Variety Coins

What are those circles on your coins?

circle mark on coin

Definition: Tiny raised circles, semicircles, and occasionally spirals that are most often found in or near the center of the design.  The imperfections can be found on either face.  First recognized in 2004 cents, these die imperfections have now been found as far back as a 1965 cent and as recently as a 2015 nickel.  Other examples […]

What are those circles on your coins? Read More »

Big Small Notes Popular at Stack’s Bowers Auction

1928 $5000 bill

It has become normal to see small-size high-denomination notes dominate the top price tier in contemporary auctions. These notes are nearly always from the Series 1934 issue. Seeing one from the earlier Series 1928 does not often happen, so the appearance of one such $5,000 note at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries currency auction at the

Big Small Notes Popular at Stack’s Bowers Auction Read More »

The Cost to Make Coins in 2016

heritage auctions

The overall price of producing U.S. circulating coins fell for a fifth straight year even as the cost of making cents and nickels remained above their face values for an eleventh year in a row, the United States Mint disclosed in its recently published 2016 Annual Report. The unit cost to produce, administer and distribute

The Cost to Make Coins in 2016 Read More »

Gold and Silver Price Continues to Rise

gold price

Gold and silver futures retreated from 14-week highs but they still extended their string of weekly wins — three for gold and seven for silver. On Friday, gold for April delivery shed $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,239.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. “Gold is close to

Gold and Silver Price Continues to Rise Read More »

Coin Certification Organizations and How They Function

ancient roman coins

Certification Organizations Several independent organizations exist for the sole purpose of grading coins, including the highly reputable Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). For a nominal fee, individuals can submit a coin for grading, which will be returned certified, graded and sealed in a tamper-evident plastic container known as a “slab.”

Coin Certification Organizations and How They Function Read More »

Circulated or Uncirculated Coins

Circulated or Uncirculated? Proof or No Proof? Numismatic coins fall into one of two basic categories for quality: circulated and uncirculated. Circulated coins exhibit wear, whereas uncirculated coins do not. Uncirculated coins tend to be more valuable, causing investors and serious collectors to focus their efforts on acquiring the uncirculated alone. Numismatists are trained to

Circulated or Uncirculated Coins Read More »

Coin Grading Scales and How are Coins Graded

how are coins graded

Grading Scales Since rare coin quality varies widely, numismatists have adopted several coin-grading methods to assign more specific levels of quality to rare coins. The overwhelmingly popular method to use is the American Numismatic Association (ANA) grading scale. The ANA grading scale divides circulated and uncirculated coins into 24 grades: 13 circulated grades and 11

Coin Grading Scales and How are Coins Graded Read More »

The War on Currency and Precious Metals

[sgmb id=”1″] The global financial system continues to groan under the strain of the accumulated weight of trillions of dollars worth of debt and derivatives, which have built up to even more fantastic levels than those that precipitated the near collapse in 2008, thanks to the policy of solving liquidity problems near term by creating

The War on Currency and Precious Metals Read More »

Scroll to Top