More News at a Glance – September 1, 2010

By CoinLink on Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Filed Under: Coin News Daily

Owning 1946-S Quarter Could Pay Off
Numismatic News
It’s been the basic history of the Washington quarter to be overlooked. The two exceptions were the 1932-D and 1932-S, which was natural as they had mintages of 436,800 and 408,000, respectively. No other date was even below 1.5 million pieces, so the assumption of collectors of the day was that all other dates were available fairly easily to anyone who wanted one.
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Widely Advertised ‘Rare’ Coins No Way to Cash in on Collectibles
Boston Herald
People have visions of finding treasure or cashing in on a rarity when they hear about secret stashes of valuables. But the hordes of collectible coins that have been advertised on television and radio recently are not your chance to cash in. Chances are that recent buyers will not be able to get a price anywhere near what they paid in the first place for these purported “treasures.” No one can really say if the number of gold and silver coin hoards has really gone up over the last few years or if it’s simply the advertising of them that has taken off.
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2010 Silver Proof Set Debuts at 241,656
Coin Update News
This week’s report of the United States Mint’s numismatic product sales includes the opening figures for the 2010 Silver Proof Set. Other points of interest include a jump in sales for previously available annual sets and the one ounce proof 2010 Gold Buffalo.Sales of the 2010 Silver Proof Set began at the US Mint on August 26, 2010. The 14 coin set includes seven coins struck in 90% silver with the remaining coins struck in standard compositions.
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Dollar Rede$ign Project Update
The E-Sylum
We’ve been following the Dollar ReDe$ign Project, an unofficial privately-sponsored contest inviting artists to contribute their ideas for new designs for U.S. paper money. There have been a number of interesting and creative designs submitted. See the link below to view them and vote for your favorites. The deadline has been extended to September 30, 2010. A recent entry has sparked a lot of political debate. I didn’t publish the design last week, but I can’t resist now that the submitters have been called “a bunch of tea-drinking fancy pants Limeys.”
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Special Report: How to Buy Silver
Money Morning
Although gold possesses the greatest allure of precious metals, silver has a longstanding tradition in many cultures – a tradition that in some cases reaches back thousands of years. Nearly 2,500 years ago, for instance, China was the first to use silver as money. Here in the United States, silver alloys were still present in some of our everyday coins as recently as 40 years ago. Today, however, silver is no longer viewed that much as a monetary metal.
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Counterfeit Detection: 1942/1 Mercury Dime
NGC
Readers of this column are aware that numismatics is currently suffering from a new blight of counterfeit coins. This scourge began a bit more than five years ago, and over time the counterfeiters have become progressively more deceptive in their methods and with their capabilities. Today’s collectors are educating themselves about fakes and are certainly “on guard” when making purchases. That fact serves as one of the primary motivations of this monthly column.
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