Tabla de contenidos para January 14, 2025 en Numismatic News

Among the treasures that will be in play in Heritage’s January 14-19 FUN U.S. Coins Signature Auction is an array of extraordinary $20 gold coins from the Mississippi Collection of Double Eagles. “Condition, completeness and rarity are three of the prime criteria for any collector considering coins to add to a collection,” says Sam Foose, Consignment Director of Numismatics at Heritage Auctions. “The consignor, who spent more than half a century putting together this incredible collection, understood and followed those ideas. Double eagles are important coins to the most serious collectors of elite American coins, and not only does this collection have all of the rare key dates, but he also has them in top condition. There are some truly extraordinary coins here, pieces that will become strong additions to…

Perhaps not all is lost. Fiat money appears to rule the financial world until it doesn’t. Not only is unbacked currency used daily as money, but there are now cryptocurrencies, which are not only unbacked, but they are not a currency, nor do they go through any central clearing site or bank to ensure their stability. If fiat money is viable, why do central banks all over the world continue to not only hoard but actively be buying gold? Why, in times of financial distress, do even everyday consumers look to gold or silver as has been done for thousands of years? Precious metal money is tangible. Fiat money and cryptocurrencies are not. Texas is looking to change all this. The state legislature recently introduced House Bill 1049 and House…

In April 1790, the House of Representatives asked Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to prepare a detailed report on a mint and coinage for the United States. The public had increasingly contacted their senators and representatives about this need and, in due course, Congress had acted with the request to the Treasury Secretary. Because inquiries were undertaken from a number of knowledgeable sources, especially merchants and bullion dealers in Europe with a good understanding of other coinage systems, the report took several months to complete. At length, on Jan. 28, 1791, the 15,000-word report was sent to the House of Representatives. Within a short time, that legislative body had forwarded copies to the Senate for its use. The report has often been hailed as a masterpiece of clear thinking, in line…

The Carson City Mint was doomed to fail from the day it opened its doors for business in 1870. That it produced coins from 1870 to 1885 and, after a four-year hiatus, again from 1889 to 1893, was along the lines of a miracle. An economic and numismatic miracle. According to Rusty Goe, a specialist of Carson City coinage and the author of three books on the famous mint and its coinage, from its first month of operation, agitators in Washington, D.C., San Francisco—and even Nevada itself—started to work towards shuttering the mint. “I don’t know if there ever was a year that the residents of Carson City were not afraid it was going to be closed down,” says Goe. Challenges for the Carson City Mint The first superintendent of…

Compliments To the ANA Outreach Coordinator During the recent second week of December 2024, Philip F. Vitale of Albuquerque, N.M., and the American Numismatic Association (ANA) Outreach Coordinator traveled to northern California and enjoyed the weekend at the festive Holiday gatherings of the Vallejo Numismatic Society, Fairfield Coin Club, and the Diablo (Concord/ Walnut Creek) Numismatic Society. On behalf of the three local coin clubs, I express our collective gratitude for Phil making the effort and participating at the Holiday parties. As he remarked, “I appreciated the opportunity to meet such a great group of enthusiastic numismatists.” Phil interchanged with members and attendees and shared the passion for the world of money hobby while promoting the American Numismatic Association (ANA). His flying and driving a rental car during northern California’s…

There is no doubt that our one-ounce silver Eagle program has become a hit both with collectors here at home and with folks throughout the world. The United States Mint pounds out millions of them each year, and we have no reason to think this will change anytime soon. Looking all the way back to the first few years of this series, in the late 1980s, gives us an idea of just how well these “non-circulating legal tender” coins are holding up. If we do some comparing and contrasting among dates and grades, we just might find some that really do qualify as bargains. A note about slabbing We have examined plenty of different series in these bargain collector columns, but never have we made as ardent a call for…

Watching the numbers tick up in this monthly report as the year goes on is always interesting. Some new additions tend to start out slow, adding a few here and there throughout the year, while others see an immediate jump and then taper out. Keeping an eye on the monthly Mint Statistics report can give a peek into collecting trends and interests outside of the usual market pricing reports. Since we last updated, we’ve added the 230th Anniversary Flowing Hair High Relief Gold coin, the Limited Edition Silver Proof Set, and the Zitkala-Ša Rolls and Bags. The American Innovation $1 Proof Set increased by over 5,000 in the last month, and the silver Morgan Dollar Proof increased by over 4,000. Truly impressive were the 2024 Proof Set, Unc Set, and…

The first part of Dr. Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli’s look at the history of coinage metals appeared in the October 1965 issue of Coins magazine and covered gold and silver. This installment, from the November 1965 Coins, focused on copper and nickel. Both segments are a condensed version of a presentation Clain-Stefanelli, then curator of the national numismatic collections at the Smithsonian Institution, made before the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. “Among the various metals used in coinage,” Clain-Stefanelli began, “bronze or copper belongs to the oldest. It was mined at least since the fourth millennium before our era in the Tigris region. The old Greeks obtained their copper from various sources, among them Kypros (Cyprus), which gave this metal its name, while the ancient Romans acquired much of their copper…

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