Susan's Coins Blog

Although the U.S. Mint has been listening and communicating better this past couple of years, I think they're getting way too greedy in their product mark-ups. Take, for example, the Jackson First Spouse half-ounce gold coin: the Mint is selling the Proof version for $619.95. (The Uncirculated version is $20 less.) On August 28, 2008, the day the Jackson First Spouse coin went on sale, NY gold closed at $833.70 per ounce. This makes the NY spot price of a half-ounce of gold $416.85 on that day. The Mint's mark-up on the Jackson First Spouse coin is more than fifty percent over bullion value! This is a $203.10 profit on a $619.95 coin! This is absurd!

Of course, part of the problem for the Mint is the way it must do its pricing. It uses a system where it must fix the pricing for the coins ahead of time, hoping to account for upward bullion market fluctuations that might occur during the time frame the coin is on sale. In other words, the Mint sets a "worst case scenario" price and that's what we're stuck with. I don't know what they need to do to bring their ecommerce systems into the 21st century, maybe congress has to pass a bill or something, but the Mint really needs to change its pricing model so that prices fluctuate based on the actual bullion market.

Here's what I think the Mint should do for the Ultra-High Relief (UHR) Saint-Gaudens coin coming up: the Mint should Read more...

Several months ago, the U.S. Mint began offering Presidential Dollar coins at face value, with no added shipping and handling charges, as part of its initiative to promote circulation of the dollar coins. The Direct Ship Program sells Presidential Dollars in boxes of $250 (10 rolls of $25 each), with a limit of two boxes per order. Note that this isn't two boxes per customer. You can order 10 times if you want (and some of my readers claim to have done so) because people who have cash-back credit cards, the type where you earn 1% or 2% cash back on your purchases, are simply racking up free money. One person even told me he's been taking out "reverse interest" cash loans for his business, because the Mint sells the Direct Ship coins as numismatic items, rather than processing them as a cash advance on the credit card (which usually incurs high percentage fees.) This fellow takes the boxes over to his bank and cashes them in for greenbacks; he doesn't even bother to search them because the bank prefers them rolled up.

I published a review of this service back in June, where I exposed several of the abuses of the Direct Ship Program that were going on. A highly-placed executive at the U.S. Mint told me that my review had actually fostered some discussion among the Mint authorities, Read more...

In the latest entry into my series of coin dealer reviews, I made a purchase from L&C Coins. They are a major advertiser in coin collecting-related magazines, and they were suggested by a couple of readers, so I watched L&C's ads for a few weeks until I found something I thought I'd like. L&C's big "pitch" is that everything is priced "below wholesale." Of course, anybody who knows the coin market will immediately recognize the retail prices on the majority of their lots, but this advertising tactic must work pretty well with novice collectors and casual coin-magazine readers because the basic appearance of L&C's ads has remained virtually unchanged for the past few years. The ads contain a variety of coin types sold mostly in lots.

For example, in L&C's Coin World ads for the week of Sept. 1 - 7, 2008, they have unsearched 5,000 coin bags of Wheat Cents, "below wholesale," for $325 per bag. In fact, the true wholesale price for unsearched bags of Wheat Cents is Read more...

I was rather surprised when the email alerts came through a little while ago, letting journalists know that the Alaska Statehood Quarter launch ceremony had proceeded without Alaska Governor Sarah Palin being present. As press offices often do, they write these events up in advance as if they had already happened, so that print media with longer lead times can cover the story in a timely manner. After all, how often would a state governor miss a high-profile and fun event like their own state's Statehood Quarter launch? I was a little mystified when the U.S. Mint's press release update didn't explain why the Governor wasn't there, but I'm sure everyone has heard by now why Gov. Palin missed the launch: she has been selected by Sen. John McCain to be his running mate! Since politics isn't my coverage area, I'm not going so say much about this except, "You go, girl!" :)

Alaska Lt. Governor Sean Parnell got to stand in for Gov. Palin. (Heck, he might be taking over her office before too long!) U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy was also a no-show, Read more...

Coin World is reporting in its September 8 issue that PCGS has purchased a selection of counterfeit Chinese coins and coin dies on an unnamed online auction site. The coins, which are being sold as "Chinese Ackey coins" are actually counterfeit Chinese coins, not the fake U.S. coins we saw a few months ago when I was the first journalist to break the story that included numerous photos inside a Chinese counterfeiting ring. PCGS also bought several coin dies meant for striking fake Chinese coins, apparently in the same auction purchase.

