Virgil Amundson has always been fascinated by money. For Amundson each coin he collects has a story to tell. Some were changed due to wars, some have mismarkings, while others are just simply unique in his eyes.
Amundson started collecting coins while working as a bookkeeper at a bank in the Twin Cities. A college student at the time, Amundson and his wife would often spend an entire weekend sifting through bags of money ...
Full Article: Amundson turns lifetime passion into popular hobby - StarbuckTimes.com
Scrounging beneath couch cushions doesn't suit Ed Reiter.
No, his hobby of coin collecting was a humble pursuit, a way to handle metallic pieces of history with their tale of how they were designed and struck by mints. The farthest the 72 year old ever went in hunting for rare pieces of spare change was cashing $25 of his paycheck to mine rolls of change for his ...
Full Article: Nanticoke man combines love of writing, coins - CitizensVoice.com
Raul Gonzalez sees a nugget of history in every coin.
“There’s so much artistry,” Gonzalez said as he carefully picked up one of his favorites. “A lot of people don’t realize the symbolism in them.”
Since the early 1960s when his aunt gave him and his brother their first penny folder, the retired band director has saved, traded and sold pieces to add to a mounting collection ...
Full Article: Coin collectors gather to purchase, sell, learn - TheMonitor.com
NGC has authenticated, graded and encapsulated ten 1933 Saint-Gaudens $20 gold pieces that were handed over to U.S. Treasury officials in 2005 for authentication. The coins are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit concerning their ownership. All ten coins have been encapsulated in NGC’s re-closeable museum holder with a unique serial number and certificate of grade ...
Full Article: NGC Certifies Ten 1933 Double Eagles - Numismatic Guaranty Corporation
The numismatic staff here at Krause Publications produces an e-newsletter on Friday of every week. It includes a question that I pose to recipients. The question is a weekly poll question that also appears in Numismatic News, the sister publication to World Coin News that deals with U.S. coinage.
Naturally, the subject matter of the weekly question is American coinage and related topics. That is the plan and for the most part that is what has happened since we began the e-newsletter ...
Full Article: Hungary Opts for Coin; What Will U.S. Do? - NumisMaster
Former Mint Director Jay W. Johnson died of a heart attack Oct. 17 at his home in suburban Washington, D.C., at the age of 66.
He served as head of the nation’s coinage factories for just a brief time in 2000-2001, but it was during this period when the working mints were running three shifts a day to keep up with soaring national coin demand due in part to a strong economy and to the overwhelming popularity ...
Full Article: Jay Johnson dies of heart attack - Numismatic News
I find the proposed legislation, HR 3549, to strike commemorative coins to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attack to be highly objectionable.
But if Congress is going to move forward with such a coin program anyway, I would suggest they make it a series much like the 50 states quarters program. We could call it the “Humiliation of America” coin series, beginning with a coin struck to celebrate the burning of the U.S. Capital and White House by the British in the War of 1812 ...
Full Article: Viewpoint: Time to Rebuild on World Trade Center Site - NumisMaster
Humankind is unique in that, to my knowledge, we're the only creatures to display sentimentality. Most living things exhibit love for something, such as their offspring or even an object much like a dog may favor a bone. But those are a matter of either determined survival of species or simple comfort. OK, maybe this is getting too deep. Let me explain ... I appreciate that but admit to being a contrarian. Example: Many years ago, I purchased a U.S. penny from 1787. Had it been in pristine condition, it would have cost about $1,000. The one I purchased was ...
Full Article: Stamps & Coins: Sentiment sometimes trumps condition - The Sacramento Bee
This has been one of the “driest” times in the coin market that I can recall in terms of availability. While I have bought and sold some pretty remarkable coins so far in 2009, it has been a source of wonderment to me how few choice, interesting pieces have been available this year. And I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Why is this?
I’m not certain that there is a “right” answer to this question. Being a serious ruminator, I have thought a bit about this and have some suggestions as to why we are currently experiencing the Great Coin Famine of 2009 ...
Full Article: Where Have All the Nice Coins Gone? - RareGoldCoins.com
