In a recent Commentary by Barron’s Editorial Editor THOMAS G. DONLAN, there was a short addendum added to the end of the article which we felt was worth sharing. Below are Mr. Donlan’s comments

“THOMAS GRESHAM WAS NO FOOL. “Bad money drives out the good,” he said in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Canny people have been saying it ever since, and acting accordingly.

In 20th-century America, gold was the first good money to go. First, it was driven out of circulation by a flood of paper; then the government confiscated much of the gold its citizens were hoarding.

Silver dollars were the next driven out, and silver quarters and silver dimes weren’t far behind. In 1965, it cost more than 10 cents worth of silver to make a dime. First, the government made it illegal to melt down coins, then it took the silver out.

Pennies were next. Until 1982, there was enough copper in a penny to pose a temptation to melters and hoarders.

The pennies made after 1982, though intrinsically almost worthless at the time, now contain more than a pennyworth of zinc and copper. And there’s more than five cents worth of copper and nickel in a nickel coin.

Since 2006, it has been illegal to melt down pennies and nickels for their metal; now there are active proposals to substitute baser metals for zinc, copper and nickel.

There is a better alternative: Create good money, and maintain its value.”

Winter Park, FL – The latest mail-bid Treasure Auction from Daniel Frank Sedwick will close at 5 pm Eastern Time on Thursday, May 29, 2008. Printed catalogs (are available for $25 each, free to bidders) Also lots can be seen online at www.SedwickCoins.com Featured in this Treasure Auction #3 there are dozens of choice gold cobs (mostly from the Spanish 1715 Fleet, sunk off the east coast of Florida).

A second offering of gold nuggets from a 1558 Portuguese wreck off Africa; thirteen “tumbaga” silver bars from a 1520s shipwreck in the Bahamas; an extremely rare ca.-1580 bronze astrolabe in coral, a collection of Spanish colonial 8 reales from cobs through busts; scores of perfectly preserved Chinese porcelains from wrecks off the Philippines; the latest selection of silver cobs from the Consolación wreck of 1681; and the first-ever auction offering of silver coins from the ca.-1810 “Coconut wreck” from deep in the Atlantic.

Many more coins and artifacts are also offered, over 1165 lots in all, with a pre-auction estimate of $625,000 to $900,000 total.

All lots in this auction are available for viewing at Daniel Sedwick’s private office in Winter Park by appointment only. Please contact us at info@sedwickcoins.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at (407) 975-3325 or by mail at P.O. Box 1964, Winter Park, FL, 32790, for more information and to sign up to receive the catalog for this auction and become a bidder.

(Mandeville, Louisiana) – Nationally-known rare coin dealer Paul Hollis, 36, of Mandeville, Louisiana will formally announce his candidacy for the Republican Party’s nomination for the United States Senate on May 12. A number of prominent numismatists are on his campaign committee, such as John Albanese, Jeff Garrett, Paul Montgomery and Douglas Winter.

Hollis began collecting coins at the age of six after receiving a Peace dollar from his grandmother. In recent years, millions of viewers watched him on air when he hosted “The Coin Vault” television program on the Shop at Home network, and he also is known by many collectors and dealers from his earlier work as chief numismatist at Blanchard and Company in New Orleans.

A political science graduate of Louisiana State University, he is the owner of Paul Hollis Rare Coins in Mandeville, Louisiana. In addition to rare U.S. numismatic items, he specializes in ancient coins that circulated during the lifetime of Jesus Christ.

“Paul has the utmost integrity. He will bring enthusiasm and knowledge to the job,” said Winter.

Hollis is the son of former Louisiana State Senator Ken Hollis of Metairie and is a fiscal and social conservative who will run to the right of the only other announced Republican candidate, State Treasurer John Kennedy, a perennial candidate for office.

He will focus on his 18 year history in the Republican Party and contrast that with Kennedy’s recent conversion to the party within the last eight months. In addition, he said he will remind voters that “Kennedy ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 as a liberal Democrat” and finished third. He intends to personally invest in the campaign and says he has “the ability to raise significant funds from his contacts across the state and the country.” (more…)

The latest May/Jun 2008 issue of Die Variety News online bi-monthly magazine is now available in Adobe Acrobat© rich-text PDF (Portable Document File) which allows the viewer an extremely clear high resolution with dynamic zoom capability and detailed printing of each page.

This May/Jun Issue #13 of DVN Magazine includes highlights on a “2004-D Roosevelt Dime Analysis,” “1988 1c Transitional Varieties,” “Wyoming State Quarter DDRs,” “OIV Doubled Dies Continue,” “Strange Reverse on 2006 Lincoln Cent,” and we continue with more “Presidential Varieties & Heavy Abrading.” Plus our extremely popular “This & That” section, “World Varieties,” “Mint Error Showcase” and our “Variety Spotlight” covers the 1943-S 1c DDO.

Susan Headley , the About.com Coin Guide reviewed this issue in her latest column as follows:

” The cover story for this issue is the mysterious 2004-D Roosevelt Dime which has an apparent doubled ear. The doubled ear is difficult to see in the small photo I have here, but if you click through to Billy’s site and look at the full-sized Die Variety News #13 cover, you’ll see an enlargement of this intriguing coin.

Inside issue #13, Billy examines this remarkable coin and provides an answer to the question people have been asking ever since the coin was discovered: Is it a doubled die? Was this semi-circular mark on the ear made by the same person who added the “extra leaf” to certain Wisconsin Quarters (also done at the Denver Mint in 2004?) Or is this mark just some kind of random die damage? Billy shows us what he thinks is the cause, using his lovely large-sized microphotographs and a clear, point-by-point explanation of his theory.

TOKYO (AFP) — After minting 4.8 million commemorative coins to mark a centenary of ties with Brazil, Japan has been forced to change the design due to an infringement of copyright, the finance ministry has said.

The original design showed bronze sculptures of parents and a child standing in Santos, Brazil, where the first batch of Japanese immigrants landed in 1908. But the Brazilian sculptor of the work refused to let the design be used for the 500-yen (five dollar) coin, the ministry said.

Japan had been planning to distribute the commemorative coin in March, believing that an immigrants’ association in Brazil owned the bronze memorial. The association later discovered that the artist also held the right to his work. But redesigining the coin is set to cost the ministry up to 10 million yen (100,000 dollars).

“The minted commemorative coins are made of the same materials as the regular 500-yen coin so we will simply recycle them,” a ministry official said. The new design will feature the ship that took the first Japanese immigrants to South America, superimposed over a picture of the Brazilian nation.

The newly-designed coin will be distributed from June 18.

More than 1.2 million Brazilians have Japanese ancestry, a higher number than in any country other than Japan. Read Full AFP Story