Spring for the Baltimore Expo
Bourse floor from Whitman Spring 2015 Show
It has been a while since I have been to the Whitman Show. I am sure that some of the dealers have changed—I know a few have unfortunately passed on—but I think it is time for me to have some hobby time.
Since starting my business, there has not been a lot of time to work on a new collection even though I did start a Vickie Cent collection (Canadian Large Cents from the Queen Victoria era) a few months ago. Aside from the collectable bullion (Maple Leafs, Pandas, and Britannia), I think this would be a good opportunity to add to my Vickie Cent collection.
Of course it will give me a chance to look for something for my New York City collection. I am not sure what I have or need, but it is all about the hunt.
I will likely be Tweeting from the convention center so follow me on Twitter @coinsblog. I invite others to contribute by using the hashtag #WBSE16 (Whitman Baltimore Spring Expo ’16). More info on the social media following will be published here on Saturday morning. Stay tuned!
A little spring cleaning
Spring has sprung and it is time to use the weekends to begin the outdoor tasks. Unfortunately, here in the D.C. area the weather was cool even had a persistent mist on Sunday. But that didn’t stop one spring cleaning chore I had.
Although my writing has slowed a bit since starting my company, I have been trying to keep up. But as it happens, the blog needs a little maintenance, too. The new look and feel is fine. This time, it was time to look at some of the content and clean things up a bit. The changes I made updated the static information that you can find from the menu bar, above.
Here are the updates: [THIS LIST WAS UPDATED]
- All pages, except for the Numismatic Dictionary, now have a “Last Update” entry. This way if something is wrong someone can prod me!
- When you write something, you get very attached to it and the ability to properly proofread cannot get past your mind’s eye. This is the case with the Numismatic Dictionary. Not only did I correct spelling and grammar but also I was able to find a few entries whose wording would have tortured many English teachers.
- I also added a few terms to the dictionary. I forgot to note the words that I added but it was only 3-4 new entries.
- U.S. Coins by Type page has been updated to include:
- All modern commemorative coin programs passed by congress are now listed
- Added Ronald Reagan to the Presidential dollars and Nancy Reagan to the First Spouse gold coins
- Updated the American Eagle Platinum Proof program
- [ADDED] Added a section for the America the Beautiful Silver 5-ounce Bullion coins
- Added a section at the end for 24-karat gold coin special issues
- U.S. Coin and Currency Production has been updated to include:
- Change in directors at both the U.S. Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- Added the U.S. Secret Service
- A list of agencies has been placed at the top as links into the page to help someone searching for specific information
- Significant Legislation Effecting Numismatic now includes:
- Added the American 5-Cent Coin Design Continuity Act of 2003 because it is the law that created the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee
- Added the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 because it added 24-Karat bullion program
- Added an entry for Public Law 84-851 that added “IN GOD WE TRUST” as a national motto
- Under Join A Club a few of the web addresses have been updated.
As always, if you find an error contact me and let me know.
Sharing is Caring!
Video for all collecting kids
Since the beginning of the year, the U.S. Mint has been issuing a lot of video content primarily videos regarding the launch of America the Beautiful Quarters coins and B-Roll video. This past week, the U.S. Mint issued a new “How Coins Are Made… For Kids!” video as part of their H.I.P. (History In your Pocket) Pocket Change educational program.
As opposed to prior videos, rather than have the entire video animated, it uses a combination of animation and the B-Roll video the U.S. Mint published last month. It is done in a way that tells a very coherent story without being cheesy. Everyone will enjoy this video, even if they are just a kid at heart.
If you have an interest in good videos that have been issued by the U.S. Mint you should subscribe to their YouTube Channel. Some of the recent videos that I recommend include an interview with Cassie McFarland, design contest winner for the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin; B-Roll showing the sculptor-engravers at the Philadelphia Mint; Episode 1 of their “My Favorite” where they interview San Francisco employees about their favorite coins; and “Maryland Quarter in Space” interview with William Krawczewicz, designer of the Maryland State Quarter after Maryland and Florida coins traveled aboard the New Horizons spacecraft.
“B-Roll” is a television term for background video that is interspersed within a story. It received its name from the days of editing video segments on film where the primary film that contained the story with the reporter talking was on the “A” or primary roll of film. During the story, there would be other elements cut in with background and other video that was on another reel called the B-Roll. The term has survived through the video and now digital era. Modern B-Roll is now called stock footage.
Batman v Superman: Dawn on Silver
2016 Canada Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $20 silver coin
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:
Board games going cashless! What’s this world coming to?!
Monopoly Ultimate Banking, a cashless version of the famous board game.
At the 2016 New York Toy Fair, Hasbro announced that it will release an “update” the famedMonopoly game creating the Monopoly Ultimate Banking Game where the cash has been eliminated for electronic bank cards. The bank is now a hand-held unit that will scan the bank cards to make transactions.
