New PCGS Series: Tips from the Grading Room
PCGS
Welcome to the first installment of a new series we’re calling “Tips from the Grading Room.” Each issue we’ll take a look at a different aspect of grading a particular series, and share a few insights with you. For our first series, we’ll examine exactly what constitutes a “Full Head” Standing Liberty Quarter. Full Head (FH) is the designation that follows the numerical grade of some Standing Liberty quarters that have full detail in the head and cap of Miss Liberty. For coins that grade AU-50 and higher, this designation is assigned when full head and cap detail is present for the three varieties of the two major design types (Type I: 1916, 1917; Type II: 1917–1930).
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The ‘Faceless’ Monroe Dollar Error
Susan Headley
A “Faceless” Monroe Presidential Dollar has been found by coin collector Garrett Reich of Michigan. This extremely rare error type, of which only one previous specimen has ever been confirmed, is a Presidential Dollar that didn’t get struck by the coin dies, leaving it without any obverse or reverse designs. Reich’s coin is a blank planchet with a very important difference from nearly other blank Presidential Dollar coins: it has Presidential Dollar edge lettering on it! Garrett found the coin in a bank box of 1,000 coins wrapped up into 40 rolls on February 13, 2008, the day before the coins officially went on sale at most banks. (Some banks are known to distribute the coins ahead of the official release date.) 
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The Chase Museum, Stack’s, and Young Numismatists
The E-Sylum
The Chase Money Museum was located on 6th Avenue (now the Avenue of the Americas) and 50th Street. It was developed under the great leadership of Vernon Brown. As with most places of interest it was open 6 days a week and visitors from all over came to this midtown location. One of the nearby attractions was its neighbor, Radio City Music Hall. The displays at the museum changed regularly, and were designed to show the history of Money, mostly of the United States, but it also had interesting displays of foreign, ancient and world currency. It showed the relationship of coins and currency to trade and growth in the world. It even had a great exhibit of Odd and Curious Currency.
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Popular U.S. Mint Sets Available in July
U.S. Mint
Two of the United States Mint’s most popular annual sets will be available for purchase in July.  The 2010 United States Mint Uncirculated Set®, priced at $31.95, will be available on July 15; and the 2010 United States Mint Proof Set®, priced at $31.95, will be available on July 22.  Both sets include the first five commemorative quarter-dollar coins in the America the Beautiful QuartersTM Program, honoring Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas), Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming), Yosemite National Park (California), Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona), and Mount Hood National Forest (Oregon).  The sets also include four Presidential $1 Coins, honoring Presidents Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln; one Native American $1 Coin; one Kennedy half-dollar coin; one Jefferson 5-cetn coin; one Roosevelt dime coin; and one Lincoln one-cent cent.
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Italian Motorists Scramble for 2 Million Euros Scattered in Crash
Mail Online
This was the scene that left bank chiefs short-changed after passing motorists coined it in when a bullion van overturned and spilled its load of 2 million euros (£1.6million). The one and two euro coins were scattered across the busy motorway after the van burst a tyre, hit another car before crashing into a barrier. As they hit the ground, the boxes burst open throwing the coins out and which led to the crazy scene of motorists stopping on the busy motorway to help themselves to at least 10,000 euros. The incident happened near Foggia in southern Italy on the A14 motorway which connects the north of the country with popular holiday hot spots in the south.
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Holographic Technology and Banknote Security
Banknote News
Technology continues to push the boundaries for banknote security holograms. Here, Dr Glenn Wood of the International Hologram Manufacturers Association looks at some of the latest developments. Today, holographic technology remains very much to the fore as part of an array of overt features which make it quick and easy for people to recognise whether or not a banknote is bonafide. But new substrate technology, particularly the introduction of transparent ‘windows’ is being incorporated on banknotes to provide new levels of anti-counterfeiting complexity.
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New Book: 100 Greatest Error Coins
The E-Sylum
In this richly illustrated coffee-table book, three of America’s best-known error-coin specialists take the reader on a personal guided tour of the remarkable misstrikes and other oddities produced by the U.S. Mint. 100 Greatest U.S. Error Coins is the seventh entry in Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest™ library. It follows books that showcase coins, paper money, medals and tokens, comic books, and stamps. “Each of the 100 Greatest error coins was voted into place by leading coin dealers, collectors, researchers, and historians,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker. Inside, the reader will find prized and seldom-seen rarities—the unique and high-valued pieces that collectors dream about.
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U.S. Mint, Army and Air Force Exchange Service Promote $1 Coins
U.S. Mint
The United States Mint and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) are teaming up to encourage regular use of $1 coins in everyday cash transactions at military exchanges.  Retailers at Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; and Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Academy in Colorado have been selected by AAFES to participate in a $1 coin launch initiative to begin on July 4.  The goal of the initiative is to expand $1 coin usage to all 1,703 AAFES locations throughout the country.  Exchanges are retail stores located on military bases and facilities that serve active duty and retired members of the Armed Forced and their families. 
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CCAC in Search of Coin Design Excellence
Numismatic News
The U.S. Mint has some great artists, so why aren’t we getting great coin designs? The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee wants to know. Three years ago Mint Director Ed Moy called for a “neo-Renaissance for coin design” and “a new level of design excellence.” But that hasn’t happened, said CCAC Chairman Gary Marks when the group met June 28 in Colorado Springs, Colo. “Something must be done to ignite the renaissance,” Marks said. To that end, he appointed a Subcommittee on Coin Design Excellence tasked with developing recommendations addressing design quality regarding all future theme and design proposals. Marks said the goal is not to lay blame or point fingers. The goal is for the U.S. to attain a “level of excellence in coinage design that is simply unmatched in the world.”
