Coins

One of the most interesting coinages for Colonial America came in the 1720s, when William Wood obtained permission from the king to strike coins in England for shipment to America. The story is a tangled one of a royal mistress, murder, bribery, and coins that were ridiculed by one of the most famous English writers. Coins were a rare commodity in the early American colonies, primarily because the London government made little effort to supply the colonists with ready money. In all fairness to the British, however, coined money was seldom plentiful in Britain either. The Americans began using paper money as early as the 1690s in an effort to provide some form of currency to the public but, like most such attempts, the issues had a tendency to depreciate rather…

Serious collectors of gold coinage, as well as those of us who really enjoy the history of our coins, know that for a brief time, the United States Mint operated branch facilities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dahlonega, Georgia. For a much longer time a branch Mint has operated in the City by the Bay, San Francisco. The ‘C’ and ‘D’ mint marks from the two southern branches, as well as the ‘S’ from the West Coast, are all the result of gold rushes in the nineteenth century – although the California gold rush of 1849 is by far the one remembered by the most people, even giving its name to a football team! Curiously though, the siren call of gold, and the distances between the gold fields and the…

Recently, I wrote an article for this magazine about collecting Platinum Eagles. In it, I briefly touched on platinum’s investment potential because of factors such as rarity, jewelry use, and auto industry value as a component of catalytic converters. This last usage may in the not-too-distant future go the way of buggy whips, as just another relic of the past. In this column, I’ll tell you about a thread in CoinTalk that looked at platinum coins as an investment. The thread began with a member writing: “With inflation as high as it is right now, I wanted to invest a little bit more in [precious metals]. But with gold at nearly $2,000/oz and silver at nearly $26/oz, I just couldn’t justify buying more at this moment. So, I decided to pick…

When did you first become aware of money? Was it when your parents first gave you an allowance? When your parents argued about how they were going to pay for something? When you lost your first baby tooth and had a visit from the Tooth Fairy? In fact, if you really think about it, you grew up in a world of money. There were coins that you found fascinating. Paper money that you used to purchase some of those fascinating coins. The check you got when you had a summer job. Money nowadays comes in a variety of forms, but what was it like in the gestation years of America? If you had been born in the middle of the 18th century, what money would you have found? A Guide Book of United…

I dug into over a thousand war nickels I had, and on quick inspection of a total of about 200 1943 P’s to search, I have not one, but two 1943/42 overdates! I still have more to search yet, as I pulled the two without any “eyes” on. I also have found a very nice 1956 D and D south, and a 1987 DDO-002 Lincoln Cent, just to name a few I found in my collection. I also had the luck of the draw and was able to purchase a sealed 1970 mint set, hoping for a small date S cent. Well, no small date but how about an S/S North Coneca RPM#1, and Crawford CRPM-001 instead! I informed the person I purchased the set from, that they might check…

The market for coins is continuing to expand. The recently released 2022 World Silver Survey indicates 2021 global demand for silver rose to 1.05 million ounces, a 19 percent increase from one year earlier. What the survey defines as investment sales in silver coins and bars rose 36 percent to 279.7 million ounces during the same period, while the average spot price of an ounce of silver rose 22 percent, averaging $25.14. According to a May 4 Marketplace.org posting, “Selling coins is big business on social media and young collectors are helping to drive the spike in popularity. The pandemic is one explanation for the recent coin boom.” The Marketplace posting credits Instagram, eBay and Facebook for making collecting easier. The American Numismatic Association has also acknowledged the national organization is…