Blogs

How Old Are Ancient Coins?

November 12, 2010

The classification of cultures generally tracks along two interrelated lines: chronological and geographical. Chronologically, the primary divisions of coinage are almost universally accepted as being Ancient, Medieval and Modern. Within the United States, collectors tend to separate U.S. coins from the modern coins of other nations by referring to the latter as “World Coins.” Coins [click to continue…]

Coin Values Rise with CAC Stickers

November 12, 2010

After two+ years of being traded on the open market, I think few collectors and dealers would argue the statement that CAC stickering has added considerable value and liquidity to many types of United States gold coinage… One of the areas that CAC has added the greatest amount of value is in the St. Gaudens [click to continue…]

2009 quarters silver set: bargains can’t last

October 14, 2010

Rapidly rising bullion prices are hard to keep up with. I had an e-mail yesterday from a reader who was looking at the Mint’s website and evaluating the offerings based on the size of the premium over bullion that he could buy the product. The higher the premium, the less desirable the purchase. The lower [click to continue…]

Buy old commemorative silver dollar coins

October 5, 2010

The U.S. modern commemoratives began in 1982 with the George Washington half dollar. The fact that collectors were able to purchase a commemorative silver half dollar for the first time since 1954 was a dream come true for collectors who had never experienced the heyday of the classic commemoratives 1892-1954. It did not take long [click to continue…]

Gold Eagle proofs coins can skyrocket – or not

September 29, 2010

When the 2010 proof gold American Eagle coins are sold by the U.S. Mint starting Oct. 7, how much of the demand for the coins will come from collectors and how much will come from investors and/or their retirement account custodians? If it were just collectors alone, I would say that too many coins are [click to continue…]

Coin Selling Tips Using Dealer Consignments

September 7, 2010

Many retail dealers, myself included, welcome consignments from collectors. It’s a great way to increase the size of a dealer’s inventory without laying out cash and it is often an excellent source for dealers to place useful, fresh attractive coins to new or existing clients. As a potential consignor, what are some of the questions [click to continue…]

Collective Coin Premiums: Fact or Fiction?

September 3, 2010

One of the things that new collectors are often told is that if they build a set, the collective value of the coins will be greater than the individual value when it is time to sell. Is this correct or is it just clever marketing hype? I believe that the answer to this question is [click to continue…]

Coin Grading Coin Scale Explained

August 29, 2010

The Sheldon Scale is the primary system in use for determining the grade of a coin.  The possible grades range from Poor-1 to Mint State-70 (usually expressed as MS-70).  Every possible number in between is theoretically available for describing a coin’s state of preservation, but in practice only certain points of the scale are used [click to continue…]

Back where we started?

July 28, 2010

… Perhaps numismatics should be on a fiscal year ending Sept. 30 as the U.S. Mint is. One thing about 2011 that occurred to me was it will mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Professional Coin Grading Service. That event certainly revolutionized the hobby. At the time, it was a better mouse [click to continue…]

Stay away from these coin investments

July 28, 2010

Number One on my list is the TV shopping show dealers and premium “Mints” out there that sell nice looking commemorative coins for premium prices, but that have no value beyond their bullion (if they have any) when you must eventually sell them. Some of these “Mints” sell on the TV and cable-based shopping channels, [click to continue…]

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