tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527311324060625262024-02-19T07:59:37.986-05:00Tony Lawrence Coins and StuffAnthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-75460653295261674262021-10-06T11:36:00.001-04:002021-10-06T11:36:51.113-04:00Fantasy Coins: The Strange Business of The Moonlight Mint<p> </p><h1 class="title" data-reader-unique-id="titleElement" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Fantasy Coins: The Strange Business of The Moonlight Mint</h1><h2 class="subhead" data-reader-unique-id="subheadElement" style="color: rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.46664em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.27275em; margin-top: -0.35em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Let’s strike a new design and date on a perfectly good old coin</h2><div class="metadata singleline" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.7em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><a class="byline" data-reader-unique-id="154" href="https://pcunix.medium.com/?source=post_page-----7d342929d8c5--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow" style="display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;">Anthony Lawrence</a></div><span data-reader-unique-id="3" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"></span><div data-reader-unique-id="4" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><section data-reader-unique-id="6" style="max-width: 100%;"><div class="clear" data-reader-unique-id="50" style="clear: both; max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="51" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="52" style="max-width: 100%;"><figure class="clear" data-reader-unique-id="53" style="clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="54" role="button" style="max-width: 100%;" tabindex="0"><div data-reader-unique-id="55" style="max-width: 100%;"><img alt="" class="extendsBeyondTextColumn" data-reader-unique-id="56" height="1000" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/2000/1*Ch_8HrZOdHEjt-l2edRvJA.jpeg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin-inline-start: -70px; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: none; width: 787.546875px;" width="1000" /></div></div><figcaption data-reader-unique-id="57" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="margin-top: 0.8em; max-width: 100%; width: 647.546875px;">From my personal collection. All photos by Author</figcaption></figure></div></div></div><div data-reader-unique-id="58" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="59" style="max-width: 100%;"><p data-reader-unique-id="60" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">You might never have had an Indian Head cent as change unless you are an old codger like me. It’s a pretty coin, isn’t it? It’s what our pennies looked like until the Lincoln Cent replaced that design in 1909.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="61" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;"><strong data-reader-unique-id="62" style="max-width: 100%;"><em data-reader-unique-id="63" style="max-width: 100%;">But wait — that coin in the picture is from 1910. It must be a fake, right?</em></strong></p><p data-reader-unique-id="64" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">No, it’s not. It’s a genuine Indian Head cent. But it’s also true that the United States Mint stopped making Indian Head cents in 1909. How can both these things be true?</p><p data-reader-unique-id="65" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;"><em data-reader-unique-id="66" style="max-width: 100%;">Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. Nothing is kept in my home.</em></p><p data-reader-unique-id="67" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Let me show you another one.</p><figure class="clear" data-reader-unique-id="68" style="clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="69" style="max-width: 100%;"><img alt="" data-reader-unique-id="70" height="589" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/1204/1*b3eOfFD8krp5XqqymvAmTw.jpeg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="602" /></div><figcaption data-reader-unique-id="71" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="margin-top: 0.8em; max-width: 100%; width: 647.546875px;">From my collection</figcaption></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="72" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">The Peace Dollars were minted from 1921 to 1928, again from 1934 to 1935, and then one more time in 2021. None were made in 1965, but the coin shown above is a genuine Peace Dollar.</p><h2 data-reader-unique-id="73" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">What’s going on?</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="74" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">It’s time to introduce you to Daniel Carr and his Moonlight Mint.</p><div data-reader-unique-id="75" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="76" href="http://moonlightmint.com/" rel="noopener follow ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><div data-reader-unique-id="77" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="78" style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 data-reader-unique-id="79" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Moonlight Mint - Home Page</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="80" style="max-width: 100%;"></p><h3 data-reader-unique-id="81" style="font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;">Links: ON-LINE STORE Printable Catalog with Mintage Figures Continuously Updated Grabener Coin Press Artifacts and…</h3><p></p></div></div></a></div><p data-reader-unique-id="86" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Daniel makes fantasy coins. Some of them are his own original designs but others mimic designs of genuine coins but with impossible dates. But mimicry of U.S. coins would be counterfeiting, wouldn’t it? Well, no, not if the coins are stamped with the word “COPY”. Collectors will sometimes buy copies like this to fill in rare dates that are too expensive to afford.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="87" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">But neither of the coins shown here have COPY stamped on them.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="88" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">The reason these are not illegal is odd, but according to Daniel himself, the Mint and the U.S. Government agree that he is doing nothing wrong. What he does is use genuine coins and over-strike them with his designs. So my 1910 coin was struck on a genuine Indian cent and the 1965 dollar was a real Peace dollar of a real date.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="89" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">The dates Daniel uses are dates that never existed and every coin sold has a disclaimer with it that states<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em data-reader-unique-id="90" style="max-width: 100%;">“Do not attempt to use these as legal tender. This product is NOT endorsed or approved by the US Mint, US Treasury, or US Government.”</em></p><p data-reader-unique-id="91" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Daniel has produced an impressive number of these fantasy overstrikes destarting in 2011 and continuing to the present day. I only have a few of these curious pieces myself, but enough people collect them to make the more rare coins quite valuable. Daniel mints a certain number and then destroys the dies, so no more will be made.</p><div data-reader-unique-id="92" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="93" href="http://moonlightmint.com/dc-coin_over-struck_list.htm" rel="noopener follow ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><div data-reader-unique-id="94" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="95" style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 data-reader-unique-id="96" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Over-Struck Coins by Moonlight Mint & Daniel Carr</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="97" style="max-width: 100%;"></p><h3 data-reader-unique-id="98" style="font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;">Printable Catalog with Mintage Statistics for Items Designed and Minted by Daniel Carr / Moonlight Mint. Fantasy-Date &…</h3><p></p></div></div></a></div><h2 data-reader-unique-id="101" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Counterfeit fantasies</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="102" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Somewhat amusingly, because some of his work has become hard to get, countefeits of his coins exist. ANACS, the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-reader-unique-id="103" href="https://anacs.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">American Numismatic Association Certification Service</a>, certifies Moonlight Mint coins for buyer protection.</p><div data-reader-unique-id="104" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="105" href="http://moonlightmint.com/anacs.htm" rel="noopener follow ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><div data-reader-unique-id="106" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="107" style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 data-reader-unique-id="108" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Moonlight Mint & Clark Gruber - ANACS Certification</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="109" style="max-width: 100%;"></p><h3 data-reader-unique-id="110" style="font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;">The 3 rd party certification company ANACS will now grade and certify all coins, tokens, and medals minted by Daniel…</h3><p></p></div></div></a></div><h2 data-reader-unique-id="115" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">You might have a Daniel Carr design in your pocket</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="116" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Daniel Carr is also the designer of the US Mint New York and Rhode Island State Quarters, which are genuine U.S. Mint produced coins. The interview about how he submitted designs to the Mint is interesting.</p><figure class="clear" data-reader-unique-id="117" style="clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><figcaption data-reader-unique-id="120" style="margin-top: 0.8em; max-width: 100%; width: 647.546875px;">Daniel Carr Interview: <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xg3QilK7Lxo" width="320" youtube-src-id="xg3QilK7Lxo"></iframe></div><br /></figcaption></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="121" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Let me know your thoughts in the comments or, if you have<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-reader-unique-id="122" href="https://pcunix.medium.com/subscribe" rel="noopener" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;">subscribed to receive these posts by email</a>, you can respond privately<em data-reader-unique-id="123" style="max-width: 100%;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em>from your mailbox.</p></div></div></section><p data-reader-unique-id="124" style="max-width: 100%;"><span data-reader-unique-id="125" style="max-width: 100%;"></span><span data-reader-unique-id="126" style="max-width: 100%;"></span><span data-reader-unique-id="127" style="max-width: 100%;"></span></p><section data-reader-unique-id="128" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="129" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="130" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="131" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="132" href="https://pcunix.medium.com/lists" rel="noopener follow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><div data-reader-unique-id="133" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="134" style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 data-reader-unique-id="135" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Lists - Anthony Lawrence - Medium</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="136" style="max-width: 100%;"></p><h3 data-reader-unique-id="137" style="font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;">Lists by Anthony Lawrence on Medium</h3><p></p></div></div></a></div><p data-reader-unique-id="142" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Are you not yet a Medium member? Get full access to all posts by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-reader-unique-id="143" href="https://pcunix.medium.com/membership" rel="noopener" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;">signing up here</a>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em data-reader-unique-id="144" style="max-width: 100%;">This is an affiliate link. I receive financial incentives for new referrals.</em></p><p data-reader-unique-id="145" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="146" href="https://medium.com/it-doesnt-fit/old-computer-guy-will-give-free-software-help-advice-and-sympathy-to-confused-medium-apple-users-e837f4b43288" rel="noopener" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;"><em data-reader-unique-id="147" style="max-width: 100%;">Free support for Medium members</em></a><em data-reader-unique-id="148" style="max-width: 100%;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>using Apple devices.</em></p><p data-reader-unique-id="149" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;"><em data-reader-unique-id="150" style="max-width: 100%;">If you enjoyed this, I’m happy. If you’d like to buy me a coffee,</em><a data-reader-unique-id="151" href="https://ko-fi.com/pcunix" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em data-reader-unique-id="152" style="max-width: 100%;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>you can do that here</em></a><em data-reader-unique-id="153" style="max-width: 100%;">.</em></p></div></div></section></div>Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-32765560249610307332021-09-29T09:30:00.002-04:002021-09-29T09:30:18.447-04:00Those Cheating Coin Dealers Will Rip You Off!<p> </p><h1 class="title" data-reader-unique-id="titleElement" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Those Cheating Coin Dealers Will Rip You Off!</h1><h2 class="subhead" data-reader-unique-id="subheadElement" style="color: rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.46664em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.27275em; margin-top: -0.35em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Or maybe not</h2><div class="metadata singleline" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.7em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><a class="byline" data-reader-unique-id="117" href="https://pcunix.medium.com/?source=post_page-----8239efb27be7--------------------------------" rel="noopener follow" style="display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;">Anthony Lawrence</a></div><h2 data-reader-unique-id="1" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Numismatics</h2><figure class="clear" data-reader-unique-id="42" style="clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><div data-reader-unique-id="43" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="44" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="45" style="max-width: 100%;"><img alt="1877 Indian cent, Courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, used by permission." data-reader-unique-id="47" height="452" sizes="450px" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/900/1*AaYFSOq7TARXTcsj6IkKdA.jpeg" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/552/1*AaYFSOq7TARXTcsj6IkKdA.jpeg 276w, https://miro.medium.com/max/900/1*AaYFSOq7TARXTcsj6IkKdA.jpeg 450w" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="450" /></div></div></div><figcaption data-reader-unique-id="49" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="margin-top: 0.8em; max-width: 100%; width: 647.546875px;">Courtesy of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-reader-unique-id="50" href="http://www.ha.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Heritage Auction Galleries</a>, used by permission.</figcaption></figure><blockquote class="pullquote" data-reader-unique-id="51" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.42em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.38em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-inline-start: 1em; margin-top: 1em; max-width: calc(100% - 1em); text-size-adjust: auto;"><p data-reader-unique-id="52" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">When she dumped the coins on the counter and shoved the newspaper ad at me, I knew I had a problem. Mike was offering to buy average circulated coins, these were junk: corroded, clipped, some had been drilled for jewelry. I couldn’t pay that price.</p></blockquote><p data-reader-unique-id="53" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><mark data-reader-unique-id="54" style="max-width: 100%;">Collecting coins is not as popular as a hobby as it once was. Today, most of us barely look at any change we might happen to get; the low purchasing power makes the coins more annoying than valuable.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></mark>We are apt to get rid of those annoyances quickly, carelessly tossing them into a jar, or even waving away small amounts because they aren’t even worth taking.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="55" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">That was not always so. For a good part of my life, I carried a dollar or more in the change in my pocket. Most men did the same, and women always had a good pile of coins in their purse. Those coins had purchasing power; they were real money.