I have said that I do not like painted coins then I admit to buying painted coins.
So far, I have stayed away from strictly screen printed and lenticular printed coins but I have lauded some painted coins and added them to my collection.
If there is something that I prefer over everything else is a coin whose design is based on the engraving. For that reason, I have complemented and purchased $20 for $20 coins from the Royal Canadian Mint. Their $20 for $20 program produces .9999 pure silver coins sold with the face value of $20 (in Canadian funds). They are available directly from the RCM to Canadian and United States buyers only.
Last year, I purchased the Bugs Bunny and the Superman “Man of Steel” coins directly from the Royal Canadian Mint. My final price was $16.46 each in U.S. dollars after the exchange rate and the credit card company’s conversion fee. Sure these are gimmick coins, but I like the themes.
This year, the RCM has issued a Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $20 for $20 coin. With a mintage of 300,000 coins, numismatists who are also fans of the movie can add this silver coin to their collection. Based on the image, it appears that Superman is overpowering Batman.
Looking at the coin’s aesthetics, it is a good looking coin. The artists at the RCM are very capable and have come up with really nice designs. While the concept of the $20 for $20 (US$15.14 as I type this) may be somewhat of a gimmick for a coin with 7.96 grams of silver ($3.90 when silver is $15.32 per ounce), the design is engraved art struck into a silver planchet that is affordable for many collectors.
I have not had the opportunity to see the movie. I do enjoy comics and comic-related stories, but I am not a hardcore fan. I like both characters and have always been a fan of Wonder Woman now played by Gal Godot. But the coin intrigues me. I might buy the coin before seeing the movie!
Like any good movie, here is the “trailer” the Royal Canadian Mint produced for the coin:
While looking at my timeline on Twitter, I found a tweet from what could be classified as the public relations office of Banco de México (Bank of Mexico), the Mexican central bank. Although my Spanish is barely above what I remembered from two semesters as an undergrad, I know enough that if I had any question to call up Google Translate for a fairly good translation.
This one was pretty easy and I understood it before asking for help. It asks “Do you know how banknotes are made in Mexico?” Looking at the question, I shrugged and thought they were made the same way they were made in the United States. While that is pretty much the case, seeing the process from another country’s perspective, especially a neighbor, could be interesting.
While the tweet was easy, the video is all in Spanish which really tested my translation skills. After I figured out that the first part talked about the early history of Mexican money and how it was initially produced by the American Banknote Company, I stopped thinking about the translation and just watched. I picked up a few things in context and liked the presentation. I like the scenes where they test the durability of the banknotes. I do not know if the Bureau of Engraving and Printing does that, but it is an interesting concept!
See the video for yourself:
UPDATE
Thanks to Coin Collectors Blog reader Rombat Stephan, he found that the Bank of Mexico published an English version of the video on YouTube:
The Royal Mint, an institution that can trace its history back over 1100 years, has produced a video describing their striking standards for bullion coins. The video titled “What is the difference between Proof, Brilliant Uncirculated and Bullion coins?” interviews some of the people on the multi-step journey to create the dies and strikes for different bullion coins.
As part of the article and video they discuss the differences between the three types of uncirculated commemorative coin finish: Proof, Brilliant Uncirculated, and Bullion. For the Royal Mint, proof are the highest standards followed by brilliant uncirculated then bullion.
While this may be intuitive to experienced collectors, novice and new collectors may be confused by the difference. The Royal Mint does a very good job at explaining the difference in a short, well produced video. It should be interesting to the beginning and expert collector to see how another mint does their work.
