Welcome to Something About Coins! Below are a few synopses of coin and coin collecting articles on the web right now.
News of the U.S. Mint's 2009 Annual Report has been popular, and web sites are saying the $1.69 billion dollars in bullion coin revenue broke the previous record of $948.8 million from FY 2008. The media said the troubled economy prompted investors to rely on precious metals, and the Mint responded. While bullion mintage rose, however, collector coinage and circulation mintages dropped. The drop in production of the more profitable coinage led to a lower net income compared to last year.
Dave Harper, Numismatic News, wrote about Spain considering a 52-piece coin series, much like the U.S. Mint's quarter program. Spain may use silver proof coins to honor the country's provinces, placing coat of arms on the obverse and images of the provinces on the reverse.
NGC announced they've certified 2010 cents with the new shield reverse. Apparently, the pennies were already released in Puerto Rico. NGC described the new pennies in the article and included an image of a MS-66 graded cent in its holder.
Beautiful World Coins Blog reported the National Bank of Poland released three Polish Olympic Team commemorative coins for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. The gold coin features a cross country skier, the silver coin has two speed skaters, and the copper coin is of a ski jumper. Each design contains a small maple leaf and olympic symbol.
The U.S. Mint cut gold coin prices for American Buffalo Gold Proof Coins and First Spouse Proof and Uncirculated Coins. The Mint uses the London Fix gold weekly average to price its collector gold coins, and the weekly average fell below $1,100. CoinNews.net predicted the change on Tuesday the 26th, and I checked the Mint's web site today.
Susan Headley, About.com Guide to Coins, addressed the issue of unscrupulous coin dealers by describing an incident she witnessed at a coin show. An elderly lady had brought a jar of mixed coins to a table, she said, and asked for an appraisal. The dealer's answer, well, perhaps you should read it yourself. Headley noted that she'll have another article on coin dealer ethics next week.
BeforeItsNews.com posted a long story covering counterfeit coins and some of the characteristics of gold bullion. The article discussed rumors of tungsten bars and gave some guidelines for buying real gold coins and bars.
The Middle Georgia Coin Club Coin & Postcard Show and Sale will be at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter in Perry, GA this weekend. The show starts Friday, Jan.29, per The Sun News, and roughly 140 dealers are participating.
The 50th annual Red River Valley Coin & Stamp Show will be at the Fargo Doublewood Inn in Fargo, ND this Saturday, Jan. 30, from 9-5:30. According to the article, American Numismatic Association President Cliff Mishler will speak at the banquet following the show.
John Kappy, a coin store owner, was interviewed for an online newspaper in Norwood, MA. He recounted how he started collecting coins in the 1950's and how it blossomed into a business.
Here are some graded gold coins on eBay.
Thank you for reading!
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