Capital gain from the sale of a collectible held for more than one year is taxed at 28 percent.

That is significantly higher than the capital gains tax rate for most investments, which are taxed at a maximum 15 percent rate, 5 percent for taxpayers in the 10 or 15 percent tax brackets. Short-term investments in collectibles are taxed as short-term capital gains at ordinary income tax rates.

As you can see, the rate on collectibles is almost double the rate on other investments, and that can make a big difference. A few years ago, Sen. John Kerry made the newspapers when a review of his tax return showed that he reported tax on the sale of a painting at a $175,000 gain at the then-new 15 percent capital gain tax rate, when it should have been taxed at 28 percent as a collectible.

Collectibles include stamps and coins, fine wines, works of art, rugs, antiques, metal, gems, glassware and other commonly collected items. A collection of political campaign buttons and badges can be a collectible. If an item is an antique, it is probably a collectible.

The first coin to be minted in Ephesus during ancient times was set to go on auction in Munich’s “Gorny & Mosch” Art Gallery Monday.

But after daily newspaper Hürriyet published an article that the coins, which were minted in 625- 600 B.C. in Ephesus were stolen, the office of the public prosecutor in Munich began an investigation.

Bidding for the ancient coins was going to start at 200,000 euros although the coins have a priceless history. The coins have a figure of a deer on it. Above the figure of the deer there is a name “Phanes.” It is the name of the person who minted the coins. Besides the deer symbolizes the “nobility badge” of Phanes. According to some historians the deer symbolizes the wealth and power of Phanes.

There are nine samples of the coin in Gorny & Mosch Art Gallery’s catalog. It is considered the first example of money in the history of the world. There were 533 other gold coins at the auction and some of them belong to the Seljuk Empire and Ottoman Empire. The coins are worth around 150-250 euros each. (more…)

TO PASSERS-BY, it was an ordinary shopfront in an unremarkable part of Glasgow. Aside from a lucrative niche turning out menus for Asian takeaways, Print Link did little to draw attention to itself.

But now the premises have emerged as the base of one of the most sophisticated counterfeiting operations ever seen in Britain, producing fake banknotes that were found across the country. The operation was so big that the High Court heard the forgers had the ability to destabilise the British economy as part of a network linked with criminals across the UK.

The operation was described by police as “big as it comes”. They said the expertise exhibited was “very sophisticated”.

Fake Bank of Scotland £20 notes with a value in excess of £1.2 million and 50 notes with a total value of more than £400,000 were either put into circulation or were about to be distributed.

Police believe the criminals targeted events including football matches as a cover to launder cash. The gang developed a system which had the potential to produce £1 million in forgeries every two to three hours.

DALLAS, Oct 08, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — DGSE Companies, Inc. (DGSE:

DGSE today announced the formation of Superior Precious Metals, Inc. Superior Precious Metals, Inc (”SPM”) will provide a centralized marketing and trading center for DGSE and Superior Galleries, Inc. retail precious metals activity.

“With gold recently achieving a 28 year high, we have taken steps to substantially increase our existing robust precious metals segment. In recent years, we have invested heavily in the infrastructure necessary to support a substantial expansion of our precious metals activity. Our USBullionExhange, Inc. trading desk and USBullionExchange.com internet site, when fully integrated with SPM, will allow us to actively facilitate account management, enhance retail trading activities and expand rare coin distribution. We are extremely fortunate to have hired a seasoned executive with over 20 years in the precious metals business to lead this group as Managing Director. Thomas DiMaria joined our organization on October 5th, 2007 in Dallas, Texas,” noted William H. Oyster, President and Chief Operating Officer of DGSE Companies, Inc. (more…)