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Looking for an Oak Tree, Finding a Willow
Heritage Blog
I had the coin on my desk. Massachusetts silver. The holder said “Oak Tree Shilling, Good Details.” It wasn’t much to look at, or rather, there wasn’t much to look at on it, as worn as it was. Even so, I figured I would be able to match it to a die pair and give it an attribution. I couldn’t attribute it. Nothing matched. It showed parts of designs from at least two strikes, so I was expecting the attribution to be complicated, but still… Two runs through reference books later and about thirty seconds after I went from frustrated to flat-out vexed with the coin, I admitted defeat and showed it to Senior Cataloger Mark Borckardt. He went through the same stages I did, until he had a brain-wave: what if this “Oak Tree Shilling” wasn’t an Oak Tree at all? “Maybe it’s a Willow Tree.”
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The Grand Plan for PCGS CoinFacts
PCGS Blog
Imagine with me for a few minutes… Imagine if you will… Every U.S. coin…all regular Mint issues, all proofs, all varieties of those issues, and include Colonials, Territorials, and Patterns. In other words…imagine the entirety of U.S. numismatics. Now imagine a photo…an image online…a great image…of the finest known example of all of those coins. Imagine a variety guide…a guide which has detailed images, including close-ups, of each variety. A guide on how to distinguish each variety. Imagine all the technical info for every coin: mintage, metal content, size, designer, etc.
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Afghanistan War Medals Auctioned
Paul Fraser Collectibles
Two particularly interesting medals with modern resonance are two Second Afghan War medals awarded to British soldiers for service during 1878-80. Both men were members of the 72nd Highlanders, and both sadly met their deaths in the conflict. The first of these was Colour-Sergeant John Yule. Mentioned in despatches by Lord Roberts for being ‘first man up’ in the assault on the Takht-i-Shah, he captured two enemy standards in a daring attack, but was killed the very next day at Conical Hill. Again leading a charge, he killed the first enemy soldier, but was then killed by a gunshot.
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Banknote Update Adds to Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
Banknote News
I began publishing The Banknote Update in late 2007 as an independent addendum to Krause’s Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. Since that time, it has been constantly revised, updated, and expanded into a book containing detailed information and hundreds of full-color images of brand new notes and new note varieties from over 140 countries, which are either not included nor illustrated in the latest SCWPM, Volume III, 16th edition. I guarantee it is the most comprehensive, authoritative, and reliable source of information about new notes you can buy anywhere, at any price. The cost of The Banknote Update as a PDF file purchased directly from me via PayPal is US$15. The Banknote Update is also available in printed form via Lulu.com, an online company that creates professional-quality books on demand.
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Examine All the Coins You Can
Dave Harper’s Buzz
I just found another reason to go to the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in August in Boston. It is not as if I need another reason, but it adds to the appeal of the event. The U.S. Mint has set Aug. 12 as the day it will release the new one-ounce platinum proof American Eagle. I would like to take a look at it. It is part of the Preamble series. This year the theme is to “Establish Justice.” Last year’s was to “Form a More Perfect Union.” Am I planning to buy? No, not at all. Platinum is $1,500 an ounce today. The idea of committing to a six-part series at that price level doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t know anybody on staff who is planning to buy one either, so I won’t get a look at the coin in the office. Boston it is.
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Mint Engravers Embrace 21st Century Technology
Numismatic News
It’s the stuff movies are made of. Really. The same technology that brought “Shrek” to life gives design detail to U.S. coins. Forget paper and pencil, plaster and clay. Today’s artist/sculptor/engraver at the United States Mint in Philadelphia works with sophisticated (and expensive) computer software to create coins and medals. Chief Engraver John Mercanti has seen and done it all. From the days of mixing plaster to create molds to sculpting with a computer, Mercanti has been a part of the design evolution, and a strong advocate of  new technology. “In the old days, we would model the image and then I would actually make lines where the type was going to go, and I would go into a negative plaster and cut lettering by hand,” Mercanti said. “It could take longer to do the lettering than the artwork.”
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Alabama Sunrise Collection Offered
Stella
Two weeks ago at the Baltimore Whitman Expo, we at David Lawrence Rare Coins, received a rather exciting collection named the “Alabama Sunrise Collection of Toned Coins”. To be included were many beautifully toned commemorative half dollars, and some extremely attractive type coins. Much to our delight, the collection also included some extremely rare key date coins such as the 1886 Type 2 Indian Cent in NGC MS 65, an 1880 Shield Nickel in NGC MS 65, and several condition rarity pieces such as the 1938-D/S Buffalo Nickel in NGC MS 68. Last (but not least!) there were also some tougher Standing Liberty Quarters and some unusually attractive Franklin Half Dollars.
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Release Date Set for 2010 Proof Platinum Eagle
Coin Update News
A release date for the collectible proof version of the 2010 American Platinum Eagle has recently been established by the United States Mint. This coin will feature the second in a series of six different reverse designs which explore the core concepts of American democracy as found in the Preamble to the Constitution. The projected release date for the coin has been set at August 12, 2010, although it remains subject to potential change. Despite setting a release date, the final design for the 2010 Proof Platinum Eagle has still not been announced. This year’s design will be based on the theme “To Establish Justice,” as inspired by a narrative written by John G. Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States of America.
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History of U.S. Coinage
San Francisco Chronicle
Before the first coinage act in the United States, citizens of the U.S. exchanged goods and services through the barter system. At this time no coins were available except for various foreign coins such as the widely traded and trusted Spanish real dollars. With the signage of the constitution and with a newly formed nation that allowed Congress to coin money, the first coinage act was proposed and passed Congress under the Presidency of George Washington. This article will cover a brief history of coins and events that surrounded changes made beginning in 1792 and ending in 2005.
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