David C. Harper
I have retired. After nearly 41 years working at the Numismatic News office, my chair is now vacant
Category Archives: Class of ’63
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
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
Who wins battle of video, written word?
When you want to know what the current price of gold is, do you want a tutorial about gold before the figure is given to you?
I don’t think so.
I was looking for something online yesterday. I had a question I wanted answered
Don’t bet on my annual forecasts
Some people you don’t trust with sharp objects. The year 2018 proved that you shouldn’t trust me with forecasts.
A toss of the coin would work out better once again
Can’t get new dollars from your bank
They say news travels fast. It does. This is especially true in the age of the Internet
New Iola park will honor Chet Krause
Chet Krause
To say that life is different in the Numismatic News office in Stevens Point, Wis., is an understatement.
We have been here since April 17, so nearly a year has passed
FUN carries on Ambassador tradition
(Image courtesy www.funtopics.com)
How long does it take to make something fully your own? Does it ever happen? Whether it does or not, it should
Unplanned action the biggest gift of all
Christmas has arrived. Time for family gatherings. Time to exchange presents
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
French speakers have found me
Small Date 1982-D copper cent
What’s the French word for counterfeit? I didn’t know, either, until I looked it up on Translate.Google.com
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
First book encounter was a lasting one
I am thinking about my first Red Book. It is dated 1965. It had been published the year before, but as a kid, I didn’t know that
Mint forum welcome step to future
News that the United States Mint is going to reach out to kids in 2019 is welcome. If anyone can reach that age group, it is the Mint. I write this not because I think the new cartoon characters will magically change kids’ attitudes toward coins
Time for major new series of cents
The American Innovators $1 coin series is about to start. It will take us to the year 2032. The America the Beautiful series, which began in 2010, runs until early 2021
We haven’t changed much, have we?
(Image courtesy www.govmint.com)
Looking at my calendar in preparation for this issue, it occurred to me that I have an anniversary to celebrate
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
100-point scale deserves discussion
(Image courtesy www.ExpertNumismatics.com)
We struck pay dirt in terms of numbers of readers responding to the question of whether numismatics should change to a 100-point grading scale
Good times once rolled for the ANA
Quick. When I say American Numismatic Association, who do you think of?
If you have been a member for 40 years as I have, the first few individuals who pop into mind might very well be dead.
John Jay Pittman was Mr
Let average people strike first coin
Everybody knows what a first strike ceremony is. The bigwigs gather around a coin press. The guest of honor pushes a button, and the very first coin of a new design is made
Commemorative dollar makes us think
The 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended fighting in World War I arrives on Nov. 11. It will be a major event, but you cannot prove it by the sad sales level of the World War I Centennial silver dollar
Coins I didn’t buy were the good ones
Editor Dave Harper has never regretted standing in line at a local bank in 1964 to obtain two Kennedy half dollars on the first day they became available.
As I was writing up the results of the Ruth Weinberg estate coins in the GreatCollections.com auction on Page 20, I kept thinking of all the opportunities I have missed in coin collecting
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
August 1987 seems relevant today
Silver has suddenly dropped to lows not seen since the beginning of 2016. The $14.41 price as this is written on Aug
Changes come through like buses
What are coin collectors thinking about this summer? Judging from the letters below, they are thinking about the same things they usual think about.
There are new Mint products to weigh in on, errors to report, circulation finds, and activities at major coin shows.
In short, numismatics in summertime is still bustling with activity
Who has the biggest pile of gold $20s?
(Image courtesy www.apmex.com)
United States Steel was the first billion dollar corporation back in 1901
Emotion and silver dollars together
Please don’t run me out of town on a rail. I frequently write that Morgan dollars are the most popular collector coin with the possible exception of the Lincoln cent.
From time to time, a weekly poll question has been asked whether this is so
Platinum falls with copper and nickel
It has been nearly 12 years since the United States Treasury banned the melting of cents and nickels. It prohibited the export of the coins as well.
This was done in December of 2006 because the government was facing the growing prospect of the mass melting of nickels
Memories of coins might be painful
Clifford Mishler has long made the observation that people usually collect what they know.
People my age who are car collectors are drawn to the muscle cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s from a time when we were young. Coin collectors zero in on their memories of what they used to make purchases
Memories of coins might be painful
Clifford Mishler has long made the observation that people usually collect what they know.
