The Sad State of Television Numismatics
Someone walked into my shop today with a box full of items he said that he wanted to consign to one of our auctions. He said that someone mentioned that I was knowledgeable about coins and wanted me to help liquidate his collection.
I have to admit I was excited as he held a box that you would pack books in and not carry coins. We put the box down and opened the box and was instantly disappointed.
On the top was a complete set of the State Quarter packages from one of the television shopping networks. It was the type of stuff that was over-hyped by touting their “limited production” by the U.S. Mint.
Looking at a few of the packs, they contained two quarters for each state on a card. They appear that if they were graded, they would probably average MS-64 and be worth $5-7 each. If they grade higher, the coins could be worth more. It is not worth my time and money to have them graded. Further, in the liquidation auction business, I would doubt these would sell for more than $5 per card.
The look on his face when I told him was as if I kicked his dog. He then gave me the same familiar story: they cost so much; the guy on television said they were a limited run; they should be worth more; and many other tales as seen on TV.
Anyone who has worked in a coin shop or handled second-hand property has heard the stories. Someone with a slick marketing presence appears on television and spins the tale to sound better than it is. Sure, the State Quarter was a limited production, but the Mint produced hundreds of millions of each of those coins.
In addition to the State Quarters, he had coin sets produced by companies like the Franklin Mint and the National Collectors Mint. While I try not to promise what could happen in an auction and avoid asking how much they paid, he pulls out a Buffalo Nickel display still offered by one of these companies.
The display is a round wooden stand that can rotate on a base. Around the edges is a space for 25 Buffalo Nickels. The nickels on his stand looked to be in extra fine (XF) to almost uncirculated (AU) condition. On top of the stand is a pewter figure of a buffalo (bison) modeled after James Earle Fraser’s image.
It is a lovely display, but one that is not popular. A previous consignor had the display without the coins. We finally were able to sell it for $1.00 to someone who was going to take it apart and repurpose the wooden stand. Selling the nickels in today’s market should allow him to break even.
For the last 25 years, this gentleman bought these coins and medals at a premium above their value. The box had gold plated medals with micrograms of gold that are nearly worthless in the collector market. He did have some older sterling silver sets that he bought when silver was under $8 per ounce. He can make money on those items to make up with some of the losses.
After going through the box, I said that he would be lucky if I can get $500 for everything. That lead to the look as if I kicked his other dog.
He asked how these people get away with overcharging for their merchandise. Unfortunately, there are few laws regarding price gouging except in an emergency (like overcharging for gas during a crisis) or if done fraudulently. But these television hucksters are practiced and can afford the lawyers to tell them how far they can go before they cross the line.
There are no laws to prevent companies from calling themselves a mint. There are credible companies that use “Mint” as part of their business name (e.g., I have been a customer of Miller’s Mint from Long Island and highly recommend them). Others use the moniker to make their products sound more official than they are.
If you like the packaging and are willing to pay the premium for it, then enjoy your collectible. While the Buffalo Nickel stand is not my style, I can understand the appeal. But when it comes time to sell, the packaging has little to do with the numismatic value of the coins or medals.
Anything plated has less than a gram of the metal. There is so little plating that it is not worth the cost for someone to have melted.
Which reminds me, the “1933 Double Eagle Tribute Proof” plated with 14 micrograms of 24 karat gold is not worth the $19.95 they charge on television. Even at the current price of gold, the item contains less than 1-cent worth of gold ($0.00047).
It bothers me that I have to disappoint people like this. It is worse when I have to tell an older person, like the octogenarian gentlemen who was in my shop this week, that the collection he thought was an investment is not worth a lot.
I am not sure what can the industry can do to prevent this from happening. These are legitimate businesses whose marketing practices may be less than ethical but are legal.
Some might suggest that this is something the American Numismatic Association should try to deal with. The ANA may not be the right organization for this. Maybe a consortium that includes the Professional Numismatic Guild (PNG), the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA), and the ANA could work together to find a solution.
Until then, I am open to suggestions!
Formative Years Cent Rolls Coming
The US Mint has announced that they will sell two-roll sets of the 2009 Lincoln Cent “Formative Years” design starting on May 14. These two-roll sets will sell for $8.95 with $4.95 shipping.
In the mean time, I have yet to find the “Birth and Early Childhood” cents in change. But I have been finding quite a few 2008-D cents in change.
Behind the Scenes at the Royal Canadian Mint
Not long ago, a Canadian friend passed along a funny video of a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint. Today, someone else sent the link to the video so I decided to share. The video is by Rick Mercer. Mercer is the host of the popular Rick Mercer Report on Canadian Broadcast Company network. He is a popular political satirist in Canada whose show is described as a cross between something he has done in the past and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
In this video, Mercer and his crew visit the RCM’s Ottawa facility to take a tour of the gold storage areas and coin production. Mercer is very irreverent in the video giving his tour guides and nearby guards proverbial heartburn over his antics. See for yourself and enjoy!
Computer-based Grading
I have been working with computers for over 30 years. During that time, I have watched computers evolve from room-sized systems to smart-phones that can fit in the palm of your hand. To make this point to people I talk with, I hold up my iPhone and tell them that it is more powerful than the IBM System/370 Model 158 that I used in college—using punch cards!
