After nearly four months of readers searching, a second example of a major 1982 doubled die reverse cent has finally been uncovered. Numismatic News reader Jim Proctor of Vermont reported it. It bears the small date obverse and is struck on a pure copper-plated zinc core planchet - as was the original find.

Author Charles D. Daughtrey first revealed the existence of the variety to NN readers in a front-page story in the Oct. 2, 2007, issue, crediting Richard J. Ziegler of Massachussettes for the discovery. It represents the second strongest doubled die reverse known on the Lincoln Memorial cent, second only to the major 1983 doubled die cent.

Proctor said that he first became aware of the variety when he saw the NN story in late September 2007. A few weeks later, in late October, he decided to locate some rolls of 1982 small date zinc cents that he had put away back in the early 1980s. They represented coins grading anywhere from almost uncirculated to brilliant uncirculated that he had pulled from circulation on a daily basis and saved in rolls. Read Full Story

The No. A251-1-A $5 Red Seal on The First National Bank of Paintsville, Ky., shown here is a remarkable and historically significant find. It was ferreted out by Kentucky collector Richard Deavers.

Notice that it bears Treasury sheet serial A251, the as-yet lowest recorded Red Seal Treasury serial number from any sheet combination. It is from the second printing of $5 Red Seals delivered to the Comptroller’s office, a delivery that arrived on April 21, 1902, consisting of bank sheet serials 1 through 150. The first 100 of them were sent to the bank that same day.

The First National Bank of Litchfield, Minn., charter 6118, received the first printing of 5-5-5-5 Red Seals, delivered to the Comptroller on April 18. It was just a fluke that the $5 paperwork for the Litchfield bank preceded that of Paintsville. Read Full Story

CAIRO, February 4 (RIA Novosti) - A rare U.S. double eagle gold coin that could be worth up to $15 million has been found by an Egyptian couple as they cleaned out their flat, the Qatar Ar-Raya newspaper said on Monday.

The precious piece of gold was discovered in an old box that had once belonged to Mohamed Ismail’s grandfather while he and his wife, Fatima, were throwing old clothes and broken furniture out of a closet.

Mohamed subsequently sent the coin to experts, hoping that he would get a few dollars for it. However, the tailor was shocked when the experts told him that his grandfather had left him a unique coin of historical value.

Double eagle coins were first minted in 1850 and were used to settle accounts between banks and other financial institutions.

Specialists believe that the double eagle found in Egypt could be part of Theodore Roosevelt’s 1933 collection of coins redesigned by famed American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and given to King Farouk of Egypt as a present. Full Article

Editors Note: Details of this story are unconfirmed and some facts seem suspect, but take it for what it is worth 

SAGINAW — Mark Berg can hold Saginaw history in his hands. In a chance find this year, he uncovered the first three $10 notes Saginaw City Bank issued in 1837. The notes bear the serial numbers 1, 2 and 3 and are in perfect condition. Norman Little, founder of Saginaw City in 1836, served as Saginaw City Bank president and signed the notes Dec. 26, 1837 — 170 years ago today.

“The significance isn’t in the value of these notes or in their pristine, uncirculated condition,” said Berg, a Saginaw Township numismatic hobbyist and small-time collector. “It’s the fact that they still survive today, 170 years later, as a group.”

Little’s bank issued “wildcat” currency in 1837. His ability to sell land in Saginaw City backed the notes, says “Saginaw’s Changeable Past: An Illustrated History,” which Delta College history Professor Jeremy W. Kilar wrote. Read Full Story

MOSCOW. (Nikolai Lukashov for RIA Novosti) - An international archeological expedition to Lake Issyk Kul, high in the Kyrgyz mountains, proves the existence of an advanced civilization 25 centuries ago, equal in development to the Hellenic civilizations of the northern coast of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and the Mediterranean coast of Egypt.

The expedition resulted in sensational finds, including the discovery of major settlements, presently buried underwater. The data and artefacts obtained, which are currently under study, apply the finishing touches to the many years of exploration in the lake, made by seven previous expeditions. The addition of a previously unknown culture to the treasury of history extends the idea of the patterns and regularities of human development. (more…)