First Mint marks appear on a variety of U.S. coins
By Cindy Brake - COIN WORLD
Here’s a numismatic trivia question. What is the common link with the following coins – the Wartime 5-cent coins, Seated Liberty dime and dollar, Coronet gold eagle and double eagle, Classic Head half eagle, a commemorative coin and a centavo?
[ Read Full Article]

Rotated Reverse on Korea Proof $1
By Ken Potter, Numismatic News
Are you sure you know what’s in your collection? New error finds prove that sometimes you might not. It never ceases to amaze me that there are some significantly rare and valuable errors that have been squirreled away in collections for decades that are just now being recognized by the hobby and their owners as even existing.
[ Read Full Article]

Scientists study gold-laden 16th-century shipwreck in Namibia
Submitted by Sahil Nagpal
Oranjemund, Namibia - A treasure-laden 16th-century Portuguese vessel that ran aground off Namibia’s Atlantic coast was hailed Monday by archaeologists as providing a rare insight into the heyday of seafaring explorations between Europe and the Orient.”This is a cultural treasure of immense importance,” Bruno Werz told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa when offering journalists a first glimpse of the precious find at the excavation site in Namibia’s diamond-rich “sperrgebiet” or no-go zone.
[ Read Full Article]

Fake pound coins in circulation doubles
inthenews.co.uk
The number of fake pound coins in circulation has doubled over the last five years, according to figures from the Royal Mint. One in 50 pound coins, or two per cent of the total in circulation, are now counterfeit, the government body admitted to the BBC.
[ Read Full Article]

Sovereign Exploration announces positive early results in Nova Scotia
BYM Marine
Sovereign Exploration Associates International, Inc. (OTCBB: SVXA), a maritime asset recovery company, today announced positive early results in recovery operations off the coast of Nova Scotia. The Company received a recovery permit for this site from the appropriate Nova Scotia Government officials earlier this year.
[ Read Full Article]

Coin to celebrate Charles’ birthday
The Press Association
A double-headed coin which features images of the Queen and the Prince of Wales has been launched to celebrate Charles’ 60th birthday. The Royal Mint issued the £5 crown to mark the Prince’s anniversary on November 14 and released three versions of the coin in 22 carat gold, sterling silver and an uncirculated cupro-nickel.
[ Read Full Article]

‘God’ Motto Relocated on 2009 $1s
Numismatic News
If the Presidential dollars fail, it will not be because nobody is talking about them. The latest information coming from the Mint introduces the new 2009 obverse design template that includes the national motto, “In God We Trust.”
[ Read Full Article]

Editors Note: Every now and then we come across a numismatic items that we might have heard about but never seen, or in some instances had no knowledge of at all. This of course may be more of a function of our limited expertise than the fact that the item(s) is truly unique. So at the risk of being called a “dumb ass” (not the first time), we are going to create a new News category called “Unusual Items“. This will be an eclectic collection of the not-so-common items we stumble across during our daily search for worthwhile news and articles, and we hope that you will find this as informative and entertaining as we do.

These impressions in yellow cardboard measure 40 x 32 mm and show the obverse imprints of both the Jefferson and McKinley gold dollars with a slightly different pattern reverse.

Andrew Pollock assigned two numbers for this piece, apparently believing the obverses were on one card and the reverses on another. They should have received only one number.

There are two examples known, but the second is very different from this piece. The other contains both obverses and six different reverses. That piece is permanently impounded in the Smithsonian.

This is the only cardboard impression available to collectors.

Cardboard impressions are obviously rare but they date back to 1849 for the gold dollar. Other impressions include the 1851 three cent silver, and the Isabella quarter (obverse and reverse). The reason for the Isabella strikings is evident from the writing on the back of each card: They are first strikings from the new dies. One might easily assume the gold dollar and three cent silver impressions were for the same purpose.

The purpose here is somewhat more enigmatic. With a pattern reverse included on this card, it is likely this was produced before the first day of issue, as a first day of issue would surely have included the adopted reverse.

