Tuesday, January 22, 2008
CAC Services
I was reminded last night of the new CAC service that certifies NGC and PCGS certified coins. Their job is to determine coins that are exceptional for their grade. A few weeks ago there was an editorial in Coin World from a frustrated collector stating that CAC should stand for "Can't Afford Coins" and I must second that statement. I feel torn because I don't want to sound bitter that I don't have more money to buy coins but at the same time, services such as CAC will drive up the prices on nice coins and make them less attainable for the average collector. For some of us, while we're saving up to buy a nice coin, the prices go up and then we can never purchase it or it takes a lot longer to have enough on hand to purchase said coin. Of course, there really is nothing that I can do about it. I probably won't purchase a CAC coin but it'll be due to finances and not some sort of boycott. Since I'm not their target audience anyway, CAC will be here to stay, and that makes me sad.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Recent numismatic book procurements
For Christmas I got three numismatic books. Now that I've had a chance to read and/or look through them extensively I'd like to give my impressions:
1) Illegal Tender: David Tripp
This was the only one of the three that I read cover to cover (because it was not written as a reference book). I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it as a good read but it is not the best non-fiction book I have read. It would be in the top 10 though. Broken into three parts, the book traces the situations that lead up to Roosevelt's gold recall, the mysterious emergence of several 1933 double eagles in the numismatic community and the secret service's attempt to seize them, then finally the emergence of a specimen in England in the mid-90's and the ensuing legal battle to sell it. The biggest problem with the book was that it climaxed very quickly and the ending was not as interesting as the beginning. This is not the fault of the author. Tripp tries to make the attempted sale in the 90's seem exciting and it partly is but falls a little flat. The same goes for the auction. Reading about the bids at auction was very tedious. Most people reading the book know the final sale price of $7,590,020 so reading about different people bidding just doesn't get the heart pumping. Overall, the book is a good read and a must for coin nuts and history buffs. The books comprehensive nature will give all a great look into the economics of the depression, the gold recall that lead to the destruction of the majority of the double eagles, etc.
2) A Guide Book of United States Type Coins: Q. David Bowers
This is a real gem of a book. I've been tempted to sit down to read through it but being a reference it is quite dry. However, I've already found it immensely useful in looking up diameters and compositions of several coins. It gives a lot of basic information (though nothing terribly indepth) including size, composition, the designer, mintages, estimated survival populations, and overviews of each denomination. For the $20 that it costs, it is well worth the money.
3) Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933: Garrett and Guth
I asked for this book on a whim and am glad that I did. Though I don't own many gold coins and probably never will, this book has a paragraph or more on every single gold coin ever minted by the US Mint in the time span indicated above. It'll be helpful when looking for specific coins to know what they are generally like and potential pitfalls. The book is rather expensive ($70) but is so because every page is full color. I wouldn't suggest this book to a beginner because of the cost and relative specialty of it. Even though I might not need it as frequently as I do some of my other books, I am glad to be in possession of it!
1) Illegal Tender: David Tripp
This was the only one of the three that I read cover to cover (because it was not written as a reference book). I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it as a good read but it is not the best non-fiction book I have read. It would be in the top 10 though. Broken into three parts, the book traces the situations that lead up to Roosevelt's gold recall, the mysterious emergence of several 1933 double eagles in the numismatic community and the secret service's attempt to seize them, then finally the emergence of a specimen in England in the mid-90's and the ensuing legal battle to sell it. The biggest problem with the book was that it climaxed very quickly and the ending was not as interesting as the beginning. This is not the fault of the author. Tripp tries to make the attempted sale in the 90's seem exciting and it partly is but falls a little flat. The same goes for the auction. Reading about the bids at auction was very tedious. Most people reading the book know the final sale price of $7,590,020 so reading about different people bidding just doesn't get the heart pumping. Overall, the book is a good read and a must for coin nuts and history buffs. The books comprehensive nature will give all a great look into the economics of the depression, the gold recall that lead to the destruction of the majority of the double eagles, etc.
2) A Guide Book of United States Type Coins: Q. David Bowers
This is a real gem of a book. I've been tempted to sit down to read through it but being a reference it is quite dry. However, I've already found it immensely useful in looking up diameters and compositions of several coins. It gives a lot of basic information (though nothing terribly indepth) including size, composition, the designer, mintages, estimated survival populations, and overviews of each denomination. For the $20 that it costs, it is well worth the money.
3) Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933: Garrett and Guth
I asked for this book on a whim and am glad that I did. Though I don't own many gold coins and probably never will, this book has a paragraph or more on every single gold coin ever minted by the US Mint in the time span indicated above. It'll be helpful when looking for specific coins to know what they are generally like and potential pitfalls. The book is rather expensive ($70) but is so because every page is full color. I wouldn't suggest this book to a beginner because of the cost and relative specialty of it. Even though I might not need it as frequently as I do some of my other books, I am glad to be in possession of it!
While I'm railing against the Mint...
Maybe I'm just grumpy and want to pick on the Mint but it seems like a poor business decision to take your ordering (and thus tracking system) offline the day that you release the first major coin program of the new year.
Last Tuesday the Mint's online ordering system went down and was replaced with a message saying that they were switching providers and that they hoped the system would only be down a few days. As of a few minutes ago it is still down and still saying that they are hoping that it will be back online in a few days.
Perhaps it was not the fault of the Mint and they were placed in a bad position. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt and on most days I would, but not this one. :-)
Last Tuesday the Mint's online ordering system went down and was replaced with a message saying that they were switching providers and that they hoped the system would only be down a few days. As of a few minutes ago it is still down and still saying that they are hoping that it will be back online in a few days.
Perhaps it was not the fault of the Mint and they were placed in a bad position. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt and on most days I would, but not this one. :-)
Friday, January 18, 2008
US Mint Absurd Shipping Methods
Maybe I'm just angry because the coin I had ordered two weeks ago is now only in Kentucky. Before I say more I want to note that I do realize that the US Mint offers an expedited shipping option but here's the thing: they have "two to three days" for $17.95 (or $18.95 I can't remember) or "we put it on a pack mule and hope it gets to you within the year" for $4.95. Nothing in between. Now, with most other online vendors, even choosing the slowest shipping rate still brings the package to you in a week. Here has been my experience. Order placed on January 4. Email on January 11 stating that my coin has shipped, tracking numbers are included. Despite my best efforts to track my package, the USPS website declared that it had no record of my package until yesterday, then when I checked it this morning it said that it had arrived yesterday morning at a "partner shipping facility" in Hebron, KY. Unlike reliable and competitive carriers (read: FedEx or UPS) the tracking information is updated only once a day, though somehow I even doubt that. Hopefully at some point in my lifetime, my coin will arrive. I think that the mint should use a more reliable and expedited carrier. I know I'm not the only one to be frustrated by USPS.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Last (hopefully) post on the In God We Trust Issue
Now that it has become law due to the passage of H.R. 2764 there isn't too much else to say about it. However, I thought that history has some say in this matter. When Roosevelt was going about the redesign of American coinage, he was not in favor of having the motto on coins as it was a form of irreverence. Here are a few posts about the issue and Roosevelt's position:
Swiss America Trading Company
This one is slightly more informative:
Heritage Auctions
Swiss America Trading Company
This one is slightly more informative:
Heritage Auctions
Commemorative Coinage Relief
This is not relief from commemorative coins but rather the relief in which they are struck. The aspect of the JPL bill that intrigued me so much was the desire for high relief coins. I'm all in favor of this. The high relief business strikes of the St. Gaudens Double Eagle and the ultra-high-relief proofs of the same coins are the last gold coins to be struck that way (in 1907) and the Peace dollars of 1921 were the last silver coins. I think it would be such a breath of fresh air in the market to have a beautifully designed coin (a must!) that is struck in high relief. Most of the coins that we get in our pockets are of such low relief that being able to buy a contemporary high relief coin would be boost in Moy's desire for a renaissance of coinage art.
JPL Coin Program
On page 5 of the January 21 issue of Coin World there is an article about legislation that has been passed in 2007 by the 110th Congress. Below it is a table of coinage legislation that had been introduced in 2007 and its current status. Scanning it I saw the Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) commemorative coins. This was first reported last year in Coin World (the exact issue I cannot remember) but here is an overview of the program and then I will comment upon it:
There would be nine coins for each of the planets. They would be struck in proof silver only and on the obverse would be a depiction of the planet and on the reverse would be a design relating to one of the US missions to said planet. A tenth coin for the sun would be struck in extremely high relief gold. The same design requirements as the planets would also be used here.
