Coin News for February 24, 2010

By Tim Shuck on Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Filed Under: Coin News Daily

Stack’s to Offer an 1835 LM-12 Half Dime at Baltimore
JR Newsletter
Jim Matthews of Stack’s announced that in June of this year Stack’s will offer an 1835 LM-12 half dime at auction. Jim described the coin as VF-30, cleaned, but more or less average for a circulated 1835 half dime. He hopes to be able to send scans of the coin so that they can be posted here. The auction will be Stack’s June Baltimore auction. This is huge news, since there were only two known examples of the 1835 LM-12 half dime prior to discovery of this piece. No doubt the coin will attract some healthy attention at the Stack’s auction. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
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Seer’s Forecasts for 2010 Continue Tradition
Numismatic News
Historically, I’ve spent a lot of time in the “seer business” when it comes to market analysis. I never shrank from predicting the price of gold, silver or platinum with varied degrees of success. (When I have been wrong, it’s a doozy – or an inability to read through the gazing globe. This is particularly true of my famous annual predictions for the 1881-S silver dollar in MS-65 condition, something I view as a bellwether of the marketplace as a whole. Perhaps my inaccuracy has something to do with the fact that grading remains, after all these years, a moving target.
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Jerualem-Born Omer Arbel, Designer of Olympic Medals
The Jerusalem Post
Many months before any athletic competition was held at the 2010 winter games, another contest was held to determine which artist would design the 882 medals give to the victors. The winner was Jerusalem-born designer Omer Arbel. “It’s a great honor,” Arbel told The Jerusalem Post. “It’s something I don’t think will even happen again in my life.” Arbel, an architect and industrial designer, sought to convey the great honor of winning an Olympic medal through his design proposal, submitted nearly two years ago.
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U.S. Dollars? Why Not Texas Cow Chips?
Bankrate.com
I propose that each state establish a unique coin of the realm, minted from its natural resources, to be used for all debts public and private within its borders. It would be good for jobs, fun for tourism and provide fiscal doomsayers with the pillow mint they need before bedtime. Let’s take Pennsylvania. What better coin of the realm than scrapple, that indescribably unappetizing but durable foodstuff made from cornmeal and scraps of pork? Wouldn’t it be fun to slap down a side of scrapple to pay your utility bill? And how easy would it be to make change?
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U.S. Mint Price Increase
Mint News Blog
Tomorrow around mid-morning, the prices for the US Mint’s numismatic gold coins will likely be raised. Under the US Mint’s pricing policy, the prices for numismatic gold and platinum coins may be adjusted once per week in response to changing precious metals prices. The Mint calculates the average price of gold based on the London Fix prices from Thursday AM of the prior week to Wednesday AM of the current week.
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Journey Through West Virginia Comes to End
Numismaster
We decided to go inside Chuck’s Store and see if we could see the old vault. The store itself offered such local delicacies as “pig innards pie” and the like. Inside, we found Chuck and explained our quest. He was quite proud of the bank and the town, and took us way in the back, behind the modern plywood and sheetrock walls. There, among the clutter, we found ourselves among the old teller cages and the vault. It was quite impressive. When we asked about the old bank notes, he fished out his prize—a small-size $10 note issued by the bank. “I finally managed to buy it off one of the old timers,” he told us proudly, “and I haven’t seen any others.” He told us he had paid a good price for it, “more than $500,” and no, he didn’t want to sell. As I had a large note already, I really wasn’t looking to buy, but I was pleased to see a local person willing to put out some hard earned money to buy a piece of local history.
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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.