As part of the game, the bank card is used to pay rent, taxes from the cards, and buy property. The new property cards will now have bar codes for the players to scan in order to make the purchase or mortgage their property.
This version of Monopoly will still have Chance cards. Previews suggest that the Community Chest cards have been eliminated. Chance cards will now allow for market crashes, fluctuations in rent, and other “real life” scenarios faced in the modern age.
Hasbro does have an Electronic Banking edition that uses a similar hand-held device. A Hasbro representative said that the Electronic Banking edition is the traditional Monopoly game using the bank card technology. It does not have the ability to scan property cards for transactions and requires more manual input than will be allowed for the Ultimate Banking Game.
Recently, the advocates for a cashless society or one that uses a limited amount of physical currency have been on their virtual soapboxes trying to find every reason to eliminate cash. One story that appeared on the CNBC website reported about a San Francisco-area restauranteur who tried to accept only credit cards had to reverse the decision because of backlash from customers.
There are segments of our culture who do not trust banks. There are industries that work better when the transactions are made in cash. There are some of us who do not like the electronic trail non-cash transactions create. These are only some of the reason cash will continue to live on.
Hasbro said that the Monopoly Ultimate Banking Game will be released later this summer. My only question is will it support house rules like double payment for landing on Go or having the taxes paid to the Free Parking pool for the next player that lands there?
Government gets aluminum cent to keep the integrity of the hobby
1974-D Experimental Lincoln cent pattern made using an aluminum planchet (J2151)
In 1974, as part of the effort to find a composition that would replace the 95-percent copper planchet for the one-cent coin that was used at the time, the U.S. Mint struck 1.4 million as patterns with the intent on destroying all of the coins struck when completed.
Congress did not like the concept fearing that their silver color would confuse them with other coins. Additionally, the aluminum composition could not be detected in vending machines nor would show up on an x-ray if swallowed. The coins were melted down.
Patterns that were struck for this test were made entirely in Philadelphia.
Which brings us to the story of the 1974-D cent pattern in this story.
Harry Lawrence who retired as deputy superintendent of the Denver Mint in 1979 owned this coin. Lawrence died in 1980. Harry’s son, Randall, discovered the coin in 2013 after moving to La Jolla from Denver and selling a bag of his father’s old coins to Michael McConnell at the La Jolla Coin Shop.
McConnell had the coin graded by Professional Coin Grading Service as MS-63 and determined it to be a genuine pattern. They were going to offer the coin for auction when the government stepped in to stop the sale and demanded its return.
Michael McConnell (left) and Randy Lawrence (right) returned the rare 1974-D penny made from aluminum back to the U.S. Treasury Department Thursday afternoon. — Nelvin C. Cepeda
There is one caveat to this story: there is no record of Denver ever striking such a coin. According to Randy Lawrence, the coin was given to his father when he retired from the Denver mint.
When Lawrence and McConnell sued the government to end the demand order, it is reported that Alan Goldman, former interim Mint director who headed the aluminum cent project, speculated in his deposition that the coin might have been made as part of a practical joke. Goldman allegedly named a suspect whose name was not released but is reported to be deceased.
The ensuing lawsuit lasted about two years and was settled today with McConnell returning the coin to the U.S. Mint on March 17, 2016.
The precedence this ruling is more dangerous for the hobby than people think. The most important issue is that it puts into jeopardy the status of the five 1913 Liberty Head nickels. Created under allegedly similar circumstances, the U.S. Mint has no record that these coins were ever produced. Although the government has tacitly agreed not to pursue that coin, there may be a time when someone with a more parochial view might use this situation to recover alleged chattel as property of the state.
Rulings like this will likely keep any surviving 1964-D Peace dollars hidden from the public. This will partially bury the history of turmoil in the coinage markets of the early 1960s. Hiding history is never good for anyone.
- 1974-D Aluminum cent courtesy of PCGS via Coin World.
- Image of McConnell and Lawrence courtesy of The San Diego Union-Tribune
Beware of the Ides of Congress as they hear the Mint Director Nomination
Rhett Jeppson, nominated to be the 39th Director of the U.S. Mint
Edmund C. Moy, the 38th Director of the U.S. Mint, resigned effective January 9, 2011, about nine months short of completing his five-year term.
Following Moy’s departure, Treasurer Rosie Rios became acting director and served until Richard Peterson was hired as Deputy Director on January 25, 2011. Peterson was acting director until Jeppson was hired in January 2015. Since then, Peterson and Jeppson were government employees as part of the Senior Executive Service.
Prior to Jeppson’s hiring, Bibiana Boerio was nominated in September 2012, right before the midterm election. But as congress was trying to put the fun in dysfunctional, Boerio’s nomination was not heard by the Senate. By senate rules, the nomination was returned to the president when the 112th congress adjourned for the final time on January 3, 2013.
