Coin Collecting News

Asterix and Obelix, had they existed, might have paid for their mead and other magic potions with gold-silver-copper coins stamped with elaborate images of men and horses.

The largest treasure trove of pre-Roman, Gaulish money ever to be found has been discovered in central Brittany.

The 545 coins – each worth thousands of euros to collectors but priceless to historians and archaeologists – could overturn much of the received wisdom about the complexity, and wealth, of pre-Roman Celtic society in France. Why was such enormous wealth, a king’s ransom at the time, buried in the grounds of a large Gaulish farm 40 miles south of Saint-Brieuc in the first century BC? Why was the hoard never recovered? Continued

Christmas seems to have come early for the District of Columbia.

Yesterday we reported that a congressional ban on needle-exchange programs was finally lifted and that we were getting our D.C. postmark back. Today we find out that the District will join the other 50 states and get its own quarter.

Buried in a larger article in the Post on a $515.7 billion spending bill that allocates funds for the District, the announcement was made with almost no fanfare:

The legislation provides hundreds of millions of dollars for the District. It includes the annual federal payment for D.C. courts, almost $224 million, as well as almost $48 million for defender services in family courts, according to a statement from Norton. It makes available $190 million to assist former prison inmates returning home to the city. It also includes millions for schools, sewers, libraries and a new forensics lab, among other projects… The bill also will establish a quarter with an image representing the District, similar to coins commemorating the 50 states. Read Full Article

There’s no fancy way to say it: Gold investors made a killing in 2007. Year-to-date, gold’s spot price is up 25%.

For some better perspective, consider the year-to-date gains of the three major U.S. stock indices: The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (6.17%), the tech-laden NASDAQ Composite Index (7.48%), and the broad-based Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (2.59%). Gold eclipsed them all.

Gold hasn’t punched out the broad equity-indices like this since the late 1970s - a period still remembered reverently by gold bugs and institutional investors alike, when the “yellow metal” surged to record highs during an inflation-fueled economic malaise.

“The best one can say is that in the past several years gold’s been going from the bottom left of the screen to the top right,” said Dennis Gartman, editor of the daily investment newsletter, the Gartman Letter. Read Full Story

Manhattan, New York - December 18, 2007 - On Dec. 12 -13, the R.M. Smythe & Co. auction of part 13 of the The Schingoethe collection of obsolete currency generated a great deal of interest from bidders. 94% of the 1162 lots offered were sold totaling $450,000 in sales. Many of the more unique and rare items far surpassed their pre-auction estimates, perhaps signaling a significant upsurge in interest for obsolete currency.

Of particular note was a $10 bill issued by the Merchants & Planters Bank of Tallahassee Florida Ca. 1830s-40s. (FL-70 G10). The bill pictured; a man plowing, top; 10s in geometric die counters, top left and right; Mercury bears cornucopia with coins, Juno Moneta seated, left; Washington in classical garb, right. RWH. VG, crease, toning. The pre-auction estimate was $150 to $250. The realized price was $3450, including the buyers commission. The $10 Tallahassee note, was not an anomaly. There were many other lots that far exceeded their pre auction estimates. These included: Continued