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Showing posts from January, 2019

Gold Ends January At 9-Month High; US Mint Bullion Sales Surge

Most precious metals gained Thursday, the final trading day in January. Gold ended at a more than nine-month high and scored its fourth straight monthly increase. Gold for April delivery advanced... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

View auction lots to learn grading

One way to learn a lot about coin and paper currency grading is to closely examine a number of coins and notes. Most coin dealers would be worried about the security risk if they let customers scrutinize a wide swath of their inventory. But there is one place you can do so – viewing coins being offered at major numismatic auctions. As a bonus, viewing lots in major numismatic auctions can also give you the opportunity to hold in your hands coins that you would never be able to afford. The easiest way to arrange to view auction lots is to attend a major coin show held in conjunction with the auction. Usually, lot viewing begins before the show opens to the public, so you may be able to do your viewing without missing time from the coin show floor. Normally, in order to view lots, you must register as a bidder in the auction. That means you probably will have to show identification and provide some financial information such as dealer or other auction house references if you want to b...

2019-W Proof American Platinum Eagle ‘Liberty’ Coin Launches

The United States Mint began accepting orders today for its 2019-W Proof American Platinum Eagle – Liberty, the second of three coins from the themed Preamble to the Declaration of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Eagle sales show gathering strength

I drove into the office in the extreme cold this morning and was delighted to find that there is a little fire in precious metals. Gold is at $1,323.20 an ounce. Silver is $16.13 an ounce. Both are up strongly from where they opened the year. Gold closed out 2018 at $1,278.30. The current price is $44.90 higher. Silver ended 2018 at $15.433. Current price is 69.7 cents higher. If we need more evidence of a strong January, just look at the gold and silver American Eagle sales. Both are beating their performance of January 2018. The one-ounce gold Eagle sales number of 44,500, is 8,500 higher than one year ago. Silver Eagles at 4,017,500 are way ahead of 2018’s 3,235,000. However, before we get giddy, we should look at January 2017. Sales results of January 2019 don’t come close. One-ounce gold Eagle sales in January 2017 were 86,500. The silver Eagle total for January 2017 was 5,127,500. I don’t want to make the case that 2019 is showing weakness. I think the numbers sh...

Solid 1st series Replacement note in Trigometric Auction 9

A 1st series Replacement 1 Ringgit with a Solid Number prefix Z/1 111111 signed by Ismail Ali with graded PMG 45 is one of the super rare banknote in the upcoming Trigometric Auction 9, 14 March 2019. Trigo Auction 9 will be held at Serunai Suite, Hilton Hotel Petaling Jaya. A Solid Number Replacement 1st series Malaysia banknote is one of the things in Malaysian numismatic that you don't

Separate coin values from conditions

(Image courtesy https://coins.thefuntimesguide.com) Change is inevitable. Change in some form will occur to the present grading system, just as it has in the past. While I cannot be sure what it will be, the best change would be to separate a coin’s value from its actual condition of preservation, as technical graders did decades ago. Recently there has been talk about a proposed 100-Point Grading System. According to a book in my library, Grading Coins: A Collection of Readings covering 1892 to the middle 1970s, any proposal for changing how coins are graded is a very old topic – this being the newest. From what I know, the present 70-Point System that we use today has turned out to be the status quo for the longest period of time with only a loosening of the standards to keep up with the rising value of our coins. This system was based on a scale devised by Dr. Sheldon. When I designed the true, original Technical Grading System used only for internal records in the beginning a...

What are Precious Metals?

