By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. In 1958, the bustling numismatic hobby experienced a grading revolution with the release of Martin R. Brown and John W. Dunn’s Guide to the Grading of United States Coins. In that book, Brown and Dunn laid out a set of adjectival grades that should be familiar […]
The post Coin Grading Has Come Far But Still Has a Long Way to Go appeared first on CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. An extraordinarily rare original and complete 1888 Proof Set returns to the market as GreatCollections has posted it for sale with a May 21, 2023, 8:26 PM PST (11:26 EST) end time. As of this article’s publication, 54 bids have been placed for the set and […]
The post Now in PCGS Holders, Fletcher 1888 Proof Set Returns to Market appeared first on CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. What is a So-Called Dollar? It is said that New York coin dealer Thomas Elder first coined the term “So-Called Dollar” to describe a medal sold at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition – an event better known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. Coin-like souvenirs […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. What is a So-Called Dollar? It is said that New York coin dealer Thomas Elder first coined the term “So-Called Dollar” to describe a medal sold at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition – an event better known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. Coin-like souvenirs […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. 108 years ago today, Dr. George Francis Heath died at his home in Monroe, Michigan. He was 57 years old. Heath was a larger-than-life figure, both in physical stature (numismatic writer Jack Ogilvie once wrote that the doctor was “big, fat, and good-natured”) and in […]
The post 108 Years Ago Today: ANA Co-Founder Dr. George F. Heath Passed Away appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. 114 years ago today, Dr. George Francis Heath died at his home in Monroe, Michigan. He was 57 years old. Heath was a larger-than-life figure, both in physical stature (numismatic writer Jack Ogilvie once wrote that the doctor was “big, fat, and good-natured”) and in […]
The post 114 Years Ago Today: ANA Co-Founder Dr. George F. Heath Passed Away appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan with Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen’s The Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins: 1892-1954 has always been one of my favorite books. Sure, the topic’s been done better, most recently by Swiatek himself. And yes, the book is hopelessly optimistic about what was then the […]
The post Booker T. on the Tarmac: A Story About First Coinvestors appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Quentin David Bowers, better known in numismatic circles as Q. David Bowers and known to his family and friends as simply “Dave”, has announced his retirement as a columnist from both The Numismatist and Coin World. He has accomplished much writing for both publications, earning the […]
The post Q. David Bowers Retires Two Major Columns As Storied Career Continues to Reshape Numismatics appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. Link to Part 1 5.) Irene of Athens Like much of the Middle Ages, the history of the Byzantine Empire is fascinating and complex. Unfortunately, it’s not a familiar topic to many Americans. Numismatically, it’s an exceedingly rich field of study, and the next woman […]
The post Top 10 Women on World Coins, Part 2 appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. Is there anything better suited to honor the famous figures of history than a coin? * * * Different artifacts associated with an individual may still exist, but these objects are frequently irreplaceable and irreproducible, with much of the appeal based on a personal connection to […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. According to some, the secretive fraternity of the Freemasons is elitist and anti-democratic. Still others have questioned the organization’s spiritual views. For those initiated into the fraternity, Masonry is said to offer a path to self-improvement and lifelong friendships. Historically, public suspicion of the Freemasons […]
The post History Hidden in Plain Sight: Freemasons on United States Coins appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. [Editor’s note: An earlier version of our analysis first appeared in the PCGS E-Zine newsletter of October 23, 2012. —CoinWeek] Eight years ago, we took a deep dive into the clad years of the Roosevelt dime series in search of a list of candidate coins […]
The post What are the “Keys” to the Clad Roosevelt Dime Series? appeared first on CoinWeek.
Numismatics remains ever-present in pop culture By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Several years ago, we took a look at the depiction of money in video games, with a focus on how virtual coins and currencies are used as major gameplay elements. It was our contention that it’s a good thing […]
The post Numismatics in Videogames – Yakuza: Like a Dragon appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. By all measures an enormously successful man, legendary U.S. coin collector Waldo C. Newcomer was born on September 14, 1867, in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University in 1889, Newcomer went to work for industrialist Bernard Baker as a clerk at the Baltimore […]
The post Where Does Waldo Newcomer Fit Among the All-Time Great Collections of US Coins? appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. [Editor’s note: The original column first appeared in the PCGS E-Zine newsletter of February 26, 2013. —CoinWeek] Six years ago, we took an in-depth look at what it would take to build a competitive PCGS Set Registry 1956 Mint Set, evaluating each coin released by the […]
The post Building a 1956 Mint Set of US Coins: As Complex as You Make It appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for PCGS …… [Editor’s note: This column originally appeared in the PCGS E-Zine newsletter on March 26, 2013 and has been updated to its current form. —CoinWeek] Talk about an under-appreciated series. The silver-clad Kennedy half dollar has always played second fiddle to its one-off 1964 and 1964-D 90% […]
The post A Quick Look at the Silver Clad Kennedy Half Dollar appeared first on CoinWeek.
