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 Friday, April 30, 2010
Will the experiment be a success?
Posted by Dave
Yesterday was Professional Preview Day at the Central States convention in Milwaukee. Chairman Kevin Foley called it experimental. It followed PNG Day on Wednesday. The public will be let in this morning at 10 a.m. for the first time.
I have already spoken to a dealer or two who plan to leave tonight, so it will be interesting to see what the bourse looks like tomorrow.
As you might expect, it looked kind of slow on the bourse yesterday. Many dealers left their tables untended to walk the floor to try to make deals happen. When I start asking for comments, I expect I will hear how these efforts to scare up some business worked.
Overall, if the public shows up in large numbers today and tomorrow, then I expect the new arrangement will be judged a success and it will be continued at future conventions. It the public doesn’t come, or if dealers are dissatisfied with the business they do with the public, then perhaps we will see some adjustments made to next year’s convention schedule.
Two days in a row of just dealers certainly made it easier for me to talk to them as the day moved along yesterday, but my convenience is not the reason why we are all here.
Last night I attended a nice gathering of exhibitors at Mo’s Pub. It was hosted by Fran andd Ray Lockwood. Fran is exhibits chair. She really knows how to treat exhibitors, but even more to the point, CSNS knows how to treat exhibitors. Looking at case after case on the floor, I was impressed. The exhibits are worthy of a national convention in both number and quality. Kudos to both Fran and the Central States organization.
Friday, April 30, 2010 2:18:33 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Quite a haul
Posted by Dave
I drove down to Milwaukee after my day at the office last night. I checked into the Hilton Hotel about 9 p.m. The Central States Numismatic Society convention is now under way.
Yesterday was PNG Day. Today is Professional Preview Day. Tomorrow the public will be let in. I have no idea what might have happened here yesterday. The hotel lobby was empty last night as were the surrounding streets, so I did not bump into anyone who might have clued me in to whatever I might need to know.
With gold and silver prices fairly firm and stable this morning, I would expect that business conditions will depend pretty much on the internal dynamics of the numismatic market. We will see, but I am getting ahead of myself.
My first task is to get over to the convention center and unload the boxes of papers and books that were sent down with me. There are a lot of boxes. That means I won’t have to put a suit on until I get the hauling done.
When I am not wearing a suit, it is as good as a disguise. Most people expect to see a tie around my neck. When it is not there I get comments. This morning I look forward to the comments. Hauling boxes, not so much.
Thursday, April 29, 2010 2:23:09 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
CCAC makes history on Twitter
Posted by Dave
A new page was turned yesterday at a meeting of the Citizens Coin Advisory Committee.
Member Donald Scarinci sent out Tweets on Twitter as the meeting progressed. Since I was not in Philadelphia to attend the meeting, having on-the-spot commentary was both interesting and helpful.
I hope others feel this way and he will make Tweets a regular part of his role at CCAC.
Don told me that he started using Twitter just last week.
“This is probably numismatic history because it is the first time a CCAC meeting will be reported on Twitter,” he wrote me in an e-mail.
Naturally the primary purpose of the CCAC meeting was to choose a reverse design for the 2011 Native American dollar that it can recommend to the Treasury secretary, who makes the final decision. However, we might well remember it for the Tweets instead.
The CCAC endorsed a design that was also endorsed by the Commission of Fine Arts. It depicts a peace pipe being passed with just the pipe and the hands shown.
It marks the Wampanoag Treaty of 1621.
What I am really jealous of is not the Tweets so much as the tour of the Philadelphia Mint where the CCAC members were shown the new five-ounce silver America the Beautiful coins. These will have the same design as the program's circulating quarters.
Because they have to be three-inches in diameter, the five-ounce silver coins are very thin and have to be struck on a Graebener coining press that was specially purchased for this job.
Congratulations, Don, on taking us all another step into the 21st century.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 2:10:49 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Only proofs left for Scout coin
Posted by Dave
The final phase of the Boy Scout commemorative silver dollar sales has begun. We’ve all been waiting for a sellout.
