Some random thoughts…
Although it has been a while since I have posted something outside of the Weekly World Numismatic News, it does not mean that I have been idle. Here are some random thoughts:
2019 Glenn B Smedley Medal
ANA President Steve Ellsworth asked me to continue as Chair of the Technology Committee. I accepted his appointment. Steve has a different vision for how to move forward. Change is a good thing and will work with him and the Board to do what is best for the ANA.
There continues to be work to do for the ANA to add technology to the numismatic experience. One of the areas I would like to include more technology are the exhibits. After speaking with one person familiar with the exhibiting process, I think there are ways to add technology without technology overshadowing the numismatic content. I will have a proposal shortly. Stay tuned.
2007 Somalia Motorcycle Coins
I love these coins but is this the direction the U.S. Mint should go?
There are many collectibles whose values have declined over the last year, including some collector coins. One area that remains low are those collector sets produced by the television hucksters or the private mints. These firms overhype the value of their wares to convince buyers that they should purchase them as an investment. Recently, I handled an estate with several items purchased from QVC and the Franklin Mint. All of the coins were overpriced. The family was upset when I provided my valuation. I will talk about this more in a future post.
Another article idea that is inspired by my business is the difference between collecting and investing. Although some people like to try to mix the two, most of the time, the result is that the investor does not create a compelling collection while most of the collectors create value without trying.
I sold my silver Pandas. I lost interest after the composition was changed but the hype has kept the prices up. Hype is not a long-term strategy.
Finally, I am still waiting to find a “W” quarter in change. I have yet to see one. Most of the people I know that are looking for these quarters are roll hunting. If I were into conspiracies, I would suggest that the Mint did this on purpose to increase the demand for quarters. People would demand rolls of quarters, forcing the Federal Reserve to order more.
Considering the U.S. Mint is a government agency, I bet they are storing most of the quarters in Area 51! After all, if we are going into conspiracy theories, we might as well go all of the way!
Infantry and Boy Scouts
As part of the clean-up before the Senate expected to leave for their fall campaign, H.R. 3229, National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center Commemorative Coin Act, and H.R. 5872, Boy Scouts of America Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, were passed by unanimous consent. Both bills will be sent to the president for his signature.
H.R. 5872 will authorize the Mint to strike one dollar proof and uncirculated silver coins to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in the United States in 2010. The bill stipulates that the coins can be only struck at one Mint facility and would be distributed starting February 8, 2010. A $10 surcharge will be added to the price of the coins that will be paid to the National Boy Scouts of America Foundation.
National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center Commemorative Coin Act calls for uncirculated and silver dollar commemorative coins, struck at the West Point Mint that would be “emblematic of the courage, pride, sacrifice, sense of duty, and history of the United States Infantry.” Coins will be issued in 2012 and the $10 surcharge will “be paid to the National Infantry Foundation for the purpose of establishing an endowment to support the maintenance of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center following its completion.”
The president is expected to sign both bills.
ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: Regular readers know that I like to keep up with the numismatic legislation. One of the sites I use is GovTrack.us, a site that aggregates a lot of legislative information for political junkies, like me, to use. They recently released a widget service that allows me to add legislative information to websites. I am taking advantage of this service on the right side of this page in the box with the title “Coins and coinage.” We can watch all numismatic-related legislation together.
L’shona Tova
Image of card sent to subscribers by the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corp.
Is It Really That Bad?
Winston Elizabeth & Windsor, a company from Birmingham, UK, has struck a limited edition Barack Obama commemorative medal (most stories mistakenly call this a coin) proclaiming Sen. Obama the next president.
The company sold 300 limited edition silver medals to the Democratic Party to hand out to members of the campaign. It was reported that the contract was worth £100,000 (approximately $198,500).
WEW is planning on striking more of these medals if Obama is elected president in silver, gold, and platinum. The company is expecting a big windfall from this venture.
While I find the concept of an Obama coin amusing, the reaction has been more amusing. From people close to the John McCain campaign to the right wing media, the mock indignation borders on hysterical. It seems that they are angry because the McCain Campaign and the Republican National Committee did not think of this first.