By David Thomason Alexander for CoinWeek ….. 100 Greatest Modern World Coins By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker; Foreword by Donald Scarinci. Whitman Publishing LLC, 160 pages, lavishly illustrated, hardcover. Rarely has a numismatic book published in modern times achieved the overall excellence displayed by this newest Whitman Greatest title. Authors Charles Morgan and […]
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First Read, a continuing series of essays about classic and contemporary works of numismatic literature … By Louis Golino for CoinWeek ….. If you are a collector of American coins, you probably have long considered those coins issued in copper-nickel since 1965 (as well as modern bullion and commemoratives) to be “modern” coins and […]
The post First Read: 100 Greatest Modern World Coins… Review by Louis Golino appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for PCGS …… [Editor’s note: This column originally appeared in the PCGS E-Zine newsletter on November 6, 2012 and has been updated to its current form. —CoinWeek] Prelude to War On January 12, 1848, a 39-year-old Whig congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln took to the House floor and […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for PCGS …… (Editor’s note: This column originally appeared on PCGS.com and has been updated to its current form.) While the pomp and circumstance surrounding the 50 State Quarters program is over two decades behind us, it is hard to conceive of any future program that will have as […]
The post The Most Important Coin Program of Our Lifetime: 50 State Quarters appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Dennis Tucker for Whitman Publishing …… Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced in April 2020 that its London affiliate, NGC UK, has certified a 1952 British penny. If an American collector focuses only on U.S. coins and doesn’t study money from across the Pond, this might seem like a strange thing to publicize. The United […]
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By Dennis Tucker for Whitman Publishing …… Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced in April 2020 that its London affiliate, NGC UK, has certified a 1952 British penny. If an American collector focuses only on U.S. coins and doesn’t study money from across the Pond, this might seem like a strange thing to publicize. The […]
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Modern World Coins & Currency By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek…. If you’ve followed our writing at CoinWeek over the years, you’re probably aware of our advocacy for modern circulation strike U.S. coins, specifically coins from 1965 to 1982, or what we like to call the U.S. late modern period. Suffice it to […]
The post The Case for Collecting Modern World Coins & Currency appeared first on CoinWeek.
In March 2020, Whitman Publishing will release 100 Greatest Modern World Coins, by numismatists Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker. The 168-page coffee-table hardcover will be available from booksellers and hobby shops nationwide, and online (including at www.Whitman.com). Here, medallic-art historian Donald Scarinci shares his thoughts on modern world coinage and the new book. * * […]
The post Donald Scarinci on the 100 Greatest Modern World Coins: Whitman appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker ….. Walter Breen doesn’t mention it, and in A Guide Book of Washington and State Quarters (Whitman, 2006), Q. David Bowers offers up the generic (“Cherrypicking for quality is advised”), and the baffling (“In this era plastic holders … were a popular way to display sets of coins, including […]
The post US Coins – What’s up with the 1969 Quarter? The Key Date You Didn’t Know About appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Sixteen bags of Morgan dollars, still sealed in their original bags, is not something that you expect to see these days, given that it’s been more than 50 years since the Treasury vaults were emptied by silver speculators. Since that time, there have been ups and […]
The post CoinWeek First Look at the Pops of the New York Bank Morgan Dollar Hoard appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen’s The Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins: 1892-1954 has always been one of my favorite books. Sure, the topic’s been done better, most recently by Swiatek himself. And yes, the book is hopelessly optimistic about what was then the future […]
The post Booker T. on the Tarmac: A Story About First Coinvestors appeared first on CoinWeek.
Ask any retiree or coin collector and they’ll tell you: 70 ain’t what it used to be By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker ….. Charles and Hubert’s column Market Whimsy, which originally appeared in the American Numismatic Association (ANA) magazine The Numismatist, won the 2016 Numismatic Literary Guild’s award for Best Column, Non-Profit Large Publications. This […]
The post Market Whimsy: More Perfect than Perfect – MS-70+ and Beyond appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Do you have a coin collector in your life but don’t know what to get them? Fear not fellow traveler, CoinWeek is here with five numismatist-approved gift suggestions that you don’t need to be a rare coin expert to get right. 1. Coins & […]
The post 5 Gifts Your Favorite Numismatist Might Actually Like appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan with Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Coin Overview: As a child of the ‘80s, I was always fond of the Bicentennial quarter. It still turns up in pocket change once in a while, and roll hunters can run across more than a few when poring over bank boxes. Most circulating specimens survive […]
The post On Collecting Bicentennial Quarters: Risks and Rewards appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. On October 16, 2017, the United States Mint convened a second gathering of numismatic industry stakeholders in order to share information and ideas to reinvigorate the hobby. Titled “The Road Ahead”, the forum was the centerpiece of the Mint’s efforts to foster a dialogue. The […]
The post Second United States Mint Forum Casts Mint Marketing Behemoth in New Light appeared first on CoinWeek.
