Coin Collecting News

WASHINGTON -Bags and rolls of the first commemorative quarter-dollar coin of 2008-honoring Oklahoma-will be available beginning 12 noon (ET) on January 28, 2008, the United States Mint announced today. There is no order limit on these options.

The coins contained in the Oklahoma quarter bags and rolls were struck on the main production floors at the United States Mint facilities at Denver and Philadelphia for use in general circulation.

The Oklahoma quarter is the 46th coin in the United States Mint’s popular 50 State Quarters® Program. The coin’s reverse design features the State bird, the Scissortail Flycatcher. The bird is soaring above the State wildflower, the Indian Blanket, amid a field of similar wildflowers. Inscriptions on the reverse are “Oklahoma” and “1907.” Continued

By Dalya Alberge for the TimesOnline (UK)

Two “extremely important” gold coins that shed light on a little-known rebel Roman emperor from the 3rd century AD have been unearthed by a farmer in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire area. They relate to the Roman commander Carausius, who declared himself Emperor of Britain around 286 or 287 after the Emperor in Rome ordered his execution. He was overthrown in a coup d’état by his finance minister, Allectus, in 293.

The coins were handed in to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and moved to the British Museum. The scheme is facing a freeze in funding, despite recording more than 314,000 discoveries that have revealed many new archaeological sites. The farmer’s identity is not being revealed because archaeologists are to explore the site. See Source

DES Browne yesterday rejected attempts to get Scottish banknotes designated legal tender in England. The Liberal Democrats had appealed to the Scottish Secretary to change the law and reclassify Scottish notes, which are currently not officially legal tender anywhere in the United Kingdom.

They are accepted generally as payment but do not have the legal backing that Bank of England ones enjoy. The term legal tender is only used in contract law and provides protection in limited cases where debtors have paid debts using “legal tender”.

In every other way, the legal tender of a banknote does not affect its use. But the Lib Dems say there have been instances when traders in England have refused Scottish notes, claiming they were not “legal tender” and this could not happen if the notes were given the same legal backing as Bank of England ones. Read Full Story

By Susan Headley, About.com:Coins

The U.S. Mint offers a bewildering variety of coin sets each year, ranging from the old stand-by’s such as Proof sets and Uncirculated (year) sets, to the special commemorative sets and coins that have limited mintages. Learn which ones typically skyrocket in value right away, and which ones are usually the duds.

A. The answer, in a nutshell, is the limited mintage sets that have a unique coin in them that cannot be gotten in any other way are the sets that make the smartest buys. For example, the Twentieth Anniversary Silver Eagle 3-Coin Set that came out in late 2006 had a coin that could only be acquired as part of the set - the Reverse Proof Silver Eagle. This set had a mintage of 250,000 maximum sets, and the Reverse Proof immediately doubled the set’s value. As of January 2008, the set sells for around $400 in PR-68 (a low-end grade for the set.) The issue price was only $100. Read Full Article