Jan 20, 2019 | News
During the past 45-60 days NCIC has seen a change in the pattern and MO (modus operandi) of ROMA gang suspects. It is evident that these individuals are beginning to target smaller shows. Coin show dealers and promoters should be aware and on the alert.
(Suspects have hit shows in Texas, Oklahoma and Indiana)
MO:
- Usually work in pairs (Male-male, Male-female)
- Heavy European accent
- Interested in gold and silver coins
- Pretends to know little about coins
- Wants coins for present etc.,
- Displays large amt of cash( Bait/distraction)
- Both want to look at different coins at same time (distraction)
- One or both asks numerous questions(distraction)
- May attempt to reach in to dealers case
- Very good at palming ( especially female suspect)
- May not have enough cash and wants to leave and come back shortly(however in several cases they have already palmed coins and never return)
- Suspects may leave deposit and not return because during the transaction they have palmed or switched coins that have been packaged.
- Suspects in some cases buy several thousands of dollars in coins and pay in cash. However during the transaction they want to re-count the money over and over. After they leave the dealer is short of cash.
Be aware of these red flags. Contact security or the show promoter and advise them of any suspicious activity.
Doug Davis
Founder/President
NCIC
Jan 18, 2019 | News
Detectives with the Tinicum Township police department are investigating a theft involving a large number of gold coins. The coins were being shipped to Germany via UPS and were last scanned at the Philadelphia air hub.
Based upon the preliminary investigation it is believed the suspect or suspects are local and may attempt to sell the coins in the Philadelphia or outlying towns or municipalities.
Any dealer or collector who may be offered coins as described above please contact:
Det. Sgt. James Simpkins
610-52103830
Tinicum Township Police Department
Essington, PA
or
Doug Davis
817-723-7231
Doug@numismaticcrimes.org
Jan 18, 2019 | News
(Pelham, Alabama)—Whitman Publishing has released an updated and revised third edition of its best-selling Guide Book of Lincoln Cents. It continues in the popular tradition of the Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars and other Bowers Series numismatic guides, which number more than two dozen volumes. The 320-page full-color book is available now, in January 2019, online (including at Whitman.com) and from booksellers nationwide for $19.95.
The new edition includes a thorough market analysis for each date and mintmark of Lincoln cent produced through 2018, in up to nine circulated and Mint State grades, plus Proofs. It features hundreds of photographs, and insight on error coins, patterns, related tokens and medals, and proposed Bicentennial designs.
Appendices new to the third edition explore the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee’s review of the 2010 Union Shield reverse, a snapshot of the Lincoln cent market in 1946, and how to get a new die variety listed in hobby publications such as the Red Book.
Generations of coin collectors have grown up with the Lincoln cent, America’s longest-running coin series, first minted in 1909. Author Q. David Bowers, the nation’s most widely published numismatic writer, provides a detailed study of this American classic, including history, grading, market values, and more. Each Lincoln cent is illustrated in full color, with high-resolution enlargements for important doubled dies and other varieties. Mintages, specifications, and retail values in multiple grades (including Brown, Red/Brown, and Red Mint State) add to the book’s reference value. More than 750 photographs illustrate the text.
In the book’s preface Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker calls the coins an evergreen series. “Many active hobbyists collect Lincoln cents,” he writes. “So do people who don’t consider themselves numismatists, but enjoy saving interesting coins. Among other currently circulating coinage only Washington quarters—specifically, the 1999 to 2008 State quarters—have matched their broad popularity.”
On the technical and production side, A Guide Book of Lincoln Cents covers die preparation, the coining process, distribution, design modifications, Proofs, mintmarks, and other specialized topics. An appendix by specialist Fred Weinberg discusses errors and misstruck cents.
On the market side, the book explains how to specialize in Lincoln cents, and gives advice on determining authenticity, analyzing color and strike, being a smart buyer, realities of the marketplace, comparative rarities, Full Details, certification, establishing fair market prices, and more.