I was reminded how much technology has changed when I read the article The birth … and death of computerized grading. The article recalls the stories of how computers were supposed to revolutionize coin grading and how New York inventor Henry A. Merton received a patent for computerized coin grading.
Merton’s patent claimed that his system could electronically identify, distinguish, and grade coins based on imaging technology of the daya. Using this system, Merton founded what would eventually called CompuGrade. Starting with Morgan Dollars, CompuGrade would use decimalize grading, assigning partial points to a coin, such as MS 64.5.
Limitations of the technology doomed computer-assisted grading almost as quickly as it started.
Imaging technology has greatly improved in the last 20 years. When combined with x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, and other electromagnetic technologies, computer imaging becomes an indispensable diagnostic tool. Have you ever been through an MRI and watched the computer reconstruct your internal anatomy from those images allowing for a virtual tour of your body? It is amazing technology.
Advances in biometrics that work on the physiological aspects of the body can now determine differences shown by the same person because of biological changes, such as the effect of aging on your hands. High performance imaging systems are being tested for facial recognition and other identification programs to help law enforcement. While this technology is not perfect, it has shown a lot of progress.
Biometrics uses a concept called pattern recognition. Pattern recognition uses previous knowledge or statistics to recognize or match patterns. Pattern recognition uses a scoring system to determine how close a match would be. A real world implementation can be found in Apple’s iPhoto ’09 application that includes a feature called Faces that helps organize photos by who is in the picture. Faces uses pattern recognition to recognize the people. Interestingly, while Apple’s documentation says that Faces works only on humans, users have reported that it can also recognize pets!
The same technologies could be used for grading coins. Since coins are more static than living beings, the computer can recognize the patterns and the scoring system could be translated into a grade for the coin or even find patterns, such as VAM varieties for Morgan Dollars.
Imaging technologies can be programmed to easily tell of a coin has be cleaned or dipped by noting how the light reflects off the surface. Think of how the computer can “look at” a coin and find the cartwheel effect or determine the fine lines that occur when a coin is cleaned or whizzed.
The article mentions that imaging can be used as a fingerprinting of coins to help in counterfeit detection. With Chinese counterfeiters becoming more sophisticated, computer imaging can be use to find these counterfeits. When a coin is determined to be a counterfeit, the die patterns can be saved in order to be used to find other counterfeits. Additionally, chromatography could be another technology to determine whether the gold or silver is from the period or contemporary.
Computers are great tools. Imaging technologies enhanced by computers can do wonderful things. To apply this technology to coin grading and analysis would be a fantastic addition to the industry. Can you imagine being able to take the technology to major shows and for a small fee, provide on sight diagnostics for coins before submitting them to the grading services? Too bad I do not have the money to invest in this. I believe it would be a great tool for the collecting and investing world.
CFA to Discuss Dollars and Cents
If you are in the Washington, DC area on April 16, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts will be holding a public meeting. The CFA will meet at the National Building Museum located at 401 F Street NW in Suite 312. Meeting is scheduled to convene at 10:00 AM.
On the agenda is the selection of the final design for the 2010 Native American One Dollar Coin. Five reverse designs are being considered. The CFA is also considering the final design for the permanent reverse for the 2010 Lincoln Cent. Sixteen designs are being considered.
Based on what I have read in previous minutes of the CFA’s discussions, it could be entertaining to hear what is said about these coin designs.
Interesting Online Numismatics
Every so often I will surf the ‘Net to find new things on topics of interest. When I do this for numismatics, I find interesting sites that I bookmark for future blog posts. The problem is that the topics are not in the mainstream and not in my core interests. But they are intriguing enough for me to try to find an excuse to write about them. Today, I will write about three of these websites.
I wrote about a presentation at my local coin club about Hobo Nickels. I heard about Hobo Nickels before but did not know details but I learned more about these coins and the artists who are credited with creating them. Although I mentioned the Original Hobo Nickel Society, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about their website. Although it can use a small does of aesthetics, web surfers are greeted with a montage of six Hobo Nickels on the front page. One area to check out are the Nickel Carver’s Showcase with pictures of modern artists and their work. There are three pages of great works so be sure to look at all of the pages. You may also want to see the OHNS Annual Hobo Tokens, which can be purchase from the Society.
Under the category of collect what you like is the collection of Holed Coins. These are not coins made with holes but coins that had holes drilled into them. Most of the time, these coins are used for jewelry or for adornments on clothing. One representative of a Holed Coin enthusiast is Holey Lovin’ by Douglas Thigpen. On the home page, Thigpen writes that he has “always been drawn to holed coins.” noting that “they are often procured for much less than non-holed examples.” Although the site looks sparse, the site can be easily navigated through the categories with pictures of various holed coins. You have to see the images of the two Carved Holed Coins where an 1875 Seated Liberty Dime and Gold Indian Dollar are carved into Love Tokens.
Rather than collecting coins, how about the slabs which they are housed. I am not talking about collecting for registry set but collecting sample slabs produced by the grading services. Cameron Kiefer, former Young Numismatist of the Year and grader for ICG, collects the sample slabs given out by the grading services to promote their services. Aside from the images of sample slabs from nearly every grading service that exists and used to exist, the site provides a visual history of grading services. The pages showing PCGS sample slabs and NGC sample slabs shows a fascinating evolution of their respective slabs.
While researching this post, I found a few other interesting websites. I will write about those in the future.
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