Congressional Gold Medal of Honor

The first award is the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor - more commonly known as the Congressional Gold Medal - the nation’s highest and most distinguished civilian award. First awarded in 1776 to General George Washington, there have been over one hundred medals awarded. There have been two two-time winners - Major General Winfield Scott (1814, 1848) and John Horn, Jr (1874, 1904). Major General Zachary Taylor was awarded this special distinction three times: in 1846, 1847, and 1848.The medal has been awarded to individuals and groups from all walks of life.

It was originally awarded to military leaders for achievement in battle, but became a civilian medal after the Medal of Honor was instituted. The medal is presented both for singular acts of exceptional service and for lifetime achievement. Congressional legislation is required to make the medal, and needs at least two-thirds of the House of Representatives to sponsor the legislation to the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy, Technology, and Economic Growth and 67 Senators to sponsor it to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Once the legislation is past, the Congress commissions the U.S Mint to design and create the medal. This ensures that each medal is unique, representing each individual and/or event that it has been awarded for. The legislation provides for duplicate copies of the medal to be cast in bronze for sale, on occasion. (more…)

Gold has always held a special allure and fascination in peoples minds. Perhaps it is the color, weight, or the fact that over time it has come to symbolize an elemental resource for value and wealth. Whatever the reason, I wanted to see if there were any estimates as to the total amount of gold we humans have laid out hands on.

After a small bit of research on the World Gold Council website, I saw an estimate which pegged the total amount of mined gold from ancient times to the present, calculated at 158,000 tonnes.

A big number but one that is a bit hard to get your mind around. What does on tonne of gold look like. Lets do a little math.

If the estimates are correct and there has  been 158,000 tones of gold recovered from “Mother Earth” (assuming 24 K purity) then that would translate into 5,079,817,925 troy oz. of the precious metal. However unless you are Bill Gates or one of the other billionaires on the planet, I still have a hard time grasping what over 5 billion ounces of gold would look like. Back to the calculator.

If a cubic centimeter of 24K gold equals 19.3 grams, then a cubic meter of gold would weight 19.3 tonnes. Likewise all the gold ever mined would amount to 8,187 cubic meters. That still doesn’t mean anything to me.

I have to put that into perspective and visualize what that much gold would look like. So , if all the gold in the world would fit into a 20.15 meter cube, or 66 feet 1.3 inches square,  that would kind of  be the size of a small office building.  Now that I can understand.

Coin Collecting software should be for the study of coins, not the study of software manuals. It should be a tool that enhances your enjoyment of your collection rather than forcing you through the drudgery of endless data entry. It should help your collection “Come alive” as it immerses you into a world of imagery and information. It should instill a feeling that this coin in your hand is a piece of history, not just a chunk of metal to be catalogued.

Exact Change is based on a vision that is far beyond anything that coin collecting software has ever attempted before. Whether you collect a single type of U.S. coinage, or you collect coins from around the world, Exact Change provides you with the tools you need to accurately track and enjoy your collection. There are no add-ons or accessories to purchase; Exact Change includes everything you need no mater what type of coins you collect. We don’t track bean-bag dolls or beer cans; we are a group of professional programmers with a life-long commitment to numismatics. (more…)

The Coin Collector’s Assistant is a comprehensive program for managing a coin collection. Suitable for both novice and experienced collectors with an easy-to-use interface. The Coin Collector’s Assistant contains a complete United States coin database with comprehensive listings by date and mint mark of all coinage minted by the United States Mint including all US circulating coinage, pre-1954 and modern commemoratives, bullion coins, and sets. Also included are Hawaiian and Colonial coinage. The version with values contains current coin values, provided by Coin World, a recognized leader in numismatics. It is fully featured coin inventory software. Carlisle Development offers a full line of coin software products which will enhance your collecting experience. (more…)

Trove Software has served the coin collecting industry for over 18 years by providing the finest in coin inventory software for Collectors. The facts speak for themselves:

1. Rated #1 in every magazine review since 1988 for ease of use, completeness and tech support
2. Advertised in every coin magazine since 1989
3. Offers day time professionals via phone, fax and email for tech support. Appointments also made in the evenings and weekends if needed.
4. Market Value Updates available twice a year (Jan. and July); Optional
5. Program upgrades every year(optional). COIN ELITE version 13.95 with 2007 values and coins now shipping. Available for Windows Vista, XP, ME, 2000, 98/95, NT.

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Save countless hours of dull data entry by selecting from our  comprehensive database of coins from the USA, UK & Canada.

How Much is Your Collection Worth? Find out now with our accurate & up-to-date values for more grades than ever before.  Our coin database includes full variety & mintage information as well as direct links to relevant coin collecting web-sites. 

• CoinManage ships with numerous useful reports and includes a fully integrated report designer.  Create reports, labels, charts and print or export to a variety of formats, including PDF, Excel and HTML. 
• New! Keep your data safe with our new fully-automated backup feature.  You can also password protect your data.
• New! Stay up to date with our automated program update feature.  You will be able to instantly download and install the latest CoinManage program updates, values and reports.

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Coin Software Overview
Coin Organizer Deluxe is a Windows software for coin collectors, hobbyists, dealers, and clubs. The software helps you to organize, catalog, and manage all coin related data. For the database novice, Coin Organizer’s intuitive interface and ready-to-use coin inventory solutions make it easy to set up and use.

• Modern Coins: organize and maintain modern coin collections.
• Ancient Coins: organize and maintain ancient coin collections.
• Medieval Coins: organize and maintain medieval to modern coin collections.
• Coin Web Resources: organize web coin resources.
• Coin Contacts: organize coin related contacts.
• Build Coin Glossaries: create dictionary of coin terms. (more…)