By Doug Andrews, World Coin News
Celebration of the centennial of the Royal Canadian Mint in the summer of 2008 may cause numismatists to reflect on the years of diplomatic wrangling and political infighting that surrounded its establishment. Now one of the most successful and modern mints in the world, its founding in 1908 was the culmination of nearly two decades of argument among Canadian parliamentarians, and negotiations between officials in Canada and the United Kingdom.

As early as 1890 members of the Canadian Senate from British Columbia began lobbying the Conservative and later, the Liberal, governments in Ottawa for opening a mint in Vancouver. Gold recently had been discovered in the nearby Fraser River Valley, and a tiny group of politicians led by Senator Thomas McInnes tried to persuade the cabinet to fund construction of a mint to assay and refine gold, produce ingots and strike gold into coins. In March, McInnes boldly introduced the following motion to the Senate, “Resolved as to the opinion of this House that it is both desirable and expedient that the government should immediately pass a coinage act and establish a mint.”

Gold miners and speculators in British Columbia saw the opening of a mint as an opportunity to increase their profits by reducing the costs of exporting gold to the United States for refining. However, the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, opposed the measure championed by McInnes, a Liberal, and it went down to defeat. Macdonald, then in declining health, had focused this agenda on protectionism rather than foreign trade, and a mint to increase profits from exportation of gold did not fit into his plans.

Read Full Numismaster Article

By Davd Ganz for Numsmatic News

Hi-o Silver! After years of being thought of as a backwater of precious metals, and even threatened with demotion to an industrial metal, silver is back in the spotlight. The effect on common date silver coins couldn’t be more welcome to collectors and investors, and is helping the market as a whole.

Up more than 29 percent over last year’s $13.38 average, silver has increased almost four times its 2003 average of $4.87 a troy ounce and three times its 1998 price average of $5.54 an ounce.

Here’s how the difference plays out on a common circulated Morgan dollar that contains .7734 troy ounces of metal. At $5.54 an ounce, a silver dollar has about $4.42 worth of bullion. A quarter has .18084 troy ounces worth of precious metal, worth just about a dollar. At the current $17.38 average, the silver dollar’s metal reserve is $13.44 and the quarter is about $3.15.

As gold crossed $1,000 and platinum $2,175, silver went over the important psychological barrier of $20 an ounce before retreating to profit takers. That approaches the 1979 average of $21.79, which is otherwise understood only in the context of the Hunt Brothers run on the silver market.

Read Full Artcle on Numsmatic News 

By Ken Potter for Numismaster

In my Feb. 19 Numismatic News front page story I revealed that an “Extra Beard” variety had been found by reader James P. McCarthy of Wisconsin. I also noted that I and a number of other variety coins specialists had designated it as a doubled die from a tilted hub.

Now I must report that all the researchers (including yours truly) who attributed it as a doubled die just weeks ago, have unanimously reversed our opinions and have reattributed it as a clashed die from a Misaligned Die (or what is often referred to as a MAD Clash). Those of us who originally suggested that the coin was a doubled die based our opinions on the fact that overlays seemed to neatly fit the area of the so-called extra beard in another area of the beard just perfectly.

However, soon after the variety was first publicized, folks started finding more examples with the so-called extra beards from other dies with obvious clash marks. A closer look at examples struck from the same dies as the original find also showed traces of clash but they were minor and overlooked as trivial by most the first time around. With more “extra beards” being found from other dies with obvious clash marks, a clash had to be reconsidered as a possible cause.

Read Full Numismaster Article

By David Ganz for Numismaster 

Battle of the learned societies has begun at the Hispanic Society of America launched a broadside against its former neighbor, the American Numismatic Society, seeking the return of 38,000 coins the ANS has been cataloging since the death of Arthur Milton Huntington in 1955 at age 85.

Huntington was a major benefactor, multimillionaire, and philanthropist who largely funded Audubon Terrace in New York City’s Washington Heights at the turn of the 20th century. Among the organizations that he sponsored were the American Numismatic Society, and Hispanic Society of America, the American Geographic Society, and other learned organizations dedicated to scholarly analysis of the arts and sciences.

In 1948, the Hispanic Society of America collection consisting of some 30,000 coins, many of which were hammer-struck, including many of the ancient world, was placed on deposit with the ANS, making it the finest collection of its kind in the Americas. That is the source of the 2008 legal controversy.

Founded in 1858, the American Numismatic Society celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2008, having recently moved to Fulton Street in the New York financial district. It is preparing to abandon the new building in favor of a downtown location on the west side of Manhattan.

Read Full Numismaster Story

Fake Morgan dollars identified by Montgomery, Ill., dealer Tom Campbell of Tom’s Fine Coins led to an April 4 arrest of an individual who was attempting to sell them through online classified ads.

“About half were common date,” Campbell said. “All weighed 18-19 grams and were attracted to a magnet, some weak, some strong.”

Approximately 20 coins ultimately were involved, though Campbell initially attempted only to buy two 1885-CC dollars for $280. He asked the seller to bring them in person and he would pay $40 per coin more. They arranged to meet in a public place in Plainfield, Ill.

When Campbell realized they were fake, he contacted the Lansing, Ill., Police Department, where the seller was from.

The seller later contacted him offering an 1893-O, 1892-O and an 1886. Campbell worked with the police to set up a sting in a local business in Lansing. When Campbell signaled that the offered coins were fakes, the police moved in and made an arrest of the suspect and his wife, who was waiting in a car. Read Full Numismaster Article