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 Friday, July 30, 2010
What do you think the price will be?
Posted by Dave
With silver at roughly $18 a troy ounce presently, what do you think a fair price would be for the Mint to charge for the upcoming silver versions of the America the Beautiful quarters?
Each coin will contain five troy ounces, or $90 worth of bullion.
It will be an unusual issue. The U.S. government has never issued five-ounce coins before.
The coin will have twice the diameter of a Morgan dollar and will be unusually thin, so thin in fact that a special new press had to be purchased in Germany to strike it.
That is new equipment, the cost of which, will have to be amortized during the coining program.
Because it is made of silver rather than gold, I think it is fair to say that on average the numbers sold each year will be higher than the numbers achieved by the First Spouse half-ounce gold coins, but considerably less than the popular collector versions of the silver American Eagle.
That’s a wide middle ground.
So what do you think? $149.95 for the proof and something less for the uncirculated? HIgher? Lower?
And how many will you be willing to buy at that price?
Friday, July 30, 2010 2:22:25 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Illinois news brings back memories
Posted by Dave
In my early years at Numismatic News, one of my annual assignments was to cover the Illinois Numismatic Association convention.
I had a moment or two of personal reminiscing when I received a press release from ILNA announcing that its 220-table bourse is sold out.
A bourse of that size is a significant show. It is more than four times the size of the neighboring Numismatists of Wisconsin show held earlier in the year.
When I was a regular attendee it was held in downstate Illinois, most often in Peoria. It was always the weekend after Labor Day.
Though the location is now up in suburban Chicago at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Tinley Park, the seasonal timing has not changed. The three-day run Sept. 9-11 is the traditional weekend that I was used to.
With a gap in my attendance that has now run to many years, I can see the generational shifts. Chicago is a hot location for coin and paper money shows nowadays. Everybody wants to be there.
Back in the late 1970s, aside from the Chicago International Coin Fair held downtown at the Hyatt, the city was a desert when it came to major shows.
But one thing hasn’t changed. Bullion was booming when I first began attending ILNA shows and it is booming again.
Will I make it down to this year’s ILNA show? Probably not. It is not in the budget.
However, if you are within a reasonable drive to the show, you should plan to attend. Start your own string of memories.
For more information visit the ILNA website at www.ilnaclub.info.
Thursday, July 29, 2010 2:08:45 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Mint's stealth anti-counterfeiting campaign
Posted by Dave
Efforts to get the Presidential dollar coin to circulate widely in the United States might be failing, but there is a silver lining.
It was reported yesterday that the British equivalent of our $1 coin, the one pound coin, is widely faked and that 2.81 percent of all one-pound coins in circulation in the United Kingdom are counterfeit.
Though the percentage might seem low at first glance, it is apparently the threshold at which merchants burned by bad coinage will refuse to use it. That would force the Royal Mint to come up with a completely new alternative.
In the United States, we have not had a problem with fake $1 coins in circulation, but the Mint, nevertheless, keeps churning out alternative coins.
The Ike dollar arrived in 1971, the Anthony in 1978, the Anthony revival in 1999, the Sacagawea dollar in 2000, the Presidential dollars starting in 2007 and the Native American coins starting in 2009.
Americans have a choice of five different coin designs to ignore each and every year now.
We all know anybody trying to spend these coins looks guilty of doing something wrong to the nondollar coin using population. If you have tried to spend some as I have from time to time, you know what I mean.
That’s darn clever of the U.S. Mint. It has successfully defended the U.S. economy from an influx of fake dollar coins and saved its valiant retail merchants from unfortunate losses.
I’ll bet you didn’t know that. I sure didn’t.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 2:11:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Why are proof Buffalo sales down?
Posted by Dave
Proof Buffalo one-ounce gold coin sales are not doing well if we use last year’s offering as the yardstick against which to measure this year’s results.
So far collectors have snapped up 23,643 examples of the proof 2010 issue. Sales have been ongoing for about two months now.
At the same point for the 2009 coin, the number was almost twice as many at 42,075.
