the purpose of putting edge lettering on Presidential dollars.

It is not that Congress dislikes edge lettering. It probably doesn’t care as a body one way or the other, but what it truly does not like are the recent error headlines about “Godless dollars.” Those are fighting words to our elected representatives just as they were in 1907.

Instead of moving the motto to the edge 100 years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt went whole hog with the new Saint-Gaudens $20 design. He took the motto off completely, maintaining that it was sacrilegious.

It would be an understatement to say the nation did not feel that way. Legislation was rapidly introduced in Congress and the use of the motto was mandated in law to overrule the President’s position. The motto reappeared in 1908.

Every President gets his wrist slapped now and again by the Congress, but Teddy did not stay down long. He still had a bully time in office and has been fondly remembered ever since.

It is only we collectors who remember and repeat the “In God We Trust” story.

Look for more prominent treatment of “In God We Trust” on the Presidential coins in 2008.

7/5/2007 9:02:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Not my usual mail
Posted by Dave

You might know what the wages of sin are, but how about the wages of blogging?

I have been introduced to the power of my blog by a surprise package yesterday. Just before lunch I received a phone call from the mailroom. There was a big box there waiting for me that had been delivered by FedEx.

How big was it, I asked. Pretty big was the reply. I said I would be there right away.

Usually I receive catalogs and they are about as big as it gets. Not this time. Oh, no. The box with my name on it was the biggest box I think I have ever received. It was even bigger than the Christmas sampler box Grover Criswell sent to my first boss back in 1978. It was more like a foot locker if not bigger.

I had to find a cart to haul it to my desk. I got it there and then I went to lunch.

I started to open it as my afternoon got under way and I showed editorial staffer Maggie Pahl the first thing in it. It was a heavy, leatherlike album that looked like it could have been an old family Bible.It was a paper money album.

I summoned Sue Konkel and Robbie Cain from the ad department and it was like opening presents. Rich-looking albums and fancy simulated wooden chests caused the four of us to ooh and aah.

Wow.

The box was sent by a company whose chief operating officer had read one of my blogs about marketing Presidential dollars. He liked it. He wanted to show me how his firm did it. He invited me to call. I will. He has gotten my attention.

How about yours?

7/3/2007 9:01:08 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Monday, July 02, 2007

It's time for hot dogs, not work
Posted by Dave

It took 10 minutes for my computer to sign me in this morning. As I looked at the spinning wheel of death, as we call here in the office, one thought kept going through my mind:

“What am I doing here?”

Not even my computer seems to want me to work.

My brother and his wife are in from Charlotte, N.C. A nephew is out camping with his two sons for a Cub Scouts event and the family discussions over the weekend centered around the plans for the annual Fourth of July parade in Bonduel at the home of a niece of mine.

Because of that very same holiday, the production period for this week’s Numismatic News has been shortened by a day, so mentally for me this already is Tuesday.

I will be checking on who still hasn’t received their ballots for the American Numismatic Association election, though that problem seems to be in the process of getting resolved.

There will be the check of e-mail to see if there are any new complaints about what the U.S. Mint may or may not be doing right.

And while July may seem like a perfect time to kick back and enjoy the holiday, the hobby’s own schedule seems to be going into overdrive.

The Whitman Baltimore Coin and Collectibles Convention has just concluded.

I head for the airport Thursday morning to attend the annual Memphis paper money show, which is later now that it has been displaced from its traditional Father’s Day weekend.

After Memphis comes the new Summer FUN in West Palm Beach. A staff member will be going, but I will be here at home cooking hamburgers for the annual Old Car Show right here in Iola, Wis.

I get the funny feeling that there aren’t too many people out there to read this. They have more sense and a better schedule than I have and are having a relaxing week somewhere.

No? Well, do let me know. After all, misery loves company.

7/2/2007 9:03:37 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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