From onions hawked by animated ogres, to upbeat soundtracks created explicitly for sharks, there’s a lot of pork in the government’s budget. But just how outraged should we be? Will and Mango try to get an answer for you. Featuring James Ledbetter and the editors of CoinWeek. CoinWeek editors Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker were […]
The post CoinWeek’s Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker Talk Coins on the Part-Time Genius Podcast appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Truly a giant in the professional ranks of rare coin dealers. –Jeff Garrett, President of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and owner of Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries Icon of the rare coin industry and all-around gentleman Leon Hendrickson passed away on Sunday, July 23, 2017. His […]
The post In Memoriam: Industry Icon Leon Hendrickson Passes Away at 90 appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. According to some, the secretive fraternity of the Freemasons is elitist and anti-democratic. Still others have questioned the organization’s spiritual views. For those initiated into the fraternity, Masonry is said to offer a path to self-improvement and lifelong friendships. Historically, public suspicion of the Freemasons has […]
The post History Hidden in Plain Sight: Freemasons on United States Coins appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek and re-posted …. In 1963, Coin World columnist and former ANA librarian Ted Hammer wrote about a coin dealer in Texas arrested for trying to sell a gold certificate. The dealer had run afoul of federal authorities who acted to enforce a 30-year-old Executive Order outlawing private ownership […]
The post From the Herb Hicks Files – The Illegal Ban on Gold Certificates appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. [Originally published September 17, 2012. --CW] We pay attention to the news, so it follows that we pay attention to politics. After all, being involved is one of the original tenants of democracy[i]. When the news (especially politics in the news) touches on numismatics, it […]
The post In God We Trust: A Brief History appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. One of the first pieces that we wrote for CoinWeek discussed Bicentennial quarters. In it, we discussed the nuances of the issue, from strike to Mint State grade distribution of the P- and D-mint coins by PCGS and NGC. We also questioned whether the coin would […]
The post Return to Bicentennial Coinage: Silver Business Strike Edition appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. On January 31, 2017, the American Innovation $1 Coin Act (H.R. 770) was reintroduced, this time to the 115th Congress of the United States of America. Once again, the chief sponsor of the bill is U.S. Representative James A. Himes (D-CT4). Co-sponsors currently include Representatives […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. On January 31, 2017, the American Innovation $1 Coin Act (H.R. 770) was reintroduced, this time to the 115th Congress of the United States of America. Once again, the chief sponsor of the bill is U.S. Representative James A. Himes (D-CT4). Co-sponsors currently include Representatives […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. Don’t worry. This isn’t an essay on literary theory, or some nostalgic lament. Instead, we’d like to take a moment to explain something critical to our understanding of the stylistic and political implications behind what’s known as the Modern Era of U.S. coinage, and how that […]
The post For Coins, This Is a Postmodern Era (or, R.I.P. The Modern Era: 1932-1982) appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. Tallow: The white nearly tasteless solid rendered fat of cattle and sheep used chiefly in soap, candles, and lubricants. –Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Tallow. Probably not a word we or any other numismatic authors and journalists have to use much, but it’s at the heart of the […]
The post Controversy Over Animal Fat Used to Manufacture New UK 5 Pound Note appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker ….. Walter Breen doesn’t mention it, and in A Guide Book of Washington and State Quarters (Whitman, 2006), Q. David Bowers offers up the generic (“Cherrypicking for quality is advised”), and the baffling (“In this era plastic holders … were a popular way to display sets of coins, including […]
The post US Coins – What’s up with the 1969 Quarter? The Key Date You Didn’t Know About appeared first on CoinWeek.
