Korean War 60th Anniversary Coin
New Zealand Mint
25th June 1950 marks the beginning of the Korean War – this coin set has been minted in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of this major conflict. Described at the time as a “police action”, the 3-year conflict involved combatants from 16 nations as well as the United Nations supporting South Korea against North Korea and China with Soviet Union air support. The obverse of the coin features the Raphael Maklouf effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, sovereign of the Commonwealth and Niue. The reverse features an engraved image of a Korean War soldier with the background being selectively coloured to symbolise the Korean Flag. Engraved stars and headings complete this exquisitely crafted coin.
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Young Collectors Deserve Respect
Numismatic News
When I was 13, I attended my first coin show. Since then, I have attended coin shows on the local, regional and national levels and encountered hundreds of coin dealers. As a 16-year-old collector, I have encountered dealer behaviors specifically toward Young Numismatists that deserve commendation and those that need improvement. I will begin with one of the most degrading, discourteous and widespread problems I encounter. I step up to a dealer’s table, examine his stock and find a coin I would like to purchase, a 1934 Washington quarter in MS-60, worth about $20, for example.
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Sri Lanka Replaces Bank Note With Coin
Numismaster
It may be just an observation, but it appears as if the line of nations that are replacing a low denomination bank note with a coin is getting longer almost on a weekly basis. The logic is there. It is typically cost effective to have a coin that may circulate from between 20 and 40 years in use rather than a bank note that may circulate from between six months and perhaps two years. The latest country to announce it is joining this increasingly long line is Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. According to an announcement appearing April 5 at Lanka Business Online, a nickel-plated 10-rupee coin was to be issued immediately, replacing the bank note of the same denomination currently in circulation. No information was immediately available regarding withdrawal and demonetization of the bank note.
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Uganda Unveils New Banknote Family
Banknote News
On 3 May 2010, Bank of Uganda unveiled a new series of redesigned and smaller banknotes which will go into circulation on 17 May. The new notes are in the existing denominations of 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 50,000 shillings, as well as a new denomination: 2,000 shillings (US$0.95). Besides a harmonized banknote design that depict Uganda’s rich historical, natural and cultural heritage, the new notes bear improved security features and are smaller in size than the existing series which will remain legal tender. The common security features for the 1,000-, 2,000-, and 5,000-shilling notes are a watermark, a color-change image, and a raised effect on the surface to help the visually-impaired people differentiate denominations. The notes also feature a windowed thread that changes from red to green when the note is titled. The notes also bear a hidden irridescent pattern.
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Russia Releases Five-Kilo Gold Coin
Pravda
The Bank of Russia has released a record-heavy coin to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Georgy Luntovsky, deputy chief of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation unveiled the coin worth 50,000 rubles ($1,660) to the general public yesterday. The coin, which is said to become available on June 12th, is made of 999-carat gold. “Originally, we intended to make a coin weighing 150 kilos in connection with our date, but later shelved the idea,” the official joked. The Bank of Russia will release only 50 of such coins. Twenty-five of them have already been made. Mr. Luntovsky added that the interest to special gold coins this year was lower than before. However, the bank expects an increase of interest in its new release after prices on gold started growing again.
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Red Book Philippine Coin Coverage
The E-Sylum
A Red Book reader wrote in this week with a question about the section on Philippines coinage. He was disappointed that in recent years we’ve condensed that section from nine pages to five. This might be something that E-Sylum readers have noticed, as well. I appreciate the correspondent’s enthusiasm for the coins of the Philippines. As he noted, the coins struck by the U.S. Mint for the Philippines, under U.S. sovereignty, are an important part of our nation’s numismatic history. Not only that, but they’re official coins of the United States, struck on North American soil as well as in Manila, and legally exchangeable for U.S. dollars. This is why we list the Philippines coins in the Red Book. Due to space constraints, we’ve had to condense the Philippines section, as noted.
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New Book on Coins Featuring the Portrait of Edward VIII
Coins Weekly
This publication, which is the most comprehensive listing ever published of Currency Coins and Paper Money, Medals, Patterns, Trials Pieces and Badges of Edward VIII, is the result of 25 passionate years of collecting, research and writing by the author, Joseph Giordano Jnr., a native of New York. This work is truly comprehensive in its coverage, dealing with Investiture, Coronation, Jubilee, Abdication, Royal visits and Prize medals along with many others including retrospective pieces. Contemporary currency of the UK and Dominions including patterns and trials are covered together with paper money, badges and fantasy pieces.
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Federal Law on Reproducing U.S. Currency Images
The New York Times
Federal laws don’t ban reproducing images of United States currency, but they do restrict how you can legally display those reproductions. According to the Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992, Public Law 102-550, Section 411 of Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations, you can make and display color reproductions of bills as long as the illustration is one-sided and “less than three-fourths” the size of the original — or 150 percent larger than the original. You also have to destroy the files after their final use.
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U.S. Mint Announces Launch Date of Yellowstone Quarters
U.S. Mint
The United States Mint today announced that the launch ceremony for the Yellowstone National Park Quarter will take place on June 3, at 10:30 a.m. Mountain Time (MT), behind the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park.  The ceremony will also be broadcast live on the Web at: http://www.americathebeautifulquarters.gov. After the ceremony, the public can exchange their paper currency for $10 rolls of the Yellowstone National Park quarters at face value.  Children 18 years old and younger will receive a new Yellowstone National park quarter to commemorate the event. The Yellowstone National Park quarter is the second release in the United States Mint America the America the Beautiful QuartersTM Program. 
