By Mark Ferguson

The previous sustained important bull market in coins was during the inflationary days of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Then an important market fundamental came into play when Professional Coin Grading Service in 1986 and Numismatic Guaranty Corp. in 1987 began grading and “slabbing” coins. Gradual use of the Internet followed, which has greatly enhanced coin trading.

Then, beginning in 1999 the State quarter dollars were introduced, stimulating the greatest bull market in coins ever!

Now enters what may be another important market fundamental: CAC, originally known as Collectors Acceptance Corp.

CAC offers two services: One is reviewing and approving or rejecting the grades of coins assigned by PCGS and NGC. The second is making a market in the CAC-approved coins. Read Full Article

By Greg Reynolds for CoinLink
It was an exciting auction. On Tuesday, Dec. 11, shortly after 4:00 PM, this Washington-Lafayette medal, more specifically an Order, sold in a one-lot auction in the Sotheby’s building in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The $5,305,000 result is the all-time second highest auction price for a numismatic item. Numismatics is a field that certainly includes coins, medals and paper money, and is generally thought to include such items as tokens and privately issued paper items that served as mediums of exchange.

This Washington-Lafayette Order was purchased by la Fondation Josée et René de Chambrun, which is located in Paris and owns two castles in the countryside, the Chateau de Châteldon, which is not related to Lafayette, and the Chateau de La Grange, where Lafayette lived during a sizeable portion of his adult life. The Chateau de La Grange is about thirty miles east of Paris. Lafayette’s bedroom is carefully preserved and features both a painting and a bust of George Washington.

Before discussing the particulars of this foundation, it makes sense to focus upon the importance of the auction result. As the result itself has already been widely reported, the purpose here is to analyze the reasons why this Order (medal) sold for $5.3 million and analyze how this result relates to numismatics.

The Society of the Cincinnati is an Order, and the badges of Orders are themselves termed Orders! Originally, all American and French officers who served in the Revolutionary War were eligible for membership in this society. Afterwards, and in the present, particular descendants of these officers are eligible for membership.

Most ‘Orders and Decorations’ are medals, though only a small percentage of medals are Orders or Decorations. A majority of medals are shaped like coins and are not meant to be worn. This medal, an Order of the Society of the Cincinnati, was worn by both George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, represents the close bond between these two historical figures, and is indicative of French support of the American Revolution. (more…)

NEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Platinum futures in New York rallied to hit a contract high Tuesday on the back of strong buying by funds and banks amid supply fears, but a slowing U.S. economy casts a shadow on the strength of the metal in the near term.

Gold contracts also rose sharply, fueled by platinum’s rise, a weaker dollar versus the euro and inflation worries due to higher crude oil prices, dealers said.

“Fund buying. There is definitely buying coming out of all the majors (banks and commission houses). They are buying the platinum right now,” said Ralph D’Esposito, a NYMEX floor trader with RJ Futures in New York. Read Full Article

Some 1,650 years ago someone was so comprehensively fed up with the state of the Roman empire that they committed an act of treason, blasphemy and probably criminal defacing of the coinage. They cursed the emperor Valens by hammering a coin with his image into lead, then folding the lead over his face.

The battered scraps of metal discovered by Tom Redmayne, an amateur metal detector, in a muddy field in Lincolnshire are a unique find.

The mid-fourth century was a time of turmoil in Roman Britain. A Roman aristocrat, Valentinus, had been exiled to Britain where he was stirring up trouble. (more…)