Welcome to Something About Coins! The public has yet to get their hands on the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins as the U.S. Mint attempted to re-launch the coins with restrictions. It appears a U.S. Ambassador suggested a deal with the Spanish government over the Black Swan sunken treasure, but it did not favor Odyssey Marine Exploration, who discovered and retrieved the shipwrecked coins. The final coin designs for the 2011 US Army commemorative gold, silver, and clad coins were unveiled this weekend. Tips for identifying altered and cleaned coins are also discussed in today's coin news linked below. Enjoy!
America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins Available, CoinCollectingNews.org
The United States Mint on Friday pulled the trigger and made available the new America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins after they postponed their planned launch on Monday following consumer price complaints. Earlier in the week, the bullion coins, which contain five ounces of silver and have a diameter of three inches, were being advertised by some sellers for prices as high as $340 per coin. That amounted to a substantial markup above their silver spot value and the $9.75 premium that the US Mint charged its Authorized Purchasers to buy and then resell each coin ... Click for coin article
Wikileaks Reveals State Dept Deal with Spain In Black Swan Treasure Lawsuit, CoinLink.com
For years, Odyssey Marine has been in litigation with the Spanish government over 17 tons of gold and silver coins that Odyssey discovered from "The Black Swan". The 19th-century shipwreck at the heart of the dispute with Odyssey Marine Exploration is the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes — a Spanish warship sunk by the British navy southwest of Portugal in 1804 with more than 200 people on board. Odyssey announced in May 2007 it had discovered the wreck in the Atlantic and raised 500,000 silver coins and other artifacts worth an estimated US$500 million ... Click for coin article
US Mint Releases Final 2011 US Army Commemorative Coin Designs, WorldMintCoins.com
Over the weekend, the United States Mint unveiled the final designs for the upcoming 2011 United States Army Commemorative Coin Program. The unveiling occurred during the Army / Navy football game which was played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, December 11, 2011 at the Lincoln Financial Field. Strikes in the program honor the United States Army, which is the oldest branch of the U.S. Military. Three coins will be issued as part of the program - a $5 gold coin, a silver dollar and a half dollar clad coin. According to the release, these three coins ... Click for coin article
Which Civil War Gold Coins Will Be Promoted in 2011?, RareGoldCoins.com
I don't consider myself to be a real pro when it comes to rare coin promotion but even I know a no-brainer when I see it. 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, you can bet that rare coin promotion gurus who are far more clever than I have been preparing for this event for some time. So if you are Joe Coin Promoter and you are gearing up for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011, what kind of gold coins can you get enough of to do a promotion? Let's go denomination by denomination and figure this out ... Click for coin article
Altered Coins Try to Dupe the Unwary, NumisMaster.com
If you are a major dealer or experienced authenticator you may wish to skip this month's column as I will be dealing with some common alterations that shouldn't fool you. Nevertheless, countless collectors are routinely tricked into buying fairly obvious alterations for one reason or another. I divide altered coins into two major groups and then into further subgroups. Coins can be altered either by a chemical or mechanical process. Often both types of alteration can appear together. When they do, in most cases, chemicals are used in an attempt to hide traces of the mechanical ... Click for coin article
The Cartwheel Effect on Coins, coins.about.com
Among the many skills a coin collector needs to learn is the ability to tell if a coin has been improperly cleaned or not. Coins which have been improperly cleaned are worth a mere fraction of their value, typically 15% to 25% of what the coin would be worth had it not been cleaned (sometimes even less!) The types of coins where value is most affected are the higher-grade specimens, About Uncirculated (AU-50) and higher. The best way to tell if a coin has been cleaned is to check it for the "Cartwheel Effect." This is the appearance of light reflecting in a cartwheel pattern ... Click for coin article
Thanks for reading!
