Information for Coin Collectors & Investors
The 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Coin series will be the first curved coins ever to be minted by the United States Mint. OK, so the United States Mint is celebrating the diamond anniversary of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum with a series of coins. The obverse of the coins shows … Read more
There was a time when there were more than 20,000 company stores using scrip in pace of, or in addition to, cash wages in North America.(*1) It has been estimated that around 75% of all the scrip that was used was used by coal companies in Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. People in these … Read more
About two and a half years ago I bought a few rolls of junk silver dimes for around $65 to $70 each including shipping. I shopped around and got them from different online auctions and websites. Even then the prices I found were barely above the spot silver value of the coins at that time. … Read more
Barber Quarter 1892–1916 The Barber quarter was designed by Charles E. Barber and first minted in 1892. Barber was Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint at that time. The Barber quarter was minted of 90% silver and 10% copper and used the same design as the half dollar and dime (Barber Dime). The Barber dime … Read more
January of 2013 saw a small growth in the value of silver, around 3.7%. During the same period gold actually dropped by 0.8% but analysts seem to agree that gold will see a steady rise overall. Today silver is at $31.78. You can buy one dollar face value of circulated 90% silver US coins for … Read more
I have written and talked to people about the lowly copper penny for quite some time. US pennies minted before 1982 (and some struck during the first part of that year) are made of 95% copper. Later pennies contain only 2.5% copper. It takes approximately 115 pennies to make 1 pound of copper. If copper … Read more
Nickel Cents of the Civil War Have you ever heard the expression “he doesn’t have a nickel’s worth of sense?” Believe it or not, there used to actually be “nickel cents”. Nickel Cents were minted during a specific time in history, and the hoarding of them, along with gold and silver coins, in Civil war … Read more
Private tokens were first seen in the early 1860s. In 1862, many Americans, especially in the Midwestern and Northern states began responding to the hoarding of gold, silver, and nickel by using private minters. Private tokens were made locally. Since there was no real regulation on the use of other coinage outside that of the … Read more
The America the Beautiful Quarter Program will feature 56 different US National Sites. The obverse or “heads”, of all will be the classic George Washington profile designed by by John Flanagan in 1932. The reverse, or “tails” side of the coins will honor a U.S. national park or other significant national site. The America the … Read more
2009 was the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Four different versions of the Lincoln Cent were minted to celbrate the ocassion. All four were struck at both the Philadelphia and Denver Mints which means that there are 8 different versions that were struck for general circulation. The thing that makes these cents interesting is their relative … Read more