American Numismatic Association Executive Director Kim Kiick announced the official election results. Since the president and vice president ran unopposed, these offices are as follows:
President:
Jeff Garrett (Lexington, KY)
Vice President:
Gary Adkins (Minneapolis, MN)
For the Board of Governors, there were four incumbents running who were re-elected. Of the three other seats vacated by Gary Adkins (who became Vice President), Scott Rottinghaus, Jeff Swindling and Laura Sperber (who did not seek re-election), one is making a return to the Board of Governors, the current president rejoins the Board, and the board adds one new member. The ANA Board of Governors is as follows:
Board of Governors:
Col. Steve Ellsworth, Ret. (Clifton, VA) – 3,705 votes
Dr. Donald H. Kagin (Tiburon, CA) – 3,451 votes
Walter Ostromecki Jr. (Encino, CA) – 3,319 votes
Dr. Ralph Ross (Sugar Land, TX) – 3,222 votes
Greg Lyon (St. Louis, MO) – 2,982 votes
Thomas A. Mulvaney (Lexington, KY) – 2,746 votes
Paul Montgomery (Oklahoma City, OK) – 2,407 votes
The candidates that were not elected are as follows:
Brian Hendelson (Bridgewater, NJ) – 2,221 votes
Christopher Marchase (Colorado Springs, CO) – 2,006 votes
Oded Paz (Arco, ID) – 1,950 votes
Richard Jozefiak (Madison, AL) – 1,872 votes
Steve D’Ippolito (Peyton, CO) – 1,844 votes
In the event that any of the new board members cannot serve, the next-highest vote-getter will fill that seat for the rest of the two-year term.
The new board members will be sworn-in at the annual ANA Banquet on Friday, Aug. 14, at the World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Ill. Garrett will become the Association’s 59th president, succeeding current President Walter Ostromecki.
COMMENTARY: All men and only one minority. No wonder hobby participation is shrinking. Only the investors and speculators are fueling the top end. Sure, there may be some kids, but there is no outreach to girls and minorities making it appear that the hobby is not welcoming. I hope this is something that can be addressed sooner rather than later!
Finally, if you want to see the announcement, you can watch it here:
Last week, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing announced that the Federal Reserve had ordered the printing of 7.2 million Federal Reserve Notes for Fiscal Year 2015. This represents over $188 billion in currency.
According to the Federal Reserve, the number of notes they order depends on the predicted growth in demand and the predicted number of notes that have to be destroyed because they are not usable any more. Both growth and demand are predicted to include world-wide usage of the United States Federal Reserve Note as it is the standard currency for many transaction. In addition to the demand and destruction is the predicted replacement of the old $100 Federal Reserve Note with the new note that has more advanced currency features. While the Federal Reserve will not recall the old $100 notes, they are removing them from circulation as they arrive back into the Federal Reserve system.
The following table is how the Federal Reserve says they broke down their order for 2015:
Denomination
Number of Notes
Dollar Value
$1
2,451,200,000
$2,451,200,000
$2
32,000,000
$64,000,000
$5
755,200,000
$3,776,000,000
$10
627,200,000
$6,272,000,000
$20
1,868,800,000
$37,376,000,000
$50
220,800,000
$11,040,000,000
$100
1,276,800,000
$127,680,000,000
Total
7,232,000,000
$188,659,200,000
Included with the order are the notes that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will sell to collectors. These are the same notes that collectors can purchase online at moneyfactorystore.gov and when the Bureau of Engraving and Printing attends shows.
As part of the announcement, the Federal Reserve released a video explaining how they decide the amount of currency to order.
After a few years of playing with the look-and-feel of their website, the U.S. Mint is in the process of redesigning and reprogramming their online catalog.
Face it, the U.S. Mint has not been the paragon of customer service. Their website and fulfillment process has been severely lacking. There were times when the site would crash after releasing high demand products including the limited edition American Eagle anniversary coins. Other than the re-skinning of the site, the U.S. Mint web presence has been a disaster.
Beginning in fiscal year 2014 (October 2013), the U.S. Mint awarded a contract to PFSweb to streamline fulfillment and re-design the web-based catalog and ordering service. The new website is due to be released at the beginning of fiscal year 2015 (October 2014). However, the impact of PFSweb has been felt with the better processing of online and telephone orders.
On September 9, the U.S. Mint released a video giving a preview of the new website. It maintains the color scheme the U.S. Mint has been using while adding flatter elements that have become the in-style of today’s website. According to the video, there will be a virtual tour coming soon. I will keep an eye out for that announcement.
For those who do not collect currency, the note-position identifier is the little letter followed by a number that identifies where on the sheet the note was printed. On the $1 FRN, the note position identifier is on the left side of the front of the note under the “1” and next to the Federal Reserve branch number.