So what accounts for the large decline in response? Are collectors bored with the coin and so it is following the path we all know so well as demonstrated by the First Spouse coins? You know, large first year sales with progressive drops each year (or design) afterwards?
If that’s not it, could it be collectors are running out of money to spend on items like the proof Buffalo? Times are still not normal. Money is tight generally, though there are hopeful signs around the economy.
A third possibility is collectors might feel they can buy it cheaper later. That almost is tantamount to believing that the price of gold will drop.
And the fourth possibility in our exercise today is that it is simply summer. Since the proof Buffaloes became available June 3 seasonal collectors might not even be aware that it is available. What will happen when these collectors get going again in September? We’ll have to wait and see on that one.
There it is: many possibilities for lower proof Buffalo sales but no real answer.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 2:08:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, July 26, 2010
Back where we started?
Posted by Dave
It’s that time of year when the corporate calendar begins to ask employees to focus on what might happen in 2011.
While at the height of summer, next year seems quite distant, but then again, come Labor Day, we will kick off the autumn collecting season and that pretty well flows right into next year.
Perhaps numismatics should be on a fiscal year ending Sept. 30 as the U.S. Mint is.
One thing about 2011 that occurred to me was it will mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Professional Coin Grading Service. That event certainly revolutionized the hobby.
At the time, it was a better mouse trap. It was not the first third-party grading service. Then the big dog in that field was the American Numismatic Association and its Certification Service.
ANA did not use slabs, but it did photograph coins and provide grading certificates.
PCGS entered the field and introduced the concept of encapsulation. The idea appealed to collectors and the next wave in third-party grading was born.
The ANA got out of the business in 1990.
The irony perhaps is that ANA got into the field because of the threat of international counterfeits flooding the market. That was successfully combatted at the time and when the focus became grading it seemed less competitive.
Now as in the early 1970s, counterfeits are once again front and center among collectors and that aspect of the service a grading service provides needs to be stressed.
Monday, July 26, 2010 2:12:43 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, July 23, 2010
Gimmick or wave of the future?
Posted by Dave
Last week’s Numismatic News online poll results are worth pondering.
The question asked whether U.S. Mint engravers should be given the freedom to develop commemorative designs using color, holograms and other advanced features appearing on many world collector issues?
A majority said no, but the margin was rather thin at 56 percent no and 42 percent yes.
If 42 percent of collectors would be willing to collect these nontraditional numismatic issues, that could be quite a market.
This question should be explored further. Are the respondents on the “no” side all on the older side of the demographic divide and the “yes” side younger, or are the views held equally by all ages of collectors?
That is the key question in my mind.
If younger collectors are in favor and they already constitute 42 percent in favor of the new alloys, colors and holograms, that would clearly be where the U.S. hobby will go.
Certainly major world mints that I respect have jumped into the field.
One of the most interesting to me is the Austrian Mint because it combines traditional skillful die engraving with new alloys.
I gave a Coin of the Year Most Innovative Coin Award earlier this year to Austria for its 25-euro Fascination Light silver-niobium coin.
I commented at the presentation that I couldn’t believe the lightbulb could be made so interesting. The coin has an old gas lamplighter on one side and the new-fangled lightbulbs on the other.
Take a look and see what you think.
You will immediately note that I am sending you to a ShopNumismaster page.
Look at it, think about and it and then comment here if you would like. I am sure you will have an opinion.
http://www.shopnumismaster.com/product/2008-fascination-light-silver-proof-coin/27DH
Friday, July 23, 2010 2:12:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, July 22, 2010
Should blanks be made in USA?
Posted by Dave
Blanks for the American Eagle program made in Australia for the U.S. Mint was a topic raised by Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Melvin Watt and Rep. Ron Paul Tuesday at the subcommittee's hearing.
Watt asked U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy if it was efficient to send American gold to Australia to make blanks.
Moy’s reply was that “this is the easiest way to get blanks to our specifications.”
Rep. Paul wondered why the Mint can’t make its own planchets. He asked what a businessman would do.