</p><h2 data-reader-unique-id="56" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">The Lincoln Cent</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="57" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><mark data-reader-unique-id="58" style="max-width: 100%;">Almost all Americans know the Lincoln Cent. When you get a new one in change, it’s bright and shiny, but it soon tarnishes.</mark><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Leave a few in the console of your car and they may become so ugly that you’ll throw them away. Why not? A penny will buy nothing today.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="59" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">But when I was a boy, pennies were made of copper and had value. Penny candy wasn’t a joke at all: there was a display of that candy at the corner store. A bottle of soda was just ten cents, you could buy lunch for less than a dollar. A pocketful of coins might be all you would need for a day.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="60" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">And some of those coins were worth much more than the nominal value stamped upon them.</p><blockquote class="pullquote" data-reader-unique-id="61" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.42em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.38em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-inline-start: 1em; margin-top: 1em; max-width: calc(100% - 1em); text-size-adjust: auto;"><p data-reader-unique-id="62" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="max-width: 100%;">Ahh, coin dealers, antique dealers: they are out to get you, aren’t they? They prowl yard sales and casually ask if you’ll take a dollar for something you have marked as two dollars. Turns out it was worth thousands, the cheating bastards!</p></blockquote><h2 data-reader-unique-id="63" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Coin Collecting</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="64" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">While people have collected coins for thousands of years, it was that Lincoln cent that kicked the American hobby into high gear.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="65" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">We had a penny before that; it was the Indian Head Cent. First issued in 1864 to replace the much larger cents that had become too expensive to produce, these were the coins many people had used for their entire lives. When the Lincoln design replaced it in 1909, interest in collecting the older Indians became strong.</p><h2 data-reader-unique-id="66" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Coins Have Dates (and Mintmarks)</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="67" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">I’m sure you know that coins are dated and you may know that many also have extra letters indicating which mint produced them. Why dates were put on to begin with is not entirely clear, but it has been standard practice for many years.</p><div data-reader-unique-id="68" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><a data-reader-unique-id="69" href="https://articles.royalmintbullion.com/why-are-there-dates-on-coins/" rel="noopener follow ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><div data-reader-unique-id="70" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="71" style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 data-reader-unique-id="72" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">Why are there dates on coins? | Royal Mint Bullion</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="73" style="max-width: 100%;"></p><h3 data-reader-unique-id="74" style="font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;">Following the launch of the 2016 Royal Mint Bullion coin range, we talk to the Director of The Royal Mint Museum, Kevin…</h3><p></p><div data-reader-unique-id="75" style="max-width: 100%;"><p data-reader-unique-id="76" style="max-width: 100%;">articles.royalmintbullion.com</p></div></div></div></a></div><div data-reader-unique-id="79" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><a data-reader-unique-id="80" href="https://coins.ha.com/ref/mintmark.zx" rel="noopener follow ugc nofollow" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><div data-reader-unique-id="81" style="max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="82" style="max-width: 100%;"><h2 data-reader-unique-id="83" style="font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">All About Mintmarks - Heritage Auctions</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="84" style="max-width: 100%;"></p><h3 data-reader-unique-id="85" style="font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;">Mintmark: A letter or other mark on a coin denoting the mint that manufactured the coin. US coins are avidly collected…</h3><p></p></div></div></a></div><p data-reader-unique-id="90" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Consequently, collecting coins by date was, and is, one way to build that collection.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="91" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">The mints do not produce a fixed number of coins each year. Mintage is correlated to need; if pennies are in short supply in the western parts of the United States, the San Francisco and Denver mints will make more than they would otherwise. If there is a glut of pennies in the East, the Philadelphia mint will make fewer.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="92" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">This meant that if you were building your collection from pocket change in 1909, some dates and mintmarks would be harder to find than others. For example, the 1909 Indian cent from San Francisco was rarer because only 309,000 were produced. Today, a pristine, near-perfect example of that specific coin sells for as much as $60,000.00.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="93" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Yet an 1877 Indian cent, with a mintage of 852,500, is worth far more. Why is that so?</p><p data-reader-unique-id="94" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">It’s simple enough. The burgeoning interest in collecting caused the last year of the Indian cents to be snapped up. Some may have gone to normal circulation, but many were grabbed by coin dealers and collectors. Back in 1877, interest in collecting was nowhere near as strong. The country was also in the midst of a recession, so even a penny was important as money. Not many of those were saved, so today the 1877 is the most valuable date in the series.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="95" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><em data-reader-unique-id="96" style="max-width: 100%;">Well, except for the even more rare 1888/7 die variety.</em></p><h2 data-reader-unique-id="97" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Those Cheating Coin Dealers</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="98" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Ahh, coin dealers, antique dealers: they are out to get you, aren’t they?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><mark data-reader-unique-id="99" style="max-width: 100%;">They prowl yard sales and casually ask if you’ll take a dollar for something you have marked as two dollars. Turns out it was worth thousands, the cheating bastards!</mark></p><p data-reader-unique-id="100" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Yeah, ok, that does happen. But realistically, people buying and selling things do have to make a profit, and these can be tough businesses. Maybe a little story from my own experience as a coin dealer might make you a bit less suspicious of the ilk.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="101" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">In the early 1980s, I briefly worked for Del Greco Coins in Quincy MA. I had met the owner, Mike Del Greco, years earlier at a flea market where we were both selling coins. I had been impressed by both his knowledge and integrity; when I found myself in need of a job a few years later, I looked him up and he hired me.</p><h2 data-reader-unique-id="102" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">A Suspicious Customer</h2><p data-reader-unique-id="103" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">One of my first experiences working the counter at his store involved an elderly woman who had brought in a few dozen Indian Head cents. Mike had run an ad offering to buy these and other coins; I don’t remember what he was offering to pay, but let’s say it was 35 cents each. That might have been the going price at the time, though my memory could be off.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="104" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">When she dumped the coins on the counter and shoved the newspaper ad at me, I knew I had a problem. Mike was offering to buy average circulated coins, these were junk: corroded, clipped, some had been drilled for jewelry. I couldn’t pay that price.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="105" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Hoping to find something of slightly greater value, I began looking through the coins. I had not looked far when I came across an 1877. This coin had jingled in many a pocket and had been pushed across many a store counter. It wasn’t in great condition, it was well worn, probably a strong AG (About Good, one step above Poor) but it made me breath a sigh of relief. I looked through the rest and found nothing else.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="106" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">“I can’t give you much for these”, I said. The woman’s eyes flashed anger and she started to speak. I quickly interrupted her. “But I think I can give you $75.00 for this one — I just need to go ask my boss. May I take this to ask him?”</p><p data-reader-unique-id="107" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">She nodded yes, looking very confused. A moment ago she thought she was about to be cheated out of a few dollars, and now I was offering her $75.00? What had happened?</p><p data-reader-unique-id="108" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">I took the coin back to Mike and told him the story. He laughed, as I had expected.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="109" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">“Give her a hundred. That’s a great story.” He smiled as I went back out to deliver even better news to the still puzzled woman.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="110" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><em data-reader-unique-id="111" style="max-width: 100%;">That can be a dangerous thing for a dealer to do. Both Mike and I knew that when you make an unexpectedly high offer for a coin, the seller may assume it must be worth much more. Armed with that knowledge, they may leave to shop it around. If this had been a very desirable coin, Mike might have invited her into his office to explain and document why he was making the offer.</em></p><p data-reader-unique-id="112" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">Imagine her thoughts at this point. She had brought in a few dozen coins, hoping to get a few dollars for them. Judging by her clothes, those few dollars might have been important to her, but I had shocked her by offering her much more, and now I was back with an even higher amount! How would you feel?</p><p data-reader-unique-id="113" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;"><mark data-reader-unique-id="114" style="max-width: 100%;">She reacted with genuine joy. A hundred dollars was plainly a great windfall for her.</mark><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>She happily accepted Mike’s exceptional offer (a hundred was more than it was worth and the rest of the lot was mostly worth nothing) and went out grinning widely.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="115" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">By the way, even in the 1950s, you could still find Indian Cents in change now and then. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence, but I probably found a half dozen when I was a boy. No rare dates, but these were still exciting finds.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="116" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-size-adjust: auto;">I will never forget that 1877 cent and the look on that woman’s face.</p>Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-50017774352453343982015-06-26T12:23:00.000-04:002015-08-12T13:26:07.102-04:00Moonlight Mint's 1916 Fantasy Barber HalfThis is truly a beautiful piece.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03AcKYzZKuln7xKXBaLs0E5otMr9yxF4xE-IP_zKcZPslTCFetOnuxw5NEs6mYly2_5_Oh7pWsrRkTrh4VC7aalututFWPso46JOJfr1QUV90dgbVprpW0vbcpUjn4iHIaNNkl-3iBzHE/s1600/1916+High+Grade+Daniel+Carr+Fantasy+Barber+Half+OBV+.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03AcKYzZKuln7xKXBaLs0E5otMr9yxF4xE-IP_zKcZPslTCFetOnuxw5NEs6mYly2_5_Oh7pWsrRkTrh4VC7aalututFWPso46JOJfr1QUV90dgbVprpW0vbcpUjn4iHIaNNkl-3iBzHE/s320/1916+High+Grade+Daniel+Carr+Fantasy+Barber+Half+OBV+.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3ahH3A_WRUqzY5NGc88NJX87c1_rDxVkTU-HACnH_J4Lr341iAgjuMHg8JPdth3c_IhiYnvl5b86jDI-qMIMP888QlkhR_oB2KhsRwyVLhcYgRMjiV9TZ4OuEaxjYA3y48gDTsGZe07j/s1600/1916+High+Grade+Daniel+Carr+Fantasy+Barber+Half+REV.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3ahH3A_WRUqzY5NGc88NJX87c1_rDxVkTU-HACnH_J4Lr341iAgjuMHg8JPdth3c_IhiYnvl5b86jDI-qMIMP888QlkhR_oB2KhsRwyVLhcYgRMjiV9TZ4OuEaxjYA3y48gDTsGZe07j/s320/1916+High+Grade+Daniel+Carr+Fantasy+Barber+Half+REV.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ft4rFY3ksdIoztQQspMTYrYRhYA7qOJjocjNv7ObM_scM5U9_sBG8OAhMBG580PbL7u_ETlQJmh62l866YDfXctuhXuuSaoHqmdTJDgHNlgxud0rzHt5dyhWIHT7Fc6CetpJ_cYdG48h/s1600/1916+High+Grade+Daniel+Carr+Fantasy+Barber+Half+INSERT.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ft4rFY3ksdIoztQQspMTYrYRhYA7qOJjocjNv7ObM_scM5U9_sBG8OAhMBG580PbL7u_ETlQJmh62l866YDfXctuhXuuSaoHqmdTJDgHNlgxud0rzHt5dyhWIHT7Fc6CetpJ_cYdG48h/s320/1916+High+Grade+Daniel+Carr+Fantasy+Barber+Half+INSERT.JPG" width="289" /></a></div>
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See <a href="http://www.moonlightmint.com/blog_14.htm" target="_blank">“1916” Barber Half Dollar – Production Blog</a> for mintage figures. This one is Die State 1, before the reverse die crack developed. As I write this, there has not yet been another die produced - I suppose that will depend upon demand.<br />
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I ended up with two of these due to a shipping error. I contacted Daniel and he offered to let me keep the second for $40.00. I felt that was unfair, so sent him $50.00 :)<br />
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Both have the "DOLAR" error on the insert - Daniel says that has been corrected.<br />
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Another die was made after 260 of these were produced.<br />
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<br />Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-17813906921467170102015-03-09T14:42:00.002-04:002015-03-10T11:27:17.449-04:00Interesting Infographic on coins and coin collectingHere is an interesting infographic from <a href="http://www.preciousmetals.com/blog/2015/01/coin-experts-survey/" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 19.7999992370605px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">http://www.preciousmetals.com/<wbr></wbr>blog/2015/01/coin-experts-<wbr></wbr>survey/</a><br />
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I see that 13% of respondents think 3 cent coins are undervalued ( see <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/04/trimes-or-fish-scales-3-cent-silver.html" style="background-color: white; color: #3f51b5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 19.7999992370605px; position: relative; z-index: 0;" target="_blank">http://coins.aplawrence.com/<wbr></wbr>2014/04/trimes-or-fish-scales-<wbr></wbr>3-cent-silver.html</a> ). I'd agree, though I also think that half cents are even less appreciated.<br />
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As to overvalued, I agree: Morgan Dollars are foolishly priced.<br />
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But with regard to phasing out the penny: what politician will ever vote against Lincoln?<br />
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<img alt="Coin Experts Survey Infographic" src="http://www.preciousmetals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Coin-Experts-Survey-Infographic-2015.jpg" height="4500" width="548" /><a href="http://www.preciousmetals.com/blog/2015/01/coin-experts-survey/">Coin Experts Survey Infographic</a><br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-33053511700729315552015-01-17T06:52:00.001-05:002015-01-17T06:52:22.487-05:00When coins no longer matter at allWe are nearing the point when coinage becomes irrelevant. Already many of us do most our daily business electronically and have little use for cash. This will continue and soon enough there will be people who may live their lives having never handled cash at all. Eventually governments will stop producing paper money and coinage.<br />
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That may cause a resurgent interest in coin (and paper money) collecting, but longer term it doesn't bode well.<br />
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Except..<br />
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There will always be people who want to transact business privately. Their business may be illegal, or they may be avoiding taxes, or they may just be pursuing privacy. These people use cash now - we call it the "underground economy". What happens there when governments no longer issue physical money?<br />
