Welcome to Something About Coins! Here are a few articles that circled the web over the weekend.
Obama's 2011 Budget could change U.S. coin composition control, giving authority to the Department of the Treasury, CoinNews.com reported. Right now Congress owns the power to change coins, and they've ignored two bills from 2007 and 2008 that would've empowered the Treasury. According to the article, the verbiage in the proposed budget came straight from Director Ed Moy's Congressional testimony almost two years ago. The object of the changes is to save $150 million annually.
Stack's offered up some advice for buying gold and bullion on CommodityOnline.com. Deal with a long time reputable numismatic company, buy gold coins that are certified by well known third party grading services, and take your gold as opposed to allowing the seller to safely store it were a few recommendations. The article also explained the difference between bullion and numismatic gold, why gold is popular right now, and how to store the precious metal.
Paul Green described the rare Carson City 20-cent piece on NumisMaster.com. They were produced in 1875 and 1876, but the 1876-CC might've been melted or not officially released. An 1875-CC in Mint State is tough, and an MS-60 has a price of $1,650. More grades and values were listed for 1875, but Green said any 1876-CC is rare.
PCGS.com posted an informative article with images about the differences between counterfeit 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents and the genuine article. Most of the images were authentic 1909-S VDB cents, since there were four known die varieties. Each variety had a slightly different mint mark position. Another indicator was the angle of the VDB initials.
Scott Barman continued his discussion about CCAC reform in his blog last week. He brought up the Freedom of Information Act and the Transparency and Open Government memo, but the CCAC still has not posted their last four meetings' minutes on their web site. Barman suggested a couple of ways the CCAC can improve communication, such as a RSS feed and a teleconference bridge.
A Holocaust coin was reportedly stolen from the Birmingham, AL area, WAFF48 News announced last week. The online post said the coin, minted after a World War II concentration camp in Poland closed, belonged to Ruth Siegler and went missing when the Siegler home was robbed. If you have any information to solve this crime, please contact the Mountain Brook Police Department at (205) 802-3862.
Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!
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