Welcome to Something About Coins! The U.S. Mint proudly unveils next year's Boy Scouts Commemorative coin designs and Heritage Auction Galleries gears up for two major sales in January. Read the summaries below and more.
The U.S. Mint announced the 2010 Boy Scouts Commemorative coin design winner today. The obverse shows a Cub Scout, a Venturer, and a Boy Scout all saluting. The image shows how the organization evolved to serve all youth, including girls. The inscriptions read, "Continuing the Journey, 1910, 2010, In God We Trust, and Liberty." The reverse has the universal Boy Scout emblem and the words, "Be Prepared, United States of America, Boy Scouts of America, E Pluribus Unum, and One Dollar."
In a Heritage blog last Monday, John Dale wrote how Heritage's auction catalogs become reference material for years to come, since their Lot descriptions must be factual and complimentary. Sometimes single-collection catalogs of specialty coins are "treated with nearly the same reverence as scholarly books, and referenced nearly as often." Examples mentioned include January 2009's Lemus Collection of pattern coins, January 2003's Belzberg Collection of Canadian coinage, and supposedly the most coveted Heritage catalog: the Walter J. Husak Collection which sold in February 2008. John Dale believes two catalogs for upcoming auctions have potential of becoming popular reference material. They are the Canadiana Collection for the January 2010 NYINC World Coin Auction and the Boca Collection, Part 1, for the January 2010 FUN auction in Orlando.
In the January 2010 NYINC World Coin Auction highlights press release, Heritage described the the Canadiana Collection as "the single most substantial collection of Canadian Coins ever offered at public auction." To back up that claim, they'll be auctioning the finest known George V Cent 1936 Dot, KM28, Specimen 66 Red PCGS, Ex: Belzberg, and they estimate the cent will go for $300,000-$400,00. The article said this 1936 Dot Cent is "the most famous Canadian rarity of all." Another coin in this collection is the "King of Canadian Coins," George V 50 Cents 1921, KM25a, MS66 PCGS, Ex: Bass-Belzberg-Brown with an estimate of $200,000-$250,000. Two more coins in this collection are the rare Victoria 50 Cents 1890H, KM6, MS64 PCGS, Ex: Alston-Grossman, estimated at $175,000-$225,000, and also the finest known Victoria 50 Cents 1870 No LCW, KM6, MS64 PCGS, Ex: Miller-Alston-Grossman, estimated at $150,000-$200,000. I should mention that there will be many more collections from all over the world at this auction taking place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on Jan. 3rd and 4th.
In Heritage's January 2010 FUN auction highlights press release, Heritage described the Boca Collection as "a remarkable offering of proof sets from 1856 through 1953, with most years containing proof denominations from the smallest copper coin to the hefty silver dollar." It said the 1890 proof set also has gold proof coins. By the way, the featured coins in Heritage's FUN auction press release were the Olsen Specimen 1913 Liberty Nickel, PR64 NGC,CAC that CoinLink.com featured yesterday, and also the Muller Specimen 1927-D Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, MS66 PCGS. This auction is scheduled for Jan. 6th through the 10th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.
NGC will conduct on-site grading at the FUN Show in Orlando next month, they communicated on their web site. Their table numbers at the show will be 1221-1229, and their services will run daily Jan. 6-8. Prices are listed in the linked article.
Thanks for reading. Have a nice weekend!