People my age who are car collectors are drawn to the muscle cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s from a time when we were young. Coin collectors zero in on their memories of what they used to make purchases
Reader finds show way to future
There is nothing like circulation finds to get a collector’s blood pumping. This week, the Viewpoint and a couple of letters offer results of coin searches.
I couldn’t be happier about it
Club dinner part of a better future
A traditional coin show offers collectors a wide range of opportunities.
It’s a good thing I don’t go to the Nicolet Coin Club dinner more than once a year. I am treated so well by its members that I would get a swelled head
Nominate now for Numismatic Ambassador Awards
Organized numismatics could not exist without volunteers to do the work. That is a fact.
Another fact is that these volunteers do not get enough recognition
Shield collectors from randomness
Collectors like organizing principles. After all, what is collecting other than organizing chaos? On the other hand, the Mint likes marketing chaos. At least that is how I interpret what it is presently doing
Put mintmarks on bullion Eagles
It is no longer news that output levels of silver American Eagle bullion coins are at 10-year lows. It was not so long ago that production was setting records.
The 2015 number of 47 million pieces was a huge deal when it occurred
Shrink cent while cash still used
In the ongoing debate between keeping the cent and killing it off, I am surprised that the suggestion of shrinking it has so little traction.
We have done it before as a nation. When the small cent arrived in 1857 with a Flying Eagle on it, it proved to be wildly popular
New office means a new address
Saying hello from the new front entrance of F+W Media are current and former ‘Numismatic News’ graphic designers Rebecca Vogel (left) and Nicole MacMartin (right).
Settling into the new offices of Numismatic News has occupied a considerable amount of time recently.
But the process is now complete
Coins offer insurance in bad times
During the Great Depression, Joseph P. Kennedy said in 1936 that he would gladly give up half his fortune if he could be guaranteed he would keep the other half.
That sounds peculiar until one remembers the context of the times
Ryder perfect for Mint directorship
David J. Ryder
The chair of David Rittenhouse has finally been filled after remaining empty for over seven years.
David J
Give this desk one last going over
he long-time headquarters for Krause Publications (a division of F+W Media, Inc.) in Iola, Wis., will soon be vacated for a new office in the city of Stevens Point
How about a label for 2018 cents?
United States Mint Denver Facility
It appears a fountain of new cents has been yielding huge quantities of Denver coins across America.
Why Denver is getting this honor, I don’t know. But the best summary of it came from a reader who lives in Orlando – Philadelphia cent country
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
Collectors attracted to sunken treasure
Dwight Manley examines coins from the S.S. Central America
I’d be in good shape if it were 2012
Have you spotted a 2018-dated coin in your change yet? I asked readers of my blog on Jan. 11 to keep me posted. So far, no one has reported a 2018 coin find
2018 looks like a good year all around
Here I go again, putting myself out on a limb to forecast what is going to happen in 2018. Making a forecast is a tradition stretching back many years. Just don’t bet the farm on any of these outcomes
Time to start my own cryptocurrency
If I wanted to get rich, I would announce the creation of my new cryptocurrency in this space. It is the latest trend.
Everybody is doing it from failing dictatorships in Venezuela to failing camera film companies like Kodak
Half right, half wrong – no way to brag
How charitable do you want to be as I add up the results of my forecasts for the year 2017? I can make the figures add up to 6-4, 5-5 or 4-6 depending on whether you let me. I call it 5-5.
1
New year offers many coins to acquire
A new year means there are coins with a new date on them to chase.
In the old days, collectors simply bought a proof set and a mint set and had them all.
It is no longer so easy
Who gets to decide on coin designs?
Coin collectors have groused that Congress has taken commemorative coin programs to ridiculous extremes. The worst of it was during the Atlanta Olympic Games of 1996.
Since then, programs have been limited to two a year, and there is a standard template of a gold $5, silver dollar and clad half dollar to follow
Follow rules to give 2018 good start
It is not quite the end of the year as I write this. It will soon be time to evaluate my forecasts made for 2017. I then have to make new ones for 2018
Who will get Coin of the Year Award?
Coin of the Year balloting is occurring later this year than last. The international panel of judges began voting as this electronic issue of Numismatic News was being prepared.
