Tonight, I watched the last medal event of the 2010 Winter Olympics. I love hockey and being a crass American, I was rooting for Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres), Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils), and Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) to lead the USA team to the gold. There was also Ryan Suter (Nashville Predators) of the Suter family that seemed to dominate the NHL in the 1980s and into the 1990s
2010 American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollar is now available for sale at the U.S. Mints website. The coin is being offered in both BU and Proof. The total mintage across all product lines is 350,000.
J&T Coins LLC will also offer these for sale on a pre order basis. To order call 866-267-6024. M-F 8:30AM to 5:00PM CST.
The US Mint announced on Friday that they are accepting applications for the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee to represent the interests of the general public. Application deadline is March 31, 2010.Looking over the list of CCAC members it appears that the term of Dr. Mitchell Sanders is expiring in 2010. Dr. Sanders has been the Chairman of the CCAC from 2005 through 2009.According to the US
Coin values and trends over time are THE key indicators of future potential. See coin prices from past to present, with Buy recommendations for Today! Spend your coin collecting dollars wisely.
Many readers of this blog have undoubtedly been to Disney World in Orlando, Florida and taken a course at the Imagination Institute sponsored by Eastman Kodak. Figment, a cute and colorful dragon accompanies the visitor on a “people-mover” journey through the land of dreams. The whole experience is accompanied by a captivating musical composition in which the theme IMAGINATION spools repeatedly. That tune becomes so deeply imbedded in the subconscious that one finds themselves humming it for the rest of the day and truthfully for years after.
When I read a recent press release on Cyprus Mail, I couldn’t shake that Disney tune. But, instead of IMAGINATION ringing in my ears it was EXAGGERATION! The Cyprus mail article, titled “US collectors to regain right to trade ancient Cyprus coins” was a tiny bit of an exaggeration, unless the author knows something that I don’t know. The ACCG has merely begun the long and tedious challenge that will ultimately ensue. Even though it would be the prudent, honorable and decent thing to do, I don’t see Cyprus or the U.S. State Department folding their cards on this issue. But the Cyprus Mail article contains an interesting quote nonetheless. Maria Hadjicosti, Director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus Museum Nicosia, said about the coins imported by ACCG for the subject test case:
“There is not much financial value in antiquities, but the coins are not just money….They are important archaeological items, because they can be accurately dated and used for historical study.” This is basically a true statement as it pertains to coins. While even archaeologists debate the utility of coins for dating strata, they obviously are of some value to anybody who finds them, including archaeologists. The most striking portion of the quote is however the admission that, relatively speaking, there is not much value in them—either financially or in terms of national heritage. Certainly not when compared to unique objects like the Rosetta Stone or the Euphronios Krater.
That revelation by Ms. Hadjicosti flies directly in the face of sensationalizing statements (exaggerations) by nationalist advocates who claim that the antiquities trade is third only in size to the illegal drug and weapons trades. These same nationalist gurus, mainly archaeologists, promote themselves and their “colleagues” as brighter, morally superior and specially ordained to promulgate their dogma. I highlight the word colleague because in their elitist rhetoric they always have colleagues where collectors have “cronies”. They view all antiquities in the same light, whether they be ancient safety pins, broken parts of pottery, stone arrowheads, postage stamps (yes they are included in the UNESCO resolution), coins (which exist in countless numbers - many millions) and a laundry list of other utilitarian objects that are exceedingly common. The loss to the world’s cultural heritage is a gripping hook for a news story, but the exaggeration and rhetorical hype that goes along with most of these stories is nothing short of criminal. If lies pave the path to Hell, it’s clearly going to be overpopulated.
The most audacious exaggeration is the claim that there is no difference between the “licit” trade in antiquities and the “illicit” trade. In other words, anyone who owns anything described by the UNESCO resolution as cultural property is in the mind of a cultural nationalist a law breaker. This is absurd, but it is a theme that nationalist archaeologists beat on without respite. They talk very loudly about ethics, but aside from the ethics that they proclaim for their ideology, they themselves have few ethical bones in their bodies. If they did, they would not be attacking a “licit” market to condemn an “illicit” market. Of course the licit market is open and visible, the illicit market is not. It would be hard to attack something you can’t see. How would you even prove it exists? Easier just to paint them all with the same brush. I suppose that approach is not uncommon for ideological fanatics, who value only their own egocentric view, and there have been plenty of them in world history to compare the present against.
The whole point that the anti-collector coterie evades is that the coins in question are NOT in an archaeological context and CANNOT provide contextual information. How will eliminating the licit market for coins serve their ideological agenda? Well it obviously won’t, so there must be another reason behind this fervor. Is it because eliminating the licit market will dry up the demand and put looters out of business? Come on, nobody with half a brain, not even our dear dragon Figment, believes that. Why aren’t the cultural nationalists lobbying host governments for more protection at the sites? Well, maybe because if they get too vocal they won’t get their permits renewed next year. Oops, too much fervor.
Profile of coin collector Shawn Bell of Bigbuckbell auctions, who has at least a dozen doubled die discoveries to his credit, plus many other major die varieties and error coins.
