Welcome back to Something About Coins! Here are a few of the interesting coin articles circulating the web today.
The Royal Mint is issuing a Silver Medal Set for the World Wide Fund for Nature. The set contains six medals in proof condition with images of different species. SilverCoinsToday.com has several pictures of the medals. The set is very limited, since only 2,000 will be made.
David McCarthy wrote up a fascinating story about Julius Popper and the Pioneer Gold Coins he minted in his name . In the late 1880s, Popper discovered gold in Tierra del Fuego, an island off South America. McCarthy exposes how Popper gained power, minted his coins, and appointed himself ruler of the island. One of Popper's 1889 coins was graded MS-63 by PCGS. In addition, PCGS has a video of Popper's coin and McCarthy telling the story.
NumisMaster.com posted a basic article about how to acquire coins for collection. Various ways include circulation, direct from the U.S. Mint, coin dealers, shops, shows, and the mail. Each method has certain advantages. Tips on how to get the most out of each method is revealed.
Jaime Hernandez described the famous 1955 Double Die Lincoln Cent in an article published on PCGS.com. Hernandez carefully explains how the error was produced, how many were minted, and how to authenticate it since it's been counterfeited. A vertical die polishing line on the reverse to the left of the letter T in "ONE CENT" is the tell-tail sign. A real 1955 Double Die in XF-40, according to the article, is worth about $1,800.
In Heritage's blog spot yesterday, John Dale explains the mint's striking process and how the wrong size planchet might get struck. That's just what happened to a 1956 Franklin Half Dollar that was struck on a small planchet. The quarter size error coin will be auctioned in December by Heritage in Houston, Texas.
If you'd like to see the 1955 Lincoln Double Die, eBay has some for sale:
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Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!