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I suspect they'd turn to bullion. Maple Leafs, Eagles, bars and so on. That's perhaps inconvenient for large transactions, but it's more convenient than anything else - trading bags of cocaine has more disadvantages than trading bullion.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1iYXP3CR2zAZEJwRcPRcQLMxTeIuYoX7QzjlvBp_Ht12zWHeUj-UPsIUDLfNnLqnkrAyephspHdn9-Na4q_lSpvY4sZG4tKhPrbCcvc2XbOFIA09yMfQpv7Wtk_UaM-CoUN8UZSh45Pa/s1600/2014-S+Eagle+MS70+OBV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1iYXP3CR2zAZEJwRcPRcQLMxTeIuYoX7QzjlvBp_Ht12zWHeUj-UPsIUDLfNnLqnkrAyephspHdn9-Na4q_lSpvY4sZG4tKhPrbCcvc2XbOFIA09yMfQpv7Wtk_UaM-CoUN8UZSh45Pa/s1600/2014-S+Eagle+MS70+OBV.jpg" height="313" width="320" /></a></div>
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In 2014, the U.S. mint produced over <a href="http://news.coinupdate.com/silver-eagle-bullion-coins-sold-out-at-record-4634/">44 million ounces of Silver Eagles</a>. I have to wonder: did all of that go to collectors and stackers? Is it possible that the bullion underground economy has already begun? Or at least that people are stockpiling in the expectation of that? In other words, how many people are buying bullion expecting to exchange it for dollars later vs. those who expect that the bullion itself will be their medium of exchange?<br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-24815348888178181502015-01-16T06:44:00.000-05:002015-01-16T06:44:28.170-05:00United States 3 Cent CoinsThe first time I saw a three cent piece was in a box of old coins I inherited from my grandfather. It was silver, quite worn and seemed so very thin and fragile that I couldn't imagine that people had ever really used these as money.<br />
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Being slightly smaller than a dime in diameter (14 mm vs. 17.9 mm for a dime) and much thinner would seem to have made this something all too easy to lose. The weight (.8 gram originally and then reduced to .75 gram) would also make it nearly unnoticeable should one fall out of your hand or slip through a tiny hole in your pocket.<br />
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And yet, in spite of that, these coins actually were popular for a time and were widely used. We can see that from how many quite worn specimens exist today - search Ebay auctions and you'll find many well used 3 cent silver coins offered for sale.<br />
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So why were they so popular?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0leZjIT6UBWVIvwqTfoLa4jAOy5PoVcrfsRwcxX8gsyWPcW3iExNhRZV6jbVfFK6_l5v7SnIzMiY_uM4LQ7cIj3YyevLB_GSw1NH-fTBft4AiW2UrhY8l3Wrqa7M_74Ad6lFmWxYfl3Zc/s1600/3csilver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0leZjIT6UBWVIvwqTfoLa4jAOy5PoVcrfsRwcxX8gsyWPcW3iExNhRZV6jbVfFK6_l5v7SnIzMiY_uM4LQ7cIj3YyevLB_GSw1NH-fTBft4AiW2UrhY8l3Wrqa7M_74Ad6lFmWxYfl3Zc/s1600/3csilver.jpg" height="400" width="183" /></a></div>
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<strong>Your two or three cents worth</strong></div>
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In the 1850's, a dollar had roughly the same purchasing power as $30.00 does today (see<a href="http://measuringworth.com/uscompare/" style="color: #551a8b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">MeasuringWorth.com</a>). That means that one of these coins had only a bit less purchasing power than a dollar of today. Admittedly, that's not much, but it is enough for many small things, and that was also true then.</div>
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For example, one of the things you could do for three cents in 1851 was to mail a half ounce letter. Prior to that, rates were higher - in 1844, it might have cost you nearly 15 cents. That reduction in cost was good news for people sending letters, but it also introduced a problem.</div>
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<strong>Nobody liked small change</strong></div>
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You probably find pennies (technically "cents", pennies are British) annoying even today. In the 1850's they were even more so. They were large and clunky, weighing three times as much as now and having ten times the surface area. Being copper, they also tarnished and attracted dirt - they were not well liked.</div>
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Worse, they were not legal tender. If you handed over three of those large cents as payment for something, you could be refused on those grounds. If you paid with a silver half dime (which was legal tender for debts up to $5.00), you'd get two clunky large cents back in change. Having a three cent coin made a lot of sense!</div>
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<strong>The value of silver</strong></div>
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Setting the silver content of coinage had been a bit of a problem. When silver rose in value, people would quite naturally hoard coins that were worth more than their face value. Coming into the 1850's, a 50 cent coin became worth 53 or 54 cents - obviously worth melting or at least saving.</div>
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That created yet another problem for a person who wanted to mail a letter: would you hand over a half-dime or dime as payment when it was worth more than that in raw silver? Silver coins disappeared from circulation.</div>
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The silver three cent coin of 1851 was debased with enough copper (25% originally, reduced a few years later) to make it not worth hoarding while still having enough silver in it to be seen as having real value. This was later done with all silver coins, but the silver content was increased to 90% and the size was reduced to try to discourage hoarding and melting.</div>
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This worked - for a while. The silver 3 cent coin was successful and saw plenty of use for postage and other needs.</div>
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<strong>The Civil War</strong></div>
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The U.S. Civil War caused hoarding to start up all over again and even the debased coinage was pulled out of circulation. There were paper money notes issued in three cent denominations, but people hated those also.</div>
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Worse, in 1861, banks had suspended specie payment. That is, if you brought in paper currency or Demand Notes, they would not give you coins in exchange.</div>
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That this made commerce difficult should be obvious.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6VdP7bTzf1Nlhw4Nr0X_bFlmN71iI4gBCTZjdLLxGOL8qj3TYzsp6vpto2vMI6iWtVJjrn-7MtlUBWPPhA2vLRzzZ35aHU-2VNzkLTgNMHR6Yt1UfmZE-DRcyFM-j25AheFnwA1kN5Co/s1600/3cnickel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6VdP7bTzf1Nlhw4Nr0X_bFlmN71iI4gBCTZjdLLxGOL8qj3TYzsp6vpto2vMI6iWtVJjrn-7MtlUBWPPhA2vLRzzZ35aHU-2VNzkLTgNMHR6Yt1UfmZE-DRcyFM-j25AheFnwA1kN5Co/s1600/3cnickel.jpg" height="400" width="208" /></a></div>
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<strong>More debasement</strong></div>
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The somewhat unexpected acceptance of so-called "civil war tokens" made Congress realize that small coins didn't really need bullion value. They therefore authorized a nickel 3 cent piece and began minting these in 1865.</div>
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These were accepted by the public and by merchants and were minted right up until 1889, when postage rose to 5 cents.</div>
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You can find these 3 cent nickel pieces at reasonable prices. Many millions were made, so they are easy to find even in higher grade condition.</div>
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These interesting pieces paved the way for the valueless (that is, no intrinsic value) coins we have today.</div>
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See <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/04/trimes-or-fish-scales-3-cent-silver.html">Trimes or Fish scales - the 3 cent silver coins</a> also.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-64159599744722384172015-01-10T10:16:00.000-05:002015-01-10T17:49:29.556-05:00PhoneScope Clip On Microscope Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Although I have a <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/agptek-usb-800x-digital-microscope.html">USB microscope</a>, I wanted something for my phone that I could use in the field. I bought the Lighthouse Phonescope (see <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=B00GC0XJIW&linkCode=ur2&tag=aplawrencescouni&linkId=IC2PAEIQIX5CA25A">Amazon link here</a>). This is a lens attached to a very strong clip that should fit almost any phone. Here it is attached to my iPhone with an Otter case.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCh07kgojWxBcc81fDh8Ggr3na-4UtVCuHE0A7RUZKQ0jOOhVYiYujCLkB-HrdEsJDT7p7B1I-hNHOXqo8mwosVMskiOzF2cFl-QA58M9r2IJvQMBz2mM-_ltwoGmw9vugvmWDt8w_jTYx/s1600/IMG_0056+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCh07kgojWxBcc81fDh8Ggr3na-4UtVCuHE0A7RUZKQ0jOOhVYiYujCLkB-HrdEsJDT7p7B1I-hNHOXqo8mwosVMskiOzF2cFl-QA58M9r2IJvQMBz2mM-_ltwoGmw9vugvmWDt8w_jTYx/s1600/IMG_0056+(1).JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The clip spring is quite strong. I found it somewhat difficult myself; someone with weaker hands (like my wife) might not be able to do it at all.</div>
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I did find it slightly easier if I put it on from the side:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOXsSZnmFHsvkNk4SsOx4OKRYLUSHF-0pHIZBadj8eUTEInldV5ErZrjpmJBN-eR9dewy66FcKtmDtCE6oXAWehVNGUOfDOi8H-dgVuH_3mVce3y8B9jg7a0mwnB0xKd2dZ6EXZAOQvaO/s1600/IMG_0054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOXsSZnmFHsvkNk4SsOx4OKRYLUSHF-0pHIZBadj8eUTEInldV5ErZrjpmJBN-eR9dewy66FcKtmDtCE6oXAWehVNGUOfDOi8H-dgVuH_3mVce3y8B9jg7a0mwnB0xKd2dZ6EXZAOQvaO/s1600/IMG_0054.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The actual lens can easily come out of the clip when not attached to a phone. It's not so loose that it is likely to fall out, but you could knock it out accidentally. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzzojEmh1IQ5xMs1I1_MmL1uv9raVOuEUlUAJW6DYEujO2-gVXkVTboK2uyqRFuAq0Mt2hShPIWD1cOIjBY0tV-B1fC1SMmQwWlQBm1RRvOZ2uI2ha0rIQdUZL7LNHcYRrMpZi58qCiM-/s1600/IMG_442591768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzzojEmh1IQ5xMs1I1_MmL1uv9raVOuEUlUAJW6DYEujO2-gVXkVTboK2uyqRFuAq0Mt2hShPIWD1cOIjBY0tV-B1fC1SMmQwWlQBm1RRvOZ2uI2ha0rIQdUZL7LNHcYRrMpZi58qCiM-/s1600/IMG_442591768.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The translucent plastic piece snaps on to the lens and provides the right focal length. Unlike my USB scope, there's nothing to focus with this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjII-71gtYIM6cpdqJo4YOQH28g5-K3DKLInL19E-MEdD_F1WljG-AKg-DGGpRxPuvQPmvY0OhLSBmNe_sjjmbXophTUIwS6IjvfiP-y79CzZx2G2Ximhms9SsFekP7A3g2V3ajds6XPe83/s1600/IMG_0055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjII-71gtYIM6cpdqJo4YOQH28g5-K3DKLInL19E-MEdD_F1WljG-AKg-DGGpRxPuvQPmvY0OhLSBmNe_sjjmbXophTUIwS6IjvfiP-y79CzZx2G2Ximhms9SsFekP7A3g2V3ajds6XPe83/s1600/IMG_0055.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCv12w286lL2d5RK3ZqB4X1dX6A776dljPIq0wHNZlVnE5LcFMZrOYg0EbtIyBNZPo43xvK-q1ZKxeOffZ8FXXTjB-D4xOgVMsNZXAx7iXCBjGTMZloaIK2AruuKTClKKeARIzLQvN4f9_/s1600/IMG_0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCv12w286lL2d5RK3ZqB4X1dX6A776dljPIq0wHNZlVnE5LcFMZrOYg0EbtIyBNZPo43xvK-q1ZKxeOffZ8FXXTjB-D4xOgVMsNZXAx7iXCBjGTMZloaIK2AruuKTClKKeARIzLQvN4f9_/s1600/IMG_0056.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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But in order to get that relatively flat, you'll need something at the other end of your phone. I used my wife's pill box, which was close enough.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5XiYuJRDIR_bQ8WYWDqhRh5BZjVLfoOGeGxWbeq6r7xJeNp5kevMmlLG-Gbg3Lnm0x4qCXzn01XYGeVLUvHDYmvvmhL7ycyW1hN-nsDsIu-CLXL01xVABGPd4qcwahvF8aqI9jo63vvz/s1600/IMG_0057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5XiYuJRDIR_bQ8WYWDqhRh5BZjVLfoOGeGxWbeq6r7xJeNp5kevMmlLG-Gbg3Lnm0x4qCXzn01XYGeVLUvHDYmvvmhL7ycyW1hN-nsDsIu-CLXL01xVABGPd4qcwahvF8aqI9jo63vvz/s1600/IMG_0057.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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So now the question is, how well does it work?</div>
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You need LOTS of light. That translucent pedestal will only let in so much. I was just using overhead lighting in my kitchen; that was insufficient, so I added a flashlight. I used the iPhone zoom magnification in addition to the Phonescope lens.</div>
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But remember that this is a fixed focal length. Is the ideal distance with the coin covered as it is for the Lincoln cent above, or should it be on the coin itself as it has to be with a silver dollar and can easily be with a half dollar?</div>
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What about a coin in a slab? The coin surface will be a little farther away. The iPhone camera will compensate for that somewhat, but the results were a little fuzzier:</div>
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I was unable to zoom at all when looking at a slab; the iPhone could not get focus when zoomed.</div>
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So, all things considered: this is a decent tool for raw coins, but not ideal for slabs.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </span></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-52903612027761323032015-01-07T08:32:00.002-05:002015-01-07T08:37:02.663-05:00HK-131 1901 Evacuation of Boston So-Called DollarThis medal was among the coins my father passed to me. The bronze replica I have was distributed to Boston school children in 1901. My grandfather was fourteen years old and his family was living in Boston then, so it is quite possible that one of these was given to him. Unfortunately, it's not the one I have now as I sold that years before I knew what it was.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbbws1LnX_dBU7PooP-A3CgpItEq_MLKENEmdwsPUhMt_P1TvUunNTGtnw0brniVvQpP9off9_N70Q5spuk76z-9YhbgscUhu272a7VpOQyWozv748S-HPg5j7zu7NzCultjHvSLPulie/s1600/1901+Evacuation+Medal+REV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbbws1LnX_dBU7PooP-A3CgpItEq_MLKENEmdwsPUhMt_P1TvUunNTGtnw0brniVvQpP9off9_N70Q5spuk76z-9YhbgscUhu272a7VpOQyWozv748S-HPg5j7zu7NzCultjHvSLPulie/s1600/1901+Evacuation+Medal+REV.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a></div>
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The reverse is a replica of a gold medal given to George Washington.Washington's family sold that in 1876 to a group of Bostonians who purchased it and immediately gave it to the City of Boston, intending it for the Boston Public Library. The medal is supposedly <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kk0mAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA324">on display at the Boston Public Library each year</a> on Washington's birthday. I've never seen it, but it is said to weigh over 7 ounces, so it must be impressive. This copper medal is 38 mm,; the gold medal is 68 mm (2.67 inches).<br />
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This medal is<a href="http://www.so-calleddollars.com/Events/Revolutionary_War_Battles.html"> HK-131, a "so called dollar"</a>.</div>
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There are many restrikes of the original medal; see "<a href="http://www.coins.nd.edu/WashToken/WashTokenText/1790.html">Washington Before Boston Medal</a>". <br />
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I found <a href="https://archive.org/stream/marchthcelebrat00edwagoog#page/n48/mode/2up">Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Evacuation of Boston by the British Army</a> which describes the purchase of the medal among other celebrations of 1876.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFwC2Xqc6QA8j6oK9n96_UEivs0BLjx0nwts2Tfx0pXp7_7w9LgSohXrXNJHXSb-V79ZlgrsRZWi68twv8QKym7HwqF7J5agFMlsBzeJ3vV_AJLqC4L9BKzOWpkVaZyN159DfGs_PJYlJ/s1600/evacuation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFwC2Xqc6QA8j6oK9n96_UEivs0BLjx0nwts2Tfx0pXp7_7w9LgSohXrXNJHXSb-V79ZlgrsRZWi68twv8QKym7HwqF7J5agFMlsBzeJ3vV_AJLqC4L9BKzOWpkVaZyN159DfGs_PJYlJ/s1600/evacuation.jpg" height="205" width="400" /></a></div>
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Two people with "Lawrence" surnames contributed to the purchase of the gold medal ) but neither were my grandfather's father Herbert Myron Lawrence. They could be relatives, but I do not know. I believe Herbert Myron <a href="http://www.askart.com/askart/l/herbert_myron_lawrence/herbert_myron_lawrence.aspx">was in San Francisco at that time</a>.<br />
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-36378147468887752392015-01-06T07:49:00.004-05:002015-01-06T07:57:45.507-05:00Collecting by Type<div class="modfloat full" style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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A fun and less expensive way to collect coins is by "type" rather than by date. That is, rather than trying to find or buy a complete set of Lincoln Cents, you might have ONE Lincoln cent that would represent the whole series. Of course for U.S. coins you'd also have an Indian Head Cent, a Flying Eagle Cent and a Large Cent.</div>
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That would be a basic "type set" of U.S. cents and needn't cost a lot of money if you are content to have circulated examples.</div>