Who will win? It is up to the judges to vote to determine the winner
Many a calendar page has turned
My goodness, where has the year gone? This is the last paper issue of 2017. Next week will see an electronic issue put together. Then comes the Jan
Cent questions have staying power
How many generations of cent emails will I get? I ask that question after nearly a year of emails relating to 2017’s newly discovered Lincoln rarities.
The Jan. 3 issue of Numismatic News reported the discovery of a 1982-D small date copper cent
When will China buy American coins?
I stumbled on some interesting information while I was in China. A speaker estimated that there are 750,000 to almost 1.4 million buyers of gold and silver coins in China
Just what is the perfect coin gift?
Should the United States issue a Christmas coin in a manner similar to the post office issuing Christmas stamps?
This question comes up each year about this time. I ask it again because it is time for us to prepare the annual Holiday Gift Guide.
There will be nothing from the United States mentioned among the new issues
Mint conducts a ‘Liberty’ experiment
I often rank Mint offerings by dollar amount earned as a proxy for popularity.
My supposition is that if collectors spend $20 million instead of $10 million, they are twice as happy.
It is in this vein that I have been playing around with numbers generated by three Mint offerings of pieces with Miss Liberty as an African-American
Precious metal coins the way to go
When you place your order for the 2018-W proof silver American Eagle come Jan. 4, 2018, don’t think you are done. The Mint will not let you off so easily
Three-coin cent set nothing to sneeze at
Many collectors have loved cents since they started in numismatics.
Something new about them has come up this morning.
I received a short handwritten letter from a reader who asks a very coin collector type of question
We should all salute Baltimore show
Whatever the future might bring for coin shows, there are a few that are so important that I cannot imagine the commercial hobby without them.
One of these is the Baltimore show. Actually, there are three Baltimore Whitman Expos each year
It might be time to worry – or not
I was conversing with a dealer from the national circuit the other day about the seemingly slow start to the 2017 autumn collecting season.
He is earning his living, but he has nothing to write home about.
I can write the same thing
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
Get that small-town feeling with coins
Downtown Iola, Wis.
When I walk down the street here in Iola, Wis., people say hello
Mistakes can be fun and ‘profitable’
What is the point of buying the new palladium bullion American Eagle coin if we don’t think about what might happen to it in the future?
I recently met a reader who said he really loved my column. He began reading it when I made forecasts for the future. He said in the first one he had read I was mostly wrong
Never got one of these in change
(Image courtesy www.mintproducts.com)
I received an interesting quarter in my lunch change this week
My handwriting sets off a reader
Ever wonder what will happen as schools stop teaching cursive handwriting? I just had a taste of the possible results.
Funny, though, this experience came in correspondence with an older gentleman. It all began with a letter to me from him that began with a statement that he did not use a computer
Wait until hype is over and then buy
The Forecaster is an investment newsletter than I have kept my eye on since 1969. John Kamin writes it from his base in Southern California.
Longevity in the investment advisory business means that people find enough value in the advice to keep paying for it
Mint Statistics: Time to tell the Ellis Island story again
The Ellis Island 5-ounce silver bullion coin went on the board below at 39,500. That is nearly double the number of the prior two designs. The story of Ellis Island has inspired collectors for years
Coins can provide mini-vacations
Everybody needs a vacation. Getting away and recharging the mental and physical batteries is important.
But not everyone has the budget to go on an exotic trek through the Himalayas, or even to relax at a lakeside cottage
Two clubs can show us how to do it
Two coin clubs in New York marked their 1,000th meetings just months apart. (Read more here and here.)
What a milestone it is to have achieved such longevity
Who can save proof and mint sets?
Dave Motl, Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Mint
The Mint was very kind to arrange a half-hour interview for me with Dave Motl, the Acting Deputy Director
Yes, I am bugging out to Denver
(Image courtesy www.money.org/)
While this issue is being produced, many hobbyists are in Denver to see what excitement the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money can produce
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
Canadian note gives me an idea
Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and Stephen S. Poloz, Governor of the Bank of Canada, at the June unveiling of the new $10 note.
Canada has issued a special commemorative $10 note to celebrate its 150th anniversary
Error coins guaranteed to please
It is too bad that the Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors of America doesn’t have more members.