David W. Lange, Director of Research for Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, wrote the third edition’s foreword. “No one captures the appeal of collecting coins like Bowers,” he said. “To read A Guide Book of Lincoln Cents is to learn this series in depth and to fully appreciate the changing face of the Lincoln cent over more than a century.”
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Jan 17, 2019 | News
(Santa Ana, California) January 16, 2019 – Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) has added an intriguing and exciting new element of competition and additional awards to its popular PCGS Set Registry®.
“It’s called the PCGS Set Registry Achievement Program (www.PCGS.com/setregistry/mysetregistry), and it challenges current and new PCGS Set Registry members to earn points and accumulate digital achievement medals for their efforts. There also is an opportunity to win numismatic prizes valued at $500 or more during the first ten days of the program’s launch,” said Cosetta Robbins, Manager of the PCGS Set Registry (www.PCGS.com/setregistry).
“This entertaining and educational program was designed to create new opportunities for all collectors to compete in the registry community,” explained former PCGS Set Registry Director BJ Searls who began developing the achievement program before retiring this past December. “We want to challenge our Set Registry members, but also add a lot of fun to the pursuit. All of us are proud that this new program wonderfully provides both elements.”
The PCGS Set Registry was established in 2001 and now hosts over 95,000 U.S. and world coin sets. It is easy and free to become a member.
“There is a lot of opportunity to grow the Set Registry program and this is a step in the right direction particularly as we look at new ways to engage collectors of all experience levels,” said PCGS President Brett Charville.
The achievement program was officially launched on January 14, and now through January 25, 2019, PCGS is conducting “10 Days of Giveaways” with special awards for successful participants.
Each day there is a specific action to complete to earn a medal, and one lucky collector who shares their medal of the day on social media will win a special reward. For example, on the first day, users were required to download the PCGS Set Registry app to earn the Mobile Mogul medal for the chance to be put in the running for an 1882-S Morgan Dollar graded PCGS MS67. Each day’s numismatic prize will have a minimum value of $500.
There are four categories for collectors to earn point and medals in the new Achievement program:
- Completion – adding inventory and completing sets;
- Competition – outranking your opponents;
- Collection – the use of Set Registry website or application features; and
- Community – the act of connecting with fellow collectors on the Registry.
The medals and points will add up over time and be stored digitally on the Set Registry dashboard. Every collectible you add to the PCGS Set Registry will move you toward a series of rewards. With every completion within the Set Registry, you will boost your medal count and point total. These medals and points will allow collectors more opportunities for achievement and recognition instead of reserving the celebrations for the Annual PCGS Set Registry Awards Luncheon.
Follow @PCGScoin on social media to learn what action and prize will be offered each day. The forums at PCGS.com will also post daily updates as well as the PCGS blog at https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1012295/pcgs-set-registry-10-days-of-giveaways-updated-daily.
Jan 17, 2019 | News
(Santa Ana, California) January 15, 2019 – The finest-known 1885 U.S. Trade Dollar that recently sold for a record $3.96 million has been crossed over and now is in a Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) holder.
Within a few hours after placing the winning bid during the Heritage Auctions Platinum Night auction at the Florida United Numismatists convention in Orlando on January 10, 2019, collector Dell Loy Hansen of Utah submitted the historic coin to PCGS for crossover service. It is now encapsulated as PCGS PR65+ CAM.
In 2017, Hansen became a partner in David Lawrence Rare Coins of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The company’s President, John Brush, issued this statement about the 1885 Trade Dollar from Hansen’s collection crossing over to PCGS:
“The objective of the D.L. Hansen collection is to build the most complete collection of the highest quality of US coins from 1792 to present. As some have called it, the Greatest Collection of All-Time, we simply refer to it as the ‘Eliasberg Quest’ and it has certainly been the most exciting thing that I have participated in numismatically. The addition of the 1885 Proof Trade Dollar was an incredible experience as it adds another great rarity to the already amazing collection. As the coins are all registered in the PCGS Set Registry, the decision to cross the coin to PCGS was one that Mr. Hansen wanted to make for uniformity, so that it would solidify another fantastic addition to the already historic collection.”