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Most type set collectors would take it a bit farther. For example, Lincoln Cents had a "wheat" reverse until 1959, at which time it changed to the Lincoln Memorial. You'd probably also want the <a href="http://www.coinnews.net/2008/09/22/lincoln-penny-design-images-for-2009-circulating-cents-4359/" target="_blank">four special reverses of 2009</a> and the "E Pluribus" design that started in 2010. </div>
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Most would also include one of the "steel cents" of 1943. These were made to conserve copper for wartime use.</div>
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That would seem to cover the major varieties of Lincoln cents, but one more is often added: that's the 1909 issue with "V.D.B" under the wheat ears on the reverse. Those were the designer's initials - Victor D. Brenner, but many people objected to him "signing" so prominently, so later that year his initials were moved to a less visible location under Lincoln's shoulder (tip a penny and you will see them there still - though you may need a magnifier!).</div>
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By the way, our one cent coins are technically "cents", not "pennies". Some folks make a big deal about that.</div>
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There are a few more minor varieties to consider. In 1944, and again in 1983, Lincoln Cents changed their composition. Lincoln cents were bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) from 1909 to 1942, steel in '43, without tin from '44 to '58 (though 1944-1946 are more brass) and then with zinc and tin again until 1959. In 1962 this was changed to 97.5% zinc with a light coating of copper - which is why modern pennies get really ugly looking very quickly.</div>
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You could carry this much farther. There are varieties where the first two letters of AMERICA are nearly touching or not - some would make sure to include examples. There are also large and small date varieties of 1960 and some other years and the famous "double die obverse" of 1955 (and other years).</div>
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I've only talked about Lincoln cents - there are multiple varieties of Indian cents, Flying Eagle cents and Large cents. There are also<a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/07/pattern-coins.html" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"> "patterns" - transitional coins never intended for general circulation</a>.</div>
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When you start including older coins like the Large Cents in a type set, the cost can start to mount. Few of us could afford a 1793 "chain" cent in anything but the poorest condition and even that could run thousands of dollars.<br />
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I used a holder much like this for my first Type Set
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There are also "Commemoratives" - coins issued for special events, like the 1893 Columbian Half Dollar and even that 2009 "Log Cabin" cent. Many would include some of these in a type set.</div>
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There are Civil War Tokens, Colonial Coinage and coinage from "private" mints - and that's just the United States. British coinage goes back much farther and Roman coins can be older still and yet still be common enough for collectors.</div>
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If we start collecting nickel and dime types, quarters, halves and dollars, as well as the odd two cent and three cent pieces, you could spend a fair amount of money amassing even the most basic set.</div>
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As to gold coins, that really starts to get expensive - even without considering the rare types and varieties.</div>
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However, collecting by type is really up to you. You might not want to collect anything before some arbitrary date - your birth year, for example. Or you might limit your collection to one series - Lincoln cents or Jefferson nickels. It's up to you.</div>
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Here's an idea: a "Coins of the world" type set, or even a "Copper coins of the world". This could be great fun and very educational.</div>
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How about "Coins with famous people" or "Coins with animals"? Or "Coins of my birth year"?</div>
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Very specialized collections might be "Coins made at the San Francisco mint" (that one could set you back a few dollars!).</div>
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The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and of course your wallet in some cases.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-34371077559154841032015-01-05T07:35:00.000-05:002015-01-05T07:35:19.548-05:00Early U.S. Coinage<div class="module moduleText color0" id="mod_16589401" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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Not many of us can afford to own examples of the earliest U.S. coins. Mintage figures were often very low and some are so scarce that it is difficult even to find pictures of them, never mind have an opportunity to own.</div>
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<i>By the way, many of the coin pictures here are Courtesy of <a href="http://ha.com/" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Heritage Auction Galleries/www.ha.com</a>. If you are one of those people who can afford this sort of collecting (or if you just enjoy looking at things like this), Heritage Auctions is a great place to browse.</i></div>
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In March of 1791, Congress resolved that a mint should be established and that the President (then George Washington, of course) should make that happen. Notice the simple language and lack of detailed instruction of the resolution below; it's very different from any Act of Congress you'd read today. Basically, Congress wanted a Mint and the rest was up to the President.</div>
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III. Resolved <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,</em> That a mint shall be established under such regulations as shall be directed by law.</div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Resolved,</em> That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized to cause to be engaged, such principal artists as shall be necessary to carry the preceding resolution into effect, and to stipulate the terms and conditions of their service, and also to cause to be procured such apparatus as shall be requisite for the same purpose.</div>
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The Mint was seen as very necessary. This wasn't just national pride. There were coin shortages and the coins that were in circulation were a jumbled mix of State and foreign coins that varied widely in size, weight and value. Anyone who has been puzzled by currency or has accidentally paid too much in a foreign country is sure to appreciate how confusing this must have been for the Colonists. You might have been offered payment in French coins one minute and Massachussets shillings another. Federal coinage was an answer to a very real problem.</div>
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The actual construction and operation of that Mint was a year away and so were instructions from Congress as to what sort of coins were to be produced. In the meantime, proposals were made and some <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/07/pattern-coins.html" target="_blank">pattern coins </a>were struck at private mints.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: 18.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Fugio Cent</strong></div>
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One coin, the Fugio Cent, was authorized by the earlier Continental Congress of 1787. The design, presumed to be by Benjamin Franklin, was the same as <a href="http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyText/CC-02-17-76.html" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">paper money created in 1776</a>.</div>
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Surprisingly, considering that only about 400,000 of these were minted (by James Jarvis, who <a href="http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Fugio.intro.html" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">obtained the contract through a bribe</a>), uncirculated examples are not difficult to find. We know that the Bank of New York acquired a full mint keg (<a href="http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1200453/site_id/1#import" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">possibly 15,000 coins or more</a>) of these in 1788 and only started disbursing them (to favored customers) in 1926. They still had coins left as late as 1948.</div>
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There were also restrikes in the mid 1800's. These are known as "New Haven Restrikes", though they were actually most likely made in Waterbury, Connecticut, not New Haven. As there are multiple die varieties, these may have been restruck at other mints also.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIeIEeM_19tuujKqA9cW3OF1084BGoZvcnkX79zutumXtAtVlwKYxo65uFPo4zZcgGwZyk0-9O0iZPjIfjZ1_Mv4S7x_mFQXsRQbEbgvGul3QVqT8EqRXekMVaacWpHAH8P94vNwud6459/s1600/1787+Fugio+Restrike+OBV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIeIEeM_19tuujKqA9cW3OF1084BGoZvcnkX79zutumXtAtVlwKYxo65uFPo4zZcgGwZyk0-9O0iZPjIfjZ1_Mv4S7x_mFQXsRQbEbgvGul3QVqT8EqRXekMVaacWpHAH8P94vNwud6459/s1600/1787+Fugio+Restrike+OBV.jpg" height="320" width="236" /></a></div>
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Fugio restrike from my collection</div>
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The original mintage was supposed to be for 300 tons (probably about 30 million coins) - imagine how common these would be today had that production been achieved!</div>
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There was also a dollar coin (commonly called the Continental Dollar) of similar design. No contract was ever issued to produce these, so all examples are either patterns or much later restrikes made in 1876.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5idRlwt1z-Eab3x0z1XXGxKFLVEQssRELZ-YnLqpcvOy_dQg3OiNDHurqrJJDoGVMOal2PZTL-UyUXUpGB8xmHbZfCNKn88-Lph9cDo6Sp4VpIcltGiOWFXEzbL8ZygkP5CmRdr4dwVby/s1600/1776+Bashlow+Restrike+OBV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5idRlwt1z-Eab3x0z1XXGxKFLVEQssRELZ-YnLqpcvOy_dQg3OiNDHurqrJJDoGVMOal2PZTL-UyUXUpGB8xmHbZfCNKn88-Lph9cDo6Sp4VpIcltGiOWFXEzbL8ZygkP5CmRdr4dwVby/s1600/1776+Bashlow+Restrike+OBV.jpg" height="320" width="231" /></a></div>
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Modern restrike of the Continental Dollar from my collection</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Nova Constellatio</strong></div>
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These designs were contracted by Robert Morris, the one and only <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintendent_of_Finance_of_the_United_States" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Superintendent of Finance</a> the United States ever had.</div>
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There has been disagreement over whether these should be referred to as "Nova Constellatio" or "Constellatio Nova".</div>
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The dates of 1783 almost certainly do not mean that these were made then. No references exist before 1785, so those dates were probably meant to be symbolic of the 1783 Continental Congress rather than to mean the date of issue. However, there are also coins dated 1785 and 1786, so perhaps coinage was intended for 1783.</div>
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These coins did circulate and large numbers were minted, but they were produced in England, not the United States. It is estimated that several million of these were made, yet it is less common than those figures might suggest. That may be partly due to being driven out by heavier weight copper cents and they were actually made illegal in New York. We know that private mints bought up many coins to reuse for new coinage, so that certainly contributed to scarcity.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTwOHYCtOL6CaCvpgSajJKY5kMYx3pxJNm8DQj5SDJ2F9sQ_VoGEJ4L8qgmNARHbJIKlFZg372Vbuk9RjLm02sGiD4ukMGiLGIYnDE1tFgUrCswAEwZNVS2lGmLlwl1_mPxXxSL9PmRNt/s1600/nova.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTwOHYCtOL6CaCvpgSajJKY5kMYx3pxJNm8DQj5SDJ2F9sQ_VoGEJ4L8qgmNARHbJIKlFZg372Vbuk9RjLm02sGiD4ukMGiLGIYnDE1tFgUrCswAEwZNVS2lGmLlwl1_mPxXxSL9PmRNt/s1600/nova.jpeg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="s1">Nova Constellatio: Courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries <a href="http://www.ha.com/">http://www.ha.com</a></span></div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">First U.S. Mint Coins</strong></div>
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The first official coins actually struck were half dimes. Some 1,500 were produced in July of 1792 by John Harper, while the Mint itself was still under construction. Although not officially produced at the Mint, mint personnel apparently supervised this coinage.</div>
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Many references state that George Washington supplied a hundred dollars worth of "silver plate" for these coins, but not <a href="http://www.coinlink.com/CoinGuide/rarity-of-the-week/1792-half-disme/" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">everyone accepts that as fact</a>.</div>
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The design is somewhat crude, and although some assumed the figure on the front might be Martha Washington, in fact it was symbolic of Liberty. Washington and probably all patriots of the time had a definite aversion to monarchy and what they called the "cult of personality" - they did not believe that individuals should be idolized by appearing on coins.e</div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(In 1909, the first violation of their opinions in that area was the minting of the Lincoln cent - no doubt all the Founding Fathers would have been appalled, but we have been illustrating our coinage with national heroes ever since.)</em></div>
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Some numismatists insist that these coins should be considered patterns rather than actual issues. They point to the fact that George Washington handed out many of these to friends and dignitaries as keepsakes. However, these definitely were intended for circulation and many worn pieces are known, so some of the coins certainly saw real use.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;">Worn 1792 Half Disme: Courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;"> <a href="http://ha.com/">http://ha.com</a></span></div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Large Cents of 1792 and 1793</strong></div>
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The 1792's are particularly interesting because some of them contained silver, either as a noticeable plug in the center (the "Silver Center Cent") or mixed in ("fusible alloy cents"). The idea was that the silver would be worth 3/4 of one cent and that the copper would make up the rest, giving the coin an intrinsic value of one cent while keeping its size down.</div>
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As these coins are rather rare, and testing actual metal content is naturally frowned upon, all of the non-plug varieties are referred to as ‘fusible alloy’ regardless of what their actual mixture might be. A larger version was made with only copper.</div>
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These were intended as patterns, yet lower grade coins exist. Perhaps they were spent at later times?</div>
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The 1793's were definitely for circulation. The early "chain" design had 36,103 pieces struck and when the rather ugly design was changed to the "wreath" version, another 63,000 or so of those were produced.</div>
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I once owned a very well worn "wreath" 1793. The date was gone, but it was easily identifiable because the "Liberty Cap" cents of 1793 were a much different design. Even though this was many years ago, and the condition so poor, I paid more than $100.00 for the coin. Today, a similar piece might fetch $500 or more.</div>
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While public sentiment was strongly against the wild haired "Liberty" of those first coins, it does have a certain attraction in spite of its crudeness. To my mind, the later <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1794_large_cent.PNG" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">"Liberty Cap" cents</a> are actually less attractive.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1795 gold</strong></div>
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The first gold was deposited at the Mint in February of 1795 by Moses Brown of Boston. He deposited a little over $2,270.00 in gold ingots and was given silver coins in payment.</div>
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The policy at the time was "free coinage". That is, you could bring silver or gold bullion to the Mint and they would turn it into coins at no cost to you. However, if you were not willing to wait, as Moses apparently was not, you'd pay a fee of one-halt percent.</div>