//www.pearltrees.com/buyinggold?embed=2&d=20190131941 Buyinggold How to Obtain #Silver #Coins and Rounds in Short Supply https://t.co/fIq1IzBOMK — Gold Eagle Price (@goldeagleprice) January 31, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js David Morgan: Expect Stagflation and #Silver Outperformance in 2019 https://t.co/GGmhJAqi4m — Gold Eagle Price (@goldeagleprice) January 31, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js #SoundMoney and Your Personal #Finances https://t.co/JXDkzhKLvH — Gold Eagle Price (@goldeagleprice) January 31, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js from Precious Metals News from Gold Eagle Price – Price of Silver Oz

Perth Mint Gold and Silver Bullion Sales Mixed in 2018

Demand for Australian bullion slowed in December from November but was mixed in 2018 compared to 2017, according to figures from The Perth Mint of Australia. Sales of Mint's gold coins and gold bars... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Precious Metals Gain Wed., Jan. 30

Precious metals futures advanced together Wednesday for a second day in a row. Gold and silver closed at fresh multi-month highs and each marked their fourth straight session gain. Gold for April... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Silver Dollar Roundtable gives awards

National Silver Dollar Roundtable President Jeff Wuller gave the NSDR President’s Award to, left to right, Debbie Lovell, Brian Cushing, John Highfill, and Mike Faraone. LEFT: Don Rinkor was given the NSDR Man of the Year Award by Wuller. RIGHT: Videographer David Lisot was given the NSDR Lifetime Achievement Award by emcee Harry Miller. LEFT: Mark Salzberg was not present to accept a corporate Lifetime Achievement Award. Instead, Ronnie Abbazio accepts the trophy from Highfill and Miller. RIGHT: The second NSDR corporate Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the American Numismatic Association by Highfill to Kim Kiick, ANA, executive director, and Gary Adkins, ANA president.   This article was originally printed in Numismatic News . >> Subscribe today.   If you like what you’ve read here, we invite you to visit our online bookstore to learn more about 2019 U.S. Coin Digest .   Learn more >>>     NumismaticNews.net is a pa...

Snowbody here: Time off in winter wonderland

Today is a snow day in the Numismatic News office. Actually, Monday was the snow day. Today is the “it’s too frickin cold” day off. You might have seen us poor Wisconsinites mentioned on the national weather reports. This is when we get to see how cold it can get in this part of the world so we can file it away in our memories. Those who are old enough can recall the back-to-back weekends in January 1982 when it was 38 degrees below zero here. That wasn’t wind chill. That was the mercury reading. The days between the weekends were no picnic, either. Temperatures remained below zero. We did not get days off from work then. Perhaps that was because the company was too small. Perhaps it was because when Chet Krause heard that an employee’s car wouldn’t start, he would very kindly send someone over to help us start it and/or bring us to the office. Sometimes he would be the one to go help the stranded. Life in a small town can be wonderful that way. Another January of bad wea...

U.S. Mint Produces 13.1 Billion Coins for Circulation in 2018

The pace of producing U.S. coins slowed for a third year in a row after peaking to a 14-year high, the latest manufacturing figures from the United States Mint show. In 2018, production facilities... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Present prices present opportunities

(Image courtesy http://moneysoldiers.com) If you are a coin dealer, you’ve taken your lumps over the past two years. Bullion gold and silver prices have remained relatively flat. Despite this being good news for consumers, few buyers looked at this scenario as being a buy low, sell high opportunity. The continuing flatlined price of precious metals impacted the sales of everything from American Eagles to common date, common condition 19th and 20th century precious metal content coins. Third-party certified coins didn’t fare well, with the values of a majority declining due to weak demand. There were exceptions, these for the most part being major rarities or condition rarity coins, but there was no trend in this direction. It has been suggested “grade-flation” might be a factor, in which case there would be more supply than there is demand for certified coins in these conditions. There is market uncertainty due to a management change at Professional Coin Grading Service as well. M...

