This year’s Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatists (S.P.P.N.) meeting will consist of two presentations, both promising to fascinate all attendees. The first will be a talk from Dr. Robert Chandler titled “Wells Fargo, California’s Varied Monies, and Colorful Personalities.” Dr. Chandler has been the senior research historian at Wells Fargo Bank for 30 years, giving him insight into gold coinage, gold bullion, and the gold market. He has a doctorate for a dissertation concerning California during the Civil War, which taught him to adeptly convert gold coin into greenbacks and back again. A study of the Pacific Mail Steamship’s China trade brought an awareness of billheads stamped “Silver Taken at Market Value Only.” This Chairman of His Majesty’s Bridge Committee to properly designate The Emperor Norton Bridge after its creator, Bob knows more about Imperial Bonds than do Cuddy & Hughes. As an X-Noble Grand Humbug of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampsus Vitus he is skilled at interpreting history properly. Incidentally, Bob has written several books and 60 or so articles concentrating on the 1850s through the 1870s.

The meeting will conclude with a 10-15 minute discussion on another 15 pieces of related USAOG coinage from the controversial “Franklin Hoard”. Some were “discovered” by Paul Franklin; others have pedigrees back to Newcomer; still others are from “out of the woodwork”. Present will be the Pioneer Gold Forum, an assembly of experts joining together to analyze and discuss this important topic.

The annual S.P.P.N. meeting takes place during the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday August 8, 2009 11AM in the Los Angeles Convention Center, West Hall Room 511B. This meeting is usually for current members of S.P.P.N., but anyone is encouraged to come and listen. The Private and Pioneer Numismatist of the Year Award will also be presented to this year’s recipient.

The Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatists has been a non-profit organization since 1992. Currently, there are approximately 165 members who convene annually during the ANA World’s Fair of Money. Membership is $35 per year and includes a subscription to the Brasher Bulletin, a thrice annual publication that features articles submitted and or written by members and the nation’s leading Private & Pioneer coining experts and historians. S.P.P.N. is operated in Tiburon, CA from the offices of Kagin’s, Inc.

Contact for more Information:
Lena DeMarco Taylor
Assistant Editor
Brasher Bulletin
S.P.P.N.
1550 Tiburon Blvd. #201
Tiburon CA 94920

The largest public array ever assembled in the United States of huge, modern, certified Chinese gold coins, ranging in size from five ounces to one kilo (32.15 ounces) each, will be displayed at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money® convention in Los Angeles, August 5 – 9, 2009. The presentation comes with an education lesson from the exhibitor, Nicholas Brown of Majestic Rarities in Chicago: “Protect your coins! Protect yourself!”

“There will be over 300 ounces of large, low-mintage gold. It will be the most amazing display of modern Chinese coins ever seen in the United States,” said Brown.

Many of the rare coins in the planned display at the ANA convention (at combined booths 331 and 430) have a low mintage of only 200 each or less. A highlight of the display will be the 1992 proof gold and silver one-kilo Lunar New Year commemorative coins. Only 21 of the gold were issued, just 185 of the silver. Both kilo coins depict all 12 animals of the Lunar New Year cycle, 1981 to 1992. Both are graded NGC PF-68 Ultra Cameo.

Accompanying these two salad plate-sized coins will be examples of 12, eight-gram Chinese Lunar gold coins issued in the first series from 1981 through 1992 as depicted on the companion one-kilo pieces. Each of these coins is graded NGC PF-69 Ultra Cameo. This will be the first time a certified set of the 1981 to 1992 Lunar gold and silver coins has ever been publicly displayed in the United States, according to Brown.

“I want people to be able to see coins they otherwise might never see in person,” said Brown who specializes in modern Chinese coins, 1979 to date. He has also become a determined crusader about the proper care of coins. (more…)

by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

The coin collecting community was surprised to learn that Dr. Steven Duckor’s Barber Quarters will soon be auctioned. After all, it is not yet complete, and two key dates are missing. The coins are of amazing quality and have been very carefully selected by Dr. Duckor who is an exceptionally dedicated connoisseur of Barber coinage. This auction may be a very favorable event for those collecting high quality, Barber Quarters ‘by date’ (including Mints) and for collectors who seek one Barber Quarter or more for their respective type sets.

Barber Quarters are 90% silver quarter dollars. These were produced from 1892 to 1916, at four U.S. Mints, Philadelphia (with no mintmark), Denver (D-mintmark), New Orleans (O), and San Francisco (S). All of Duckor’s quarters are certified and encapsulated by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).

Dr. Duckor’s quarters will be sold by Heritage on July 31 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel in L.A., a few days before the ANA Convention begins at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Heritage will also auction a variety of U.S. coins, including at least two Great Rarities, an 1854-S Quarter Eagle ($2½ gold coin) and an 1856-O Double Eagle ($20 coin).

As no Barber Quarters are rare, in absolute terms, this collection is very important largely because of the quality of the coins included, though the great pedigrees of several of the coins are of special significance. I have not seen some of Duckor’s quarters, and most of those I did see I have not examined in a long time. Further, I have not yet had time to match many of Dr. Duckor’s coins to Barber Quarters in past auctions, especially to those that I have carefully viewed.

While I look forward to pedigree and condition census research, there are other approaches to analyzing a collection. Herein, I address the quality of these quarters with discussions of the PCGS registry, CAC verification, and Dr. Duckor’s refined taste for coins.

Dr. Duckor is certainly among the most famous living collectors, and has been seriously collecting since the 1970s. He acquired coins, for example, at the epic auction of Eliasberg’s gold coins in 1982. Many collectors can learn from his wisdom, connoisseurship, and experience. I know that I have.

“When [Duckor] gave the collection to Heritage to be auctioned,” he “asked them to submit the entire collection to CAC.” John Albanese is the primary grader and the CEO of the CAC. When the CAC places a green sticker on a PCGS or NGC holder, the CAC is approving the grade that the PCGS or the NGC assigned to the coin inside, and is opining that this grade is in the middle or upper end of the respective grade range. (more…)