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I assume Moses Brown was probably the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Brown" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Brown referred to in this Wikipedia article</a>. If so, he may have needed the coins for his various businesses. That $2,270.00 was roughly equivalent to $40,000.. today, so it was hardly a small amount of money, yet no great fortune either. It might be perfectly reasonable that he needed the silver coins for business. Given the weight of a 1794 half dime (20.8 grains), that pile of coins would have only been 130 lbs or so.</div>
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However, the total mintage of silver for all of 1794 and 1795 was only 86,416 half dimes ($4,314.00 worth) and there were only 5,300 half dollars and 1,758 dollars made in 1794, so however Moses mixed his take, he went home with a significant portion of the Mint's output!</div>
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Seven hundred and forty four gold half-eagles ($5 coin) were delivered to the Treasury on July 31st, 1795. The total mintage for the year was 8,707 of these. I personally think this particular coin is one of the most beautiful ever made. The designer was Robert Scot, who was Chief Engraver of the Mint. His eyesight was failing even when he was appointed, which might account for the ugliness of the half dime, but I find nothing ugly about this coin.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Replicas</strong></div>
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As so few of us can afford most of these rarities, replicas are often available so that we can have something more tangible than a picture. The <a href="http://www.collectors.org/Library/Hobby_Protection_Act.asp" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Hobby Protection Act of 1973</a> made these reproductions (all stamped "COPY" on one side or the other) legal.</div>
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Also see:</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.8999996185303px;"><a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/06/the-secret-history-of-first-us-mint-how.html" target="_blank">The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-64820146672553827982014-12-30T06:59:00.002-05:002014-12-30T06:59:54.731-05:00Silver bullion and U.S. Silver coinage<div class="module moduleText color0" id="mod_16579846" style="clear: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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On September 9th, 1963 the price of pure silver hit $1.293 per ounce. That was a new record for the 20th century and it caused a problem for the U.S. Treasury Department: coins in circulation were now worth their face value. That is, counting the cost of refining to pure silver (coinage was only 90% silver at that time), a silver dollar in the palm of your hand was actually worth one dollar for the value of the silver in it.</div>
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There were no silver dollars actually in circulation then, but dimes, quarters and half dollars also contained 90% silver. Silver dollars did turn up now and then - they were the chips used at casinos and were popular as Christmas presents.</div>
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Ten dimes would have weighed just a tiny bit less than one silver dollar, so even the minor coins were in danger of being worth more than their face value.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The end of silver coinage</strong></div>
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It was the rising price of silver that caused us to stop using that metal and change (in 1965) to the "clad" coins you might have in your pocket right now. Today, with silver prices sometimes 40 times higher than they were then, that may seem like the most obvious and necessary thing to do, but there was not complete agreement on that back then.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Make more Silver Dollars</strong></div>
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In hindsight, it seems almost incredible that two Montana Senators (Mike Mansfield and Lee Metcalf) proposed a bill that would start minting silver dollars again. Their solution for the price problem was to reduce the silver content to 80%, which obviously would not have solved the problem for very long. Silver was $1.63 an ounce in 1970 and surged way up in 1980, only to settle down to the $4-$5 range for a number of years. Those 80% silver dollars would have been worth far more than face value.</div>
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The Senator's interest was because Montana was and is a mining State. The more silver demand, the better for Montana.</div>
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A "fantasy" piece from Moonlight Mint (<a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/ive-mentioned-daniel-carr-and-moonlight.html" target="_blank">overstruck on a genuine peace dollar</a>)</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Demand for Silver</strong></div>
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Silver has many uses (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver#Applications" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Wikipedia for details</a>). One use that was quite strong then was photography; that has diminished greatly, but at the time we are talking about, most people expected that use to only increase.</div>
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However, the demand I'm speaking of was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Certificate" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Silver Certificates</a>. We don't have these today - they were no longer produced starting in 1965. These originally had the following promise:</div>
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"This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="United States of America">United States of America</a> (number) silver dollar(s) payable to the bearer on demand."</div>
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That was later changed to</div>
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"This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America (number) dollar(s) in silver payable to the bearer on demand."</div>
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That change turned out to be important, as we will see.</div>
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You see, if you did march down to the Treasury and demand that they make good, they would have paid you in Silver Dollars. With the increase in silver prices, people started doing just that.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Casinos</strong></div>
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As I mentioned, casinos were big users of silver dollars. First, that was the tradition. Chips such as are used now are easier to counterfeit and (of course) cost money to manufacture.</div>
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With rising prices, silver dollars started exiting casinos, so of course casino owners gathered up silver certificates and went to cash them in.</div>
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In April of 1964, those casinos cashed in silver certificates for some 18 million silver dollars.. and hauled them back to Nevada.</div>
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The Treasury had plenty of silver to hand out - there were some 1.8 billion dollars in silver certificates outstanding in 1963 and there were 1.7 billion ounces of silver stockpiled. That was not a problem.</div>
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What was a problem, or an opportunity (depending on your point of view) was that many of the silver dollars being handed out had numismatic value - that is, they were valuable to coin collectors.</div>
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For an example, until 1962 the 1903-O ("O" meaning that it was produced at the New Orleans Mint) was a very rare coin in uncirculated conditions. In that year, many thousands of that date and mint-mark came out of Treasury vaults, driving the price down so much that for a while, they were selling for no more than any other common date.</div>
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Cherry picking rare dates prior to silver prices climbing sometimes involved trading in for a $1,000 bag, removing any rare dates and then returning the rest to the Treasury - that must have been annoying. As prices started to rise, no returns were made.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">An ounce of silver</strong></div>
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The numismatic potential was not lost on our Government. They halted handing out silver dollars and instead told people to take there silver certificates to Assay Offices in New York or San Francisco. There, the bearer would be handed an unmarked brown envelope containing .77 ounce of silver (one dollars worth). Needless to say, not too many folks were interested in that trade!</div>
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At this point, the Treasury had only about 3 million dollars remaining. This was also when Senator Mansfield made a passionate speech on the Senate floor asking Congress to "rescue a major American tradition" and strike 45 million new 80% silver dollars.</div>
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That law actually passed. President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law in 1965 and - perhaps even more amazing is that in that year, the U.S. Mint in Denver <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_dollar#Striking_of_1964-D_dollars" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">struck over 300,000 dollars dated 1964</a>! These were remelted and not released to circulation (though rumors of very illegal 1964 silver dollars turn up now and then).</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The GSA Sales</strong></div>
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It was not until 1970 that Congress figured out what to do with the remaining silver dollars. The coins were sorted, graded, packaged and offered for sale in 1972. There was not tremendous interest, so that was shelved and tried again in 1979. This time there was more demand and all were sold by 1980, though<a href="http://www.coinresource.com/articles/gsa.htm" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"> not without controversy</a>.</div>
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So, there are no more bags of silver dollars sitting in Treasury vaults.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Silver today</strong></div>
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Decades later, everything has changed. Casinos use chips and often just electronic cards that store your money while you are in the casino. Digital cameras have cut the photographic use of silver in half and it is still falling. You will almost never find a silver coin in circulation (I did find a dime this year, though).</div>
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Is silver a good investment? At today's prices, it may not be - though I do think it's not at all a bad idea to have a few silver coins around in case of economic collapse. I like the older "Mercury" dimes for that. They are apt to have numismatic value and are therefore slightly more expensive, but they are easily recognizable as being silver. That isn't true for the later Roosevelt series, which became "clad" in 1965 and therefore require closer examination.</div>
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A 50 coin roll of those Mercury dimes might run you around $150 or so. If you can afford it, a few 1/10 ounce gold coins would be nice too, but if you are trying to buy food in a time of economic collapse, a tenth ounce of gold is a lot to pay for a meal. A silver Mercury dime might be just about right.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMeBQnB4rDVDJ0grYPyTvkUbbA8L6Bkegw0BWDHI8J9nEz-wLz8lWoTxvfB0628Y1tenEj0VbBZQ5zOojrWf42bc3b5vk7RD_Hpvm2Kk6SjE2FQWV0tvoTScZqg5dbv3vND3FZ6VKxB5eE/s1600/dimes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMeBQnB4rDVDJ0grYPyTvkUbbA8L6Bkegw0BWDHI8J9nEz-wLz8lWoTxvfB0628Y1tenEj0VbBZQ5zOojrWf42bc3b5vk7RD_Hpvm2Kk6SjE2FQWV0tvoTScZqg5dbv3vND3FZ6VKxB5eE/s1600/dimes.jpg" /></a></div>
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You can also buy 1 ounce bars of .999 silver. These are a bit more bulky than dimes, but their value would naturally be higher - a bar like that might buy you safe lodging for a week.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrecdwx8GSHy7zAENjhPdYpbsS5Lgx-hmV1TclqtVS2Cx88-Ux9NAWnAvg8TEezuPs4y13z_O41xryVI1y9GkKyCe4cer-TYwrgbNmKqPXal8YWiZ7m83sC4YPWqOssaWIArLqTEfhIRtu/s1600/scorpiorev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrecdwx8GSHy7zAENjhPdYpbsS5Lgx-hmV1TclqtVS2Cx88-Ux9NAWnAvg8TEezuPs4y13z_O41xryVI1y9GkKyCe4cer-TYwrgbNmKqPXal8YWiZ7m83sC4YPWqOssaWIArLqTEfhIRtu/s1600/scorpiorev.jpg" height="320" width="188" /></a></div>
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I personally wouldn't recommend silver as an investment - there are still tremendous hoards of coins and silver bars. However, don't trust any investment advice I give: I sold almost all my gold in 2006 when the price was less than half what it is today!</div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-67631640088914940302014-12-29T08:59:00.001-05:002014-12-29T15:09:41.174-05:00Better digital photos from your iPhoneI'd like to be able to take better pictures of my coins. At least two things prevent that, the most important being that the best camera I own is that in my iPhone. The second impediment is that I am almost completely clueless about photography, film or digital.<br />
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As I'm not about to spend hundreds of dollars on a camera that I don't know how to use, I assumed that iPhone would be the best I could do for now and forever. However, yesterday I happened to read about a new camera app made possible by IOS 8. It's <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/manual-custom-exposure-camera/id917146276" target="_blank">$1.99 from iTunes</a> and it gives you more control over your IOS camera.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WtKZAB87FLwcqM7QcOBlgUN3UP_f7xcd94i8KidC4HtTCEKbhIVz_t5JTQBWHRuQXWG1rh6mpNSK_FPgaPW0DHQvdiDLHsK-exz07zboeVKOocM5NymMmhjxTLh3gtTEc8gzjon4MiIw/s1600/manual_camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WtKZAB87FLwcqM7QcOBlgUN3UP_f7xcd94i8KidC4HtTCEKbhIVz_t5JTQBWHRuQXWG1rh6mpNSK_FPgaPW0DHQvdiDLHsK-exz07zboeVKOocM5NymMmhjxTLh3gtTEc8gzjon4MiIw/s1600/manual_camera.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The app gives you that control, but it doesn't explain how to use it. Their <a href="http://shootmanual.co/faq/" target="_blank">FAQ is rudimentary at best</a>. Fortunately, I found this <a href="http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners" target="_blank">introductory</a> article helpful and of course Google can be mined for much more.<br />
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Can it help me take better coin photos? I think so. Here's a shot straight from my iPhone 4S camera app. The coin is just a cull I carry in <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/12/a-walker-for-pocket-collection.html" target="_blank">my pocket collection</a>. I used my <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/11/cheap-coin-photography.html" target="_blank">Cheap Photo Rig</a> to take this. It's a decent photo and is as good as I expect from that phone. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYGYNemfL_w5_cvEiK2kH8dzjLPEUMspMPWQTjn5bpVtAYsLFI9CQNyFfqRDQ8d9v6AeuXdZwL0kYY9sFl2yhyphenhyphenAUBte8z_s8PpAm3G4Dp8CnbNAoYwHdMG5KRbSn4IKwueAk6TH2k60t9/s1600/from_camera_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYGYNemfL_w5_cvEiK2kH8dzjLPEUMspMPWQTjn5bpVtAYsLFI9CQNyFfqRDQ8d9v6AeuXdZwL0kYY9sFl2yhyphenhyphenAUBte8z_s8PpAm3G4Dp8CnbNAoYwHdMG5KRbSn4IKwueAk6TH2k60t9/s1600/from_camera_lg.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here is the same coin, same lighting, same rig, same phone, but using the Manual camera app and a bit of near clueless futzing by me. There is no question that it is sharper. Trust me: I have no idea if it could be even better; I just fiddled around until it looked good to me.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QI8SrNlpvsMQfXOB0IlMDfChHCDkGPvFmsnzVKXArUV2aj1bw6kb4UWmC0MHDBbKLxJQbFOiN75f5nZZ4JGiEVe6UAXvDVEFbD31lpYOAa4HxsR5j2H-B5QvbhhVmC1KjpywS7dUYKyJ/s1600/from_manual_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QI8SrNlpvsMQfXOB0IlMDfChHCDkGPvFmsnzVKXArUV2aj1bw6kb4UWmC0MHDBbKLxJQbFOiN75f5nZZ4JGiEVe6UAXvDVEFbD31lpYOAa4HxsR5j2H-B5QvbhhVmC1KjpywS7dUYKyJ/s1600/from_manual_lg.jpg" /></a></div>
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There's probably more I could do if I had half a clue, but even so that is a big improvement.</div>
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Here's the same coin taken with the <a href="http://campl.us/" target="_blank">Camera Plus Ap</a>p. That's much better than the native app too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8IJOnEmm4PWihDOsds8gswNUPuuBOz7S_cEYWK69vjZXFbWPLjC319jGgt-bEwADFfjIVvBiTK3YomydZytMmNyqut2RiN5TSewQ0c0kwiHpsZHpPcYpWj8GjmrBKFL-L5jZ00r6EJCk/s1600/camera_plus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8IJOnEmm4PWihDOsds8gswNUPuuBOz7S_cEYWK69vjZXFbWPLjC319jGgt-bEwADFfjIVvBiTK3YomydZytMmNyqut2RiN5TSewQ0c0kwiHpsZHpPcYpWj8GjmrBKFL-L5jZ00r6EJCk/s1600/camera_plus.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><b>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff;"></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: start;" /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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<br />Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-64581892696300132672014-12-27T07:59:00.000-05:002014-12-27T07:59:10.486-05:00Guess the grade and all thatI was amused this week by a "guess the grade" post at a Facebook<br />