The first shoe to drop was the uncirculated dollar. The Mint is now placing orders on a waiting list. This means those potential buyers will receive coins only if someone else cancels an order or returns the coins.
For now, the proof version is still being sold. I expect to receive the latest sales figures at some point today, but since I do not have them, I will have to do a little speculating.
Last week there were 37,347 coins left to sell. Sales were running at about 22,000 a week. That likely means we are sitting at around 15,000 left and those are proofs.
Can I be wrong? Sure.
Sales often accelerate as the end approaches. Fence sitters decide to jump.
If this scenario plays out, we are much closer to a sellout.
If sales continue to decelerate at the pace that occurred last week, there are probably 17,000 or 18,000 of the proof coins still available.
The upshot is: if you want a proof, get that order in now.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 1:59:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Here come the Buffalo gold coins
Posted by Dave
One-ounce American Buffalo gold bullion coins will become available to the market April 29. Authorized Purchasers were notified by the U.S. Mint today that they will be able to place orders on that date.
Bullion coins are not sold directly to the public but through the Mint’s network of Authorized Purchasers. These in turn will sell them to other coin dealers.
It took the Mint until October of last year to make these coins available to the bullion market. Making the 2010 coins available nearly six months earlier than the 2009 pieces might be another sign that bullion coin supply is catching up with demand.
Can the proof and uncirculated collector versions of the Eagles and Buffaloes be far behind?
Monday, April 26, 2010 8:50:37 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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CICF proves 'comfortable'
Posted by Dave
It’s Monday morning and I am back from the Chicago International Coin Fair. My e-mail looks like I was gone for a week, not a weekend.
Many of the e-mails were responses to our weekly poll question. In this case it is about spending and receiving the 2009 and 2010 Native American dollar coins. It is nice to see that so many collectors want to share their experiences.
What are my impressions of the show?
Well, I think the best word I can use to describe it is “comfortable.” Business was being done. The market there was neither hot nor cold, but the bourse room was often crowded.
The Heritage auction was a big draw, especially for the Brazilian section.
Several Brazilian coin dealers came in unexpectedly to bid in the auction and then also wanted tables. Luck was with them and the show. There were a few European dealers who could not make the show because of the backed-up air traffic due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
It is interesting when a positive factor cancels out a negative one.
I had a chat with Chicago coin dealer Harlan J. Berk, who has a shop in downtown Chicago. He mentioned that even though bullion prices are pretty similar to what they have been for a few months now, the urgency felt by bullion buyers has cooled somewhat from what it was last year.
CICF was an enjoyable event overall. Now I have a quick turnaround in the office to get to the Central States Numismatic Society convention on Wednesday.
Monday, April 26, 2010 2:07:54 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
Drive to CICF in Chicago; it's easy
Posted by Dave
It’s back on the road for me. I will be at the Chicago International Coin Fair Friday. I have to be out early in the morning, so I figured I would post this early, too – like Thursday night.
CICF is one of the two major world coin events in this part of the numismatic field here in the United States. New York City in January is the other.
Unlike most shows, I can drive to CICF. That is an advantage as far as I am concerned. Even with the early start, it is still later than some airport runs I have had to make. As much as I like shows, it is nice to take a breather from air travel.
The driveability factor also is what sets the tone for the show. Europeans like to be downtown. Few others do – at least when looking for anyone else who would want to foot the bill for the elevated costs of a downtown show.
Year after year the issue I hear the most about is parking. If everyone were flying in, that wouldn’t be mentioned much.
So what you end up having is a much more relaxed, suburban kind of environment where people can get in easily and out easily in their own vehicles. That’s a plus, but it is also gives the show a character unlike New York’s.
What does that mean?
It means there is room for both shows on the annual calendar. Drivers can take Chicago. Flyers can enjoy New York.
Obviously, some people drive to New York and others fly to Chicago, but I think you get the idea of what I am trying to say about the dominant characteristic.
Now if you are within driving distance, get down to the Crowne Plaza O’Hare in Rosemont this weekend.
Spur-of-the-moment travel is one advantage of going by car. Come on in.
(And don’t forget to read the other blog post from earlier today.)
Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:08:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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What are the rare Kennedy halves?
Posted by Dave
I just had an e-mail asking me what are the rare years of the Kennedy half dollar.
I have been aware of the series since its very beginning with its roots in a national tragedy.
On black and white television I watched the funeral cortege of the assassinated president. I saw the assassination of the assassin on TV as well.
I was a kid, but I was ill, so I probably napped through a great deal, but I saw enough to remember and to be motivated to stand in line when the Kennedy half dollars were released the following March.
The coins I got for my brother and me are significant, but they are not rare.
With the benefit of nearly 50 years of watching each coin issued year by year, it is hard for me to say that any of them are rare.
There was talk of abolishing the 50-cent denomination almost as soon as the national remembrance period ended and the practicalities of a denomination that was rarely used became the focus of some.
The half dollar obviously was not abolished, but in the 1980s and 1990s I used to get calls early in the year from the same person asking the same question: “Are they going to make half dollars this year?”
What are the rare ones?
For me it is easy to cite the issues of 1970 and 1987 that were made only for uncirculated coin sets, but current prices don’t make them seem rare.
There was a silver version in a matte finish sold with the Bobby Kennedy commemorative dollar in 1998. It has the highest price in grades generally accessible to most collectors.
Then you can run through whatever listings you can find for MS-69 and MS-70 pieces and see how that would change your mind.
While I know those ultra grades exist, they don’t quite seem like the same coin that I stood in a line at a bank to obtain back in 1964.
What are the rare ones?
Thursday, April 22, 2010 2:03:26 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Scout coins connect with buyers
Posted by Dave
Will it or won’t it sell out?
I am still waiting for word that the Boy Scout commemorative silver dollar has sold out.
It hasn’t happened yet.
The latest weekly figures showed that collectors bought another 22,261 of the coins. That is almost the same number as the 23,875 sold the prior week.
The Mint still has 37,347 left to sell, so in less than two weeks they should all be gone.
That would make the elapsed time about five weeks. That’s not bad. Certainly it doesn’t compare to the sell out in hours of the first three First Spouse gold coins, but then collectors were just as quick to dump the First Spouse coins on the secondary market or even as bullion.
There is no emotional connection, or at least this is much less an emotional connection to the First Spouse coins as the Boy Scout coins.
I can see Boy Scout coins being handed down from one generation to the next much as Scouting itself is. From that perspective, five weeks is the blink of an eye.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:54:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Quarter wagon train arrives in Iola
Posted by Dave
It is interesting that as the first of the America the Beautiful quarters is released in Hot Springs, Ark., and through the Mint’s website with bag and roll sales, that I start receiving more and more of the issues of the 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories program.
Monday I received a Guam quarter in my change at lunch at the Crystal Cafe. Two days earlier I had received an American Samoa quarter while on a shopping trip in the nearby city of Appleton.
The only one of the six 2009 designs that has not yet come my way is the U.S. Virgin Islands issue, which is the fifth of the sixth. Perhaps it is too soon for this design to have made the covered wagon journey to central Wisconsin.
To the best of my recollection, I have not seen the sixth design, the Northern Marianas issue around here. The one I did receive was on one of my trips to coin conventions.
Interestingly, the two most common designs here in Iola seem to be Puerto Rico, which is the second of the six issues and then the District of Columbia, the first.
Tom Michael, who works a few steps away from my desk has noted that he has not received any of the DC coins – at least as recently as our last conversation on the topic.
I would expect that because the economy is improving that I will see the Hot Springs quarter much more quickly than that I saw last year’s coins in my hands.
However, I should point out that even with the arrival of last year’s designs in circulation, they are by no means numerous. There are many more BU state quarters from prior years.
For example, someone seems to have broken a roll or two of BU Illinois quarters around here in recent days because they have suddenly started turning up. This design was the first issue of 2003 and it was scarce on the secondary roll market for a long time.
It’s a pleasant surprise.
Time now to start the watch for the Hot Springs issue. Let me know when you get one in change.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 2:14:38 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, April 19, 2010
Did YN programs have impact?