“What a fantastic honor to have this coin come through our grading room at my first show as PCGS President! It’s a true honor to have our Set Registry program host Mr. Hansen’s ‘Eliasberg Quest,’ and we look forward to seeing what he acquires next,” stated PCGS President Brett Charville.
With a grade point average of 68.736, the D.L. Hansen Trade Dollar Proof Set is now 100 percent complete and ranked as the number one proof Trade Dollar collection, 1873 to 1885. The listing for the entire set can be viewed in the newly redesigned PCGS Set Registry® here: https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/dollars/trade-dollars-major-sets/trade-dollars-proof-1873-1885/alltimeset/159305.
Only five 1885 Trade Dollars are known, and no examples are in the holdings of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, the American Numismatic Association or American Numismatic Society. This particular coin was once in the legendary collection of Baltimore financier Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. who was known as The King of Coins.
Professional Coin Grading Service was established in 1986 and now authenticates, grades and certifies coins from over 100 countries. In addition to its international headquarters in Santa Ana, California, PCGS has submission centers in Europe (www.PCGSEurope.com), Hong Kong and mainland China (www.PCGSAsia.com). The popular PCGS Set Registry® (www.PCGS.com/setregistry) now contains more than 95,000 U.S. and world coin sets.
For additional information about PCGS and its services, visit www.PCGS.com or call PCGS Customer Service at (800) 447-8848.
Jan 9, 2019 | News
(Pelham, Alabama) — An updated and revised sixth edition of the Guide Book of United States Paper Money is available now, in January 2019. The new book is a history and price guide of the paper currency of the United States dating from Civil War federal issues to present-day cash, plus related issues. Written by award-winning numismatists Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, the 416-page guide is printed in full color with hundreds of high-resolution images. It retails for $24.95 and is available online (including at Whitman.com) and from booksellers and hobby retailers nationwide.
The Guide Book of United States Paper Money describes in detail thousands of federally issued notes—not just valuable rarities like the Demand Notes of 1861, but also currency found in our wallets today. An introduction by David L. Ganz explores topics such as the $2 bill, star notes, and World War II notes; American money in the Civil War; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; how cash is designed, printed, and distributed; how to collect, store, and care for paper money; grading standards; and the many kinds of federal paper money printed from the 1860s to today’s Series of 2017 Federal Reserve Notes with signatures of U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The authors cover recent developments in the hobby. They discuss the Treasury Department’s changing approach to redesign of the $20 bill using a portrait of abolitionist Harriet Tubman (as well as recently postponed plans to include images of women on the $5 and $10 bills).
On the market side, the book combines the standard Friedberg cataloging system with retail values in multiple grades for each note.
Remarking on today’s marketplace, Arthur Friedberg said, “Great rarities know no price limits on the few occasions that such specimens appear for sale. When they sell, the resulting publicity offers a boost to the entire market. Meanwhile, small-size type notes (non–Federal Reserve notes) are approaching a level of interest formerly held by their large-size counterparts.” He described star notes (replacement notes) as being underappreciated, noting that “The market for Federal Reserve $1 notes affords collectors an opportunity to build their collections at face value by searching though what they receive in circulation.”
The first edition of the Guide Book of United States Paper Money was published in 2005, with updated editions released in 2007, 2010, 2014, and 2016.
Authors Arthur and Ira Friedberg are well known in the numismatic world. They have been professional numismatists for more than 30 years. Both joined their father’s family firm, The Coin & Currency Institute, after college. Since then they have established themselves as award-winning authors, coin dealers, researchers, and numismatic consultants to numerous governments and organizations.