How to Purchase Precious Metals Online or Over the Phone

//www.pearltrees.com/goldpricetoday?embed=2&d=20190130943 Goldpricetoday Could Central #Bankers Be #Gold and #Silver 's BIGGEST Allies? https://t.co/SICKaQtarR — Bullion Alpha (@bullionalpha) January 30, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js #SoundMoney Takes Center Stage in Presidential Campaigns https://t.co/zdI3hwzkKQ — Bullion Alpha (@bullionalpha) January 30, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js A Tale of Two Metals: One WAY More Valuable Than #Gold , The Other Historically Undervalued https://t.co/SaybOwUIU6 — Bullion Alpha (@bullionalpha) January 30, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js from Precious Metals News from Gold Eagle Price – Price of Silver Oz

Apollo 11 Half Dollar Set Packaging Contains Clerical Error

The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Half Dollar Set has a packaging error that will be corrected, the United States Mint said in a statement Tuesday, Jan. 29. The back of the outside packaging sleeve... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Gold Ends At 8.5-Month High, Silver Hits 6.5-Month High

Precious metals futures registered mostly modest gains Tuesday. Still, gold marked an eight-and-a-half-month high and silver scored a six-and-a-half-month high. Gold for February delivery tacked on... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Keep your eye on 1894 Indian Head cent

While supplies of the 1894 Indian Head cent are decent, they are a long way from being unlimited, which may make this better date a sleeper. (Image courtesy www.usacoinbook.com) It’s only slightly better than other dates of the period, and no one will ever call the 1894 Indian Head cent a key or even a semi-key date. But among Indian Head cents of the 1890s, it’s definitely a better date and perhaps even a sleeper when it comes to higher prices. The 1894 was a coin of its times, and the times were not good. The United States was having a bad economic period that saw major labor unrest. Coin collecting was definitely in a depressed period. The signs were seen everywhere. Proof sales were on the decline, and they are usually a very good reflection of the collector interest in a specific period. Coin production as a whole would also reflect the situation, with total mintages declining overall. For the Indian Head cent, tough economic times were not all that unusual. It had been arou...

Australia adopts bushranger theme

Reverse design of this year’s Bushrangers’ gold $25 as well as silver and aluminum-bronze dollars. All images show the “C” mintmark. (Images courtesy & © RAM) In recent years, each New Year’s Day has seen The Royal Australian Mint release a distinctive commemorative dollar with various versions of the coin issued throughout the year. Commonly, these dollars highlight aspects of the country’s history. Last year saw the start of a three-year Colonial Australia series. The 2018 coins were focused on the “Rascals & Ratbags,” Britain’s convicts who provided the reason for the first European settlement of Australia. This year, the RAM celebrates Australian Bushrangers , or as the RAM refers to them, “The Bold, the Bad, and the Ugly.” For those unfamiliar with the term as used Down Under, a bushranger is an outlaw such as bank robber or highwayman. As in past years, four 25.00 mm, 9.00 g aluminum-bronze UNC dollars are available as a set bearing the “C” mintmark and “S” (Sydney)...

Silver Jefferson medal put on sale by the Mint

The third Presidential silver medal was put on sale Friday by the U.S. Mint. What? You didn’t notice? I will bet you were following the Apollo 11 program coin offers, weren’t you? I certainly was. The one troy ounce piece is .999 fine silver. It looks like an Indian Peace medal. It is historic. The Mint does not know who designed the obverse, but the reverse was done by John Reich. Price is $39.95. You can also still buy the George Washington and John Adams medals if you would like them. Sales figures for both of these will give you an idea how the Jefferson piece will fare. Buyers have taken 17,091 of the Washington pieces. They have acquired 13,083 Adams medals. While Jefferson is likely to reach the higher Washington level of demand, we know demand would be far higher if it were a coin. Medals are the Cinderellas of numismatics. But there is a catch. As beautiful as they are, they are aren’t invited to the ball. They are medals. If these were coins, sales numbers wo...