The cardboard has a rich, deep gold color, obviously meant to suggest the gold dollars that were soon to be struck. Deeply impressed. Regarding condition, this piece is essentially as struck with no scratches or surface problems worthy of mention.

Used with Permission from CoinLink Content Partner Mike Byers - Mint Error News 

Auburn, Washington, September 19, 2008 — Northwest Territorial Mint today announced it has reached a settlement with the office of the Washington State Attorney General with regard to a lawsuit brought earlier this year.

“We are happy to announce that we have settled with the Attorney General after the state had made numerous allegations, many of which had no basis in fact,” said Ross Hansen, President.

As part of the agreement, Northwest Territorial Mint agreed to clarify the language of its web site to more clearly state its delivery policies — policies that remain substantially unchanged from those which have been in place since the company went into business in 1984.

Assistant Attorney General Paula Selis said that “this Consent Decree should not reflect adversely on Defendant’s business practices.” (Page 2, lines 17&18 of the Decree).

A small settlement and related costs were paid to the Attorney General’s office in order to resolve the matter to allow the Company to return its attention to the servicing of its clients.

Northwest Territorial Mint admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, which was acceptable to the Attorney General’s office.

About Northwest Territorial Mint

Northwest Territorial Mint, one of the last few remaining private, full-service mints in the US, employs 140 people, has two facilities in the State of Washington, and has been recognized by the State of Washington for its work in mainstreaming marginal workers when possible. In 2007, it was named Medium Private Employer of the Year by the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment. The company has been lauded for its work for the U.S. military, police departments, and fire departments around the nation. Its custom clients include Washington State’s Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Former VP had valuable coins in basement
Forbes - AP
A privately held St. Louis-based brokerage firm says millions of dollars of gold and silver collectible coins were found in the basement of its former vice president. HFI Securities Inc. said when the business learned earlier this week that Don Weir Jr. had the coins, it notified the FBI, which took custody of the coins and is investigating.
[ Read Full Article]

BoM issues special gold coin
Le Défi Media Group
The Bank of Mauritius has issued a commemorative gold coin to mark the 40th anniversary of the Independence of Mauritius and to pay a special tribute to the Father of the Nation, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam.
[ Read Full Article]

131 Moghul period gold coins unearthed in TN village
The Hindu
A treasure of ancient gold coins dating back to the Moghul period was unearthed at a village near here. The coins numbering 131 and kept in a earthen pot came to light when Nadumadhu (40) and his wife Kannammal of Kalkundapatti village, 47 km from here, were digging their piece of land for constructing a house
[ Read Full Article]

Shaky Banks Spur Gold Spike
By Debbie Bradley, Numismatic News
Wall Street is shaking from the fall of Lehman’s and the Federal Reserve’s $85 billion bailout of American International Group. And when the market gets shaky, that’s when people like to get their hands on hard assets like gold and silver.
[ Read Full Article]

Scotland ‘won’t lose its bank notes’
By Publicservice.co.uk
The deal made to enable Lloyds TSB to take over HBOS may be seen by some in England as a masterstroke but in Scotland many are seeing it as the end of a national institution and a threat to Scotland retaining its own bank notes, which it has had since 1695.
[ Read Full Article]

Gold Futures Decline Most Since 1980 on Plan to Avert Crisis
By Marianne Stigset - Bloomberg
Gold futures in New York fell the most in almost 28 years as central banks eased investor concern by pumping cash into global credit markets and U.S. officials said they were developing a plan to stop banks from failing.
[ Read Full Article]

Counterfeit coin-making machinery up for bid tomorrow at police auction
By Amanda Milkovits - Providence Journal
They called him “The Coin” because Louis B. Colavecchio was good at making near-perfect counterfeit tokens for slot machines at casinos from Foxwoods to Vegas. So good, that he spent more than two years in federal prison in 1998 for his handiwork and was paid $18,000 by the feds as a consultant to explain why his manufacturing dies outlast those at the U.S. Mint.
[ Read Full Article]