Welcome back to Something About Coins! Here's the scoop on yesterday's Lincoln Penny launch, the new 150th Big Ben Anniversary commemorative coin, and more.
The U.S. Mint unveiled its new reverse design for the 2010 pennies during yesterday's ceremony for the 2009 Lincoln Presidency Cent, the fourth 2009 Lincoln bicentennial coin. An image of an unfinished dome on the capitol is featured on the Presidency cent. U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy said, "The image of an incomplete U.S. Capitol symbolizes the unfinished business of a Nation torn apart by slavery and the Civil War." The new design for the 2010 reverse is a union shield with a scroll draped across it. The Mint's press release said the 2010 design is emblematic of Lincoln's preservation for a single, unified country.
The two silver Transformers coins from the Perth Mint sold out, per WorldMintCoins.com. If you don't know what coins I'm talking about, they have images of the two main robots, I mean Autobots, from the summer movie, "Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen," and fans really liked them.
Did you know in London coins keep Big Ben striking on time? In a press release from the Royal Mint yesterday, Mike McCann, keeper of the Great Clock, said, "For 150 years, coins have been used to adjust the time of the clock - adding or subtracting them effects the pendulum's centre of mass and the rate at which it swings." A new coin, a £5 Big Ben Crown, has replaced some of the old pre-decimal pennies and is now being used in the clock. The coin change is part of Big Ben’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, and the new coin is part of the 2012 London Olympics collection. The £5 Crown has the image of the clock's face on the reverse. You can buy a proof version of this coin at the Royal Mint.
Jaime Hernandez described an error coin for PCGS. It's the 1857 Flying Eagle Cent with $20 clash marks. If you look carefully on the obverse of the penny, if you click on the link, you can see the outline of a Liberty $20 in the fields. The outline of Liberty's face is barely touching the word America. The clash marks are obvious in the photo by Rick Snow with the cent placed on top of a double eagle. Hernandez reported that some think 60 examples of this error coin exist, but he believes the number is less than half that estimate.
Two coin theft suspects were arrested in San Rafael, CA for allegedly stealing about $92,000 worth of coins from Collectible Coins and Jewelry, a shop on Shoreline Highway at Tamalpais Junction. It was reported that the owner had hired one of the suspects prior to the robbery to clean his office. The other suspect had allegedly sold many of the coins at a local pawn shop.
If you live near Jamestown, NC, then you can attend a live presentation of ancient coins and history at the Guilford Technical Community College this afternoon. According to a news article, numismatist Tom Wood will be displaying, discussing, and selling his ancient coins.
By the way, the U.S. Mint did increase those gold collector coin prices yesterday. The UHR Double Eagle is $1,489, the American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin is $1,410, and the First Spouse Coins are $729 and $716 for the proof and uncirculated.
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