It was wurst than I thought

After my last post about the Staatliche Münze Berlin, the Berlin State Mint, a few German readers provided a lesson in the political structure of Germany to understand the institution’s role in the country’s coin production. Unlike what I wrote previously, the Berlin State Mint is a government mint but for the government of the […]

Why You Should Buy Silver

//www.pearltrees.com/bullioncoinshop?embed=2&d=20190129828 Bullioncoinshop Will JP Morgan Be With Or Against #Silver In The Next Rally? Any Guess? https://t.co/MbQvnaKnyr — Alex Winter (@alexdwintertx) January 29, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js How High Is “Sky-High” #Silver ? https://t.co/f4ly0slJkN — Alex Winter (@alexdwintertx) January 29, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js The Coming Perfect Storm In #Silver https://t.co/dp4PXkNC1P — Alex Winter (@alexdwintertx) January 29, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js from Precious Metals News from Gold Eagle Price – Price of Silver Oz

‘Big Roman’ note realizes $119.465

Spink China welcomed 2019 with more than the average bang. Their Jan. 4-5 sale demonstrated that the Chinese paper market is not only alive and well but positively thriving in Hong Kong. Paper money lots were split across three catalogs: Chinese bank notes, World & Macau, China and Hong Kong. The noblest Roman of them all? The Big Roman $500 of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (P-58cs) that took $119,465 in PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated in Spink China’s early January sale. (Image courtesy and © Spink, China) The top-selling lot was the Big Roman: a Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China $500 false color specimen dated 1 August 1930 (P-58cs). No issued notes are known extant, and specimens are rarely seen. In November 1996, Spink hammered another example for HKD230,000. That on offer was in a superior PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated and raced away from its HKD350,000-400,000 estimate to take HKD936,000 [USD119,465]. Not far behind came an issued Hong Kong & S...

US Mint Sales: Apollo 11 Coins Debut

The U.S. Mint released updated sales figures for its range of Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coins. Released last Thursday at prices ranging from $25.95 to $418.75, the eight... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Dustin Johnston Promoted To VP of Currency At Heritage

Heritage Auctions has announced that Dustin Johnston has been promoted to Vice President. Now in his 20th year at Heritage Auctions, Johnston has been active in just about every aspect of the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Heritage Announces Weekly World Currency Auctions

Heritage Auctions has introduced a World Currency Weekly Auction that runs every Tuesday on HA.com. The weekly auctions came about because of the continued growth in recent years of the Heritage... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Gold Marks 7.5-Month High And Tops $1,300

Precious metals futures ended mixed Monday as gold and silver gained and platinum and palladium declined. Gold finished at a seven-and-a-half-month high. Gold for February delivery added $5, or... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Halfcrowns strong in DNW auction

Five special collections constituted the bulk of the catalog for Dix Noonan Webb’s last 2018 sale of British coins. Among these, one was pre-eminent – “The ‘Welsh Marches’ Collection.” This consisted largely of English hammered silver from Aethelred II to Charles I with a few early milled silver pieces rounding out this section of the catalog. Of particular note was a remarkable assemblage of silver coins of King Charles I, who ultimately was beheaded by Oliver Cromwell in 1649. This included many scarcer and rarer types in highly desirable grades. Bidders clearly believed this to be the case and responded accordingly, with estimates eclipsed right, left, and center. Extremely rare 1645 halfcrown of Charles I from the Ashby de la Zouch mint (small plume behind monarch, “A” below, S-3030). Graded VF, it sold over upper estimate for $21,385. (Images courtesy DNW) Three extremely rare halfcrowns led the field. The first of 1645 was struck at the Ashby de la Zouch mint showing a pl...

‘Rocket’ removes residue from blanks

Coinage blanks go through several processes that include lubricants. How are these oils, etc., removed so the coins don’t turn out to be greasy to the touch? Coin blanks are put through what has been nicknamed “rocket” where hot air is blasted to remove oils and water residue. Not all blanks are washed.   How does the current U.S. government shutdown affect the U.S. Mint? The Internal Revenue Service is the only institution under the authority of the U.S. Treasury Department that was impacted by the late 2018 partial government shutdown brought about by a lack of funding approval by Congress and the President.   What does someone mean when they say the grade of a coin can be impacted by type-specific factors? Type in this case means what design is being used. Some design types strike up better than others. The design elements on a coin, the metal composition (and therefore the hardness of the blank), the wear of a die, and the efficiency of the coining presses availabl...