Ask any retiree or coin collector and they’ll tell you: 70 ain’t what it used to be By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker ….. Charles and Hubert’s column Market Whimsy, which originally appeared in the American Numismatic Association (ANA) magazine The Numismatist, won the 2016 Numismatic Literary Guild’s award for Best Column, Non-Profit Large Publications. This […]
The post Market Whimsy: More Perfect than Perfect – MS-70+ and Beyond appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. Coin collecting is a fun and exciting hobby that captures the imagination of young and old. In what other hobby will you find yourself immersed in art, economics, history and science? Think about it. To understand the meaning behind the design of a quarter pulled from […]
The post Tips for Young Numismatists: Start Small, Think Big! appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek…. We’ve written about toned Washington quarters before. Over two years ago, we recognized a beautiful 1951-D PCGS MS67+ that Legend Rare Coin Auctions was offering in their Regency XIII sale. Reaching even further back than our initial review of the coin, we compiled a brief auction history […]
The post Rainbow Gem 1958-D Quarter at Stack’s Bowers Rarities Night Auction appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Coinweek …. CoinWeek News Wire for October 21, 2016 Brain Food 1.) What is the Average Lifespan of a Coin? Coins are tough little devils. Over the course of a coins’ lifespan, they will be dropped, kicked, stepped on, possibly run over by a vehicle, or involved in some children’s experiment to discover just how […]
The post CoinWeek News Wire for October 21, 2016 appeared first on CoinWeek.
Every coin except the great rarities has a Terminal Point By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker …. Charles and Hubert’s column Market Whimsy, which originally appeared in the American Numismatic Association (ANA) magazine The Numismatist, won the 2016 Numismatic Literary Guild’s award for Best Column, Non-Profit Large Publications. This article consists of two columns that were […]
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By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. If you followed our reporting last Friday concerning the United States Mint’s hobby stakeholder forum, then you already know that a large group of industry leaders, collectors and officials gathered last week in Philadelphia to work with the Mint in an effort to improve its product […]
The post What’s in Store at the U.S. Mint for 2017? CoinWeek Has the Answers appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. On October 13, 2016, the United States Mint hosted a daylong forum with industry stakeholders at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The purpose of the forum was to open a dialogue between the Mint and the industry in order to find ways to improve the […]
The post U.S. Mint Seeks Industry, Collector Insights at Numismatic Forum appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek …. On September 14, U.S. Representative James A. Himes (D-CT4) introduced the American Innovation $1 Coin Act (H.R. 6025) into Congress. Similarly to the 50 States Quarters program, the bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to “mint coins in recognition of American innovation & significant […]
The post New 14-Year American Innovation Dollar Coin Program Proposed appeared first on CoinWeek.
Imagine that you could have every coin you wanted. What could possibly go wrong? By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker …. Charles and Hubert’s column Market Whimsy, which originally appeared in the American Numismatic Association (ANA) magazine The Numismatist, won the 2016 Numismatic Literary Guild’s award for Best Column, Non-Profit Large Publications. “Making a Monster” was […]
The post Market Whimsy: The Rational Collector, Part 1 – Making a Monster appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker …. We love Columbus, Ohio. We spent some time there in the early 2000s, and even though neither of us has been back in a while, we still marvel at the culture one can find tucked away in various corners of the city: Hermon Atkins MacNeil’s bronze statue of […]
The post Market Whimsy: Mothers of Invention appeared first on CoinWeek.
Numismatic Literary Guild Awards include Best Website, Best Video & Best Podcast By CoinWeek News Staff ….. On Thursday, August 11, 2016 at the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) World’s Fair of Money, the Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) announced the winners of its annual writing competition at the NLG Bash, a dinner banquet attended by scores […]
The post CoinWeek Wins Record Nine Numismatic Literary Guild Awards appeared first on CoinWeek.
By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….. It’s been awhile since we’ve dug into a bit of coin market analysis and we thought it might be interesting to introduce a new recurring feature on CoinWeek, where we break down price performance for type coins of the different collector series. Collecting type coins is […]
The post CoinWeek IQ: Type Peace Dollar CAC Price Analysis appeared first on CoinWeek.
CoinWeek Podcast #20: Herb Hicks and the Illegality of Collecting Gold Certificates Did the letter writing campaign of an astute numismatist sway the United States Treasury Department to drop charges against a Texas coin dealer and finally allow collectors to openly collect United States Gold Certificates? In this audio retelling of Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker’s NLG-award-winning […]
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First Read, a continuing series of essays about classic and contemporary works of numismatic literature…. Review by Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek…. First Read: A Guide Book of United States Coins: Deluxe Edition by R.S. Yeoman and Kenneth Bressett You can’t blame Whitman for trying to shake things up with its venerable Red […]
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First Read, a continuing series of essays about classic and contemporary works of numismatic literature… Review by Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek… Coins & Collectors: Golden Anniversary Edition, by Q. David Bowers The pursuit of knowledge has many facets, not the least of which is the exploration of context. Throughout his 60-year career as […]
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