Change in the Note Position Identifier
On the new 50 note sheets, the note-position identifier will feature a code with both the letter and number the same size. The only way to determine whether the note was printed on a 32-unit sheet or a 50-unit sheet is by looking at the note-position identifier.
As part of this change, the BEP is also changing the position identifier code mechanism. On the 32 note sheets, the notes printed four-across and eight-down were divided into four eight-note blocks (or quadrants). Each block was given a number in columns where the top-left quadrant was #1, the bottom left was #2, top-right was #3, and bottom-right was #4. Within the quadrants, the note positions were lettered A-D in the first column and E-H in the second column. If you found a note with the note-position code of H3, the note would have been printed in the fourth row and fourth column of the sheet.
The new 50 note sheets simplifies the note-position numbering by assigning a letter to each of the 10 rows (A-J) and a number to each of the five columns. On this sheet, H3 would now be located on the eighth row and third column.
Position Identification layout of 32-note sheet
A1
E1
A3
E3
B1
F1
B3
F3
C1
G1
C3
G3
D1
H1
D3
H3
A2
E2
A4
E4
B2
F2
B4
F4
C2
G2
C4
G4
D2
H2
D4
H4
Position Identification layout of 50-note sheet
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
I1
I2
I3
I4
I5
J1
J2
J3
J4
J5
BEP has begun to deliver the new notes to the Federal Reserve currency distribution operations in all 12 Federal Reserve district branches. These new notes will enter circulation as per the policies of each branch. BEP has not said whether they will sell the 50-note sheets as part of their uncut currency products.
The $1 FRN is the first note to be printed on 50-note sheets. Over time, the BEP will transition the printing of other notes to 50-note sheets with the only design change being the subtle change in the note-position identifier.
As part of this change, the Federal Reserve created a video explaining the changes. You can watch the video here:
Images courtesy of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Proof $5 gold coin obverse
The U.S. Mint reports that the $5 gold National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin has sold out. It may be the fastest sell out of any gold commemorative coin in the modern commemorative era lasting only through the first weekend.
It has been speculated that the U.S. Mint will strike more coins than the law (Public Law 108–291 [PDF]) allows on order from the Secretary of the Treasury. No official decision has been announced by either the U.S. Mint or the Department of the Treasury. However, it is questioned whether it is legal for the Secretary to make this decision unilaterally or requires an act of congress. There seems to be evidence that someone had previously approved an increase for the 2005 Marine Corps Commemorative dollar, but there is no authoritative source for proof.
Collectors who have contacted me are not happy with the U.S. Mint. Many believe that the high limit (50 coins per “household”) was too high. When I posted images of the graded baseball coins, several commented that they felt that dealers “abused” their access to the immediate supply of coins that were available in the U.S. Mint booth at the Whitman Baltimore Expo that many collectors did not have a fair chance.
None of my correspondents would bemoan a dealer’s ability to make money on the secondary market. But to do so by taking advantage of the U.S. Mint’s inability to manage its market as the lone producer of U.S. commemorative coins was considered excessive by many. Although I sympathized with their point of view since I could not purchase one for my collection, I questioned whether the U.S. Mint has an obligation to just sell the coins or satisfy market forces. But as many pointed out, the U.S. Mint is a government agency and has a responsibility to the people of the United States and not just the corporations.
While at the Whitman show I spoke with one of the U.S. Mint employees who said that they should have limited the number of coins someone can purchase at one time. Although they did enforce lower limits on the supply of coins sold on Saturday, the damage had been done leaving collectors to scramble to buy the coins on the secondary market or order them online. Those of us who order the coins from the U.S. Mint online catalog will have to wait until June 21, according to the notice sent to me. However, the website is saying that the proof dollar is backordered until July 7 while the clad proof half-dollar is will be available on April 10.
Cassie McFarland holds up Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Dollar with her design
Like many of my correspondents, it is difficult to believe that anyone at the U.S. Mint would be afraid that this commemorative would not sell. A simple search using your favorite search engine would have shown that the coverage of the striking of the first curved coin in U.S. Mint history was seen world wide. Even the image of Cassie McFarland, the artist whose design was selected for the obverse of the coin, holding one of the first strikes in her gloved hand was reproduced on news outlets throughout the world. You cannot buy that kind of publicity.
