As I do research for an article on great coin collections from around the world, I was looking into the coin collection at the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin). The collectioncollection at the Staatliche Museen is well known as being very comprehensive and diverse covering the beginnings of coinage through the coins of today. With over 500,000, it is one of the largest collections in Europe. Staatliche Museen boasts large collections of Greek, Roman, and European coins from the Middle Ages to today. They also have an extensive collection of art medals dating from 1400.
In addition to the coins and medals, the collection also contains an extensive collection of paper currency primarily from Europe and items used as money from all over the world. The non-coin collection includes tools and dies that were used to strike coins in Berlin since the 17th century. The Staatliche Museen online English version of their online catalog can be found here.
Curators and museum staff made an introductory video about the collection. The narration is in German with English subtitles. Maybe it will entice someone to visit the collection and tell me about it!
Since January, I have been advocating more electronic numismatic books. Up until this past year, the only e-books I have found were the books on CD/DVD and downloads from Krause Publications. After I posted those comments, I heard from Dennis Tucker at Whitman Publishing who partially corrected me and said that they do have plans to sell more e-books. Subsequently, I heard from Scott Tappa, Publisher at Krause Publications who said, “This year you will see more and more KP books available for e-reader devices like the iPad, Kindle, Nook, etc.”
Although both companies have started to publish e-books, it looks like Krause has embraced electronic as a full business model.
Earlier this week, sent out emails advertising their 4th of July Weekend sale by offering four of their Warman’s e-books to download for free. The Warman’s books are basic guides with the essential information in full color. For example, Warman’s Coins & Currency Field Guide is a solid price guide, but not as extensive as the U.S. Coin Digest. In fact Warman’s Coins & Currency Field Guide would be great to have on a smartphone when attending a coin show.
After receiving the notice from Krause, I was able to ask Meghan McKeon, Publicist for F+W Media, Krause’s parent corporation, about the number of e-books that were available on line. McKeon wrote, “Currently we have over 1,500 eBooks at all of our vendors (Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Sony, Google, iTunes). As of right now, we will continue to make our catalogs available in CD form with selected downloadable PDFs (from their website).”
I spot checked iTunes, Google, and Amazon.com to find quite a number of Krause books available on in e-book format. In fact, while checking iTunes, I download three of the four free e-books (I omitted Warman’s Stamps Field Guide since I am not a stamp collector).
While there, I also spot checked what was available from Whitman Publications. Comparatively, there were fewer choices than their competition. I was able to find e-books for titles like Cherrypicker’s Guide and 100 Greatest US Modern Coins, but not the Red Book or other books in their Red Books series. I like the Red Books series, but if Whitman is not delivering them electronically, I am looking for books elsewhere.
I currently own several e-books from Krause including two of the Standard Catalog of World Coins, U.S. Coin Digest, and now the Warman’s Field Guides in their recent advertisement. As long as Krause and F+W Media is publishing books in the form I want, I will continue to buy their products.
The People’s Bank, which governs the creation of coins in China, has announced that because the Panda coins are so popular they will be increasing production. In December, I wrote that the People’s Bank was plannning on a 10-fold increase in production. However, the recent announcement shows a somewhat smaller increase.
The largest increase will be in the 1⁄10 ounce and 1⁄20 ounce gold Pandas with a 4-fold increase. Silver 1 ounce Panda coins will double from last year. Mintages are being reported as follows:
2011 Pandas
2010 Mintage
New Mintage
1 ounce Gold
300,000
500,000
½ ounce Gold
120,000
200,000
¼ ounce Gold
120,000
200,000
1⁄10 ounce Gold
120,000
600,000
1⁄20 ounce Gold
120,000
600,000
1 ounce Silver
3,000,000
6,000,000
In some forums, it has been suggested that this increase would mark the fourth generation of the silver Panda coins. One source described the generations as:
Generation
Weight
Content
Size
First Silver Panda Coins (1983-1985)
27g
.900 fine
38.6 mm
Sterling Silver Panda (1987) one year issue
1 troy oz
.925 fine
40 mm
Second Generation (1988-1999)
1 troy oz
.999 fine
40 mm
Third Generation (2000-2010) Change in artists
1 troy oz
.999 fine
40 mm
Fourth Generation Increased Production
1 troy oz
.999 fine
40 mm
Some have called silver the investment vehicle for the masses. Silver has a silky color that allows for striking designs to be very visible. Because silver is less dense than gold, a one ounce coin made from silver is larger than a one ounce gold coin. This means there is a larger surface area for beautiful designs, like the silver Panda.
Silver Panda coin image and production data courtesy of CGCI
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