The Guide Book of United States Paper Money covers notes from $1 to $10,000 face value; Fractional Currency; Treasury notes of the War of 1812; encased postage stamps; error notes; signatures on U.S. currency; uncut sheets; and other hobby topics. It includes a glossary and a bibliography for further research.
The book may be borrowed for free as a benefit of membership in the American Numismatic Association, through the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library. ANA members receive a 10% discount on copies purchased from Whitman Publishing, the Association’s Official Supplier.
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Jan 8, 2019 | News
(Pelham, Alabama) — Whitman Publishing announces the release of a revised and updated third edition of the award-winning Guide Book of Civil War Tokens, by Q. David Bowers. The 512-page book debuted during the 2018 holiday season, and is now available online (including at Whitman.com) and from bookstores and hobby shops nationwide. Its retail price is $39.95.
Civil War tokens are metal “coins” (actually not legal tender) privately issued by American tradesmen and others during the conflict. These tokens were used to advertise businesses and also to grease the wheels of commerce during the coin shortages caused by the war. By the summer of 1862, nervous citizens had hoarded all of the nation’s gold and silver coins and even its small copper-nickel Flying Eagle and Indian Head one-cent coins. This caused a financial emergency as it became nearly impossible to make change for everyday transactions. Millions of private tokens became substitutes for official U.S. coins, spent and accepted as 1¢ each by the public. Today these tokens are highly collectible. Values generally range from $15 for common, circulated pieces to more than $15,000 for rarities including unique tokens. In recent years, with eBay offerings, professional auction listings, and other opportunities to buy and sell, Civil War tokens have emerged as a dynamic part of the hobby marketplace.
The Guide Book of Civil War Tokens is a complete history and price guide. The third edition features new resources including an index of more than 20 die-maker ascriptions, organized by maker and Fuld number. This covers the nation’s most productive die-makers such as John Stanton and Emil Sigel, as well as more obscure sources including John D. Lovett and Mossin & Marr.
It also has a new index of tokens organized by the occupation or service of the issuer. This includes more than three dozen types of merchants—bakers, brewers and distillers, hoteliers, jewelers, pharmacists, doctors, saloonkeepers, and others who issued so-called store cards.
The first and second editions of the Guide Book of Civil War Tokens, released in August 2013 and December 2014, won national awards including the Token and Medal Society’s Mishler Exonumia Cataloguing Award and an Extraordinary Merit Award from the Numismatic Literary Guild.
Features include an illustrated appendix on sutler tokens (private issues of government-licensed contractors who typically operated camp stores in connection with traveling military regiments); biographies of selected Civil War token engravers and coiners; information on non-contemporary issues; and an appendix on encased postage stamps (another form of emergency currency issued in 1862).
Among the third edition’s features are hundreds of individually updated values based on today’s market, coordinated by valuations editor Steve Hayden; and numerous edits capturing the latest research in this active field. “The vast majority of Civil War tokens are very affordable in grades of Extremely Fine or higher and range in price from a few tens of dollars to a few hundred,” said Bowers. “There are so many possibilities, anyone can with care assemble a notable collection at modest expense.”
Bowers, widely regarded as the “Dean of American Numismatics,” wrote A Guide Book of Civil War Tokens with the cooperation of leading organizations, museums, libraries, collectors, dealers, and researchers. Also instrumental were the Civil War Token Society (in particular), the American Numismatic Society, the Token and Medal Society, and the American Numismatic Association. The book includes more than 2,000 full-color images, plus values in multiple grades, rarity ratings, detailed historical background, a study of how Civil War tokens were manufactured, ways to collect them, identification of unusual varieties, and information on the potential for valuable new discoveries. It covers both patriotic tokens and “store cards” (merchant advertising tokens), as well as sutler tokens (some of which used Civil War token dies) and encased postage stamps of the era. Nearly every known Civil War token die is described in both pictures and text.
Award-winning researcher John Ostendorf calls it “a must-have book for Civil War token collectors, who will benefit from Dave Bowers’s decades of research, presented in a very readable format.”