Posted by Dave
Coin collectors often wonder what the future holds for the hobby. Speculation about it makes interesting reading.
One aspect of the future of numismatics is that it is largely determined by demographics.
Current collectors are counted by the number of them born between 60 and 50 years ago.
Why?
Because the prime decade of coin collecting for most hobbyists is their 50s. It has been that way for 100 years.
So the health of the hobby is determined by the number of 50-year-olds who decide to get in there and spend time and money on their favorite hobby.
Subtract the number of collectors who reach 60 this year from the number who turn 50 and the resulting number will tell you whether we will grow or not. If the number is positive, growth is likely.
True, there are collectors who are 49 and 61, respectively, but they are not part of the key demographic group.
In the next 10 years we will begin to see whether all the Young Numismatist programs that became mainstream in the 1970s will have any impact at all on the numbers of collectors in their prime.
About half of all collectors started before they were 20 and we will see if YN programs in their youth makes them return to the hobby in any greater numbers. Most collectors who started as kids put the hobby aside for a while as graduation, jobs and families became priorities. They then return in middle age as time and finances permit. Perhaps more will report that they never left the hobby, or returned sooner.
About 40 percent of collectors begin after age 40.
That leaves the great demographics wasteland of ages 20-40 where only 10 percent had their beginnings in numismatics.
The next 10 years should be a good one for the hobby overall. The question in my mind is what happens to YN programs if we see no evidence in that period that YN programs had any impact on the overall collecting life pattern of those who will be in their 50s during the coming decade and who would count among their number those very first YNs.
Monday, April 19, 2010 2:19:36 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, April 16, 2010
Erupting interest in coins?
Posted by Dave
The erupting volcano in Iceland got me thinking yesterday. Tom Michael and I were having a conversation that started with, “I sure am glad we are not in Berlin trying to get home today.”
This occurred after many European countries closed their airspace and grounded commercial airline traffic.
It is unfortunate for the people who are stranded and I am sure I will soon be reading gold and silver price forecasts based on the economic impact the erupting volcano will have.
Already the pundits are talking about a colder winter. That isn’t welcome news in Wisconsin. It is usually cold enough here.
However, a colder winter might just keep more coin collectors at home and tackling their indoor hobby pursuits. Coin collecting has always been skewed to the winter months and this might make it skew even further.
Anything that spurs people to think about coins is ultimately a good thing for the hobby.
So, if you have had to cancel your European vacation, consider once closer to home and spend the savings on your coin collection.
And enjoy the summer; the winter that follows may require a little more stamina.
Friday, April 16, 2010 2:05:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, April 15, 2010
Any hobby impact left from tax day?
Posted by Dave
Does April 15 tax filing deadline have the same impact it used to on the business of numismatics?
In the 1970s my first boss had his annual column at this time of year pointing out all the money that was being drained away from the hobby and how that tended to slow things down.
Obviously, if you are writing a check to the Internal Revenue Service, you can’t spend that money on coins.
However, it seems to me that the increasing sophistication of the business side of things over the years negates some of the impact tax day used to have.
Corporations aren’t going to suspend their operations for a few weeks because of a tax payment. Individuals are more than ever required to pay as they go.
A sudden money drain seems to be a thing of the past.
Since we are at the height of the annual collecting season, it would seem this cycle plays a greater role than tax day.
To use the metaphor of Citigroup, “When the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.”
Shows are being held. Dealers and collectors need to be there.
The economic cycle seems to be pushing us now to greater activity rather than less.
Gold is still strongly underpinning part of the market and contributing to dealer cash flow.
What’s the conclusion? This year at least, April 15 seems to be just another day.
Thursday, April 15, 2010 1:59:50 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
See you at Chicago? Milwaukee? Dentist?
Posted by Dave
There is a very strange feeling I get when I know I am about to be very busy. The second half of April is packed with numismatic events of various kinds.
I will be heading down to Chicago for the Chicago International Coin Fair next week. It runs April 22-April 25.
The Central States Numismatic Society convention will be held the following week, April 28-May 1.
