Coin News Daily March 23, 2009

By CoinLink on Sunday, March 22, 2009
Filed Under: Coin News Daily

How to Buy Gold and Other Metals With a Self-Directed IRA
Certified Assets
With so many coins and metal choices out there in the market, choosing a retirement investment can be confusing. Which metals and which types of metals are acceptable for an IRA investment? Does the IRA owner store the metal personally? How can a self-directed IRA owner tell if the gold in question is approved by the IRS? Bill Humphrey, a CPA who has worked with self-directed IRA owners for years, can help answer these questions.
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The Stick and Carrot
BY Wayne Sayles – Ancient Coin Collecting
In a recent New York Times article by Benjamin Genocchio, an interesting quote appeared on the bottom line. Referring to the recent import restrictions on Chinese cultural property, Dr. Stephen K. Urice, a former archaeologist and now Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Law, reportedly said: “We got the stick, and now it’s time to see the carrot”. The Stick and Carrot metaphor is insightful in that it reveals a mindset that academic archaeologists often share but couch in other terms in a futile effort to appear subtle. The objective of nationalist archaeologists is to preclude (by any and all means) the distribution of material objects from the past—which to them means diffusion of culture.
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PCGS on Originality and Toning
By David Hall and Ron Howard
What PCGS graders look for on a coin more than anything else is an original surface. There seems to be confusion about what constitutes originality in regard to a coin’s surface. Some people think it means a coin that has original toning. That’s not the case. What PCGS graders look for on a coin more than anything else is an original surface. There seems to be confusion about what constitutes originality in regard to a coin’s surface. Some people think it means a coin that has original toning. That’s not the case.
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MORE ON WOODGRAIN COIN SURFACES
E-Sylum
Several mentions have been made in the blogs recently of a new term applied to the surface of Lincoln cents: woodgrain. The term is apt. The illustrated surface of an 1981-D cent does indeed look like the graining in wood. While this may be considered an anomaly of toning, instead it is an anomaly of the metal composition. It is an error in mixing of copper and zinc.
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Iron Age Gold Unearthed in Suffolk Field
By Chris Rudd, World Coin News (PA)
In spring 2008 a hoard of 783 ancient British gold coins was discovered by a metal detectorist near the village of Wickham Market in southeast Suffolk, England. It is one of the largest hoards of Iron Age gold coins ever found in Britain and is one of the most important because it was unearthed virtually in situ, where it was buried 2,000 years ago in an earthenware pot.
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United States Mint 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Silver Proof Set™ Available Today, March 23
US Mint
Collectors can begin placing their orders for the United States Mint 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Silver Proof Set at noon Eastern Time (ET) on March 23, 2009. The set, priced at $29.95, includes all six commemorative quarter-dollars scheduled for minting and release this year. The coins, struck in 90% silver, honor the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
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