Category Archives: Class of ’63

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Delayed shipping probably unnecessary

Apollo 11 50th Anniversary 2019 Proof Half Dollar Set
“I want my coins yesterday” is the informal slogan of collectors who order new issues from the Mint.
How else can you get them slabbed as first strikes? How else can you flip them for a profit on the secondary market? How else can you brag to other members of the coin club that you received them first?
Word has just come that the U.S

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2019 will be a year to please us all

Should I throw caution to the winds for my 2019 forecasts? I decided I should. Volatility is the name of the game these days as the future looks more and more uncertain.
Uncertainty means gold should be a winner

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Newcomer shows us how it’s done

I tell myself that I don’t look through cents anymore because my old eyes just can’t handle the close work.
Is that a cop-out?
I am beginning to think it is as I report yet another find of valuable cent errors by someone who took the time to look.
This time, the error is a doubled-die 1995-D cent

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Success derives from coin collecting

Chet Krause
Are coin collectors more successful in life than noncollectors? I think they are, but I have no way to prove it.
This is a thought that has crossed my mind many times over the years, but news of the auction results of the Armstrong Family Collection made me think about it again.
Heritage Auctions pulled off a sale that realized $5,276,320 Nov

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Topics many don’t want to think about

Benjamin Franklin (Image courtesy Joseph Duplessis [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)Benjamin Franklin said the only things certain are death and taxes. Coin collectors are notoriously averse to thinking about either.
How many heirs have contacted me over the years after the passing of a loved one? Too many

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ANA helps us see coins at their best

The United States Mint had three 1933 $20 gold pieces on display at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in August in Philadelphia.
It is not too often that collectors have a chance to gawk at one, and we should be grateful the Mint is treating the coins like a legacy to be preserved for future generations.
Individual coin dealers also brought a number of historic rarities to the show

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Don’t let Wall Street disturb you

I wrote a blog a couple of days ago while the financial markets were throwing a fit. It is hard not to notice problems on Wall Street. However, we collectors should be grateful that we don’t have to, as I pointed out in the following:
Will the stock market continue to plunge today after big selloffs Friday and Monday? Coin collectors who have 401(k) plans and IRAs probably want to know

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Palladium bullion coin hard to peg

Is the 2017 one-ounce palladium American Eagle a bullion coin that some collectors will happen to collect?
Or, is the new coin, with a mintage of just 15,000, destined to be solely a collector coin?
Right now, I don’t think the new coin has yet had an impact on the thoughts of many collectors. Officially, it is a bullion coin. The collector proof version does not arrive until 2018

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Errors still spark dreams of riches

The Small Date 1982-D copper cent (above) shows the “2” quite a bit further from the rim than the Large Date version. (For visual comparison to the Large Date, click the link to images of the large and small date below.)
If a local coin show wants to generate huge traffic, all it will have to do is set up a table to evaluate 1982-D small date cents

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I’m not in favor of zombie issues

Have you noticed that when someone in Washington, D.C., suggests doing away with a current denomination, a promise goes with it that they will continue to be made for collectors?
If you are going to have $1 bills taken away from you, will it matter at all to know that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will still print a few and sell them for many multiples of face value?
How about the U

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Legislation shows loyalty to copper

Is Sen. John McCain trying to have his political cake and eat it to? His legislation calling for a 10-year suspension in the production of the cent outwardly appears to be an attempt to put an end to our lowest denomination because it costs too much. But is it?
Because the legislation calls for cent demand to be met by existing supplies, he clearly is assuming that cents will continue to be used in commerce

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Quick answer from Mint fills stat gap

I was anxiously awaiting the weekly Mint Statistics this week to monitor results for the 225th Anniversary one-ounce $100 gold coin showing Miss Liberty as an African-American.
I had recently blogged that I did not see how coin collectors could come up with sufficient cash to buy more than 40,000 of the possible 100,000 maximum mintage set by the U.S

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No official inaugural medal – sad

While at the Florida United Numismatists convention Jan. 5-8 I learned from retired congressman Jimmy Hayes that there will be no official inaugural medal for President Donald Trump. I had been hoping against hope that the low-key approach to inaugural medals taken by the two Barack Obama inaugural committees in 2009 and 2013 would be improved upon this year

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Use new Mint techniques regularly

What have we learned from last year’s successful Kennedy half dollar 50th anniversary coin program?No, this is not a column about crowd control at the American Numismatic Association convention. It is about what appeals to 21st century collectors.I think one lesson that can be drawn is that a significant number of hobbyists find special annual sets appealing

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Vote online for the Coin of the Year

Have you ever wondered how you would perform as a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee selecting designs for use on American coinage? Would your opinions match those of other experts? Would you find yourself alone in your opinions?The second round of voting in the Coin of the Year awards is underway.I think every collector has asked those questions of himself. I know I do every time we get another batch of designs from the CCAC or the Commission of Fine Arts with their official opinions expressed

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Designs give reviewers a workout

If you do not believe the nation’s coin artists are busy, perhaps this issue of Numismatic News will persuade you otherwise.Pages are chock full of potential and recommended coin and medal designs as reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee at their September meetings.Unfortunately, there were so many images, there was no possibility of all of them being published within these pages

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How about making a fresh start?

If you could start coin collecting all over again, what would you do differently?Another way of putting this question is: if you were completely free to collect anything that appeals to you, what would it be?Too many of us are trapped by our first choices. I began collecting Lincoln cents when I was 8 years old. Does that decision irrevocably tie me to Lincoln cents?I began buying modern proof sets from the U

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