With only a dozen exceptions, all the paper items in a Florida collector’s home safe were destroyed or damaged by intense heat during a house fire. The only papers that survived unscathed were 12 bank notes inside PCGS Currency holders, including two 1907 $10 Gold Certificates.

“There were eleven large size and one small size PCGS Currency-certified notes recovered from the fire earlier this year. The holders were sooty and some had blisters and discoloration on their surface, but the notes inside all survived without damage,” said Laura A. Kessler, Vice President of PCGS Currency, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT).

All other paper items in the five-foot tall gun safe at the anonymous collector’s central Florida home were destroyed or damaged from the extreme heat, including family documents, photographs and bank notes not housed in PCGS Currency holders. Hundreds of encapsulated coins survived the fire, although their holders partially melted and were deformed.

“The house had a metal roof and was built on stilts that collapsed during the fire. The safe had a one-hour rating, but it took about four hours until the fire was put out. The Fire Department said the metal roof made it like an oven (under the collapsed building),” the collector said.

“When he submitted the notes he asked us to re-holder them, but at first glance I thought there’d be a change in grades because of the apparent damage to the outside of the holders. I didn’t know what we’d find when we carefully removed the notes from the holders, but they all survived with no damage. It was fantastic,” said Kessler.

“The top-grade materials that are used for our holders undoubtedly saved the notes. They’re made from DuPont Mylar-D®, the safest and best archival material for long-term storage of bank notes. This material is the same used by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. for storage of important historical documents. It has a higher melting temperature, and thus is safer than other currency holders in the marketplace.” (more…)

By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

Coin dealers are an “interesting” (yes, this is an ironic use of quotes) group. If you were to take the top fifty professionals in this field and examine their personalities, I believe that a number of the same traits would be seen in a majority of these individuals. What are some of these traits? And do you have what it takes to be a successful coin dealer?

With very few exceptions, most of the top coin dealers have been involved in coins since they were very young. I can’t think of more than one or two coin dealers who I regard as being at the top level of the industry who were not buying and selling coins by the time they were in their early teens (or in some case, before this). Many people have asked me why this is the case. I think that being a good coin dealer is something that is almost genetic in its origin. You can’t really teach an adult the skills to be a truly good dealer. It’s almost as if the top dealers were born with a “coin dealing gene.” If you are a 42 year old insurance salesman with a passing interest in coins, it’s pretty unlikely that, within a few years, you are going to be a force on the bourse floor.

And speaking of genes, I think that every good coin dealer has what I call the “collecting gene.” Even though I don’t really collect coins anymore, there are a number of other areas that I avidly collect. Virtually every great dealer I know is also a serious collector of something; and many have multiple non-numismatic collections. These range from paper money to vintage photographs to globes to muscle cars. If you do not have a passion for collecting, you probably aren’t going to amount to much when it comes to dealing.

Coin dealers have exceptional memories when it comes to coins. I think I qualify pretty highly in this regard but my memory is very selective. As an example, it usually takes me a number of times meeting a collector until I remember his name. But I can generally remember this collector’s coins that he showed me in 1984 and, more distressingly, in great detail. I find the same to be true with many other of the dealers who I respect. They have an absolutely uncanny ability to remember coins they have handled, deals they have done, auctions they have attended, etc. If you have a poor memory when it comes to details, you are not likely to become a good dealer, let alone a great one. (more…)

Editors Note: The following is a list of Gold Trivia that was sent to CoinLink. We have not checked the facts or the source but we thought it was sort of interesting. Let us know if you have any additional items you think should be added to the list.

• Of the 92 natural elements in the earth’s crust, Gold ranks 58th in rarity.
• Every state in the U.S. has some gold deposits.
• If the U.S.’s pile of gold in Ft. Knox (147.3 million troy ounces according to the U.S. Mint) were to back the U.S. M1 money supply on an even basis, the gold would be worth $940 an ounce.
• When gold is legal tender, governments try to regulate or manipulate its value, and that’s always difficult… when Roosevelt raised gold from $20.67 to $35 in 1934, it immediately devalued the dollar by 40%.
• But from 1786 to 1933, the U.S. government only allowed the price of gold to rise from $17.92 to $20.67. A 15% increase in the official price of gold in 141 years. In the same span, U.S. GDP grew about 28,000%. (more…)