From the category archives:
Postal cancellations on rolls were as popular or even more so than the new Yosemite National Park quarters themselves at the July 29 debut ceremony held at the famous California park.
Mint Director Ed Moy and Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher officially introduced the new design, which is the third one of five planned for 2010 ...
Full Article: Stamped quarters popular - Numismatic News
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Who doesn't like the Walking Liberty half dollar design? The Saint-Gaudens design for the gold $20 might win the honor of being called the most beautiful coin of the United States, but the Walking Liberty half dollar surely was the most beautiful coin design accessible to the average person.
Only the Buffalo nickel might dispute that title with the Walking Liberty half dollar. If we didn't all collect Walking Liberty half dollars ...
Full Article: Philadelphia Walkers: strange story - Numismatic News
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Perhaps it is time we take a second or even a first look at some of the lower mintage Mercury dime dates like the 1938-D. Right now the 1938-D seems fairly stable in terms of price, but you have to think that $34 for an MS-65 and $62 for an MS-65 with full split bands is awfully inexpensive considering its mintage and the potential for demand for a coin that is now more than 70 years old.
The 1938-D Mercury dime had a mintage of ...
Full Article: Will 1938-D Mercury make a move? - Numismatic News
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... 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 trap. It was not the first third-party grading service. Then the big dog in that field was ...
Full Article: Back where we started? - Buzz with Dave Harper
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Many counterfeit coins have one side that is more deceptive than the other. That is the case for the 1895-O Morgan dollar that a dealer and collector asked me to authenticate recently. I found that several characteristics of this fake were interesting enough for me to share with you here.
This fake is die struck. Overall, it is better made than all but a few of the current fakes from China that I have encountered. No telling where or when this coin was made. I have heard that the more money you pay to the manufacturer, the better quality copy you’ll ...
Full Article: Crude '5' in date gives away fake - Numismatic News
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Just about every collector knows that mintages ran very high during the state quarter program. It was popular with collectors and it was noticed by the general population. But just how high is high? I decided to do a little bit of calculation this morning to come to a conclusion to that question.
During the 10 years (1989-1998) that preceded the state quarter program, the U.S. Mint produced 14.8 billion quarters. Now presuming...
Full Article: Low mintages as far as eye can see - Buzz with Dave Harper
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The first Shield nickel design was supposed to be a Confederate trick, wasn't it?
With the usual distaste for any new coin issue, the rumor got started that the rays and stars represented the Confederate "Stars and Bars," and claims this was why the rays were dropped in 1867. The more mundane and real reason was that the very hard nickel alloy was ...
Full Article: Nickel caused Confederate rumor - Numismatic News
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For many years there has been an obvious bias among collectors in favor of coins made of precious metals and coins of large diameter.
The winners of this set of preferences have been coins like Morgan dollars, Walking Liberty halves and American Eagles. In the case of the silver American Eagle, it copied the basic size of the Morgan dollar and swiped the design of the Walker.
To be technically correct, it should be noted that the Morgan dollar is 38.1mm and the silver American Eagle is 40.6mm. But that is close enough to make the point: Big and precious is good, small and base metal is, well, not bad but not quite as desirable, either. ...
Full Article: Three-cent victim of size, metal bias - Numismatic News
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The list of most historic coins of the United States is one where many can disagree. That is especially true in the case of the 1792 half disme, but as with all other early half dimes, the 1792 is certainly an interesting item.
For those with a love of history and an interest in the early workings of the U.S. Mint it is hard to do better than a collection of the early half dimes as they all tell a story and usually a very interesting one ...
Full Article: Half dimes started with 'half disme' - Numismatic News
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