Welcome to Something About Coins! Gold prices rose and Olympic silver hummed in coin articles on the net. Short synopses of those stories and some upcoming coin shows follow.
The U.S. Mint raised their prices for gold 2009 Buffalo proof coins and First Spouse coins, CoinNews.net said. I checked the Mint's web site and confirmed the price increase. The one ounce Buffalo is $1,410, the half ounce First Spouse proof is $729, and the First Spouse Uncirculated is $716.
Walletpop.com discussed the misleading advertisements for Vancouver 2010 Olympic silver dollars as investments. Demand and scarcity play a role when it comes to investments, the article said, and Canada has mass produced their Olympic coins. People interviewed in the article predict the coins won't hold their value and claimed they're more suitable for enjoying than investing.
Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS) described a proof 1983-S Olympic silver dollar recently conserved for a collector. The coin, issued by the US Mint to commemorate the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics, was in its original mint packaging, but it had turned yellow from a buildup of residues. NCS was able to remove the residues.
Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced its on-site grading and encapsulation services at their tables during the Whitman Baltimore Coin & Collectibles Expo March 4-5. Their table numbers will be 1302-1306. The announcement included a list of services, prices, and times.
Numismatic News reported tours will be held at the old San Francisco Mint building during two Old SF Mint Coin Shows April 23-24 and again Sept. 17-18. Admission will be $5 for anyone 12 and older, and over 30 coin and currency dealers are participating in the shows. Tours will be given three times a day. The show is sponsored by Griffin Coin Company.
More about the old San Francisco Mint was featured on SFGate.com earlier this month. The article said the mint survived the 1906 earthquake and fires and preserved the city's economic system. Then it closed its doors in 1937, and the federal government sold the old building to the city in 2003 for $1.
Whitman announced they've got highlights from the Long Beach Coin Expo on Cointelevision. They've captured the gold on the SS Central America as well as commentary from several numismatists, like PCGS's David Hall, Liberty Coin Shop's Patrick Heller, and Monaco Rare Coins' Adam Crum.
US $29.95