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Mintage Is Not the Whole Story for the 1946-D Half Dollar
Numismaster
Mintages are one part of the assorted factors that can indicate whether a specific date is likely to be available today in large numbers or elusive. They are not, however, the only factor and the 1946-D Walking Liberty half dollar is a good example of that fact. The 1946-D came at a time when, frankly, there was no need for half dollar production. During World War II the United States had seen what were record half dollar mintages. That was especially true from Philadelphia where the 1943 had a mintage of over 53 million. The 1942 had been over 42 million.
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Children and Creativity Collector Coin
Mint of Finland
The Children and creativity collector coin is the first official Finnish collector coin to be selected by public vote. Visitors to the Mint of Finland website can vote for their favourite among 11 potential coin designs until June 18. The artworks that voters will be selecting were done by students at high schools of the visual arts. Mint of Finland will use the winner to mint the next collector coin to be issued at Heureka on October 20. All visitors to the Mint of Finland website may participate in the vote. All voters will participate in a raffle for a Children and creativity collector coin and jewellery made by Mint of Finland.
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Chicago Tribune Poll: Don’t Replace Grant on the $50
Chicago Tribune
Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, wants Ronald Reagan to replace Ulysses Grant on the $50 bill. Almost 8 in 10 Americans oppose the idea, a new poll shows. Reagan, a Republican, was the “last great president of the 20th century” who “rallied the nation and won the Cold War,” McHenry said in an interview. McHenry proposed a bill March 2 seeking to redesign the $50 bill and substitute the 40th president’s image for the likeness of the 18th, a Civil War hero. McHenry’s bill is widely opposed, according to a Marist College poll. Seventy-nine percent said the suggestion is a bad idea, compared with 12 percent who supported the plan. Nine percent said they are unsure.
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The ANA’s Clifford Mishler on the Road
Numismatic News
The Museum of American Finance was founded in 1988 as the Museum of American Financial History by John Herzog, then owner of the Smythe numismatic dealership, it initially was located nearby in modest quarters on lower Broadway. The Museum reopened in its spacious new 30,000-square-foot home on Jan. 11, 2008. The new location is within steps of the New York Stock Exchange. It features a variety of galleries and interactive exhibits dedicated to the financial aspects of money, banking and the markets, including live transaction feeds from the Exchange floor, thus serving as its de facto visitor center. At the museum I had the opportunity to meet with Herzog and its operating president, David Cowen, with whom I share a disconnected background.
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Shield Theme Can Guide Collectors
Numismaster
Shields have been in use since ancient times and known since medieval times as a display of a family coat of arms. Knights carried their shields into battle. The shield is still known as a powerful symbol and a meaningful object in heraldry. It is not widely known that shields come in a variety of different shapes. The shapes include the edged, the badge, the elegant, the ornate, the classic, and the continental, among others. Historians believe that the shape was determined by the time period and the region in was used. Modern heraldry artists choose shapes to suit the design.
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How Do Dealers Get So Many Limited Issue U.S. Mint Coins?
Susan Headley
The way coin dealers get so many limited-issue, one-per-person coins is that they have all of their employees each buy as many as they can in every family and friend’s name they can pull off! These dealers typically pay employees a $20 to $50 bonus for each coin they bring in, in unopened Mint-shipped boxes. That is, the dealers pay their actual cost including shipping, plus a bonus amount. The coin dealers also frequently extend this offer to customers and others. I’ve even heard of dealers cooperating with local coin clubs and running ads in the newspaper or online for people to order the one-per-household coins for them!
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Stack Family Numismatic Library Reminiscences
The E-Sylum
I can’t believe it’s gone. The books have been emptied off the shelves, and the Stack family has left the building. It’s impossible to believe. I was born and raised in Manhattan, which means, if you are of a certain age (and I am), and had an interest in coins, you knew of Stack’s: pure and simple. If you asked a cabby to take you to Stack’s by name, he would. My mom took me to Stack’s when I was a kid, only once, and all I remember was the wonderfully warm, clubby atmosphere, and the books. While I looked round goggle-eyed my mom quietly bought a coin from Norman Stack, which was given to me on my next birthday. I still have it. And I still remember those books. I come from a family of readers and I count books among my best of friends. My father bought me my first ancient coin only after he made me buy a book to explain what I was looking at—it changed my life. Coins may be a portal to the past, but books are the keys to open that door.
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The ANA Versus Technology
Coin Collector’s Blog
While the ANA has a Young Numismatist outreach program and a Scouts program for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, these programs end when the YN member becomes 22 years old. YN’s who go to college are beginning their careers or starting graduate school at 22. Those who do not go to college are in the beginnings of their careers and maybe beginning a family. In either case, at 22 years old, a person’s life is in transition and the least of their worries is membership or participation in the ANA. If the ANA wants to be relevant in the lives of those in the 20-something and 30-something, the organization must adapt to be where their members are or want to be. Over the last ten years, technology has evolved to where it is more portable, more accessible, and more communal. And recent advances and other industry activity shows that this trend is unlikely to slow down.
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New Zealand Mint Plans Flags of America Commemoratives
New Zealand Mint
The Flags of America Commemorative coin set has been minted in celebration of the 4th of July 2010, the 50th anniversary of the re-design of the flag of the USA. The first set of coins will be presented to the President of the United States. Features the American eagle with a border of stars surrounding this iconic American bird. Around the edge of this face is engraved the denomination (One Dollar) and the inscription ‘America 2010 –Mesa Grande’. The reverse an engraved background of the Statue of Liberty which forms a tryptich when the coins are arranged. The centerpiece of each coin is the full colour representation of a historical flag of the United States. Engraved at each coin’s base are facts about the history of the United States flags.
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