Although there should be no problems with the nomination, one can never know what will happen with this congress. When the cameras are turned on, members of congress are prone to grandstanding for whatever cause they feel is necessary regardless of whether it is germane to Jeppson’s nomination. I will predict that the cost to strike the one-cent coin and what to do with dollar coins will come up at this hearing even though the real decision makers are the ones asking the question.
Sometimes I wonder how these people get and stay elected!
If you are interested in attending the hearing, it will be held at 10:00 on the Ides of March, Tuesday, March 15, 2016, in Room 538 in the Dirksen Senate Office BuildingDirksen Senate Office Building located on First Street NE between C Street NE and Constitution Avenue NE.
Those who attend the meeting are welcome to share their comments below!
POLL: Are there too many coin shows?
Not long ago an acquaintance asked if I was attending the National Money Show in Dallas. I said that I had wanted to but there was a conflict that prevented me. He said that it did not matter because there were too many shows and it does not pay to go to all of them.
Panorama of the 2013 National Money Show bourse floor at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans
I was a bit shocked.
When you enjoy something, there is never too many or too much. I try to go to as many coin shows as possible whether they are as large as the World’s Fair of Money or a local show with 30 tables that meets in a local hall. If I cannot be at a coin show, I love to go to car shows including ones where I can bring my vintage Mopar.
It is difficult to find a car show in the winter. Owners of classic, vintage and antique cars would rather park our babies under cover than take them out in bad weather. This is a good time to find all of the coin shows.
I woke up my baby this past weekend!
I asked why he thought there were too many he complained about the costs. He felt that he had to buy something at every show in order to justify his attendance.
When I go to a show, I have a budget I keep to, collecting goals for that day, and the knowledge that if I come home with money in my pocket I can still have a good day if I see people and talk about coins and collecting.
Maybe the problem with my acquaintance is that he sees going to shows as a buying trip while I look for the experience. He might consider talking to some of the people, make friends, and see if he could learn something from these dealers. Even if I do not spend money, if I learn something I will have had a good time.
What do you think?
Loading ...Raging into March
What began as an English proverb as “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” may become a relic of history. Aside from the weather implications the markets are experiencing a lion-like robustness that even has the governors and branch presidents of the Federal Reserve issuing conflicting statements about the future of interest rates.
While the professionals are attempting to figure out what the economic numbers are saying, one thing is clear that the U.S. Mint is on pace to break its 2015 sales for American Silver Eagle bullion coins. March opens with the U.S. Mint announcing that it has another 1 million silver coins ready for sale. This is the fifth time in 2016 that the U.S. Mint has made this type of announcement.
Year to date, gold prices are up about 17-percent and silver prices are up 11-percent. This has not stopped the buying of bullion coins. One Canadian dealer recently informed me that they sold out of a specific silver issue from the Royal Canadian Mint because of high demand, especially from the United States.
This is reaching beyond collectors. While the numismatic world was focused on Dallas for the National Money Show, my business kept me in the D.C. area as a vendor at one of the largest antiques shows in the mid-Atlantic region. Although coins are a very minor part of the show, some dealers that were selling silver coins had high volumes of sales. One dealer reported that he sold out of the 30 American Silver Eagle bullion coins graded MS-70 by the middle of the show’s second day.
An informal poll of attendees to the National Money Show suggests similar sales performances.
Even though there may be areas of the economy that has not caught up to the current economic trends, it is difficult to find an analyst or pundit that does not believe that the current trends will end in the short term.
It is likely that March will go out like a raging bull, even if I could not find a one-armed economist to disagree!
Charging Bull by Arturo DiModica is a bronze sculpture that stands in Bowling Green Park just south of the Financial District in lower Manhattan.
February 2016 Numismatic Legislation (Nothing but net!)
During an election year, especially one that has become very contentious, having any legislation passed would be seen as something of a miracle. This past month, there was only one bill introduced in each chamber.
H.R. 4592: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act
Read the details of this bill at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr4592
S. 2598: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act
Read the details of this bill at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s2598
Introducing bill like this one to honor the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame simultaneously in both chambers is common. Members that want to push this type of legislation for the people back home can hope that it is taken up at one end or the other on Capital Hill. It only slightly increases the odds of passage.
For this bill, it is proposing a gold $5, silver dollar, and clad half-dollar coins “with such design being emblematic of the game of basketball.” The bill calls for a design competition with the selected designer receiving a $5,000 award.
The bill calls for the usual surcharges ($35 for the gold coin, $10 per silver, and $5 per half dollar) that will be paid “to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to fund an endowment that will enable the further operations of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.”
For some reason, when I saw this bill all I could think about was that old commercial starring Michael Jordan and Larry Bird competing for a fast food lunch. If you do not remember, here is the ad:
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