A successful coin collector is a well-informed one, and thanks to the web, collectors today have access to more and better information about coins than at any previous time. Numismatic Guarantee Corporation (NGC), an industry leader in coin grading based in Florida, and Park Avenue Numismatics, a high-end numismatic dealer with offices in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, […]
Grand Canyon 2010-P America the Beautiful Coins: Errors and Varieties
Last week I learned that several collectors reported discovering 2010-P Grand Canyon five-ounce silver America the Beautiful (ATB) coins with unusual finishes, and that NGC had decided to certify some coins as having a “light finish” variety. I became intrigued by this issue and decided it was something collectors would want to know more about. […]
ATB Five Ounce Silver Coins: New Variety Discovered and Other Recent Developments
Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, or NGC, of Sarasota, Florida has announced attribution of a new variety of one of the collector versions of the five-ounce America the Beautiful silver coins (http://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=2265&NGC-Recognizes-New-Variety-of-2010-P-Grand-Canyon-5-Ounce-Specimen-Issue). The new variety is called “light finish” and was discovered on 2010-P Grand Canyon coins purchased by two collectors from the U.S. Mint. The new finish […]
How to Buy from the U.S. Mint in Person
As readers of this web site know, I have generally been supportive of the U.S. Mint and believe it is sometimes the subject of excessive criticism. At the same time, there is no question that there are many areas where the Mint could do a better job such as with its web site and by […]
June Baltimore Expo Report: Summer Slowdown
Three times a year, in the spring, summer, and fall, Whitman Publishing sponsors the Baltimore Expo, a large coin show held in Baltimore, Maryland. The shows attracts both local dealers and collectors and those from as far away as the west coast. Traditionally, the June show is the slowest of the three, and this year’s […]
NGC Will Certify 2011 Silver Eagles Struck in San Francisco
As reported recently in Coin Update, U.S. Mint officials have decided to strike American silver eagles at the Mint’s facility in San Francisco in order to help meet the growing and unprecedented demand for silver eagles. The coins will not carry an “S” mint mark to distinguish them from silver eagles struck at the Mint’s […]
Does the US Mint Deserve the Criticism It Receives? Part II
This is second article in a two part series. Read Part I. Some of the coverage of the ATB five ounce silver program struck me as unnecessarily harsh. An example would be this quotation from Tom DeLorey in an article on the ATB silver bullion program in a recent issue of Coinage: “Suppose you were […]
Does the US Mint Deserve the Criticism It Receives? Part I
This is the first article in a two-part series on whether recent criticism of the Mint is justified. The U.S. Mint, which is by far the largest coin and bullion dealer in the world, is the subject of almost non-stop and intense criticism from the numismatic community. For years commentaries published in the leading print […]
Collecting America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver Coins: Numismatic vs. Bullion Versions
Late last year the U.S. Mint announced that the mintages of the 2010 bullion versions of the five ounce America the Beautiful (ATB) silver coins would be limited to 33,000 of each issue, which is an extremely low number for a bullion coin. Since then the modern coin market and hobby have to a large […]
Latest Developments on the 2010 and 2011 America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Coins
With this week’s planned release of the first numismatic version of the 2010 America the Beautiful (ATB) five ounce silver coins and the start of sales to Mint distributors of the first 2011 bullion coins, now is a good time to review the latest developments within the series. A U.S. Mint press release indicated that […]