Moy explained that it was a matter of capital investment. He noted that an average year’s output was eight million ounces of production. Last year was 28 million and this year it will be 32 million. These totals are for silver blanks as silver American Eagles also entered the discussion.
Even private blank fabricators are leery of adding production capacity in the present market. Moy said they want guaranteed future purchases if they would agree to undertake the investment to expand.
As general background Moy said the Mint got out of the planchet making business a decade ago.
Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma said there are manufacturers in the United States who would like to get into the business and he also noted what he called the cavernous Mint building in Philadelphia and wondered if it wouldn’t be more effective for the Mint to produce blanks.
He suggested a study of the question.
Moy said this issue would be explored.
It seems to me that Moy has sound financial reasoning on his side, but that isn't the whole of the issue.
If it is believed that current American Eagle production is unusually high, installing productive capacity to meet current demand would prove costly should much of it then become idle as output reverts to a level closer to the 8 million ounce average.
However, at a time of high unemployment, the idea of adding some jobs to the Mint has great appeal. Why do federal make-work programs when a genuine need can be addressed? However, making the silver blanks could reduce private domestic employment.
What to do? This is an issue worth watching.
Thursday, July 22, 2010 1:57:58 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Proof silver American Eagles might fly again in 2010
Posted by Dave
Will there be proof gold and silver American Eagles this year after last year’s gap in production?
There could be.
Mint Director Ed Moy told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology yesterday that he supported legislation to allow the Mint to divert silver coin blanks from bullion coin production to proof coin production.
If he gets the green light by Sept. 1, he says the Mint can produce about 200,000 proof coins a month, or total of 830,000 coins by the end of the calendar year.
Will it happen?
There was no opposition expressed. That’s a good sign.
A better sign is that proof gold American Eagles were not mentioned. That likely means they are a lock for 2010. I have noted from time to time that the Mint has kept up with sales of the bullion gold American Eagle coins.
However, Congress still has a great deal on its plate and members want to go home as soon as possible for summer recess to campaign for re-election in the November election.
Good news this is.
We will see if Congress acts and it becomes great news.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 2:07:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Low mintages as far as eye can see
Posted by Dave
Just about every collector knows that mintages ran very high during the state quarter program. It was popular with collectors and it was noticed by the general population.
But just how high is high?
I decided to do a little bit of calculation this morning to come to a conclusion to that question.
During the 10 years (1989-1998) that preceded the state quarter program, the U.S. Mint produced 14.8 billion quarters. Now presuming that this 10-year stretch was a representative time and production matched just what the economy demanded, we can compare this number to the next 10-year period in which the state quarter program was conducted (1999-2008).
Any guesses as to the number of state quarters struck?
It was 34.8 billion.
Subtract the 14.8 billion total from the prior 10-year period and you get 20 billion extra quarters.
That’s a lot of extra quarters.
Was it all due to collector demand?
I doubt it.
Face value of all of those coins is $5 billion. That’s a bit much for the hard core hobbyists to save.
Where did they all go? Sooner or later most of them will return to circulation. Casual collectors and even some harder core hobbyists will give up and spend them. We’ve seen how this phenomenon works during the present recession.
Excess bags and rolls have been coming back to the economy whether because the owners have given up on hopes of profits, or whether personal hard times forced them to dump the coins for face value.
Beautiful examples of state quarters keep showing up in change, like the MS-68 2006 Nebraska quarter I received in change yesterday.
The fact that all of these quarters are coming back into use will depress the Mint’s current quarter output by quite a bit.
If normal demand is the decade prior to the state quarter program, it would take the economy 13.6 years to absorb the supply if the Mint didn’t make one additional coin.
However, stopping quarter mintages is not possible because we are in the first year of the America the Beautiful quarter program. Those designs must be produced.
The question is how many.
The first two designs total 128 million coins. If that rate of production continues, there will be 320 million quarters struck this year.
That depressed level of output could continue for up to 17 years, or more than the life of the America the Beautiful program, which concludes in 2021 with the 56th design.
