News Feeds
Coin Collecting News
Coin News for June 25, 2010
Franklin Pierce $1 Coin Cover Available July 1
U.S. Mint
The United States Mint will begin accepting orders for the Franklin Pierce $1 Coin Cover at noon Eastern Time (ET) on July 1, 2010. The limited-edition coin cover, priced at $15.95, includes two circulating quality Franklin Pierce Presidential $1 Coins from the first day of mintage – March 8, 2010, for the United States Mint at Philadelphia, and March 1, 2010, for the United States Mint at Denver. The two coins are mounted on a handsome display card with a 44-cent postage stamp. The postmark of May 20, 2010, marks the day the circulating Franklin Pierce Presidential $1 Coins were first released to the public. Customers may order the Franklin Pierce $1 Coin Covers at the United States Mint’s secure Web site, http://www.usmint.gov/catalog, or at the toll-free number, 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).
[ Read Full Article]
Background On the 1792 ‘Roman Head’ Cent
Stack’s
Returning to Baltimore, our auction of the Slade Collection drew a lot of attention, with the cover coin, a beautiful Proof 1792 Washington “Roman Head” cent bringing a very strong $104,000 in great competition. This particular coin gives me the opportunity this week to recite what Katie Jaeger and I had to say about it when we wrote The 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens, published by Whitman in 2006. Going back a bit further, 40 or 50 years ago this particular coin did not attract much attention, nor did many other Washington, colonial, or early coins. It was listed in the Guide Book of United States Coins, to be sure, but most people collected only federal coins. It took knowledge and a bit of study to find out what the heck a 1792 Roman Head cent was, where it was a no-brainer to figure what to pay for a 1916-D Mercury dime or any other familiar coin.
[ Read Full Article]
The Fight Over Great Art … On Coins
Dave Harper
What’s the best way to improve coin designs? That is a logical question to ask in the wake of news that the Commission of Fine Arts and members of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee are dissatisfied with what they are seeing. Both CFA and CCAC take great pains to point out that they have no quarrel with the artists themselves. They would rather point the finger at Congress, current legal statutes and Mint processes. That might prove satisfying psychologically, but can it lead to anything productive? Is Congress likely to stop approving coins for pet causes or mandating detailed instructions for what a coin should look like? Not likely.
[ Read Full Article]
Build a Portfolio with Affordable Coins
Numismaster
What attracted me to coin collecting (and ultimately coin investing) some 50 years ago was the ease of entry. No forms to fill out. No disclosure. Just sift through your pocket change and transform money into MONEY – real money. Perhaps my story is typical, but in 1960 I used to check my pocket change for things that were unusual. I found a well-worn, circulated 1906 Indian head cent in my pocket change, probably from a comic book or baseball card purchase. That wasn’t unusual, because D.C. Comics charged 12¢ for a Superman comic, which meant tendering a dime and a nickel, with three cents change.
[ Read Full Article]
Kent Company Prototype Coin Boards Discovered
The E-Sylum
This first coin board was an oversize piece for collecting Lincoln Cents that Post devised at his home in 1934 and copyrighted in January of 1935. It was previously believed that none of this type were actually sold to customers, but the two examples which recently surfaced lack the copyright rubber stamping found on the Post Family specimen. It is thus likely that he did sell a few in or near his hometown of Neenah, Wisconsin and that these extremely rare boards remained within Wisconsin until surfacing in Milwaukee last April. All subsequent Kent Company boards are of the standard 11″ x 14″ size or very close to it, while this rare variety measures some 17″ tall.
[ Read Full Article]
Gold Coins the Focus of the U.S. Mint Report
Coin Update News
The latest report of the United States Mint’s numismatic product sales is available. With the price of gold reaching a fresh all time high earlier this week, gold coins are in focus. Also in this report, the 2010 Boy Scouts Silver Dollars finally attained sales equal to the maximum authorized mintage of 350,000 coins. Accordingly, the coins were put on waiting list status late last week. Sales of the 2010 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin have slowed to a moderate pace. With 2,054 coins sold in the prior week, the total sales have now reached 19,519 since the coins went on sale June 3. This continues to track lower than the sales figures for last year’s coin.
[ Read Full Article]
Related posts:
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.