While I am preparing to be in motion, the long-awaited debut of the America the Beautiful quarter series occurs April 20 in Hot Springs, Ark, and the new $100 Federal Reserve Note will be unveiled April 21 in Washington, D.C.
I will not personally be attending the latter two events, but I will be keenly following them as they occur.
Throw in a sentence in the dentist’s chair for a new crown April 21, and you get the idea.
I often marvel at how dental appointments made months ahead of time can end up falling in the middle of weeks that are busy for other reasons.
I look forward to seeing everyone else who can make it to Chicago and Milwaukee to see what’s going on and to collect reactions to the new quarters and new $100s.
In the meantime, this week, I had better enjoy the attractions of Iola in the springtime while I can.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:14:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Cent above all
Posted by Dave
Numismatic News has been running weekly reader poll questions for quite a while now – so long in fact that I can’t quite remember when we started doing it.
Any question that relates to the U.S, cent blows every other one out of the water in terms of the rate of response.
What is it about the cent that generates such passion?
My interest in the denomination is rooted in my fruitless search to find a 1909-S VDB as I filled my Lincoln cent albums in the mid 1960s.
Did I expect to find one? No, not really. The 484,000 mintage I had memorized from the Red Book was a pretty daunting figure.
Yet a guy on my paper route had found one. Why not me?
I never saw it. Maybe he was just pulling my leg, but it was a hopeful story for someone like me to continue chasing the dream for probably longer than common sense dictated.
Eventually, though, I abandoned searching for the Holy Grail of Lincolns. It wasn’t worth the search time. I was doing much better with other denominations.
But that love of the cent lingers. The memories came back last year as I looked for the 2009 designs and wrote about their scarcity. They came back as I looked at my first Union Shield 2010 coin.
It would seem that almost all collectors must feel the same way, too, or why would they respond with such passion to weekly poll questions about the Lincoln cent?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 2:09:06 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, April 12, 2010
Investigate that dollar rumor
Posted by Dave
The eternal rumor mill that is the Internet is once again throwing up the old chestnut that “In God We Trust” has been taken off the one dollar coin and should be boycotted.
Accompanying it is an attached photograph of the face side of the George Washington dollar of 2007.
“I was sent an e-mail that is telling everyone that ‘In God We Trust’ has been taken off the new dollar coin. I’m going to send it to you to see if it holds water,” writes the sender who did not tell me who he is.
Should I point out that this e-mail story first appeared more than three years ago?
Should I tell the sender that the motto was placed on the edge for that particular coin and the rest of the designs for 2007 and 2008?
Perhaps I should mention that Congress got the message loud and clear that the public was upset and passed a law to move the motto from the edge and put it on the obverse where it has been since the first Presidential design of 2009.
Then again, maybe I should take a new tack and suggest the sender go to his bank and obtain some Presidential dollars to verify for himself what the true situation is with the Presidential dollar coins.
It is, after all, a serious investigation and he should get at least 100 coins and suggest to all his friends and Internet contacts that they conduct their own investigations as well.
If enough people get 100 coins each, we will get to the bottom of this Internet rumor once and for all – or run out of coins.
Monday, April 12, 2010 2:10:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, April 09, 2010
Half dollars rarely in my thoughts
Posted by Dave
I don’t find myself thinking about half dollars very often. They are almost never seen in circulation. If I happen to get one it is because someone at the Crystal Cafe was short of funds and happened to spend one for coffee.
My habit if I get a half dollar in change is to immediately turn it around by leaving it as part of the tip. I really don’t want to take it home.
There are so few uses for half dollars. They are not spendable in the average vending machine, so I cannot buy a morning coffee here in the break room with it.
The Mint, though, still sells rolls and bags of the coins and even though totals are small, there are some collectors who continue to buy them.
I bought a bag back in 2002. I wanted to see what might be in it. There really was nothing of interest in it for me, so over time, they gradually found their way into circulation. Yes, I took the loss for the amount I paid over face value, but that was better than storing the bag for the rest of my life.
So far this year, 4,072 bags of 200 coins have been sold. The price is $130.95 plus the $4.95 shipping charge. This gives the Mint revenue of more than $550,000. There have been 21,101 two-roll sets sold, which yield the Mint another $800,000 in revenue.
