Apr 30, 2008 | counterfeit, currency
Local Washington, DC television news reported that counterfeit $20 and $100 bills have been found in circulation in Stafford County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. The Stafford County Sheriff’s office reports that the bogus notes have been passed at fast food restaurants and convenience stores. There are no suspects at this time.
Counterfeiters are using $5 notes, bleaching them, and printing higher denominations over the paper. The notes may appear as washed out or very well used but has the security characteristic of the original $5 bill. The image to the right shows the watermark of a counterfeit note. Apparently, that is enough to prevent these notes from being accepted.
The sheriff recommends that the notes not be returned to the person who passed it, try to delay the person’s departure, ensure you can provide a physical description of the person and any companion, and call the sheriff’s office.
With all of the measures being added to notes by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the publicity of those changes, especially here in the DC Metro area, it is unbelievable that counterfeiters can still get away with their crime. Apparently, the BEP must increase their education efforts in order to make this more effective.
One of BEP’s countermeasures against this type of counterfeiting are the new $5 bills. However, few have reported seeing these notes in circulation, even after the BEP and Federal Reserve said that only the new notes would be sent to the banks the first two weeks of release. I have yet to see one in circulation.
Image courtesy of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office
Apr 27, 2008 | Britain, coin design, foreign
For the first time in 40 years, the Royal Mint is redesigning the reverse of British circulating coins. To come up with a new design, the Royal Mint held an open competition for the new design. The goal was to find a design that would represent the country but in a “modern, fresh way.” After receiving over 4,000 entries, a novel design based on the Royal Arms was chosen to appear on all six circulating coins.
Said to be “firmly rooted in the heraldic traditions of the British coinage yet beautifully contemporary,” the design calls for the penny and pence coins to show a section of the Royal Arms that includes the heraldic designs that have been a part of British coinage since the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). It has been called a “jigsaw puzzle effect.” To unify the design, the £1 coin will contain a full image of the Royal Arms. To understand the effect, the image to the right of this paragraph shows the reverse of the coins laid out to show how the parts fit the whole image.
The obverse will continue to use the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II designed by Ian Rank-Broadley.
The winning design was submitted by Matthew Dent, a 26 year-old professional graphic designer. With a sense of history and artistry, Dent created the design for its symbolism and the jigsaw idea to represent the unity of the nation. Dent wrote, “I liked the idea and symbolism of using the Royal Arms, where individually the coins could focus on specific elements and when placed together they reveal the complete Royal Arms.”
Coinage design in the United Kingdom is different from here in the United States. The Royal Mint is a corporation of the crown, meaning it is owned by the monarch and subject to the Queen’s decrees. Royal Mint management decided to redesign the coins with the approval of the Queen.
The competition was managed by The Royal Mint Advisory Committee (RMAC). Established by King George V in 1922 to raise the quality of the coinage, the RMAC fulfills the same role as the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the Committee of Fine Arts does in the United States. However, unlike the US, the RMAC has authority to recommend themes and other design elements. In the US, themes and design elements are part of the law passed by congress and signed by the president.
Once the design was selected, the recommendation was sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his capacity as Master of the Mint. The Chancellor of the Exchequer would be equivalent to the Secretary of the Treasury here in the US. Following the approval by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the design was delivered to Queen Elizabeth for royal approval.
The Royal Mint is working on preparing dies and producing coins for both the collector and circulation by the Bank of England. Circulating coins are expected to reach the public by the summer. When they are released, old coins will continue to circulate along side the new coins.
A video produced by the Royal Mint discusses the new design, the competition, and has an interview with Matthew Dent.
The design is a phenomenal idea. I was impressed with the concept as soon as I saw it on the Royal Mint’s website. Since the Royal Mint will be attending the World’s Fair of Money® this July in Baltimore, I look forward to seeing the sets in person.
Image courtesy of the Royal Mint.
Apr 26, 2008 | coins, fun
Do you remember the coin dominoes video from YouTube? Well someone sent a link to the video that shows some of the behind the scenes of that video shoot. It’s a short clip and something fun for the weekend.
Now that you’ve seen the behind the scenes story, watch the full video (here) and enjoy!
Apr 25, 2008 | legislative, shows
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed House Bill 1386 (HB1386) on April 24, 2008 that would exempt exempt dealers attending a show sponsored by a non-profit organization from having to be licensed and pay sales tax in Maryland. See my post on April 16 for more about the law.
In addition to being exempt from the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money™ that will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center at the end of July, but it also covers the Maryland State Numismatic Association 36th Annual Convention and Coin Show that will be held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timmonium the weekend prior, July 26-28.
Tables are available for those who want to participate in the MSNA show. For more about the show and contact information, click here. MSNA is a § 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization which should qualify dealers to be exempt from sales taxes.
Apr 23, 2008 | Eagles, gold, silver
In the volatile commodities and money markets, the spot price of gold dropped under $900 per ounce briefly as the dollar rose against the Euro. Pressure is being placed on the Euro as analysts think it may not be able to maintain its current value against the weakening dollar and the high price of crude oil.
