Apr 6, 2018 | coin design, coins, commentary
A 1979-D Susan B Anthony dollar found in change that was mistaken for a quarter.
This week, I was involved in a real-life example of this confusion.
While getting ready to retire for the evening, I empty my pockets on my dresser and look to see if there is anything interesting. Since my only trip of the day was a local grocery store, I did not expect anything. As I looked at what I thought was 78-cents something did not look right. As it turned out, one of the quarters was not a quarter.
Mixed in with the change from my single transaction of the day was a 1979-D Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. Not only did the cashier make the mistake, but when I accepted the change I did not catch the difference.
A real-life example as to the reason why the Susie B. was not a successful coin!
Apr 3, 2018 | advice, currency, education, web
Last week, I posted an article about online resources that I use when I want to begin research on a numismatic topic. The list provided a number of resources but a reader wrote to me and noted that I forgot to include paper money resources beyond the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Paper Money Sources
When it comes to searching for information on paper money, I always start at one of the following three sites:
The opening line at USPaperMoney.Info says that it is the “home of everything you ever wanted to know about U.S. currency. (Well, almost….)” This is truth in advertising. Even with the page of unanswered questions, the site has everything you could ever want to know about U.S. currency. I just wish the author would organize the site better.
Don and Vic’s World Banknote Gallery is one of those sites that looks like it was created by a seventh grader in 1998 but has a tremendous amount of very useful information. It is one of the best sites I have found to identify world banknotes.
They have a companion site named World Coin Gallery that is similar. I have used this site and have added it to the original bookmarks file. If you downloaded the original bookmarks then right-click (Control-click for Mac users) and select the option to add worldcoingallery.com to your bookmarks.
Last, but definitely not least, is Banknote News by Owen Linzmayer. If you want to know anything about the production of world paper money, this is the site you need to read. In addition to the information, which a lot of it is in blog form and consistently tagged for easy navigation, Linzmayer has also compiled one of the best references on world paper money called The Banknote Book. He said he did this because he and other collectors were frustrated with the “many errors, omissions, and poor-quality images” in the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money.
The Banknote Book can be purchased as a physical book as a three-volume set complete through 2014 or you can buy individual chapters corresponding to the country of your interest.
If you want to check it out for yourself, download 17 Free Sample Chapters and judge for yourself.
Currency Bookmarks
Do you want to add these links to your browser’s bookmarks? Right-click (or Mac users can CTRL-Click) on the following button and select whatever option your browser requires to save the file to hard drive. Import the file as an “HTML Bookmark” file to add these links to your bookmarks.
Apr 2, 2018 | coins, commentary, legislative
While Congress delves into the abyss of their usual folly, the numismatic industry went almost hysterical at the bill introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to create yet another quarters series to begin in 2021.
Not considering the topic, there is a fatigue over changing quarter designs. The 50 State Quarter Series was a success while economic times were good and the states were taking their responsibility for designing the quarters serious. Some states really missed out on good design and good choices that there are some quarters that should be melted and spared from our change.
And while there have been wonderful designs for the America the Beautiful quarters, the response has been anywhere from underwhelming to non-existent. Few people know the series exists and when it is pointed out to them there is a collective shrug of acknowledgment.
The other problem goes to the mouth-breathing aspect of the coverage in that the bill was just introduced into the House of Representatives, it is not the law. It is a long way from a bill being a law. If you forgot the process you can always rewatch the old Schoolhouse Rock video I’m Just a Bill.
For the record, I have no problem with honoring the Nineteenth Amendment and the women who made it possible. I would also have no problem with a coin program honoring the Fourteenth Amendment and the people involved in Civil Rights. This country can use a dose of education and if it can be done using coinage, then maybe I might reconsider my stance on the ever-changing coin designs.
At least David Ryder’s nomination was confirmed!
PN1355: David J. Ryder — Department of the Treasury
Date Received from President: January 8, 2018
Summary: David J. Ryder, of New Jersey, to be Director of the Mint for a term of five years, vice Edmund C. Moy, resigned.
Received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. — Jan 8, 2018
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported favorably. — Jan 17, 2018
Reported by Senator Crapo, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, without printed report. — Jan 17, 2018
Placed on Senate Executive Calendar. Calendar No. 596. Subject to nominee’s commitment to respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate. — Jan 17, 2018
Considered by Senate. — Mar 21, 2018
Confirmed by the Senate by Voice Vote. — Mar 21, 2018
H.R. 5308: Women’s History and Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Quarter Dollar Coin Program Act
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. — Mar 15, 2018
Apr 1, 2018 | coins, foreign
Philippines Rep. Jericho Nograles holds newly release BSP coins noting they “are misleading the public and are causing a lot of confusion.” (Miguel de Guzman of the Philippines Star.)
For those who did not have the pleasure of accidentally spending the dollar coin as a quarter, the Susie B. was too close to the size to the Washington quarter, had reeded edges like the Washington quarter, and on a simple glance was consistently confused with the Washington quarter. The confusion made the coin very unpopular in the United States even though it continues to find usage in other countries whose currency is based on the U.S. dollar.
In the Philippines, the BSP made the mistake of making the one-peso and five-peso coins very similar in size, look, and feel. It is so bad that a member of the Philippines Congress is urging the BSP to recall the coins.
“Basic design principles for coinage demand that the denominations are easy to distinguish not just visually, but also through touch or tactile differences,” said Rep. Jericho Nograles. “Our new coins fail in these principles.”
The story almost reads like discussions others have had with coin design issues when Nograles asks, “Did the BSP consider jeepney, pedicab, tricycle and taxi drivers? Did they consider the visually impaired, and senior citizens, at all?”
They likely did not and will have to be dragged into reality kicking and screaming like the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had to be over the same issues.
And now the news…
March 25, 2018
You may want to check your pockets to look for one of the most elusive Korean coins there is — the 1998 500 won coin. Though the odds of you finding one of these coins is almost nil, you never know when you might just hit the jackpot — stranger things have happened. 
→ Read more at korea.stripes.com
March 26, 2018
A hoard of rare bronze Jewish Revolt coins has been discovered at the recently renewed Ophel excavations. The trove of dozens of bronze coins minted during the last years of the ill-fated four-year rebellion of the Jews against Roman rule was uncovered in a cave just south of the Temple Mount by Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. → Read more at timesofisrael.com
March 27, 2018
KUMAGAYA, Saitama Prefecture — One of the biggest hauls of medieval coins ever discovered in Japan has been unearthed in Saitama Prefecture. Tens of thousands of bronze coins were found in a buried ceramic jar believed to date back to the first half of the 15th century. → Read more at asahi.com
March 28, 2018
MANILA, Philippines — Rep. Jericho Nograles of party-list group Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta yesterday urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to immediately recall all its newly released coins due to “serious design flaws.” → Read more at philstar.com
March 28, 2018
The first coins to be issued marking the reign of King Rama X will be put into circulation on April 6, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said on Wednesday. The new coins would replace existing coins, which were exiting the economy. → Read more at bangkokpost.com
March 28, 2018
The decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to introduce a new series of coins was meant to deter foreign entities from stealing large quantities of the local specie to extract their nickel content. → Read more at business.inquirer.net
March 29, 2018
The Queen carries out the Royal Maundy service at Windsor Castle without the Duke of Edinburgh. → Read more at bbc.com
March 30, 2018
Three new glow-in-the-dark starship coins are coming soon, courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint. → Read more at trektoday.com
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