Two top grading companies are seeing many of their staff members switch teams following a recent change in ownership at one firm. Significant portions of the Independent Coin Grading Co. staff have joined ANACS and its new owner James Taylor, while several graders dismissed from ANACS have been hired by ICG.

Taylor purchased the assets of ANACS from Anderson Press, Inc. on Dec. 21 and moved the ANACS office from Austin, Texas, to Englewood, Colo., where ICG is located. Up until Dec. 3, Taylor had been president of ICG.

The switch in staffing may have legal repercussions, according to attorney Kevin Kline of the Miami law firm of Kline, Moore and Klein P.A. Kline told Numismatic News on Jan. 7 that 20 or 21 members of the ICG staff moved to ANACS following its purchase by Driving Force, Taylor’s limited liability corporation. Read Full Story

By Ken Potter - I reported upon a Spiked Head die crack on a proof 2007-S Thomas Jefferson Presidential dollar in the Nov. 13, 2007, issue of Numismatic News. What I did not say was that it was actually just one of several Spiked Heads found on proof coins submitted to me in the past year and a half.

New to the list of significant die cracks on proof coins are 12 examples dated 1998-S, 1999-S, 2000-S, 2005-S and 2006-S, spanning all denominations from nickels through a single Sacagawea dollar. The “list” was originally started with a Spiked Head 2002-S silver Kennedy half dollar that headlined the April 15, 2003, issue of NN. This coin prompted a long string of finds that followed as folks began to check other denominations and dates closer.

The 10-part series of reports ran intermittently with the last appearing in the June 14, 2005, issue up until my recent Jefferson dollar story. Read Full Article

I have authored this column since 1965, when I became a professional writer dedicated to covering the numismatic field. At times, I even gaze into the future of the hobby and the world around us.

In looking through my clips, the first reference I can find to this line of work is an article that I wrote on these pages in May 1971, entitled “The unmasking of a seer.” It was never a regular feature of this column, though I did it from time to time.

Historically, I’ve spent a lot of time in the “seer business” when it comes to market analysis. I’ve always, for example, predicted the price of gold, silver and platinum with varied degrees of success. The same is also true of my famous predictions for 1881-S silver dollars in MS-65 condition, something I view as a bellwether of the marketplace as a whole. Less accurate is my plea for Indian Head cents to be given their fair recognition and representative pricing. (Okay, finding a 1906 Indian Head cent in pocket change in 1960 changed my life – and yours). Read Full Article