coin collectors group. The coin was a common date Indian Head cent.<br />
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I guessed AU-58, but I was the only person to think so. One guess was as high as MS-65!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9FMn_vOBPGkdkWT5S6ifYTmrqiDjGeD_pATdAbH6nfsyYZ3H3r6N-6OlV99zjf2UTOm0HWNCzmXABdeFBWWfqdGhJQJDDemRFwt3pGT_duGcdtpvZzt7FhyU6pr__X65yiXwS1ACepfm/s1600/guess1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO9FMn_vOBPGkdkWT5S6ifYTmrqiDjGeD_pATdAbH6nfsyYZ3H3r6N-6OlV99zjf2UTOm0HWNCzmXABdeFBWWfqdGhJQJDDemRFwt3pGT_duGcdtpvZzt7FhyU6pr__X65yiXwS1ACepfm/s1600/guess1.jpg" height="320" width="157" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204738423/10152591065958424/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204738423/10152591065958424/</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm7o1OX-tkKXtvQCg98R51nCxvWfkRWfux30nEDCZcPgza7BTGzSfqgLZO8M4E0omH1_VPFm0bdke_z1SvvZKaLN0rX5iDeXrZvmNrlwPuQqsFuzFMKSrFCW_CP7h66ZxkeErlRCGcQYB/s1600/lincoln1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm7o1OX-tkKXtvQCg98R51nCxvWfkRWfux30nEDCZcPgza7BTGzSfqgLZO8M4E0omH1_VPFm0bdke_z1SvvZKaLN0rX5iDeXrZvmNrlwPuQqsFuzFMKSrFCW_CP7h66ZxkeErlRCGcQYB/s1600/lincoln1.JPG" height="195" width="200" /></a><br />
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The coin turned out to be AU-58 but "Details" because of recoloring. I didn't like the color, but didn't say anything because digital photographs can be very subjective with regard to that. As I said after the grade had been revealed, "<i>No, the grading is accurate. The recoloring is hard to pick up from a photo as variations in lighting can change that radically. ANACS saw it in hand.</i>"<br />
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Someone commented that they didn't like ANACS grading, but in fact the coin was almost a perfect match for the AU-58 photo at PCGS Photograde!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU3f_y_m_eet1tQgThyphenhyphenkTpsmjxFeC7_dnl4dSgAsia_NpTcrbudGFaiMXpPI1qIgFCHty5nT6KMupJlfWn11n0EaLe6b6lIFn6LZ7pCdlbB3-tyDwc00Y_BItHsywy7v1COLpa9Cub-c2/s1600/lincoln1ant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU3f_y_m_eet1tQgThyphenhyphenkTpsmjxFeC7_dnl4dSgAsia_NpTcrbudGFaiMXpPI1qIgFCHty5nT6KMupJlfWn11n0EaLe6b6lIFn6LZ7pCdlbB3-tyDwc00Y_BItHsywy7v1COLpa9Cub-c2/s1600/lincoln1ant.jpg" height="195" width="200" /></a>Take a look at these photos on the right. These are all the very same coin, photographed under different conditions of lighting. Two are straight from my iPhone and two had some additional adjustments with iPhoto.<br />
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If I posted these at different times and asked people for grading opinions, they'd each attract different answers, and probably some comments about color too. My bet would be that the last one down would be seen as the highest, but of course that's nonsense: they are all the same coin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaeVC7q8ZrnK6Q5sf2MQSsDEvgk13ytQ44djSYEAMvFE-yeoBhqb9JxcPUK92vUcreMxIuvp_8234oiPpsLD29RjHcVF4VeMfIymt1allXi7oB4Zl9jq23dhCFPoEJ4MTiuJAxhbznJw7M/s1600/lincoln2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaeVC7q8ZrnK6Q5sf2MQSsDEvgk13ytQ44djSYEAMvFE-yeoBhqb9JxcPUK92vUcreMxIuvp_8234oiPpsLD29RjHcVF4VeMfIymt1allXi7oB4Zl9jq23dhCFPoEJ4MTiuJAxhbznJw7M/s1600/lincoln2.JPG" height="195" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIrgLSxfWjCFc0rHZSg4W6Nz9ZaG616WIShBzdBbWVNwli5xaDoqcs8OV31ARgqhgc5Fh9Ctqhlb790iz55VXQRgykYvK_gnGzH2uxilpoxNek5l1bWWMdSaQ4Y-Wz8jKKQpJktGlXFT2/s1600/lincoln1e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIrgLSxfWjCFc0rHZSg4W6Nz9ZaG616WIShBzdBbWVNwli5xaDoqcs8OV31ARgqhgc5Fh9Ctqhlb790iz55VXQRgykYvK_gnGzH2uxilpoxNek5l1bWWMdSaQ4Y-Wz8jKKQpJktGlXFT2/s1600/lincoln1e.jpg" height="195" width="200" /></a>None of the photos look like the coin actually does "in hand". Whenever I see one of those "Guess the Grade" or "Has this coin been cleaned" posts, I keep this in mind: photos lie, and photos by unprofessional photographers are almost certainly not representing true color.<br />
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Photos can hide things. I have a proof Eisenhower Dollar that photographs beautifully, but in hand there are obvious "milk spots" in the fields. A 1955 Franklin have shows rather unattractive toning in a photo, but in natural light it looks quite good.<br />
You should keep all that in mind when buying coins over the Internet. Photos at high end auction houses are likely to be good representations, but photos by eBay sellers may not be and may even be artificially doctored to be deceptive.<br />
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Don't be fooled by color in photos. It's not necessarily right.<br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><b>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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<br />Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-81113864776660245762014-12-26T05:03:00.000-05:002014-12-26T05:03:22.123-05:00Review: Cherrypickers Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins (Digital Editions)<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">If you want this, you need Volumes 1 and 2 to cover all denominations. Unfortunately, there is a somewhat limited market, so these are pricey: even the digital editions will cost you $40 for both. I do not NOT recommend these - if you are going to buy them, buy the physical books </span><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">unless you want these so that you can conveniently carry them to shows or wherever</span><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">. Those are the only circumstances where I would recommend the digital version.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm a fan of digital and try to buy all my books that way now, but when a digital book is done this badly, I just can't recommend it. It's a shame that such expensive titles are so poorly done!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">By the way, these are Kindle format. You do not need to own a Kindle; Amazon has free Kindle Reader software for almost anything.</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Problems:</span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">First, it's obvious that they didn't make any effort to reformat the text for digital.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy8WyIXEB3jlJRqtDCisAqgWeVr-gCNORR8iz-hbon1IbTlXPqI49MHToL4OKESvDSRZ80vBeW2-rVTa_HeKCRiO3EBpVQYFKPv4dyV2G7_PRNhUYoMMtzalvCUEHEq_pU1ehoHmQhzogt/s1600/cherryp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy8WyIXEB3jlJRqtDCisAqgWeVr-gCNORR8iz-hbon1IbTlXPqI49MHToL4OKESvDSRZ80vBeW2-rVTa_HeKCRiO3EBpVQYFKPv4dyV2G7_PRNhUYoMMtzalvCUEHEq_pU1ehoHmQhzogt/s1600/cherryp1.jpg" height="357" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">That 1855 heading should have started on the next screen. Leaving hangers like this is not just ugly, it can also be confusing and there's no reason for it. Kindle books have been around long enough that there are now people who specialize in offering reformatting services to get it right. Turning out junk like this is inexcusable for a major publishing company - especially at these prices.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Second, one of the obvious advantages of digital is that good photos can be included. These are not good photos - they are all black and white and when you zoom into them, the poor resolution is quite evident.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAsVqz9X9s_i0axZclbPYKTF8TOKRQLtWJJOofR0CVTOc_Tl7x8r7uUe4q09g5ssyKiqjFGd4pIJjkiew5CFWNaK8NBjycH81Br8vwMEFqnOTCK71i1nSQDmU9IY2rGestjyoIJ3l4ZwK/s1600/Cherrypickgrainy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAsVqz9X9s_i0axZclbPYKTF8TOKRQLtWJJOofR0CVTOc_Tl7x8r7uUe4q09g5ssyKiqjFGd4pIJjkiew5CFWNaK8NBjycH81Br8vwMEFqnOTCK71i1nSQDmU9IY2rGestjyoIJ3l4ZwK/s1600/Cherrypickgrainy.jpg" height="331" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The books are also poorly indexed. It's difficult to find things (that fault also exists in the print edition). Digital search could overcome that, but the problem is inconsistency in text descriptions, making some searches fail when they should not. Authors need to be consistent for digital search to work well!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The next fault is that "low interest" varieties have been removed. That's fine, but look at this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOb6KF-TextTFNeqZrlkdBcCH73jk-kmU5LBs9rlTOsIDuKPuI7czWN5RVQJalWuaLHTguOme3PMYnbDXNgKPTIeWct5Ak8KFeP2aDuiNl7C-UOx2S49_31wTVJUY7kw-Uae1DhZTSU0xI/s1600/cherrypickers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOb6KF-TextTFNeqZrlkdBcCH73jk-kmU5LBs9rlTOsIDuKPuI7czWN5RVQJalWuaLHTguOme3PMYnbDXNgKPTIeWct5Ak8KFeP2aDuiNl7C-UOx2S49_31wTVJUY7kw-Uae1DhZTSU0xI/s1600/cherrypickers2.jpg" height="564" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Only one of the 11-D Repunched Mint Marks is still listed in the book itself. They are shown only in these tables. Suppose you found one that wasn't the one described? Is it one of the low interest varieties (502 and 503)? Or maybe it's something yet unknown, but this won't help you, will it? An accompanying website listing all varieties could fix that and the content is obviously available from the older editions - do they expect us to buy all those also? There is really no excuse for this with digital - you don't have weight or size constraints, so data like that should be included.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Finally, listings stop at different dates in different series. Are there no dime die varieties after 2004? You can't be sure if this is all you have to go by: </span><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">dimes</span><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> stop in 2004, but other series go on later. These issues would be true for the print editions also, of course.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">All in all, an expensive and very poorly executed book. There are online resources that are much easier to use.</span><br />
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However, at least it is digital - most numismatic authors are afraid of theft and won't consider it.<br />
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I've sold ebooks and made good money from it. Yes, I assume there was some theft, but as there were no production costs other than my typing, I'm also sure that I made out far, far better than I would have otherwise. With a very esoteric subject (Unix Troubleshooting, anyone?) and being an unknown author completely dependent on my own website, I cleared around $5,000 with zero outlay.<br />
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Then I discovered Amazon and put it up there. I picked up a few hundred dollars more at $19.95 and then as sales dwindled off, reduced it to $2.99. I STILL get sales years later even though the book is totally out of date and I am still an unknown name. It's not much - $10 or so dribbling in now and then, but it adds up.<br />
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There are so many advantages: easy revisions, good pictures, high profit - I think numismatic authors who won't do this are really being short sighted. You can serialize ebooks so that if there is theft you can find the source but in my experience, it's too little to fret over.<br />
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For existing books, you do have to consider reformatting for ebooks. If you just leave the same pagination, it can come out ugly - these e-versions of thee Cherry Pickers Guides are a good example of laziness producing a crappy result. Done right, however, you get something far better than a print book and as mentioned earlier there are now people who specialize in that kind of reformatting for fairly short money.<br />
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I won't buy a print book now unless I HAVE to have it. For many numismatic books, I'd buy an ebook version, but I don't need it enough to buy the print. It's not a matter of price; it's the convenience of having it on my iPad or phone wherever I am.<br />
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But most numismatic authors are opposed and it will probably stay like that until the next generation.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0794822851/aplawrencescouni" target="_blank">Buy this book at Amazon</a> and help me support this site!</div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-43680797834065262152014-12-25T09:13:00.001-05:002014-12-25T09:13:32.951-05:00The U.S. Shield Nickel - the ugliest coin ever made?<div class="modfloat full" style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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The story of the first U.S. five cent nickel coin includes corruption and politics, money supply and hoarding. Add to that the fact that even one of the people most in favor of its production called its reverse design "a tombstone surmounted by a cross and overhung by weeping willows".</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhx78YnRM_CZLEXJIUv0bEphQJxskAIUQUzkxEqXjIwq1xyu_Uo0mW7vTXEhVJH4qosQzcd34_X2R2H_J494_EKQic-2gincy-6GIdU7joBLPJAYMtqydunmK-VM7_K8fCxZhpkp5f-8z/s1600/598px-Shield_nickel_obverse_by_Howard_Spindel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhx78YnRM_CZLEXJIUv0bEphQJxskAIUQUzkxEqXjIwq1xyu_Uo0mW7vTXEhVJH4qosQzcd34_X2R2H_J494_EKQic-2gincy-6GIdU7joBLPJAYMtqydunmK-VM7_K8fCxZhpkp5f-8z/s1600/598px-Shield_nickel_obverse_by_Howard_Spindel.png" height="320" width="318" /></a></div>
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A well known publication for coin collectors described it as "the ugliest of all known coins". Parts of the American public had other reasons to dislike it too: some thought the original reverse design was reminiscent of the Confederate “Stars and Bars” flag. As the first issue of this coin was in 1866, and the U.S. Civil War had only ended in 1865, it is easy to see how emotions would still be raw over that issue.</div>
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Nickel Coinage</h2>
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The really important distinction for this coinage was that it was among the first denominations other than the one cent coin to not be made of precious metal. We'd had half dimes since the very beginning of the mint, but they were silver. A <a href="http://pcunix.hubpages.com/hub/United-States-3-Cent-Coins" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">three cent nickel coin had been minted in 1865</a>; the success of that encouraged the mint to try a nickel five cent coin.</div>
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They were also being "encouraged" by a wealthy and influential individual who happened to own nickel mines. There was real justification for getting away from silver coins - these were being hoarded and there was a damaging shortage of small change in the economy. Naturally, Joseph Wharton (the man with the nickel mines) wanted the mint to use more nickel than copper, but there were problems with that desire.</div>
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Nickel is hard. That's why we use it in armor plating. Striking nickel coins is difficult, as the mint had already learned in 1857 with the <a href="http://pcunix.hubpages.com/hub/Beauty-and-the-Beast-US-Copper-Coins" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Flying Eagle Cent</a>. That coin was only 12% nickel, these three and five cent nickel coins were specified to be 25% nickel, which would make them that much harder.</div>
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The design made a bad situation even worse. With coinage, you want to avoid lining up raised areas front and back. An ideal coin (for ease of minting) would be one in which any raised part would have blank space on its opposite side. Of course that can't be perfectly achieved in practice, but this nickel design had a big raised area on the obverse and quite a lot of metal to bring up on the opposite side.</div>
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Combined with harder metal, this meant the coins had to be stamped multiple times. That meant slower production and more die damage, costing the mint money and decreasing the expected volume. The reverse was redesigned to make minting easier, but troubles still plagued these coins.</div>
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Numismatic Guaranty Corporation says that "<a href="http://www.ngccoin.com/NGCCoinExplorer/SubCategory.aspx?SubCatID=22&PopSubCat=Shield-Five-Cents" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">more dies were broken striking Shield nickels than all other denominations added together</a>".</div>
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These difficulties also mean that well struck examples are more rare and command premium prices. So called "full shield" nickels can be worth much, much more than their less fully detailed brethren.</div>
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Counterfeits</h2>
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It may sound odd to counterfeit a nickel, but because of coin shortages and the fact that a nickel in 1866 had purchasing power close to a dollar today, there was reason to attempt it. A merchant desperate for small change might have welcomed a visit from someone who could solve that problem quickly and at less expense than going to his bank.</div>
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The counterfeiters would have the same problems the mint had with nickel. If they used much less to make striking easier, the color would have been off. If they substituted something softer, the weight would be wrong. If they used the same mix, their dies would would suffer just as the mint's did, so they would have to compensate in other ways and<a href="http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?NewsletterNewsArticleID=1034" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"> these counterfeits show their difficulties.</a></div>
