Welcome back to Something About Coins! Below are snapshots of a few interesting coin articles floating on the web.
The U.S. Mint posted a deadline to order the Braille Silver Dollar. It will be December 11, reported CoinNews.net. There are four different products of the Braille silver dollar, and the report revealed that total number sold thus far is a little more than half of the authorized 400,000. The four products are the Louis Braille Bicentennial Proof Silver Dollar, Louis Braille Bicentennial Uncirculated Silver Dollar, United States Mint Braille Education Set, and the Louis Braille Bicentennial Uncirculated Silver Dollar in Easy-Open Capsule. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) receives $10 for each Braille coin sold by the U.S. Mint.
Yesterday, the Austrian Mint announced they've launched the second coin in the "Crowns of the House of Habsburg" gold coin series. The new coin is the "Crown of an Archduke." On the obverse is the Archduke's crown on a cushion. The design on the reverse is three officials carrying the Archduke's crown, an orb, and a scepter on cushions in a procession on Graben street in Vienna. The proof quality gold coin comes with a gold-plated lapel pin shaped as an archducal crown. The next coin in the series will be released in 2010 and will feature the Hungarian Crown of St. Stephen. The press release and coin images were posted on CoinLink.com.
John Dale of Heritage Auctions blogged about a little history behind an unauthorized proof 1884-CC Morgan Dollar that will be listed in the 2009 December Houston, TX US Coin Auction. Apparently, the Carson City mint did not have specialized equipment or experience for striking proofs at the time, but it did produce a number of unauthorized proof quality coins with mirror-like backgrounds using circulation dies. The 1884 Morgan dollar to be auctioned has been graded PR-66 Cameo by NGC, although the rims are not perfectly square, according to the blog.
The Washington Post recently featured a $5 million collectible coin business. It said the owner, Jeffery Morin, started out selling military "challenge coins" on eBay one coin at a time. His mom loaned him $500 so he could buy more coins, then he used the profits to buy even more coins. Eventually, he got into designing specialty coins, like a coin dedicated to mothers with sons in the Marine Corps, and he had them minted by a private custom coin manufacturer. He joined blog sites and posted his designs, and sold out almost immediately. Eventually, he had to move out of his barracks at Camp Lejeune and into (then out of) his mom's basement. Now he runs his business in a 4,000 sq ft office with 16 employees. He expanded his custom coin making business to service other military branches as well as weddings, sports teams, and businesses such as Starbucks, Delta Air Lines and UPS.
Numismatic Crime Information Center (NCIC) expert offered ways to avoid robbery in today's article on NumisMaster. Collectors and dealers are most vulnerable when traveling to or from coin shows, such as the recent robbery of dealer Julian Leidman. Here are just a few of the many instructions stated in the report: Be alert and suspicious of people you don't know, and be cautious about what you say at shows, including hallways of shows, or at a restaurant or coffee shop. If you have car trouble and you need to pull off the road, check to see if there's a car behind you. If so, stay in your car and call 911. If your car is in an accident or gets a flat tire, it may be the work of a thief. So, again, the expert said it is best to stay in the car and call for help. Good luck and stay safe my friends!
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[...] on Nov. 5th, I summarized a blog about the rare 1884-CC Morgan in PR-66 by NGC that will be listed in the [...]