Is it the long name? Does that intimidate?
Members call it CONECA for short.
I have been privileged to share a meal with members at the annual American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in years past
Pause to remember Chet Krause
Chester L. Krause
Numismatic News founder Chester L. Krause was remembered at a short ceremony July 6 at the Iola, Wis
Search your cents to inspire others
A waitress at the Crystal Cafe is watching her cents. I can’t take any credit for it. I became aware of it when I had my usual Monday lunch with Clifford Mishler
Reassess your coins for cash boost
If you are like most collectors, you have been putting coins away for years. You also have a few regrets about coins that got away, or coins you never got around to purchasing.
Why not use the summer months to plan to change it up come the fall?
Resolve to buy that coin that you let get away
On my wet toes about ‘No S’ proof
I have experienced cloudbursts before, but never has any managed to get my toes wet in the office. But now it has happened.
Water was coming off the roof so fast as these pages were being assembled that the drains of the F+W Media building fell behind
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
Shed a tear for end of mail orders?
The Mint is closing a chapter in its history. It will no longer accept orders by mail as of Oct. 1
Cooling off with coins in the summer
(Image courtesy www.apmex.com)
It is almost summer
FUN show bus program worthy one
Is this a news story? Is this a column? It’s both. I just had a email from Tony Swicer. He wants to remind all Florida clubs about the Florida United Numismatists bus program
Plan for 125 years of Lincoln cent?
There’s life in the old Lincoln cent yet.
Our front page story this weeks shows that collectors are hot on the trail of the Small-Date 1982-D copper cent.
Only one is presently known and that was just reported in the Jan
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
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
Future where only -70s will matter
How will a hobby without a majority that remembers circulation finds look?
I am an optimist. Coin collecting will always exist. Something that we can trace to Renaissance princes 700 years ago who started with ancient Roman coins to celebrate their ancestors is not going to disappear
Liberty design makes medal popular
If the 1977 Liberty dollar medal on the cover two weeks ago appealed to you, join the club. Many readers found it so and hurried to order one for themselves.
I had an email from Jared Grove of Grove Minting Company as I was preparing to write this column
If avoiding loss is goal, choose gold
Many coin collectors are dismayed to discover that they have coins they purchased years ago that have lost value. That is not pleasant. But nobody promised that every coin would rise in value over time
New directory brings us together
I remember watching television as a kid. At the end of a segment, an announcer’s voice would say, “And now a word from our sponsor.”
Advertising paid the bills then
Are Eagle sales sending us a signal?
Silver and gold buyers probably remember the year 2016 as the year of two markets. The first half of the year saw precious metals go up and up. They had racked up huge gains by the beginning of July
Anyone buying circulated Mercs?
This week’s letter section has a submission from a reader suggesting that the 1916-D Mercury dime is an overvalued coin. I look forward to seeing how readers react to this opinion.
In circulated grades, it certainly might be
Nickel-plated zinc in our coin future?
Image courtesy http://jardenzinc.com.
Whether the United States ever changes the composition of its nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar is something that none of us can know
Compare yourself to reader profile
I wrote a blog the other day on a topic that I think is important enough to repeat. I have put the complete blog text here:
Trying to figure out what is important to readers is based in part on learning about the readers themselves.
Our latest reader survey for Numismatic News shows that the average reader is 63
Nickels were last hurrah for finds
The 1950-D Jefferson nickel taught the author a lesson. If collectors lose interest in a series, even the key date will suffer a loss of value. (Images courtesy https://www
Here we go with my 2017 forecasts
It is time to stick my neck out and put my forecasts for 2017 in print. I put them all in a talk I gave Jan. 5 at the Florida United Numismatists Convention in Fort Lauderdale
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
2016 forecasts better than my 2015’s
I did better with my annual forecasts for 2016 than I did for the year before. But I feel worse. I relapsed into getting gold and silver wrong again
Cashless society makes advances
I bought a soda in the break room before I sat down to write this column. I do not do this very often, but I had a hankering for a Coke. I had two $1 bills in my hand
Shake hands, have a conversation
Plan to go to a coin show in 2017. Pick one. It will do you good
Collectors share a beautiful mind
Sixty years ago, a carpenter named Chet Krause was publishing “Numismatic News” from Iola, Wis.