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A plugged nickel?</h2>
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"Not worth a plugged nickel" was a common expression for worthless things in my youth. It probably came from the practice of drilling out the center of silver coins and replacing what was removed with base metal. What silver remained in a dime or other silver coin would still have value, but a plugged nickel, being worth little in metallic value to start with, would be truly worthless (and not worth plugging, of course).</div>
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Nickels and other coins often are found with holes that were used to string them as jewelry. I would have thought that a coin this unattractive would escape that treatment, but I have seen many "holed" nickels, so that may also serve to explain the phrase.</div>
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Although these nickels didn't exist until hostilities had ceased, this article explains the somewhat <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/79076878/Civil-War-Soldiers-Made-ID-tags" style="color: #5d7d9d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">macabre use of coins as body tags in the Civil war</a>.</div>
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The Metric Connection</h2>
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This coin has an interesting connection with attempts to switch the U.S. to the metric system. Congress had authorized the use of the metric system in 1866 and those who supported that wanted the coin to have its weight specified in grams. It actually does weigh 5 grams, but the Coinage Committee didn't quite dare make that specification, so they fixed its weight at 77.16 grains (which is 5 grams).</div>
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Collecting the ugly nickel</h2>
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I only can recall finding one shield nickel as a child in the early 1950's and that was extremely worn. Early mintages were high in spite of the Mint's troubles with dies. There are some prohibitively scarce dates later in the series, though, making a collection by date difficult for those of us who are not wealthy.<br />
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<strong><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-2722982691742374462014-12-24T08:33:00.000-05:002014-12-24T12:42:05.099-05:00Grades are back on the Silver Kennedy'sI had three sets to work from and really spent a long time trying to pick out the best. I'm not at all upset by the Reverse Proof - I think those are really ugly things anyway.<br />
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<table border="1" cellspacing="0" class="datagrid" id="Content_Page_Content_Page_displayOrderDetailControl_lineitemGrid" rules="all" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); color: #505151; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 5px; width: 500px;"><tbody>
<tr class="toprow" style="background-color: #7591aa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); color: white; height: 30px;"><td>Line #</td><td>Item #</td><td>Cert #</td><td>PCGS No.</td><td>CoinDate</td><td>Denomination</td><td>Variety</td><td>Country</td><td>Grade</td></tr>
<tr class="rowone"><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">1</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">1</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="https://www.pcgs.com/Cert/31387425.html" style="color: #b15926;">31387425</a></td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">530169</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">2014-P</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50C</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50th Anniversary Set, Silver</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">USA</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">PR69DC</td></tr>
<tr class="rowtwo"><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">2</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">1</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="https://www.pcgs.com/Cert/31387426.html" style="color: #b15926;">31387426</a></td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">530174</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">2014-W</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50C</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50th Anniversary Set, Silver, Reverse PR</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">USA</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">PR68</td></tr>
<tr class="rowone"><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">3</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">1</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="https://www.pcgs.com/Cert/31387427.html" style="color: #b15926;">31387427</a></td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">534988</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">2014-S</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50C</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50th Anniversary Set, Silver, Enhanced Mint State</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">USA</td><td style="background-color: #f1f6fa; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">MS69PL</td></tr>
<tr class="rowtwo"><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">4</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">1</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;"><a href="https://www.pcgs.com/Cert/31387428.html" style="color: #b15926;">31387428</a></td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">530179</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">2014-D</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50C</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">50th Anniversary Set, Silver</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">USA</td><td style="background-color: #c9dff2; border: 1px solid rgb(174, 191, 208); padding: 5px; vertical-align: text-top;">MS69</td></tr>
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I was happy the Enhanced Unc. made Prooflike (PL).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFsWm-b7PDW8MMsptg8e-qLOPT1OeqPd0P7LJCjIIRq-TQfBi-15kVJxSWfLujbAd8hLR76DiL7g3IZvjCX930Tlc3n45oROEDusg7XL2ERprDNZEmki61YvD60ijTGTuRSRPtRu3TXf-/s1600/TrueView_31387427_Medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFsWm-b7PDW8MMsptg8e-qLOPT1OeqPd0P7LJCjIIRq-TQfBi-15kVJxSWfLujbAd8hLR76DiL7g3IZvjCX930Tlc3n45oROEDusg7XL2ERprDNZEmki61YvD60ijTGTuRSRPtRu3TXf-/s1600/TrueView_31387427_Medium.jpg" height="161" width="320" /></a></div>
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I had TrueView on one (the 2014-S) but was surprised to see that the rest of the coins had photos too - not TrueView, but nice photos. According to <a href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=933965" target="_blank">http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=933965 </a> that happens sometimes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8QQULYmvpBAREGI3wnFB4z2bpitsQPgP1o2l20ZWXwx_FRk8J5_0S3S1GwGzhRk7n6YbW_Hwd3J8yeqUch9K_K9OKcIZH27rNF1DhyphenhyphenE6AORe7MGDjSHxtMbE_fr4v0wuWQhf3S9m3EnO/s1600/2014-D+Silver+50th+Anniversary+Kennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8QQULYmvpBAREGI3wnFB4z2bpitsQPgP1o2l20ZWXwx_FRk8J5_0S3S1GwGzhRk7n6YbW_Hwd3J8yeqUch9K_K9OKcIZH27rNF1DhyphenhyphenE6AORe7MGDjSHxtMbE_fr4v0wuWQhf3S9m3EnO/s1600/2014-D+Silver+50th+Anniversary+Kennedy.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExurmeO8e-W8URVQmVX0mjwz6E0lRkiebveo-afwhlHhye6QL5Z7OQExI7I7p1fqk4fYZih2286L9wOatLUyTAjYMIDBbUYjMjxz0v7cJGUEVLMmGYRp6PN-3kLvH4v5vWKTlMdPqzutX/s1600/2014-P+Silver+50th+Anniversary+Kennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExurmeO8e-W8URVQmVX0mjwz6E0lRkiebveo-afwhlHhye6QL5Z7OQExI7I7p1fqk4fYZih2286L9wOatLUyTAjYMIDBbUYjMjxz0v7cJGUEVLMmGYRp6PN-3kLvH4v5vWKTlMdPqzutX/s1600/2014-P+Silver+50th+Anniversary+Kennedy.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMs7WybPB-7luBe1CPOsOfuMz4fB6WZxGArQ0yILhqVU8zZxcLbk5gnVdvD5_ow5SjqHlYxjHaYgQI3VbmA_Nqa6r37wdpxmzFQociAbjpnUB87vqgsRFhVF1Sm4cm_LnodeKPlu7mg4F6/s1600/2014-W+Silver+50th+Anniversary+Kennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMs7WybPB-7luBe1CPOsOfuMz4fB6WZxGArQ0yILhqVU8zZxcLbk5gnVdvD5_ow5SjqHlYxjHaYgQI3VbmA_Nqa6r37wdpxmzFQociAbjpnUB87vqgsRFhVF1Sm4cm_LnodeKPlu7mg4F6/s1600/2014-W+Silver+50th+Anniversary+Kennedy.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
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I could have requested and paid for First Strike labels on all of these, but did not. The interesting thing about that is that these obviously were produced before the cut-off date, so if that designation actually meant anything rather than being made up nonsense, these should command a premium. But they will not, because that labeling is artificial.</div>
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The PCGS numbers get VERY confusing on this.</div>
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534990 2014-S 50th Anniversary Set, Silver, Enhanced Mint State Prooflike according to Coinfacts</div>
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534998 2014-S 50th Anniversary Set, Silver, Enhanced Mint State Prooflike according to my certification</div>
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530177 2014-S 50th Anniversary Set, Silver, Enhanced Mint State NOT Prooflike</div>
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535117 2014-S 50th Anniversary Set, Silver, Enhanced Mint State DM (Deep Mirror)</div>
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Then there's a whole other set of numbers for these as First Strike!<br />
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<strong>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-43519712578178476752014-12-23T05:03:00.001-05:002014-12-23T05:03:18.742-05:00Whizzed, damaged or low grade? What's your tolerance?<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
There are some coins I'd love to own, but unless I hit the lottery those particular pieces will always be beyond my reach. Kellog & Company $50 gold, 1793 Chain Cent and a few others are just too expensive for my budget.</div>
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There are other coins that are just within my reach but only if they are problematical: very low grade, badly cleaned, damaged or otherwise troubled. One example of that is Massachusetts 1652 silver coins. I'd love to own an Oak or Pine tree piece - any one of them. But some of the choices are just too deficient for my taste. Look at this recently listed <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/1652-Massachusetts-Pine-Tree-Shilling-Holed-Fair-Details-Small-Planchet-/291319319247" target="_blank">Pine Tree Shilling on eBay</a>. It's offered at $725 and it's barely a coin. It's just about completely worn away and it's holed too! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-AumxPXHYtlZO81-gJakQFL_0ij6BTzGKq87G4wi7Ic6AELkSBMWLwFgyYQhQScJbyt9fwasdTEBbo8_wkcSfoxfQH49QTfVqWIuv96AnGFdOpdx9NkZh68IWlrRfgfY0e4Q-Jz5RbWX0/s1600/1652poor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-AumxPXHYtlZO81-gJakQFL_0ij6BTzGKq87G4wi7Ic6AELkSBMWLwFgyYQhQScJbyt9fwasdTEBbo8_wkcSfoxfQH49QTfVqWIuv96AnGFdOpdx9NkZh68IWlrRfgfY0e4Q-Jz5RbWX0/s1600/1652poor.jpg" height="215" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ebay listing</td></tr>
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I don't want that at any price.<br />
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Then there is this at Heritage Auctions:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj984aC_nX2YA4-ryr8lHjPepKWn9oGn1rpp7sxuo7fsplg7eUOsX8EJjpHTEkBnDKv3b1hdqehXvqm9owL2JKLF7wiFIAZ4ujVQoTOqnpPpdulRCZA2HCZSaWn3tVXYNUhvXak40nhXJ7w/s1600/1652clipped.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj984aC_nX2YA4-ryr8lHjPepKWn9oGn1rpp7sxuo7fsplg7eUOsX8EJjpHTEkBnDKv3b1hdqehXvqm9owL2JKLF7wiFIAZ4ujVQoTOqnpPpdulRCZA2HCZSaWn3tVXYNUhvXak40nhXJ7w/s1600/1652clipped.jpeg" height="175" width="200" /></a></div>
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As <a href="http://coins.ha.com/itm/colonials/1652-shilng-pine-tree-shilling-large-planchet-xf45-ngc-noe-82-w-740-salmon-7-e-r6/a/1216-3006.s" target="_blank">described by them</a>:<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #5f5e5f; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6666669845581px;">An edge split is noted at 12 o'clock, and a ragged mint clip at 6 o'clock affects a few peripheral letters. A thin mark is west of the lower left tree branches."</span><br />
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I could live with that, though I expect it will sell out of my range even with those defects.<br />
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I noticed this at Facebook: someone agreed that they'd take two 1921 Peace Dollars in exchange for some work they did. The problem is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/784750518257889/permalink/812082968857977/" target="_blank">that the coins are whizzed</a>. Because of their rarity, he may still have got a good deal, but I wouldn't want them.<br />
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What's your tolerance when it comes to coins out of your comfort zone?<br />
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<strong>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
<br />Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-23438789994393240882014-12-22T08:21:00.001-05:002014-12-22T14:28:38.418-05:00"Nature printing" on early currency<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wqGvEJG-elD6OvK3xUvo5grCPUjzeuKgI4gu8v3xbAFm39BKWtyMtoNkK-negBsTBaabr5dkM4d0s_bY2VRpM5pGr0Jnj1ptm0NZ3xtC4uuQ7JKsQi9G4XQ062vjcdbXlTUCaVdeRiBj/s1600/leafprinting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wqGvEJG-elD6OvK3xUvo5grCPUjzeuKgI4gu8v3xbAFm39BKWtyMtoNkK-negBsTBaabr5dkM4d0s_bY2VRpM5pGr0Jnj1ptm0NZ3xtC4uuQ7JKsQi9G4XQ062vjcdbXlTUCaVdeRiBj/s1600/leafprinting.jpg" height="320" width="281" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image source Heritage Auctions http://ha.com , used by permission</td></tr>
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Ben Franklin is known to have done "nature printing", which is the process of printing from a natural object such as a leaf. Some say he invented the process, but Wikipedia suggests that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_printing" target="_blank">Joseph Breintnall was doing this several years earlier</a>.<br />
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Whoever perfected the process, Franklin definitely used it as an anti-counterfeiting measure. This "<a href="http://www.colonialcoins.org/collecting_colonial_currency.htm" target="_blank">Collecting Colonial Currency</a>" by Lou Jordon mentions that specifically, although his claim that '<i>paper money is uniquely American and was actually “invented” in colonial America</i>' is inaccurate: the <a href="http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/papermoney.htm" target="_blank">Chinese were doing that many centuries earlier</a>. They were not doing nature printing, though!<br />
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I was reminded of all this because of the recent discovery of an early leaf printing block. Although the title here says "<a href="http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/press/2014/12/-benjamin-franklin-printing-blocks-identified.phtml" target="_blank">Benjamin Franklin Printing Blocks Identified</a>", the article itself admits that "<i>this particular block was almost certainly cast not by Franklin but by his successor David Hall</i>".<br />
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Well, close enough, I guess. I know almost nothing about Colonial Currency, but I checked <a href="http://currency.ha.com/" target="_blank">Heritage Auctions</a> and found that many examples can be had at reasonable prices. For example, the note pictured above sold for $75.00 in 2000.<br />
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<strong>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-89160633779013231092014-12-19T05:12:00.000-05:002014-12-27T09:12:03.784-05:00A Walker for the Pocket Collection<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfcfp1QUCWRDTOz6RRb0GkdmQJurzToH68egYPeCEzOs2nP9X8Ddl3iqwiBVGLG0IW5nn8dZXa-vkVm_rc2rNOm_eZa0gAAgm3a7hI6HcRMMi0HzeuFXqDsJPSaRNnbWytnwE9KUUSBvx/s1600/1918walkerobv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfcfp1QUCWRDTOz6RRb0GkdmQJurzToH68egYPeCEzOs2nP9X8Ddl3iqwiBVGLG0IW5nn8dZXa-vkVm_rc2rNOm_eZa0gAAgm3a7hI6HcRMMi0HzeuFXqDsJPSaRNnbWytnwE9KUUSBvx/s1600/1918walkerobv.jpg" height="200" width="194" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHNxIaopzegBcCHhYcPj2CyjSeCWl4kwezlTffVW5uYtU4OErLjB8xrz5kiDWEw3EdzxLEFtKz87TQR32-GiZaQUWRO78pqi2GDTmVgRa8YSgkbiXxHbbajc9N7QZ36FKKIw9qxeeU7eU/s1600/1981walkerrev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHNxIaopzegBcCHhYcPj2CyjSeCWl4kwezlTffVW5uYtU4OErLjB8xrz5kiDWEw3EdzxLEFtKz87TQR32-GiZaQUWRO78pqi2GDTmVgRa8YSgkbiXxHbbajc9N7QZ36FKKIw9qxeeU7eU/s1600/1981walkerrev.jpg" height="198" width="200" /></a>Today I added a 1918-D Walking Liberty Half to my Pocket Collection (these are low value coins from the late 19th and early 20th century that I carry with me, loose in my pocket).<br />
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I have a few more coins coming for this collection: a Barber Half, a Peace Dollar, some Liberty nickels and some Barber dimes. It's a fun and very different way to collect and of course you can show your collection anywhere you happen to be!<br />
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A Pocket Collection could be from any period: the Civil War, the Roaring Twenties, the Fifties, the Seventies - whatever you like.</div>
