Coin Collecting News

The year 2008 will mark the Bicentenary of the War of Independence that brought Spain into combat with the forces of the First French Empire and triggered the uprising of May 2, 1808.

The Royal Spanish Mint has chosen to join in the celebration of this event of importance for Spain, which marked the beginning of a new historical cycle and produced a change in the previous political systems.

The five coins come blister-packed so as to wholly preserve the engraving and luster, and are presented in a deluxe jewel case together with the respective certificate of authenticity issued by the Royal Spanish Mint.

The coins may be acquired as single items, as a silver set comprising the Cincuentin and the three 8-real coins, or as the full set consisting of all five coins.

8-Escudos Gold  

The obverse features a reproduction of the oil painting “General José de Palafox on horseback” by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.

The reverse shows an adaptation of the engraving entitled “How brave!”, one of the most dramatic plates from Goya’s “Disasters of War” series, housed in the National Chalcography.

Cincuentín Silver

The obverse reproduces the oil painting entitled “May 3, 1808 in Madrid: the executions by firing squad on the mountain called Príncipe Pío “, painted by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.

The reverse depicts an adaptation from Goya’s oil painting “May 2, 1808 in Madrid: the battle with the Mamelukes”, housed in the Prado Museum. Continued

One of the two known 1861-P “Paquet Reverse” Double Eagles will be displayed during the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money® convention in Baltimore, July 30 – August 3, 2008. The famous coin’s previous owners include Baltimore banker Waldo Newcomer; former U.S. Treasury Secretary William Woodin; Egyptian King Farouk and Ambassador and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb.

The $20 denomination gold coin, graded NGC MS-67, is owned by Brian Hendelson, President of Classic Coin Co. of Bridgewater, New Jersey. It will be the centerpiece of a 150-coin date and mintmark display of Types I, II and III Liberty Head Double Eagles from 1850 to 1907 presented by Monaco Rare Coins of Newport Beach, California at booth 644 in the Baltimore Convention Center.

“With the Smithsonian displaying its 1860 specimen at the ANA convention, it’s the perfect time and place to exhibit the finest known 1861 Philadelphia Mint Paquet $20 gold piece. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many collectors to conveniently see both spectacular coins in one location in its former ‘home town,’ Baltimore,” said Hendelson.

The “Paquet Reverse” is a short-lived tail’s side design with slightly taller, slender lettering, and is named after United States Mint engraver, Anthony Paquet.

For additional information, contact Classic Coin Co., at (908)725-5600 or online at www.ClassicCoinCo.com.

(Tiburon, California) – Well-known numismatic firm, Kagin’s, Inc. (www.Kagins.com) of Tiburon, California, founded in 1933 by Arthur M. “Art” Kagin, will celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary during the upcoming American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money convention in Baltimore. A lucky visitor to the Kagin’s booth (#531) will be awarded a free half-ounce American Eagle platinum coin valued at over $1,300 in a random drawing, and all visitors can enjoy a slice from a huge anniversary cake while it lasts.

“This is our platinum anniversary, so it’s appropriate we give away a platinum coin to celebrate,” said Donald H. Kagin, Ph.D., son of the founder and a well-known numismatic researcher and dealer of pioneer gold and U. S. paper currency. Kagin, the first to receive both a Bachelor of Arts and Doctorate degree in numismatics has managed the company since 1988.

“At 75 years, I believe we are the second oldest family-owned rare coin dealership in the United States. The tradition continues with my sister, Judy, who can be seen at major currency shows, and my nephew, Jeremiah, who is taking an active role with the company,” said Kagin.

“Throughout the years, numismatics has not been just a business to us, but rather a passion and a way of life. We don’t just build collections, we build relationships.”

Company founder Art Kagin, widely known as the “Dean of American Numismatics,” passed away in 2005. He started collecting as a youth while selling newspapers and magazines when a woman gave him an 1883 “No Cents” Liberty Head nickel. Continued

The 2008 CNA Convention will take place this week starting on Thursday the 17th and running through Sunday the 21st.

The annual event will take place at the  Crowne Plaza Hotel 101 Lyon Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 5T9

Ian Bennett, Master of the Royal Canadian Mint will be attending the opening of the bourse at 10:00 on Friday morning. He will then remain at the Mint’s booth for a signature period, during which he will gladly sign the Mint’s centennial book, the Annual Report or any other item you may wish to bring or purchase locally. The Royal Canadian Mint will also be exhibiting its $1 Million Dollar Gold Coin.

The Canadian Numismatic Company has been appointed as the Official Convention Auctioneer for the 2008 Ottawa CNA Convention. Catalogues are available throught their website at: www.cpnum.qc.ca. The auctions will fgeature a wide range of rare and collectible Canadian coins and currency, and will be held in three sessions.

There is also an educational Symposium to be held on Thursday the 17th as follows:
9:30 – 10:30 The Canadian Numismatic Bibliography: by Paul Petch  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow…
10:30 – 11:30 Early tokens of a Town in East Kootenay by  Ron Greene
11:30 – 12:30 Collecting Newfoundland Decimals  by Phil Carrigan
1:30 – 2:30 Pritchard & Andrews, Ottawa Token by  Scott Douglas & Chris Faulkner
2:30 – 3:30 1859 Wide 9 Over 8 Cents  by Rob Turner
3:30 – 4:30 Recent Collector Coin Counterfeits by Henry Nienhuis
4:30 – 5:30 Commemorative Silver Dollars by Michael Turini  Continued

I had an interesting conversation with another coin dealer the other day. We were discussing what we are buying (and not buying) right now and he mentioned to me that, for the last few years, he has been primarily focused on buying only the key date coins in all series, even in such esoteric areas as Charlotte and Dahlonega gold.

Focusing on keys has been a great strategy in mainstream series such as Barber coins or Morgan dollars. Issues like the 1901-S quarter and the 1893-S dollar have clearly outperformed the rest of the market during the last six to nine years. This got me to thinking: is this performance also the same in the market areas in which I specialize? To determine this I decided to select a small group of key dates from each series and to then compare them with a “generic” date as a baseline. The results are interesting.

The first item I chose was the ever-popular 1861-D gold dollar. As a generic comparison, I selected an 1859-D gold dollar. The former is the key Type Three issue from this mint while the latter is one of the more common dates.

In June 2000 Heritage auctioned a PCGS AU55 example of the 1861-D gold dollar for $12,075. Today, a similarly graded 1861-D would probably fetch over $30,000. I think it’s a safe bet to say that this issue has at least doubled—if not tripled—in value since the beginning of the decade.

In comparison, an AU55 example of the 1859-D gold dollar in AU55 would bring around $3,750-4,000 at auction today. In looking back at auction records from the 2000-2002 era, I noted at least three AU55 coins selling for $3,000-3,300. The price growth of the 1859-D gold dollar has been marginal at best. This does not totally surprise me, given that the Dahlonega market is very collector-oriented and that this sort of market is generally skewed towards rare dates or “neat” specific coins.

(NOTE: An important factor that I am not going to delve deeply into here is gradeflation. Even though the 1859-D gold dollar in AU55 appears to have experienced little price growth in the last decade, it is likely that coins sold as AU55 in 2002 are, by today’s standards, at least AU58; if not better. Gradeflation is, for many more common coins, what has caused the greatest amount of price increases). Continued