After a busy few weeks, it was that time. It was time to put the plan into motion.I check the flight schedules to find the plane was on time. This was good with all of the bad weather in the northeast.I checked the flight path. The plane was to fly around the bad weather. Again, this is good because it was going to be on time.I checked the traffic. I wanted to get to the airport on time without
Fakes Share Certain Surface Characteristics
| By F. Michael Fazzari, Numismatic News February 25, 2010 |
If someone asks you to name some of the defects commonly found on counterfeit coins what would you say? What would you look for on a coin that you suspected to be counterfeit?
Did you say weight? One authenticator that I have worked with routinely weighed any coin he suspected might not be genuine. I cannot argue with his thoroughness, yet there were many times I had to suppress a smile or comment.
You see, most of the coins that were out of tolerance were not very good fakes to begin with. Besides, long ago, the people making deceptive fakes became more careful about the weight of their products.
Did you say color? As I have discussed here before, color gives us an important clue about the alloy composition of a particular coin.
What about its surface texture?
Let’s examine a group of recently made counterfeit coins from various countries to see what they have in common. Before looking at the illustrations, I’ll give a short description of what each looks like to the naked eye.
The coin in Figure 1 is a Danish 5 ore, KM#794.1 made of bronze. It grades MS-68 red. There are no marks on it and its surface is fully lustrous and spot free. And why not? It was probably just made to order a few weeks ago.
Figure 2 is a 30X view of a 1936 French 20 francs, KM#879. This coin would also grade very high, perhaps MS-66 because of a few dings. Its reeded edge feels very sharp to the touch and the fields of this fake are almost semi-prooflike. This would be an awesome coin if it were genuine.
Both of these coins fall into the category of “too-good to-be-true” and that alone should make one suspicious of their authenticity. The counterfeiters are not stupid. They have learned that it is easier to pass a dark, slightly circulated coin off as a genuine specimen.
The counterfeit Russian ruble, KM#19.2, in Figure 3 is an example of a coin that might have a better chance of passing undetected because it appears to have circulated. This coin is gray with dark accents around its relief.
Its “details” grade is XF/AU. However, there is virtually no actual friction wear on the coin. There are many “fresh” contact marks on its surface and there are also many depressed marks that were transferred from the original coin used to make the fake dies. These depressions have the same surface as the rest of the coin and will carry over to similar coins having a different date.
Figure 4 shows part of the reverse on a circulated Bust dime that is counterfeit.
Now let’s take a look at the micrographs to see what these coins have in common. All have small pimples on their relief. The Russian coin also has many in the field.
When two dealers get together to discuss a suspect coin you’ll often hear them mention a rough, granular surface or pimples. These characteristics are commonly found on fakes made by casting. More recently, they are seen on fakes struck using dies made by a spark erosion process. Many of the new Chinese counterfeit coins have these defects and they cannot be polished off without affecting the coin’s design. Do you see the tiny pimples in each of the micrographs?
One note of caution is in order. I have found that sooner or later, every defect seen on a counterfeit will turn up on a genuine coin and the reverse is also true. For instance, environmental damage can give a genuine coin a rough granular appearance and a few stray pimples on a coin does not prove it’s a counterfeit. In fact, one variety of 1883-CC Morgan dollar is covered with little pimples on its reverse.
Should you wish to appreciate the severity of the Chinese assault on numismatics, log on to eBay and check out what’s available under copies and replicas. For the moment, most of these coins will fool many collectors but they are easily detected by major dealers and numismatists.
Nevertheless, I have already alerted you to the fact that at least one Chinese outfit, possibly with help from the highest authorities, is producing much more dangerous fakes that the ones I illustrate here.
As always, buy from reputable dealers. If you don’t feel comfortable about your authentication skills, purchase slabs and have any suspicious coins checked by a major grading service.
| Quarter not a gold strike February 22, 2010 By Dave: Remember the gold-plated state quarters that were being sold on cable television? Not everybody does. I had an e-mail inquiry about one that turned up in circulation. “I recently found in my pocket change a 1999-D Georgia state quarter that is gold in color rather than silver. It resembles the color seen in a Sacagawea dollar, or the new Presidential dollar coins. Is this a common finding or a fake or … ?” This is a logical question, especially since it could be a wrong metal error. I was able to tell the writer what it is he had. The surprise to me, I guess, is not so much that one of these coins made it into circulation, because I have had inquiries of this kind a few times before. What is surprising to me is that so few of these gold-plated quarters have been spent and then found by collectors and others. As people scramble to find money to pay bills, more of these novelty coins are likely to find their way into circulation. Will the trickle become a flood? Let me know if you have seen any. |
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We’ve completed our coin sales research for Jan 2010. While the economy may be in the doldrums, sales for ultra coin rarities are not. Making headline news in Jan was the sale of one of the five known 1913 Liberty Nickels. The coin was graded by NGC as PF-64, and once belonged in the famed Olsen collection. It sold for $3.74 million. In second place for the month was a 1927-D $20 Double Eagle. It graded MS-66 PCGS and traded hands for nearly $1.5 million. Third place went to another Double Eagle, this one a 1921 in MS-64 PCGS, selling for $322,000.