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It's a collection where you don't worry about grade, where nothing is protected by plastic, where you don't have to wear gloves or handle the coins by their edges. You can hand one of your coins to someone and not panic if they drop it on the floor.<br />
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For me, it brings back some of the pleasure I had collecting as a kid in the 50's. These walkers were still in circulation then and even Barbers and Indian Heads would turn up now and then.<br />
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A Pocket Collection is for fun. It's up close and personal, not sealed in plastic and hidden in a bank vault. It's coins you can touch, spin, jingle in your pocket.<br />
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Speaking of jingling, it's been a long time since I have heard the melodic sound of real silver coins. That's yet another reason I enjoy carrying these in my pocket - I haven't heard that jingle since the 60's!<br />
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Update: Just after writing this, the Barber half I ordered for this collection showed up. It's a 1915-S, well worn and with some rim damage - really a perfect coin for this collection!<br />
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See also <a href="http://pcunix.hubpages.com/hub/A-different-way-to-collect-coins" target="_blank">A different way to collect coins</a>.</div>
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<strong>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
<br />Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-18654034806231428802014-12-18T06:56:00.000-05:002014-12-18T06:56:41.010-05:00Book Review: 4th edition Top 100 Morgan Silver Dollar Varieties: The VAM Keys<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">I've been bitten by the VAM bug. VAM, if you don't already know, is the Morgan dollar variety system devised by Leroy Van Allen and George A. Mallis. There are several books and a </span><a class="externalLink" href="http://www.vamworld.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: #fcfcff; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; color: #0072bc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px -3px; padding: 0px 3px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">large website </a><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">devoted to identifying die varieties and die states. Many of the varieties are obscure and unimportant to any but the most serious collectors, but some have slipped into the Morgan mainstream and can command astonishing prices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">People bitten by the VAM bug could spend a fortune buying these coins, but it is possible to still find very rare and expensive varieties offered at normal prices by people who just do not know. For example, very recently someone reported snatching a 1888-O "scarface" variety from an unknowing Ebay seller. That it's a $10-$20,000 coin is amazing enough, but this particular variety is very easy to spot!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YP0Ok1aekJezk-_Zpd_oGeDCF6yLHaAaCPQorPJefImqM6QU8urb5HhnvzXoMHogjwyK0ponIyd5roaEdU4P_9t958lzCBM1j8zc-07mjFdH5YSnxgCmY9VsV4A5olsHz_PjFSAU3OiU/s1600/1.scarface.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YP0Ok1aekJezk-_Zpd_oGeDCF6yLHaAaCPQorPJefImqM6QU8urb5HhnvzXoMHogjwyK0ponIyd5roaEdU4P_9t958lzCBM1j8zc-07mjFdH5YSnxgCmY9VsV4A5olsHz_PjFSAU3OiU/s1600/1.scarface.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">(Photo by </span><a class="externalLink" href="http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1203&lotNo=4017" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: #fcfcff; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; color: #0072bc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px -3px; padding: 0px 3px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Heritage Auctions, used by permission</a><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">This book only covers the important varieties like Scarface, Hotlips and so on. It's vest pocket sized, so it is something you could carry to coin shows or unknowing pawn shops. The picture quality is very good. If I can't have digital, this is as good as it gets.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">My VAM infection is not too serious. I don't have the financial resources to buy very many Morgans, even if I cherry picked every single one. Fortunately, my interest is only in one year: 1878. That's still a daunting task as there 22 even in the Top 100 list, so I doubt I'll ever complete that set, but it will be fun hunting and this book will help.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0965364550/aplawrencescouni" target="_blank">Buy this book at Amazon</a> and help me support this site!</span><br />
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<strong>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-19064195903615338322014-12-17T06:50:00.000-05:002014-12-17T06:50:00.965-05:00Pawn Stars and coinsPawn Stars is a History Channel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn_Stars" target="_blank">reality show about a Las Vegas Pawn Shop</a>. Every now and then they handle coins, which makes it more fun from my point of view.<br />
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Rick, one of the owners, says that he has a lot of experience in coins, but I'm not sure that's true. He may have had experience buying and selling the kind of stuff that might come into a pawn shop, but he's definitely not a numismatist as his lack of real knowledge shows through now and then.<br />
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However, he's certainly more knowledgable than the average person of the street. There was an episode where I was sure he was clueless: he told an employee that Standing Liberty Quarters were very rare and worth $1,000.00 each. It turned out that he knows better and was <a href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=920650" target="_blank">trying to teach a lesson</a>.<br />
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Rick does sometimes <a href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=854118" target="_blank">seem to be out of his depth</a>. On the other hand, trying to judge the value of something from a brief glimpse on a television screen is obviously not ideal.<br />
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Many people have said that these shows are scripted. According to people who have actually been on the show, that's not entirely true. Apparently the negotiations are unscripted, though some coaching does take place (see the <a href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=858316&STARTPAGE=8" target="_blank">post by The Penny Lady here</a>).<br />
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Like any pawn shop, bad things can happen with stolen coins: "'<a href="http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/03/pawn_stars_shop_apparently_mel.html" target="_blank">Pawn Stars' shop apparently melts down stolen coin collection</a>"<br />
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If yo've never seen the show, this <a href="http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/1861-half-eagle-coin" target="_blank">2 minute clip will give you an idea of what happens</a>.<br />
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<b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </b></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-91423879823259005492014-12-16T06:11:00.000-05:002014-12-20T10:28:58.566-05:00To cull or not to cullI've been working on my pocketful of culls collection ( http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/12/a-cull-dollar.html). It's coming along nicely, thank you:<br />
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I have a few more coins to add, but take a look at the Indian Heads. They are low grade, scratches or minor rim dings. Perfectly fine for my pocket and I bought a lot of four for $8 including shipping. In one sense that's ridiculous as I could buy a roll of IHC's for $50 or less, but I don't need or want fifty of them; I just want a few for my pocket, so I was fine with that.</div>
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You'll notice just three coins in that picture, though. The fourth I just couldn't bear to consign to my pocket. It does have a tiny, tiny bit of rim damage at 7:00 o'clock obverse, but my gosh:</div>
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Aside from that very minor scrape, this coin is a solid XF/AU. Some Young Numismatist of limited means would be very happy to have that. Maybe that's what I'll do with it - I wonder if PCGS would give it a net XF grade? </div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; text-align: center;">Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">Contests and giveaways: </span><a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="background-color: white; color: #0094ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a>Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-13904489847600547552014-12-15T06:53:00.000-05:002014-12-15T06:53:51.168-05:00Book Review: A Guide Book of United States Coins Professional Edition<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Speaking of Red Books as we did yesterday, I did not know this "Professional Edition" existed. I found out about it because I was reading back issues of The Numismatist. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Let me quote from the introduction:</span><br />
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<i style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Its combination of more photographs, detailed higher-grade valuations, listings of additional varieties and rare early Proof coins, certified-coin population data, auction records, and other resources provides a wealth of information on every coin type ever made by the U.S. Mint. The Professional Edition is not an exhaustive study of die varieties, though it does expand (with close-up photographs, valuations, and chart notes) on the regular edition’s coverage of such coins. Rather, it is a handy single-source guide that educates its users in auction and certification trends, retail valuations, and similar aspects of the marketplace.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I bought the digital edition as I do with almost books where I have a choice. This, however, is a case where I'll recommend that you buy the physical book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not that the digital edition is badly formatted - that's actually done well. It's that the mintage and pricing tables are done as pictures that are somewhat fuzzy and do not zoom well. These are probably much easier to read in the print edition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That quibble aside, the content is excellent. This goes into much more detail than the traditional Red Book, though I do have to ask why publish both? There are unlikely to be many extra sales - I would think that, going forward, people will buy one or the other, not both.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The 5th edition shown here didn't </span>cover Colonials, Tokens or Modern Commems - neither does the 6th edition (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0794842194/aplawrencescouni" target="_blank">available now</a>). It seems odd to leave those out.<br />
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<b>Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home. </b></div>
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Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-58211012314757842172014-12-14T11:20:00.000-05:002014-12-14T11:20:36.149-05:00The Whitman "Red Book" <span style="color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">I bought my first Red Book ("A Guide Book of U.S. Coins" ) in 1956 and bought them every year from then up to 1977. I have only 9 of those now; less than half. The rest went missing over the years, lost or given away.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Those I still have vary in condition from almost new to quite worn. Some seem almost untouched, others are nearly ready to fall apart.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">A few years ago Whitman started publishing the prices of old Red Books in the current editions. It's Appendix B in my 2014 book and I noted that most of these are not worth very much.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">However, that doesn't mean that they are easy to find. I searched Amazon and was not able to find any of the earlier dates at all and not very many even in the 60's and 70's.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">By the way, if you want to search there, I found this works well: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">"</span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">GUIDE-UNITED-STATES-Illustrated-Catalog coins"</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">The first Red Book is dated 1947 and only 18,000 were printed. My 2014 book (which I bought in the digital Kindle edition) says it is worth $300 - $1700 depending on condition. That's a bit out of my price range, but in 2006 Whitman published a </span></span><span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">"Redbook Commemorative Guide Book of United States Coins" reprint of it. I <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0794822304/aplawrencescouni" target="_blank">bought one of those for $15.00</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fcfcff; color: #141414; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">It's fun to look through the older books, but not so much fun that I'd want a complete set as this guy did: "<a href="http://coins.about.com/od/uscoins/a/rareredbooks.htm" target="_blank">A Complete Collection of U.S. Coins Red Books</a>"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752731132406062526.post-16507365916341862542014-12-12T07:23:00.000-05:002014-12-12T07:23:43.262-05:00Why was there a Type II Standing Liberty Quarter?If you are familiar with the Standing Liberty Quarter, you've probably heard the story about how a prudish and outraged citizenry caused the Mint to cover up Liberty's bare breast. Here is "<a href="http://coins.about.com/od/famousrarecoinprofiles/p/breastedliberty.htm" target="_blank">The Bare-Breasted Liberty Quarter </a>" telling the tale:<br />
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<em>McNeil was obliged to modify his design. Miss Liberty would need to be properly covered, according to the citizens of our enlightened nation. It is easy to imagine that McNeil might have been a little resentful about the modification chore he had to undertake. Rather than simply rearrange the drapery on Liberty's shoulder to cover the offending breast, he crafted a suit of armor instead, and chastely clothed Miss Liberty nearly to the neck in chain mail!</em></blockquote>
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I have no doubt that there were outraged citizens - there always are. In my own home state of Massachusetts, we had the Watch and Ward Society object to the bare breasted figure on the 1896 $5 Silver Certificate, so of course they didn't like this either.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYl_SIKYpbnCOfq8gI_2_SgVNZF1Uhx0wspU-6lbRzMnPPTviNkdbSSPUjtOHKXBVOeS3JZtpgfJ31BVYoqVxgaZKSddXId8kNbnFAQsGUabM6OQfgSp97eVDCBrbMgnv7CldHgl2lKwW/s1600/1917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYl_SIKYpbnCOfq8gI_2_SgVNZF1Uhx0wspU-6lbRzMnPPTviNkdbSSPUjtOHKXBVOeS3JZtpgfJ31BVYoqVxgaZKSddXId8kNbnFAQsGUabM6OQfgSp97eVDCBrbMgnv7CldHgl2lKwW/s1600/1917.jpg" id="blogsy-1404137969642.9937" /></a></div>
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However, the public outcry may not have been the impetus and McNeil wasn't necessarily resentful because of the change. If anything, he may have been resentful of the Type I design because it was a modification of what he had submitted! David Lange makes the case for that in the "Mystery of the 1917 Quarters" link below, asserting<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>.. the Type 1 quarters of 1916-17 were the Mint's alteration of MacNeil's design and that the Type 2 issue was a restoration of MacNeil's original concept</em></blockquote>
Or it may have had to do with World War I. The Wikipedia article on this coin mentions that Ray Young suggested in a 1979 <em>Coins Magazine</em> article that the redesign "<em>came from the symbolism. If Liberty was going to stand up to her foes, she should do so fully-protected—not 'naked to her enemies.'</em>"<br />
<br />Whatever the reasons, the Standing Liberty Quarter is a beautiful design.<br />
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References:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_and_Ward_Society" target="_blank">Watch and Ward Society</a><br /><a href="http://www.antiquemoney.com/value-of-1896-5-silver-certificate-educational-bill/" target="_blank">1896 $5 Silver Certificate</a><br /><a href="http://flyingmoose.org/truthfic/1896.htm" target="_blank">Silver Certificates</a><br /><a href="https://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=696" target="_blank">THE MYSTERY OF THE 1917 QUARTERS</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Liberty_quarter" target="_blank">Wikipedia Standing Liberty Quarter</a><br />
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Contests and giveaways: <a href="http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html" style="color: #0094ff; text-decoration: none;">http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html</a></span></div>
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Anthony Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09065315340195840987noreply@blogger.com0