There is without doubt one enduring symbol on American coins – Liberty. This founding principle of the Union has a long history personified as a woman, going back to the ancient Romans, who depicted the principle of freedom as a woman, Libertas. In 1793, at the height of the French Revolution, Notre Dame Cathedral in […]
As part of the on-going America the Beautiful Quarter series, April sees the release of the second coin for 2019, which steps outside continental USA, and goes to the remote Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a group of 14 islands in the Pacific, near Guam, which has been administered by the US since the […]
The US Mint recently announced (February 2019) that the West Point Mint would strike some Lincoln cent with the ‘W’ mint mark, for special release as part of the annual sets of standard coins for 2019. This follows the un-publicized release of Lincoln cents with the Philadelphia ‘P’ mint mark in 2017 to mark the […]
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been taking an in-depth look at the three coins now released by the US Mint to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Legion. These are companion coins to those commemorating the larger conflict – World War I – that created the environment for […]
Last week we looked at the $5 gold coin being currently released by the US Mint, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Legion in its present form. Now we will take a look at the $1 silver coin, that is part of the set of three coins created and released […]
Back last year we gave some brief coverage to the designs for the American Legion Commemorative coins that the US Mint was preparing to release, to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Legion. Now they are being released, it seems like a good moment to take a more detailed look at each one. There are […]
Yes, that’s right, there is such as thing as a $3 coin made by the US Mint for 35 years, between 1854 and 1889. In the early 19th century gold coins were overvalued – their face value was below their melt value, so once minted they were exported for use in international trade. To keep […]
In 1857, a 250-foot ship, the SS Central America, sank in a hurricane off the Carolinas, while sailing from Panama to New York City. Not only did 325 of the 578 passengers and crew on board perish, but 30,000 pounds of gold bullion was lost, triggering the world’s first financial crisis, the ‘Panic of 1857’. […]
As the average age of coin collectors continues to rise, the idea of getting children interesting in this fascinating hobby becomes more and more relevant. Kids are always fascinating by things that glow in the dark, and the US Mint has obliged with a set that also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first Moon […]
Today, February 6, 2019, marks the official release of the first quarter in the America the Beautiful series for the year. This is the 46th release – when the series ends in 2021 there will be 56 coins in the full set, with 5 coins released this year and again in 2020. This release features […]
Collecting bank notes is a natural companion to collecting coins, and many collections contain both. In the past people put their trust in hard coins of precious metals, but as banking developed the idea of issuing a piece of paper, which the bank would turn back into coins on request, grew. Before the Civil War […]
50 years after the actual launch, the US Mint is set for a launching of its own. January 24, 2019 is the big day for the launch of the Mint’s commemorative set for the epoch-making first man on the moon Apollo 11 Mission. Older collectors will surely remember exactly where they were when we all […]
July 20, 2019 marks the 50th Anniversary of the historic first landing of a man on the moon in 1969. Older people will almost certainly remember exactly where they were, watching on a tiny TV set the flickering, blurry pictures sent from the moon, and hearing John Armstrong say, “One small step for man, on […]
In recent weeks we have been talking about coin collecting itself, rather than particular coins, and since there is so much to say on this topic, we are continuing the theme this week, with some answers to the basic question of new collectors, “So I want to collect coins, where do I start?” The simplest […]
Last week, at a time when we all think about new starts for the New Year, we started talking about taking up coin collecting. We look at the two basic reasons to do so – which are often combined in a single collection – doing it for pleasure and interest and collecting for an investment. […]
Coin collectors always have one eye on the bullion value of their coins and may also directly collect bullion in the form of gold, silver and platinum coins and bars. The last few weeks have been turbulent times indeed for all kinds of investors. Cryptocurrencies collapsed, and now seem to be reviving, thanks in part […]
Gold & Silver Market 11-23-2015
The precious metals sector was confusing last week, with a mixed bag of performances and no clear pattern visible. The two big investment items, gold and silver, didn’t show a lot of movement. Neither did platinum, while palladium managed to rise. With the equities markets also rising quite strongly, propelled mostly by gains in defense […]
Gold & Silver Market 11-17-2015
Once again there were disappointing results right across the precious metals sector last week, although the scale of losses varied. Overall it was a worrying period, because metals managed to lose ground even though the equities markets fell heavily. Normally we’d have expected to see metals make a lot of ground in these market conditions, […]
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