Coin Collecting News

Stephen L. Goldsmith has formed a new numismatic company called American Paper Money & Coin, LLC. He served as auction director and later executive vice president at Smythe from 1985 through his resignation in August 2007.

“My wide range of responsibilities at Smythe prevented me from working with clients on a close and personal level, and that’s exactly what I do best,” Goldsmith said. “I feel strongly that American Paper Money & Coin, LLC, can focus in on fewer clients, and I will be able to provide them with the highest possible level of service.” Read Full Story

Loveland resident Daniel Carr’s work is exceptionally beautiful. A designer of collectible coins, he’s the man behind the official New York and Rhode Island state quarter designs for the United States.

Sadly, some people are taking Carr’s entire oeuvre a bit too seriously. They should not.

Not long ago, Carr, who also casts funny and gimmicky coins, came up with a bright idea. He fashioned a collectible coin based on an imaginary currency called the “amero” - a mix of “America” and “dinero.” It is something analogous to the European euro. Analogous but fake. Carr’s denominations range from 20 to 1,000.

The fact that this currency doesn’t, you know, actually exist hasn’t stopped a crush of orders from coming in or paranoia from erupting. Read Full Story

A major exhibit on “Numismatics in the Renaissance” will be on view in the main exhibit gallery of the Firestone Library of Princeton University from November 9, 2007, through July 20, 2008. The exhibit will include rare fifteenth and sixteenth century books from the Princeton collection that discuss and illustrate ancient coins and a display of some of the treasures of the University’s numismatic collection, featuring gold, silver and bronze coins of Greece and Rome as well as coins and medals of the Renaissance that were inspired by them. The exhibit will also include manuscripts and prints and drawings from Princeton University collections and a print of Pirro Ligorio’s monumental map of ancient Rome, made in 1561.

While ancient coins were found throughout the Mediterranean region in the millennium following the end of the Roman Empire, it was only in Renaissance Europe that they began to be systematically studied and were reproduced in the earliest printed books to carry engraved illustrations. The Princeton collection is particularly rich in these impressive examples of early printing, ranging from the 1517 edition of Andrea Fulvio’s Images of the Illustrious with its highly decorated settings of each coin image, through Hubert Goltzius’s large-scale chiaroscuro reproductions of imperial portraits of the 1550s, to Antonio Augustín’s systematic classification of ancient coinage and guidelines for detecting counterfeits from the end of the sixteenth century. Continued

Can a dollar be as cool as a quarter?

The upcoming holiday shopping season will determine whether new $1 presidential coins will catch fire with the collecting public the way state quarters have for the past nine years. So far, so good.

“Our customers are already collecting for Christmas,” says Sylvia Penn, head teller at the Comerica Bank on Mack Avenue on Detroit’s east side. “They especially want John Adams real bad. Right now I don’t think I have any. People keep asking, ‘Can you get them? Please, can you get them?’ ”

Next year, the last of the 50 state quarters will roll off the U.S. Mint production line. Since 1999, 140 million Americans have been rummaging through loose change to find and collect quarters that represent every state. Next year’s Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii quarters will be last in the series. It costs the mint just 5 cents to manufacture a state quarter, so it makes 20 cents off every one.   Read Full Story

Whew! What a show. We are embarrased to call ourselves partners. Jon Lerner deserves 100%++ of the credit for making it a rare show where BOTH dealers and collectors loved it. He really busted his rear for the past few weeks working endless hours to make COINFEST successful. You can tell his heart totally was in it. Congrats Jon! An additional thanks to everyone who donated their time and energies to help make the show work. And of course, thanks to the collecting public for coming by.

Dealer set up was very good. Attittudes were upbeat. We were still hearing the same old broken record: it’s impossible to find any neat coins for sale. For us, even with a limited number of larger dealers in attendance, we outsold a few bigger more established shows we’ve attened this year. We got lucky and had first shot from two of our best long time suppliers who actually had a few coins! Can’t say we spent six figures, but we actually had a small pile of NEWPS in our back case.  Read Full Report