Of the roughly $1.35 million of revenue so far this year, about half a million is the amount over the face value of the coins sold.
That’s not a bad small business profit margin. And, the best part for the government is the face value of the coins is like a permanent loan to help keep the Treasury solvent.
So collect away from the Mint’s point of view, and any buyers of these coins out there please tell me what appeals to you about these half dollars.
Friday, April 09, 2010 2:16:09 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, April 08, 2010
More coins mean better times
Posted by Dave
If rising coin production signals good news for the economy as I have observed over the years, then the March production numbers of the U.S. Mint confirm that conditions are on the upswing.
The Mint nearly doubled its output in March as compared to February, from 194.4 million coins to 384.42 million pieces.
Collectors who have been scrambling to try to find examples of the four 2009 cent designs and then the new Union Shield design that was introduced this year can probably relax about the 2010 design.
Production of the 2010 cent doubled in March to 294 million pieces between the Philadelphia and Denver Mints and for the first three months of the year 572 million Union Shield cents have been struck.
If the March monthly pace were maintained for the rest of the year, more than 3.2 billion cents would be produced. If the quarterly pace is used instead, the the annual total would be approximately 2.3 billion pieces.
Either number would likely make it fairly easy to find examples in change. Also, as reports to me about 2010 cent finds around the country multiply, interest in the coins will probably drop.
That is the paradox. If you can’t find them, interest is high as is indignation. If they are everywhere, interest turns to the next hot item.
In any event, let’s hope the pace of coin production keeps rising because that means all of us will likely have a few more dollars of income to spend on our favorite hobby.
Thursday, April 08, 2010 1:35:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Boy Scout sellout nearer, but not yet
Posted by Dave
If you missed the opening of sales for the new Boy Scout silver dollar commemoratives March 23, you still have time to order what you would like, but it is best you don’t delay further.
The latest weekly numbers show that the Mint has sold 266,517 of the coins through April 6. Sales during the prior week rose by 51,844. With a ceiling of 350,000 coins, that leaves the Mint 83,483 coins left to sell.
If sales follow the usual pattern, the coins will stay available for roughly another two weeks.
Should the eBay posse decide that a sellout is assured and a stampede ensues, the sellout point can be just days away.
If you are simply a collector who wants to put the new coins in your collection, it is best to get your order in and don’t worry about which day the sellout might occur.
There are some people who watch sales figures for weeks or months on end, depending on the program, and then decide at the last minute to buy – I assume they believe they will make a profit, or at least own something desirable.
Sometimes they miss the deadline. Then they complain to me.
Sitting on the fence can have consequences. If you want the coins, buy them.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010 2:01:21 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Out of darkness thoughts of Lincoln rolls
Posted by Dave
It was a small triumph to get into work this morning. The power went out last night in the Village of Iola. It is still out. It certainly is no fun shaving in the dark.
The funny thing is we made it through the winter without the least disruption and other than a little bit of rain (without either thunder or lightning) there is no weather event to blame the situation on.
Once I got into the office, I found it to be functioning on back-up power so I can get my blog posted.
Before all the adrenaline kicked in this morning when I discovered the alarm clock had stopped in the middle of the night and it was later than I expected, I had been thinking about the April 8 opening date for sales of two-roll sets of the new Union Shield Lincoln cents.
The price is the same as it was last year for the Lincoln Bicentennial coins, $8.95 for an uncirculated roll of “P” mint coin and an uncirculated roll of “D” mint coins sold together.
Then, of course, the $4.95 shipping charge must be added.
This offering, I think, would have been much more warmly received in January when I was getting word of the first cents being found in Puerto Rico.
Now we are into the fourth month of the year and I am getting reports of the Union Shield cent being found in the usual way in circulation. Perhaps that means the economy is indeed recovering and banks are getting supplies of new coins.
In any event, I would expect demand for the new cent to be lower than demand for the 2009 issues. Everybody knows there is only one design this year, so there is not quite the same sense of urgency to get the design before it disappears. There is still the first year of issue impulse, but how strong is that after last year's four designs?