“There is no other reference like the Guide Book of Civil War Tokens,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker. “It is the only full-color illustrated price guide to these collectible pieces of Americana. With a small investment of $39.95—about the price of a common copper token in Extremely Fine condition—a collector, dealer, or appraiser can become an expert on Civil War tokens and sutler tokens.”
“No book on how to collect Civil War tokens has ever been as thorough,” said Dr. George Fuld, a well-known expert in the field. “I expect that it will be a standard reference for years to come.” Fred Reed, another specialist in Civil War money and past editor of the Token and Medal Society Journal, said, “Every collector of this series will esteem this volume, and every historian or serious writer on the Civil War should consult its colorful pages in the future.”
In addition to being available at bookstores and online, A Guide Book of Civil War Tokens can be borrowed for free as a benefit of membership in the American Numismatic Association, through the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library (money.org/library). ANA members receive 10% off copies ordered through Whitman Publishing, the Official Supplier of the Association.
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A Guide Book of Civil War Tokens, 3rd edition
Volume 16 in the Bowers Series
By Q. David Bowers ∙ Foreword by John Ostendorf ∙ Reminiscence by Dr. George Fuld
ISBN 0794846467 ∙ 512 pages ∙ 6 x 9 inches, softcover ∙ Full color ∙ Retail $39.95
Contents: Introduction ∙ Style, Terminology, and Arrangement Notes ∙ Chapter 1: Overview and Key to Using This Book ∙ Chapter 2: Before the Civil War ∙ Chapter 3: Money of the Civil War ∙ Chapter 4: Civil War Tokens and the History of Collecting Them ∙ Chapter 5: Aspects of Collecting Civil War Tokens ∙ Chapter 6: Patriotic Civil War Tokens ∙ Chapter 7: Civil War Store Cards ∙ Appendices: Selected Civil War Token Engravers and Coiners; Location Unknown Civil War Store Cards; Fuld Numbers Now Non-Contemporary; Non-Contemporary Store Cards, by Issuer; Encased Postage Stamps of 1862; Civil War Sutler Tokens ∙ Notes ∙ Selected Bibliography and Resources ∙ About the Author ∙ Credits and Acknowledgments ∙ General Index ∙ Index of Die-Maker Ascriptions ∙ Index of Store Cards by Occupation or Service
Jan 2, 2019 | APMD, News, PNG
(Temecula, California) January 2, 2019 – “Gold is starting 2019 with increasing price support and growing demand. I believe gold will reach its next major resistance level of $1,300 very soon, and after a short period of time should break above,” stated Barry Stuppler of Woodland Hills, California, President of the Accredited Precious Metals Dealers (https://apmddealers.org), a division of the Professional Numismatists Guild (https://pngdealers.org).
“The gold fundamentals have never looked better. Interest rates, such the U.S. 10-Year Treasury Note which is under to 2.7%, and the U.S. dollar are dropping. Demand is increasing from hedge funds, ETFs and central banks. While the global equity markets remain a question mark, we are seeing increasing gold demand from stock investors moving to a proven safe haven from the volatility they are seeing,” explained Stuppler.
“As global equity markets continue to move lower, gold buying in Asia, the Middle East and Europe is increasing as the price moves above $1,285 per ounce. January has an excellent history of showing higher gold prices, and last year gold hit its highest price in January,” he pointed out.
All nationwide members of the Temecula, California-based Professional Numismatists Guild Accredited Precious Metals Dealer (PNG-APMD) program undergo a background check, must adhere to a strict code of ethics in the buying and selling of numismatic items and guarantee the authenticity of the numismatic merchandise they sell.
A directory of PNG-APMD members can be found at www.apmddealers.org/apmd-dealers.