A press release, which was sent by PCGS to most of the major numismatic media, included some photos that show what PCGS bought. It would have been nice to know how much they paid for the lot, and which auction site they bought it on (probably eBay, but was it U.S. eBay or Chinese eBay?) A quick trawl of U.S. eBay produced 15 active auctions for this same coin set, in the same booklet (but without the dies) from 15 different sellers. All 15 sellers are linked to the same gang of fakes sellers known as the "Hello Xiang Gang." They sell all kinds of fake stuff, but fake Chinese coins seem to be Read more...

One of the many interesting corporate announcements made by the big players in numismatics at the recent ANA World's Fair of Money in Baltimore seems to have been lost among the noise. NGC has developed a new high-tech coin holder, or "slab," which is expected to be available by the end of September. The new NGC slab, called the EdgeView^TM Holder, has five new features:

High Security Label - The label, or "slab insert" as many collectors call it, will be micro-printed, include a holographic layer, and have UV-reactive watermarking.

EdgeView^TM Design - Most of the edge of the coin will be visible through the holder, unlike the current generation of holders which places the coin in a gasket that hides the edge.

Preservation-Grade Materials - The new NGC holder will be made of state-of-the-art preservation-grade materials, the same materials that the Smithsonian Institution demanded for the coins in the National Collection that NGC slabbed awhile back.

Directional Pressure Welding - The new NGC holder ensures that "every coin will be cleanly, safely, and fully sealed" according to NGC marketing materials.

State-of-the-Art Hologram - The hologram on the new holder will be fused directly onto the plastic holder itself, rather than inside the holder. New technology allows for a hologram that is "virtually impossible to reproduce."

An Analysis of NGC's New Holder

So, what is my take on all of the above? First of all, for a holder that is supposed to be an answer to the very serious and potentially-market-destroying problem of Read more...

Reading the headline of this post, you might wonder why it is newsworthy that a nickel is worth a nickel. The answer is that around this time last year, a nickel was worth almost a dime! I'm talking about the melt value of the U.S. nickel coin, which is actually made out of 75% copper (and 25% nickel.) Most people are aware that the U.S. Mint stopped making the penny out of copper back in 1982 because the metal in the coin was worth more than face value. For the better part of the past two years, even the post-1982 zinc pennies (which have only a thin copper coating) had a melt value approaching one cent, and the expenses of producing the penny sent the production cost well over face value. The nickel is suffering a similar fate, even though its melt value Read more...

To me, one of the most amazing things about coin collecting as a hobby is that you don't need a lot of special tools or equipment to get started. Sure, these things help, but anybody can begin collecting coins right out of their pocket change! 140 million Americans are collecting State Quarters, and trying to put together a complete set of one of each State Quarter type out of pocket change is tougher than you might think!

For people who want to collect older coins right from circulation, the Jefferson Nickels simply can't be beat! I often find nickels from the 1940's and '50's when I search through rolls of nickels from the bank. I wrote an article awhile back about how to begin a collection of these great nickels right out of circulation, called How to Start a Coin Collection on $4. But easily the most valuable coins circulating through our pocket change these days Read more...

Today was the big day for the Andrew Jackson Presidential Dollar! It was officially released at a ceremony at Andrew Jackson's famous plantation mansion, the Hermitage. Rather than have historical reenactors this time, the U.S. Mint opted to go for a ceremonial coin pour. U.S. Mint Deputy Director Andrew Brunhart, Andrew Jackson the Sixth, and Hermitage official Richard Cowart all convened in front of a table covered in black velvet and proceeded to pour out a canvas bag full of Jackson Presidential Dollars. Although most of the coins behaved and gathered into a nice golden pile, a few went rolling off in various directions for the kids to scurry after. Following the pour (and the obligatory speeches,) the 300-odd kids who were present each got a free Jackson Presidential Dollar coin.

The Jackson Presidential Dollar is certainly one of the more well-executed designs in the series. The portrait of Jackson, designed by AIP Master Designer Joel Iskowitz, sparkles with the light and charisma Jackson certainly possessed in life (although I would have preferred to see Read more...

One of my favorite coin collecting categories is ancient Greek and Roman coins. I have been collecting them since my college days, when I'd buy "freshly dug-up" ancient coins by the kilo from ads in the back of magazines like Biblical Archeology and Archeology Today. The coins usually arrived with bits and pieces of ancient bronze junk, such as fibulae with no pins, or bits broken off of military implements and gear. The coins were generally low-grade and needed some cleaning, and when they've been buried for upwards of 2,000 years, soap and water isn't going to do the job. If it was that easy, you wouldn't be able to buy this stuff so cheaply.

With the advent of the Web and eBay, ancient uncleaned coins went mainstream. Early eBay dealers would sell them by the coin, at 20 cents to $1.00 each, and as new collectors flocked to this fascinating uncleaned coins hobby, amazing claims were made. Some people claimed to have found gold coins in these low-grade, low-priced lots. What they really found was Read more...