It is not a collectible I would buy, but the bloviating from both sides is funny.
Image courtesy of The Birmingham (UK) Post
Does Plastic Trump Coins?
During the year, there have been a few articles written speculating why the number of circulating coins have decreased. On article said that the “bank hates your coins” and looks to deter you from cashing them in. Another article presented the case for credit cards and other means of electronic transactions that is cutting into coin production.
Both articles present a case for the lower demand for coins as being the reason for these acts. While the demand for coins may be down and the Mint’s production is also down, both articles do not take into consideration the inventory and movement of coin inventory by the Federal Reserve.
How the Federal Reserve manages inventory has been the subject of investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In the report published in March 2008, the GAO found that while the various Federal Reserve branches have been able to meet the demand for coins to enter commerce, the GAO questions whether the Federal Reserve properly manages its inventory.
One suggestion that the GAO acknowledges that the decline in coin production may be a result of the mismanagement of inventory by the Federal Reserve when they wrote that the “data from one major coin recycling company, the value of coins returned to circulation through recycling grew from approximately $1 billion in 2000 to $2.6 billion in 2006.” With more coins in circulation, the need for new coins to meet demand may be lowered.
Further, as part of inventory management, it was acknowledge that the Federal Reserve banks “look for opportunities to transfer coins within their district to meet projected demand. For example, one Reserve Bank office may want additional coins, while another office may have more coins than it wants to hold to meet short-term demand. The Reserve Bank office works with the coin terminal operators to move the coins as needed.” This will reduce the need to order new coins from the US Mint.
The reports finds that the Federal Reserve does not grasp the concept of an optimal inventory with some coin terminals having lower supply than others. Even with inventory goals, the Federal Reserve does not properly manage to those goals leaving inventories in a state of flux. The report even suggests that the spike in coin production in 2001 was not a result of better economic times, but a mismanagement in ordering for circulated coins and overstating the demand for the 50 State Quarter program. This was alluded to in industry publications.
There have been anecdotal reports saying that bright early date 50 State Quarters are being found in circulation. This could be from people who bought rolls and put them back into circulation with the down economy and the Federal Reserve clearing out the back of the coin storage rooms. Additionally, companies like Coinstar has announced higher earnings based on increased usage of their machines, which places more coins back into circulation.
And none of this considers the effect on the production of currency.
With more money in circulation and the mismanagement of inventory by the Federal Reserve, concluding that the reduction in production by the US Mint because of the increased use of credit cards is questionable. It may be one factor, but not the single reason.
A Top Ranking Set
It has been a while since I have showed off a new purchase and I wanted to show off my 1976 Type 1 Eisenhower Dollar graded MS66 by NCG. While some may not think this exciting, it is a very good looking coin that helps boost the score of my registry set collection.
For those new to reading this blog, I wrote about Competitive Collecting which is collecting high grade coins and attempting to complete Registry Sets by the major third party grading services. Those competing in the registry set competitions, try to collect the highest grade coins. Those coins are assigned points and those with the most points wins each year.
I started by dabbling in registry set collecting at the end of 2006. I became more serious in 2007. By the end of 2007, I decided that if I was going to compete, I wanted to win. Since I have an interest in bicentennial numismatics, I decided to clean out the sets I am no longer interested in collecting and just collect 1976 registry coins.
For 2008, I decided to try to find the best coins I can afford in order to have a top registry set. I started with upgrading my Eisenhower Dollars. But these high grade large dollars are not easy to find since they were never struck well. For registry set collectors, higher graded coins can give a registry set a nice point boost. Also, since finding these high grade dollars are difficult, it is satisfying when I find a nice coin.
When I found that this coin was available, I looked up the registry set value and found that removing the previous coin and adding this one would raise my point total by 616 points. Even more important, it would propel me to third place for the 1776-1976 Clad Mint Set competition. I could not resist buying the coin.
After adding the coin to my registry set, I found that the signature banner produced by NGC has added “An NGC Top Ranking Set” to the bottom of the banner for having the third ranked set. This is so cool and such a great ego boost, I downloaded the current banner so I can have a copy.
How cool is that!
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