We are talking about baseball, America’s pastime. America’s game. Regardless of the accepted story of its founding, it is generally accepted that Major League Baseball was founded in 1869 making it the oldest organized league in North America. Not only was the coin released just before Opening Day for 2014, but the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball have been promoting this coin since the bill was signed.
Installation of Vote McGovern and Mao paintings at the Warhol Museum.
When you ask people what comes to mind when you mention Andy Warhol, usually the first thoughts are of his pop-art pieces like Campbell Soup cans, Marilyn Monroe, and even one of Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. Warhol was an artist of phenomenal commercial success whose art and life fit the times which he lived.
Warhol was also a bit of a philosopher. His unique views were often quoted and made profound by the utter simplicity of his ideas. If you read his 1977 book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, you will get a sense of his philosophy and a look at what the world was like in the mid-1970s.
Philosophers are usually considered weird or crazy until history gets to look back and see how profound they really were. This is the case with Andy Warhol. Arguably his most famous quote was, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Warhol said this in 1968, almost 35 years before social media and reality television would change how people became famous.
Are you looking for your 15 minutes of fame? Do you want to be on television with a real speaking role and not as part of a videobomb? Then I have learned of an opportunity for you.
If you have unique coins or currency or anything numismatic that you want to sell and want to be on television, then you can be on the History Channel hit series Pawn Stars at the World’s Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas.
Recently, I had been contacted by one of the casting assistants from the production company that produces Pawn Stars looking for people to be on the show. They are looking for unique items and sellers to come into the shop. Not only will you be able to sell your item, but you will do it on television and meet the Pawn Stars. Maybe you can even meet the newly slimmed down Chumlee!
If you will be visiting the Las Vegas area soon and have an amazing or unique item that you would like to sell on the show, we want to hear from you! Email us at: pawnstarstvshow@leftfieldpictures.com.
Be sure to include the following info:
Your Name
Contact number
Description of your item (the more info the better!)
Detailed Photos of your item
If you and your item qualify and are selected, you could meet the Harrison’s and be on Pawn Stars!
PLEASE NOTE: the above information is required for all items in order to take them into consideration. We cannot offer appraisals for items that do not appear on the show.
Some of the numismatic items I have seen on the show include encased postage, a collection of Republic of Texas currency, rare tokens issued by mining companies to their employees, and shipwreck gold coins. I have also seen Charmy Harker, The Penny Lady, on the show. You might have seen Harker’s exhibit “Penny Potpourri” at recent coin shows, she appeared on Pawn Stars in 2012. She tried to sell a World War II-era aerial bomber camera to Corey. It was quite a treat to see someone you know on television!
If you appear on the show, contact me. Not only do I want to hear about it but I would like to interview you about your experience. Take some pictures and I will extend your 15 minutes of fame here!
Image of the Warhol Museum courtesy of the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Gold and Silver Pawn Shop logo courtesy of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop.
Last week, the U.S. Mint announced the winners of the Kid’s Baseball Coin Design Challenge from their website and on YouTube. The announcement was made by U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios, who has been the most active Treasurer with the collector community.
Since children 13 and under were not allowed to compete for the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coin, a program was set up to allow youngsters to participate. Here is the announcement video from Treasurer Rios:
Frankly, forgetting the fact that these are children and their drawing is not refined, some of these kids had better concepts for coins than some of the adults. Considering the winner of the adult contest was a college student (or a recent graduate) maybe younger designers are the future of coin design. Judge for yourself, here are the three winners of each age group:
Winner of the 5 and under age group
Winner of the 6 to 10 age group
Winner of the 11 to 13 age group
I wonder if the winners could be introduced to Heidi Wastweet, medal artist who is also a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. I visit her website to admire Wastweet’s work and wonder why she’s on the CCAC and not designing coins and medals for the U.S. Mint. Can you imagine if any of these kids can get lessons from Wastweet? We would be looking at great future for coin design if this could happen.
Last week, the 
After a few years of playing with the look-and-feel of their website, the 
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