Dec 29, 2018 | News, PNG
Record Prices in 2018 U.S. Rare Coin Market, Reports Professional Numismatists Guild
Dealers organization estimates the U.S. rare coin market was over $4 billion in 2018
(Temecula, California) December 27, 2018 – Quality was in the eyes of the bidders in the multi-billion dollar United States rare coin market during 2018, according to a year-end tabulation conducted by the Professional Numismatists Guild (www.PNGdealers.org), a nonprofit organization composed of many of the country’s top rare coin and paper money dealers.
While prices declined during the year for some U.S. coins in easily available lower grades, hundreds of noteworthy coins from early American to modern that are among the finest known of their kind set auction price records.
Based on responses to a year-end PNG questionnaire, the aggregate prices realized for all U.S. coins sold at major public auctions in 2018 totaled more than $345 million, compared to $316 million in 2017. The PNG estimates the overall U.S. rare coin market in 2018 was over $4 billion not including sales by the United States Mint or bullion coins, such as gold and silver American Eagles.
“With the stock market dropping during the fourth quarter of 2018 we saw an increase in interest in the rare coin market with some people taking profits from stocks and buying coins that have proven to show sizeable and consistent increases in value over the years, as well as buying precious metals,” said Professional Numismatists Guild President Barry Stuppler.
Four significant, historic vintage U.S. coins and three 19th century U.S. bank notes sold for $1 million or more each during the year in public auctions, and several other U.S. rare coins reportedly were purchased for $1 million or more in private transactions.
“There was continuing strong demand in the numismatic market on superb quality and rarity throughout the past year. In addition to high-grade vintage coins that set records, some modern coins that are the finest known, what we call ‘condition rarity,’ also commanded amazing prices,” explained Stuppler.
One of those examples is a 1987-dated Kennedy half dollar graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation as Mint State 68 (on a scale of 1 to 70) which sold for a record-smashing $4,800 in a Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction. A similar 1987 half dollar, graded by Professional Coin Grading Service also as MS 68, sold in 2014 for $3,290 by Heritage Auctions, an increase of over 45 percent in only four years. In circulated condition, 1987 Kennedy half dollars are simply worth face value, 50 cents each.
Among the most popular U.S. coins are Morgan silver dollars, struck from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921, and named after their designer, George T. Morgan. An 1897-dated Morgan dollar struck at the New Orleans Mint and graded PCGS MS 66 was sold by Sotheby’s in 2018 for a record $262,500. The same coin sold in 2015 in a Legend Rare Coin Auctions sale for a then-record $108,688, an increase of over 140 percent in three years.
The U.S. coins that each sold at auction for $1 million or more in 2018 were:
- $4,560,000 by Stack’s Bowers for the finest example of one of the five known 1913 Liberty Head nickels, graded by PCGS as Proof 66, the highest price ever paid at auction for one of these legendary rare coins;
- $2,640,000 by Heritage Auctions for an original 1804 silver dollar, graded PCGS Proof 62;
- $2,160,000 by Heritage Auctions for the recently discovered fourth known 1854 San Francisco Mint Half Eagle ($5 denomination gold coin), graded NGC Extremely Fine 45;
- and $1,740,000 by Heritage Auctions for a 1792 Washington Eagle ($10 denomination gold coin), graded NGC Extremely Fine 45.
The auction firms that responded to a PNG year-end questionnaire are: Archives International Auctions; Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers; GreatCollections Coin Auctions; Heritage Auctions; Kagin’s, Inc.; David Lawrence Rare Coins; Legend Rare Coin Auctions; Sotheby’s; and Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
The Professional Numismatists Guild was founded in 1955, and its member-dealers must adhere to a strict code of ethics in the buying and selling of numismatic merchandise.
For additional information and a list of member-dealers, visit online at www.PNGdealers.org or call the PNG headquarters in Temecula, California at (951) 587-8300.
Dec 20, 2018 | Bureau of Engraving and Printing, News
The Monthly Production Report for November 2018 Has Been Posted.
Please click here to access the report.
