1874-CC Half’s Mintage its Detriment
Numismatic News
Some coins would probably receive a lot more attention were it not for the fact that they were produced at a time when they did not stand out. That seems to be the case with the 1874-CC Seated Liberty half dollar, which is really a very good date, few seem to know. One of the first problems the 1874-CC had when it comes to getting attention is that it came from Carson City.
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James Buchanan’s Liberty Gold Coin Debuts
Coin Update News
The latest report of the United States Mint’s numismatic product sales includes the debut for the 2010-W James Buchanan’s Liberty First Spouse Gold Coins. Featuring Christian Gobrecht’s classic design for the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle struck in one-half ounce of 24 karat gold, this offering was eagerly awaited by many collectors.The James Buchanan’s Liberty Gold Coins went on sale at the US Mint on September 2, 2010 with the uncirculated versions priced at $766 and the proof versions priced at $779.
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‘Psychic’ Octopus Paul Gets Coin
Numismaster
It was only a matter of time. Paul, that octopus gifted with uncanny second sight who lives in a tank at Sea Life Oberhausen, has made it to a coin. Liberia has suckered-up and the eight-armed wonder is now featured on the reverse of a silver-plated, colorized copper-nickel proof-like 40 mm $5. He is accompanied, of course, by a soccer ball and Spanish flag. For those who were resident on Planet Mars in July, Paul is the critter who correctly predicted the outcome of all of Germany’s seven matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including their loss in the final.
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Defining “Nostalgia” in Numismatics
Stack’s
How does one define nostalgia? Remembrance of things past? Visions of “the good old days”? Or? Recently, a correspondent sent a letter (a real letter, on paper with a stamp on the envelope) reminiscing about collecting coins in the 1950s, and what a wonderful era that was. The narrative was fascinating, and I sent a detailed reply—perhaps both of possible use for a future column.However, can something earlier than our life experience evoke nostalgia?
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Malaysian Muslims Turn to New Gold Dinar Coins
The E-Sylum
Umar Vadillo bounds into a hotel room here in northern Malaysia with several stacks of gold and silver coins in his hands and slaps them down on a coffee table. “This,” Mr. Vadillo says, “is what it means to be free.” A quarter century ago, this Spanish-born Muslim convert set to work with other European Muslims to find a substitute for the U.S. dollar and other paper currencies. Pricing goods in greenbacks, they argued, was unfair.
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New British Coin Composition Called ‘A Disaster’
The E-Sylum
Changing the metal composition of any coin should only be accomplished with great care. The British Royal Mint is learning this the hard way. A news story in today’s Sunday Telegraph points to the proposed composition of a nickel coated steel where steel is replacing the price increasing copper in the nation’s 5 and 10 pence coins. The new composition is magnetic and, it is rightly expected, to play havoc with the country’s half million vending machines.
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Bourse Etiquette
PCGS Blog
Even the smallest coin show offers something new and exciting. Every show begins with the promise of the unexpected, what you might find, what you might learn, chances to buy and sell. For both collectors and dealers coin shows are a great opportunity to meet and greet fellow hobbyists and conduct business. Even in today’s Internet driven society coin shows are an integral part of the business. If coin shows are so important, why is it that so many people are unaware of how a bourse operates and of the unwritten rules.
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‘Almost Brilliant’ Prince Adolf I German Coin Could Bring €9,000
Paul Fraser Collectibles
This uncirculated rarity bearing the Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe’s likeness is going to auction. German auction house Teutoburger’s upcoming two-day numismatic sale, Auktion 51, is scheduled to start this Friday (September 10-11). Among the coins, medals and jewellery on offer is this historic coin from the reign of Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe from 1860-1893.
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Some Years Only ‘S’ Walkers Struck
Numismaster
The Walking Liberty half dollar was an exciting new design when it was introduced in 1916. It was also a coin with too high a face value for many to collect. That helped keep the survival rate for high grades fairly low. These factors make it a challenging collection especially in top grades.Many examples that were saved were saved much later than their time of issue after they had circulated for years.
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2010-W Proof Platinum American Eagles Enter Market
The Rare Coin Market Report
The fast sellout of the Proof 2010-W American Eagle 1-ounce platinum coin has led to a robust secondary market for the issue and easy profits for some collectors. The continued absence of Proof 2010-W American Eagle gold and silver coins has created a void in the market that the platinum coins seem to have filled, at least for the time being.As reported in the Sept. 9 issue of Coin World, the Proof American Eagle platinum coin went on sale Aug. 12 with a mintage limit of 10,000 coins and an ordering limit of five coins per household.
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Unearthed Treasure Proves Early East-West Trade Route
Spiegel Online
It’s not often that archeologists find ancient coins with Arabic engravings in Germany. A recent such discovery, however, may prove that the Baltic Sea coast had trading ties to the Middle East as far back as the 7th century.Finding old coins in the ground is no great trick in Germany. Indeed, there are small armies of hobby historians who, armed with handheld metal detectors, comb fields and forests for bits of old metal, often flouting laws prohibiting such treasure hunting. Roman coins, a bit of Celtic spare change and the occasional thaler of more recent provenance are hardly a rarity.
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Gold and silver coins from the Ottoman sultans are being melted down because traders are afraid of being charged with smuggling Lamenting rules making it illegal to have, purchase or sell such coins in Turkey, Mahruki says it is time for the government to reform the law

The following is from an Article from Hurriyet Daily News

“Turkey desperately needs to change its legal injunctions against the trading of Ottoman coins if it wants to preserve such heritage, according to the head of the country’s top coin-collecting association.

“In our country, people who are seized with a copper coin from the Sultan Mahmud II that is not even worth a Turkish Lira are treated like smugglers,” said Turkish Numismatic Association Chairman Cem Mahruki, who added that the system was very different in Europe.

“In most of contemporary countries, especially in the European Union countries, old coins are freely purchased and sold over the Internet,” he said.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Mahruki said the Code of Protection of Cultural and Natural Properties banned the purchase and sales of coins until the last six sultans and only granted permission for collection under very stringent conditions.

Many moneychangers and junk dealers obtain old gold and silver Ottoman coins made of valuable metals everyday, Mahruki said, but added that such people typically melt and turn the coins into bars of gold for fear of the law.

“In this way, hundreds of kilograms of historic Ottoman coins vanish because those having these coins are considered as smugglers,” he said.

Law encourages smuggling

In this, the law does not prevent smuggling but, on the contrary, encourages it, Mahruki said. “Old coins that cannot find buyers in the country are found by smugglers for cheap prices and taken abroad.”

Noting that the potential for coin collection is high in Turkey, Mahruki said: “If the law is amended, coins that collectors easily purchase and sell will remain in the country and moreover, the ones abroad will be brought back. We can see its example in paper coins that can easily be collected, and coins inherited from the period of the last six Ottoman periods.”

Complaining about the high prices Turkish collectors must pay at European auctions to bring Ottoman coins back to the country, Mahruki said, “If the goal is to prevent smuggling abroad, there should be heavier punishments and measures against smuggling of these coins to abroad. It should be free to own, purchase and sales the Ottoman and Turkish coins.”

Mahruki also said the current law violated the right to property and that many families had old coins from their ancestors. (more…)