Bloomberg is reporting that analysts believe that the price of crude oil is unsustainable and will weaken other non-dollar currencies as the price falls. Speculators are selling gold futures looking to make more money with oil and currency futures. This has lead some analysts to believe that gold will fall below $900 by the end of the year citing lows in the range of $860 to $880.
Silver is also trading lower but above the $17 mark. Analysts speculated that silver will slip below $17. Nobody expects the prices to reach the levels seen in 1980.
For numismatics, the lower spot price of precious metals should lower the cost of bullion coins, such as the American Eagles. However, with the popularity of collecting earlier common date gold coins, those prices may not fall as much since their numismatic value may help them maintain their prices.
Apr 22, 2008 | fun
This past weekend I was in Charlotte, North Carolina to spend time with my parents and the rest of my family. It was the first time in many years that my parents’ three sons, wives, and grandchildren were together. Even Boomer was able to join us for the festivities.
Driving down to Charlotte and back to the Washington area was an opportunity to search through change at various stops along the way. Unfortunately, I found nothing interesting in the change that made it to my pocket. This is the second time I trekked a distance from home this month and did not find anything significant.
Does this mean there are no more finds to be had in pocket change? I am sure that there is something to find circulating with the common currency. But for me, a trip north and then south left me a little empty handed. At least it was a good, albeit long, trip.
Apr 17, 2008 | cents, education, video
As the venerable Lincoln Cent marches to its one hundredth anniversary in 2009, there has been a lot of talk about the one year designs and whether the coin will continue its production in 2010. But we cannot forget that it is still the backbone of commerce.
The following video was made for the Boston Herald by Ted Ancher for a story he had written. The video is a narrated slide show talking about the Lincoln cent with the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” playing in the background on a loop. Enjoy!
Apr 16, 2008 | legislative, shows
Earlier this month the Maryland General Assembly unanimously passed House Bill 1386 to amend the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 17-1801 to exempt dealers attending the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money from having to pay sales tax. As the law was originally written, a dealer who attended more than three shows would have to apply for a trader’s license with its appropriate fees and requirement to pay sales taxes.
The amended law says that a dealer would file an affidavit saying that they “has not participated in more than 3 shows, not including participation in one show sponsored by a national organization that is exempt from taxation under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, during the previous 365 days.” (change underlined) The ANA is a tax exempt organization.
This means that dealers can continue to attend the thrice yearly Whitman Shows (next one on June 5-7) and also the World’s Fair of Money in July-August without the burden of having to pay Maryland Sales Taxes. Since the bourse at the World’s Fair of Money is sold out, this amended law will preserve the attendance at the Whitman show.
HB 1386 has yet to be signed by Governor Martin O’Malley. The next bill signing day will be on Thursday, April 24 at 10:00am where this bill should be part of that ceremony.
As president of one of the sponsoring clubs, I invite everyone to Baltimore this summer to see what will be a fantastic show that will include four halls of the Baltimore Convention Center being open for the bourse activities. Book your rooms now since many of the area hotels are beginning to report sell outs!
Apr 13, 2008 | auction, coins, varieties
For those interested in collecting the finest VAM varieties of Morgan Dollars, Heritage Auction Galleries will be auctioning some of Leroy Van Allen’s collection of varieties. The auction will be this week their Central States Numismatic Society Convention Signature Auction and is available for bidding online.
Apr 12, 2008 | grading
Earlier this week, John Feigenbaum, President of David Lawrence Rare Coins announced that Dominion Grading Service, a new grading service started from DLRC’s purchase of PCI, is now accepting submissions for their opening on May 1.
It appears that after reviewing the recent reputation of PCI, DLRC decided that it was better to rebrand the service than try to repair its reputation. Feigenbaum was quoted as saying, “we had initially planned to keep the PCI brand name, but we quickly realized that it would be impossible to overcome the confusion that would ensue as we endeavor to recalibrate the [PCI] grading standards. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue the PCI brand in favor of an all-new grading company named Dominion Grading Service.”
DGS claims that it will use Photograde and the American Numismatic Association grading standards and has indicated that when submitting PCI encapsulated coins for cross-over grading may grade lower.
DGS will continue to use the old PCI slabs with a newly designed label. Included on the reverse of the new label will be an indication noting the coin was imaged and stored online. The service DGS calls AuthentiVIEW.™ AuthentiVIEW is a free imaging service for all coins DGS grades valued at over $100 that DGS will save on their site. The purpose is to help those trading DGS slabs identify the coin that is supposed to be in the slab. It is DGS’s attempt to fight the counterfeiting of grading holders.
Other services will be a Visual Population Report using the images from the AuthentiVIEW service and Net Grading of problem coins.
The capitalist in me notes that competition is good. Although AuthentiVIEW and their willingness to marry technology to the process, DGS has a long way to go to reach the reputation of the recognized second-tier services. I wish them luck and look forward to see how the industry receives their service.
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