After I write this column, I will get in a car and travel to the Michigan State Numismatic Society convention in Warren to help celebrate the organization’s 60th anniversary.
I was invited to be the after-dinner speaker at the banquet
Why not prize for best VF Buffalo set?
Let me take a step back from the debate about how to bring more coin collectors into the hobby.
To even begin that discussion, you have to assume that there are people who know what coins are.
Now I am not trying to be funny, but coins are having less and less impact in our daily lives even among collectors
New Mint director after six years?
United States Mint principal deputy director Rhett Jeppson
There might be a new Mint director in office in 2017. Technically it has been vacant since Edmund C. Moy left office in 2011
Joining ANA a personal decision
If Beyonce said join the American Numismatic Association, would you? How about Garth Brooks or Carrie Underwood?
I cannot think of a single celebrity who could promote ANA membership in an effective way.
I have nothing against stars or star power. However, my thinking is simply a reflection of who coin collectors are
Dateless nickels, timeless memory
Did you enjoy the Page 1 story about Buffalo nickels as much as I did?
Kids, coins and Nic-A-Date went together when I was a new collector a half century ago.
How well I remember.
Puzzling over dateless Buffalo nickels was more than I could bear
Summer focus is not at the beach
At this time of year, Americans tend to want to take some time off to get away on vacation, or put meat on the grill and relax.Silver hit a high in April last year. Where will 2016 end up?The markets are not cooperating
Bullion no longer just our secret
For many years the bullion coin business has been a profitable cash flow machine for the numismatic business. I remember the days of coin counting machines clanking away on the bourse floor. When bullion was frisky, conventions were noisy
Chet Krause taught by example
I am the longest-serving employee still working for the firm that Chet Krause founded. I arrived in 1978. Susie Melum followed a few weeks after me as a full-time hire
Rooting for the U.S. team in Berlin
It was good to see U.S. Mint staff in Berlin to attend the World Money Fair
Full split bands lead to full headache
Nobody likes to think about tax time, but if you are expecting a refund, the earlier you wade through the process the better.I know someone is thinking this way because I received an email from an individual who said he had purchased a coin from an advertiser about 25 years ago. He had a problem
GAO leaves coin questions to Mint
If you are like me, you often find yourself listening to an oldies radio station that replays the hits of half a century ago.Both the Mint and GAO ruled out a change in the cent’s composition, which currently costs around 41 percent of the cent’s face value, according to www.coinflation
Poll question puts a reader on edge
Our weekly online poll questions have become a popular addition to the pages of Numismatic News in recent years.Sometimes we ask questions that everyone has an opinion on and we get numerous responses. Some weeks we ask a question and all I hear are the crickets chirping
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
How long since you last took a look?
How many incomplete sets of coins do you own? In my time in the hobby I have owned plenty. Some I still have. Some I sold off at points in my life when I needed money
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
Ban unnecessary, probably eternal
Eight years ago a coin shortage became a serious possibility as the prices of copper, nickel and zinc were soaring.The public would have found it profitable to melt nickels. Zinc cents looked like they wouldn’t be far behind
Ready to buy or sell on 2016 date?
Some collectors are already anticipating the prospects of 2016 U.S. Mint reproductions of 1916 designs
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
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
First clad, then gold and finally silver
Are you ready for next month’s offering of a set of four 50th anniversary Kennedy half dollar coins?Like a movie trilogy, we fans are waiting for the next installment of a popular franchise.The Mint will put the silver set on sale Oct. 28
Cash in your forgotten coin stash
The Great Recession made all Americans more frugal. Coin collectors are no exception.Several years ago when silver was approaching its 2011 peak of almost $50 an ounce I suggested that collectors sell off coins made of silver that they might have lost interest in, particularly commems and 40 percent silver Ike dollars
Know what Roosevelt looked like?
All coin collectors are art critics. I am one as well. The art that we like to criticize is that which appears on coins, or is art proposed for use on future coins
Surcharges add up to one big gift
Learn the hobby and build an impressive collection. Check out Coin Collecting 101 today! Half a billion dollars is a lot of money. Wouldn’t you agree?Anyone or any group of someones who would donate such a large amount of money would have to be generous
Presidential dollars get personal
U.S. Coin Digest is the most complete and comprehensive color guide to all U