Coin News for February 19, 2010

By Tim Shuck on Friday, February 19, 2010
Filed Under: Coin News Daily

Hoard of Gold Coins Unearthed in Southern India
World Gold Council
A 27-item strong hoard of gold coins has been unearthed in the Thoothukudi district of southern India, it has been revealed. Local women discovered the gold pieces in a mud pot when they were farming a field in the village of Vilathikulam Taluk, Express Buzz reports. The gold coins weigh between three and four grams apiece and are each inscribed with Arabic lettering.
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What’s a Gold Medal Worth?
The Wall Street Journal
How much gold is there in those Olympic medals? What are they worth? And now that gold has boomed to more than $1,100 an ounce, should athletes forgo framing the thing and just, um, you know…melt it down the moment they get the medal home? Go on, admit it. You’ve wondered the same thing. The deal: No, those gold medals aren’t solid gold. They’re actually silver, and then plated with 6 grams of gold.
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Launch of New Set of Jersey Bank Notes
States of Jersey
The Treasury Minister has announced the launch of Jersey’s first new set of bank notes for 21 years. Members of the public will be able to view the designs from Tuesday 23 February at the Jersey Museum, after an official launch the day before. Senator Philip Ozouf announced in his department’s 2009 business plan that new notes would be issued this year. He says “These new designs highlight many different aspects of the island’s diverse architecture, history and culture and represent a fresh, new look for a new decade.
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Now It’s a Shield
Numismatic News
Now that the Mint has the cent debut ceremony procedure down pat, it is a pity it can’t do it more often. The Feb. 11 event introducing the 2010 cent with the new Union Shield reverse design occurred in Springfield, Ill., at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum with the formal program emceed by Elizabeth Wooley, WCIS TV anchor. She introduced Mint Director Ed Moy, who had flown out of snowstorm battered Washington, D.C., a day early so he would not miss the event.
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New Penny Designs Make No Cents
Fast Company
Let’s be honest: American money isn’t pretty. Our bills and coins are jumbles of incomprehensible symbols–every spot of ink has meaning, down to the number of spikes around the treasury seal, but it’d be a stretch to say they all cohere into a worthy whole. Michael Bierut calls our currency “a cake that has been decorated to within an inch of its life.” What it lacks in aesthetics, though, U.S. currency makes up for in quirk. It feels old, authentic, a little mysterious, and therefore valuable. It’s money, after all.
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Special Mint Set Product of 1960s
Numismaster
They are not proof sets, and they are not uncirculated sets, popularly called mint sets, but Special Mint Sets are special in their own way, and are worth a second look. The Treasury Department announced in 1964 that proof sets would not be produced in 1965. The announcement came at an interesting, and turbulent, time in American numismatics. A nationwide coin shortage was happening, along with the debate on removing silver from circulating coins and replacing it with another metal or metals. Also, mintmarks would not appear on 1965 coins.
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About the Author

Tim Shuck is a life-long Midwestern resident, and started collecting coins after finding an Indian Head cent on the ground at his childhood farm home. Additional encouragement came from looking through a collection of well-worn late 19th and early 20th century coins kept by his grandfather in an old leather coin purse. Current collecting interests include U.S. types from the Civil War era through the early 1930's, and Colonial and Early American coins.