How good is this forecast of lower collector demand for 2010 cent rolls? Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking in the dark today. That should tell you something.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 2:11:12 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, April 05, 2010
Join the ANA family
Posted by Dave
The weekend was family time for many Americans, myself included. Conversations went one way and then another. There was the new baby coming in October. Kids are going back to school today after time off. There was the talk of tickets to a baseball game in Milwaukee today and the Boston-Cleveland basketball game that was playing in the background.
None of these conversational topics would or even should make headlines. What makes them important is that they all are part of family news.
This morning I was thinking of this and a comment Tom Post, the show general chairman of the American Numismatic Association convention in Fort Worth, Texas. made to me a week ago.
Tom did a superb job. If there were any glitches, I didn’t see them or hear of them.
But in a quiet moment Tom and I were just chit-chatting. He said that before 2009 he had never been to an ANA convention. That startled me a bit.
He was no stranger to coin shows generally, so it is not like he had to take a crash course in numismatics.
I’m a regular at ANA events. It is my job. Other regulars have to pay their own tabs and yet I see them show after show, year after year.
There are many conversations that occur at ANA conventions that don’t make the headlines. They are the numismatic version of family gatherings.
These conversations tie many people together in many small ways much as a family is tied together. That’s what makes attendance at these events so important. Certainly not everyone has the free time or money to attend every convention, but every collector should consider going to an ANA at least once to see what the experience is like.
You never know, it might lead you to become a regular, too. You might just find you have a numismatic family there.
Monday, April 05, 2010 2:17:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, April 02, 2010
Glorious past, bright future?
Posted by Dave
I see silver is approaching $18 an ounce again. I have lost track of the number of times this has happened.
About this time in 2008 silver was almost $24. It backed off hard and then recovered.
The $18 mark one dealer last year characterized as a wall. Antsy silver owners who were lured in when silver seemed unstoppable two years ago bail out at the $18 mark.
If you read online accounts of accusations of silver market manipulation, it makes you think that it must be time for another slam downwards to keep the $18 wall intact.
Whether it happens or not, we’ll see.
What I do know is interest in coins and, tangentially, precious metals is growing. A colleague in the antiques division of F & W Media wanted some material to do a story about coins.
Coins certainly do have an appeal. They are familiar. The are portable. And those made of precious metal tend to rise in value overtime underpinning the collectible values attached.
Perhaps antiques dealers are just looking for another source of cash flow. In this environment, many businesses are casting about for opportunities.
Coin collecting has been around in one form or another since the Italian Renaissance. Numismatic literature stretches back 500 years. The British Conder token issues of the late 18th century followed a path similar to new issue collecting today.
Date and mintmark collecting of U.S. coins goes back more than a century.
That’s a permanence that few areas can boast.
Check back on Pez dispensers in 50 years. Where will they be?
Friday, April 02, 2010 2:08:09 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, April 01, 2010
Golden opportunity might be in paper money
Posted by Dave
What will the unveiling of the new U.S. $100 bill April 21 mean for the numismatic hobby? Will it mean anything?
The denomination was the first of the “Big Head” notes and after it arrived in 1996, there was a spate of stories about the lack of need for a change in design and how it looked like Monopoly money.
I remember running a story that showed the $100 with a Monopoly version and asked where the similarity was.
Nowadays, 14 years later, the basic idea that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing needs to stay ahead of the counterfeiters, both the casual color copier fakers and the North Korean super note fakers, is not questioned.
In consequence, we’ve seen designs changed for everything but the $1 and $2 since 1996.
For the hobby, changing the designs of the circulating paper money sparked a surge of interest in the older notes. Collectors multiplied. They bid up prices for paper money and this corner of the hobby boomed.
We’ve come down off the 2008 highs and perhaps this next change to the $100 will mark the next wave of changes for all denominations and the next wave of growth for paper money collecting.
If that in fact happens, collectors will look back on 2010 as a time they should have been aggressively buying collectible paper money.
What comes after the Big Head $100 might just be opportunity.
Thursday, April 01, 2010 1:29:21 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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