Collectible coins and currency are on many shoppers’ lists this holiday season. In all price ranges, too. Thanks in part, for this unbridled enthusiasm in the field of numismatics, can be attributed to the unprecedented media coverage directed at the hobby over the past couple years. Not to mention the flurry of TV commercials recently launched by the U.S. Mint, appropriately themed “The numismatist on your gift list.”

Most of the coins and pieces of paper money which will find their way under the Christmas tree or next to the Hanukkah menorah will not be the break-the-bank variety. Yet, some fortunate numismatists, perhaps in the Bill Gates or the Oprah Winfrey families, just might be surprised by an extremely valuable coin or two presented to them by a generous relative.

In the case of the less expensive category of numismatic fare, the concern over price versus value is not a major concern. This is not to say that purchasers of low-priced hobby items in the under–$100 range, for instance, welcome getting ripped off. After all, it’s only human nature to desire good deals during shopping experiences. No one would argue this point. But it understandably requires significantly more contemplation to decide if a coin priced at say, $50,000, offers good value, than it does to decide if a $50 coin is worth the money. Either way, the purchaser doesn’t want to overpay. But, the risk of this occurring obviously increases as costs rise. (more…)

As double eagles are clearly the most popular and highest priced gold coins produced at the New Orleans mint, I thought it would be interesting to update each issue and see what has transpired since the publication of my book “Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint, 1838-1909?” last year.

Taken as a whole, the market for these issues remains extremely strong. There are clearly a number of wealthy collectors who are assembling sets and when the ‘stoppers’ become available for sale, they inevitably bring record prices. It is interesting to note that virtually every date in this series has set a new auction price record since my book was published in 2006. It is also interesting to note that, despite the strength of this market, auctions are not flooded with interesting New Orleans double eagles. The supply/demand ratio for these coins seems to be working just fine.

1850-O A new auction record was set in December 2006 when Heritage sold an NGC MS60 for $49,444. In addition, an auction record was set for an AU58 when Heritage sold a PCGS graded example for $40,251 in June 2007 (interestingly, the exact same coin had brought $34,500 in Heritage?s May 2007 sale). These prices show that demand for high grade, choice 1850-O double eagles is currently very high and if a really nice Mint State piece were to become available, I think it would easily set a record price. I have noticed some price resistance for lower end 1850-O double eagles in the EF45 to AU55. Collectors realize that they can afford to be reasonably fussy when it comes to this date and if the surfaces of a specific example are heavily abraded, the coin will sell at a discount. (more…)

On August 16, the day the new Thomas Jefferson Presidential dollars were released to the public, Chuck Chichinski of Bellefontaine, Ohio, went to his bank and obtained two rolls of the dollars. Having read a report on the www.coins.about.com website that a doubled die reverse existed on the Adams dollar, he quickly went to work to see if any of the new Jeffersons he had obtained had a similar affliction. By the third or fourth coin in his first roll, he discovered that he had found his first Jefferson dollar doubled die reverse! It was similar but more major than the one alluded to on the www.coins.about.com site!

He called me to report his find on the same day and mailed two of the coins to me for attribution on the next day. Upon inspecting one, I found that it was not only a doubled die that was similar to the Adams doubled die that Chichinski had seen in Billy Crawford’s, Die Variety News #9, (the variety alluded to on the www.coins.about.com web site) but that it was almost identical to an earlier find that was reported by my co-columnist, John Wexler in his August 20 Varieties Notebook column that we share alternately in the first and third issues of Coin World every month.

Both the Washington and new Jefferson reverses displayed arrowhead shaped hub doubling (and some traces of hub doubling to the west on the Jefferson dollar) that appear to have their origins in the folds of drapery bunched up on Liberty’s right arm directly below the doubling.

The area of doubling on all the Presidential dollar doubled die varieties reported thus far (which is at least three for the Washington dollar and one for the Adams dollar) represents the virtual dead center of the coin’s design. This is an important key their attribution because specialists believe they are the result of tilted hubs that were seated into proper position during hubbing.

In 1997 when the first doubled die cent was discovered that was produced from dies presumed to be made via the single-squeeze hubbing process, (showing on the coin as a doubled earlobe along with over a dozen other areas of doubling in Lincoln’s hair), I first proposed that a tilted hub seated into position by the force of the single impression of the hub was the most probable cause. Since that time most specialists have come to agree that this is the most probable explanation for most (if not the vast majority) of significant single-squeeze produced doubled dies. (more…)

By Stewart Huckaby for Heritage Coin News

1986 saw the introduction of a completely new type of US coin. Actually several, if you think about it – the Walking Liberty Dollar, and the Saint-Gaudens $5, $10, $25, and $50. I’m talking, of course, about the American Eagle series of coins – the US Mint’s ultimately successful entry into the well-established market for coins as bullion. These coins contained a specific amount of a precious metal; one ounce of silver, and 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 or exactly one ounce of gold. Face values? Yes, they were visible on the coin, but neither you, I, nor anyone we know has ever spent one of these pieces.

1997 saw the introduction of the Platinum American Eagle. Again minted in 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 or one ounce sizes, these were the first and, with the exception of a single commemorative piece, currently the only platinum coins minted by the US. Face Values were a slightly more logical $10, $25, $50, and $100, although again the face value meant nothing while the metallic content of the coin meant everything. I once owned one of the one ounce pieces, having bought it at what in retrospect must have been a serious bottoming out of the market at about $370, I sold it some years later for about $650, thinking I’d made a pretty good return. And I did… until you look at the price of platinum today and realize that it’s over $1,400. Wonder if I can get this coin back for what I sold it for?

The Platinum Eagle also saw a new design concept; instead of unchanging designs for the entirety of the coin’s run, the reverse of the proof coins changed every year. I suppose the folks over at Krause would back up the notion that it is necessary to have a complete year set of proofs to technically own a type set of US bullion coins. For most of us, though, owning a single platinum piece or perhaps a piece of each denomination is sufficient for our collecting needs; I’ve since bought a tenth ounce piece, and yes it’s a proof. (more…)