Here is a copy of the bill: H.R. 2500
My reaction:
I've always been enamored with space travel and I think that JPL coins would be inherently cool I am concerned by the size of the program. 10 coins would discourage a lot of people from buying (myself included) since the cost of it would be enormous. With gold around $900 an ounce and the sun coin weighing that much, the whole program could cost ~$1400 (estimating a conservative $1000 price tag on the Sun plus $40 dollars a pop for each planet) to buy and with an offbeat subject (not many people care about space exploration), I think it would suffer from poor sales. The only bright side is that bronze duplicates of the sun coin would be available for purchase. However, that would still be a cost of about $400 just for the silver coins. Also, lets remember that the Sun and planets are big spheres. The gas giants are recognizable because of color differences, how do you differentiate between Neptune and Jupiter on a coin with no color? Since this bill hasn't even reached debate and it the coins are to be minted before the end of 2008 it is likely that this bill will die. I won't miss it but it is an opportunity wasted to bring a smaller JPL coin program to the market.
There would be nine coins for each of the planets. They would be struck in proof silver only and on the obverse would be a depiction of the planet and on the reverse would be a design relating to one of the US missions to said planet. A tenth coin for the sun would be struck in extremely high relief gold. The same design requirements as the planets would also be used here.
Here is a copy of the bill: H.R. 2500
My reaction:
I've always been enamored with space travel and I think that JPL coins would be inherently cool I am concerned by the size of the program. 10 coins would discourage a lot of people from buying (myself included) since the cost of it would be enormous. With gold around $900 an ounce and the sun coin weighing that much, the whole program could cost ~$1400 (estimating a conservative $1000 price tag on the Sun plus $40 dollars a pop for each planet) to buy and with an offbeat subject (not many people care about space exploration), I think it would suffer from poor sales. The only bright side is that bronze duplicates of the sun coin would be available for purchase. However, that would still be a cost of about $400 just for the silver coins. Also, lets remember that the Sun and planets are big spheres. The gas giants are recognizable because of color differences, how do you differentiate between Neptune and Jupiter on a coin with no color? Since this bill hasn't even reached debate and it the coins are to be minted before the end of 2008 it is likely that this bill will die. I won't miss it but it is an opportunity wasted to bring a smaller JPL coin program to the market.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Sacagawea dollar update
This is an update to this post.
H.R. 2358 is now law and will start in 2009. A few things that are odd about this. To bring these new Sacagawea dollars into some sort of uniform manufacturing with the Presidential dollars, the date, mint mark, E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust were all to be moved to the edge. With the passage of H.R. 2764 (and it has passed the Senate as well), In God We Trust has been ordered back onto the obverse/reverse of the coin. I'll speak on H.R. 2764 in another post soon but as I have mentioned previously, it still maddens me that such hypocrisy still gets by in our legislature. Having been passed by a voice vote we won't know if the co-sponsors of the original H.R. 2510 (to put IGWT back onto the obverse/reverse) voted for it but it honestly wouldn't surprise me.
But its come true, we'll have annually changing reverses for the Sacagawea dollars, the presidential dollars as well as dollar bills. Of course, all these coin programs are going to have people flocking to the use of coins... right.
H.R. 2358 is now law and will start in 2009. A few things that are odd about this. To bring these new Sacagawea dollars into some sort of uniform manufacturing with the Presidential dollars, the date, mint mark, E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust were all to be moved to the edge. With the passage of H.R. 2764 (and it has passed the Senate as well), In God We Trust has been ordered back onto the obverse/reverse of the coin. I'll speak on H.R. 2764 in another post soon but as I have mentioned previously, it still maddens me that such hypocrisy still gets by in our legislature. Having been passed by a voice vote we won't know if the co-sponsors of the original H.R. 2510 (to put IGWT back onto the obverse/reverse) voted for it but it honestly wouldn't surprise me.
But its come true, we'll have annually changing reverses for the Sacagawea dollars, the presidential dollars as well as dollar bills. Of course, all these coin programs are going to have people flocking to the use of coins... right.
Bald Eagle Commemoratives
I know that it has been awhile since I last published a post so there might be a few in the coming days. At 11am this morning (central time) the Bald Eagle Commemorative coins will go on sale. This is the first time since 2003 for the $0.50 denomination and I'm quite excited about it. Click here to see the designs.
Unfortunately, with the increase in metals prices, the set of three proofs will be quite high. However, it is worth the outlay because this series has a number of extremely nice new designs.
Just for clarification: this series was approved because of the success of bringing the bald eagle back from near extinction.
Unfortunately, with the increase in metals prices, the set of three proofs will be quite high. However, it is worth the outlay because this series has a number of extremely nice new designs.
Just for clarification: this series was approved because of the success of bringing the bald eagle back from near extinction.
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