Can quarter production stay that depressed for that long?
According to these numbers, it sure could – unless the government decides to pay off its debts with new quarters.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 2:38:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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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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Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Must have been the drive-through
Posted by Dave
I guess I haven’t been paying close enough attention to my pocket change lately.
Over the Fourth of July weekend I cleaned out the coin tray in my car in preparation for cleaning it up a bit. I didn’t think much of the process until I noticed that two of the dimes happened to be 2009-D.
They won’t make me rich, but it is certainly nice to find coins in change that have been scarce and that are trading on eBay for three or four times face value in roll quantities.
The Philadelphia Mint struck fewer than 100 million of them. The Denver Mint recorded fewer than 50 million.
With numbers like that, it is no wonder that the coins have been hard to find.
I assume that I got them on one of my automobile journeys around the area. I certainly don’t think they came into my hands in Iola.
As with all circulation finds, this proves that with patience, new coins eventually do find their way into commercial channels.
The only other interesting coin in the handful was a VF-XF 1970-S cent. Considering the wear, it would appear it has done its duty to the economy and was not set aside 40 years ago by a collector as excited about “S” mintmarks as I was back then.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010 2:14:55 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, July 02, 2010
Examine all the coins you can
Posted by Dave
I just found another reason to go to the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in August in Boston.
It is not as if I need another reason, but it adds to the appeal of the event.
The U.S. Mint has set Aug. 12 as the day it will release the new one-ounce platinum proof American Eagle.
I would like to take a look at it. It is part of the Preamble series. This year the theme is to “Establish Justice.” Last year’s was to “Form a More Perfect Union.”
Am I planning to buy? No, not at all.
Platinum is $1,500 an ounce today. The idea of committing to a six-part series at that price level doesn’t appeal to me.
I don’t know anybody on staff who is planning to buy one either, so I won’t get a look at the coin in the office.
Boston it is.
That’s the beauty of going to a national convention. It is important to see things. The old saying “seeing is believing” should be changed for collectors to “seeing is learning.”
Actually examining real coins is what makes us better collectors. It is unrealistic of me to expect to own everything, but it is not unrealistic of me to think that I might be writing about every coin over time.
That’s why it is so important to examine the exhibits and look over what is being sold on the bourse floor.
The same applies to local shows. Sometimes they are even better than national shows. Where else can you ask a dealer what he thinks the difference is between an MS-61 and an MS-62 silver Washington quarter?
I’m not likely to ask that question at a national convention.
Every type of coin show has its opportunities. The key is to attend enough of them to take advantage of the many learning opportunities that occur at these shows over time.
You will be a better collector for it.
Friday, July 02, 2010 2:19:40 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Thursday, July 01, 2010
Don't offend the states
Posted by Dave
In the topsy-turvy world of current U.S. coin production we find that 2010-dated Presidential dollars are being struck in quantities larger than the America the Beautiful program for each individual design.
The quantity of 2010 Millard Fillmore dollars struck is 74,480,000. For the next one, the one for Franklin Pierce, the quantity was even a bit higher at 75,580,000.
In comparison , the Hot Springs quarter, the first design of five for 2010, the total was 59.6 million.
Interestingly, if you look at the numbers another way there seems to be a pattern here, though it could be a total accident, or random circumstance.
When you consider that there are four Presidential dollars during the year and five America the Beautiful quarters, they just happen to add up to about 300 million coins apiece.
The next round of figures could knock this neat relationship into a cocked hat. Those are the risks of trying to perhaps read more into the numbers than is there.
But I will be watching to see if the pattern continues. As regular readers know, one of my pet theories is that watching coin production levels is a good way to tell how the economy is doing.
While 300 million Presidential dollars is a pretty good number for an economy that really doesn’t like the denomination, the same number of quarters seems more an indication that some quantity needs to be produced at a minimum to honor the intent of the commemorative series.
It wouldn’t do to zero out a design or two just because the economy doesn't need the coins. The affected states would soon become the disaffected states.
Thursday, July 01, 2010 2:26:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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