Down With Dollars Up With Coins?

Coin collecting just got a little more interesting. As of January 31, 2012, a new piece of legislation was introduced into the Senate. The bill is called the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings (COINS) Act. COINS is a bipartisan bill that will remove all one dollar bills from circulation and replace them with one dollar coins.

Why on earth would they want to do this? Well, right now the Federal Reserve is sitting on $1.4 Billion in uncirculated dollar coins. The best approximations of how long these coins would last before demand dictated that they create more is as long as a decade. Can you imagine? $1.4 BILLION sitting in coin storage.

This plan was originally scrapped because the cost of producing coinage is far higher than that of producing dollar bills. However, in the long run, the lifespan of a dollar bill is only about 4.7 years. Conversely, the lifespan of a coin is close to twenty five years! It is estimated by the General Accounting Office  that in producing the coins instead of the bills, the federal reserve could save between two hundred and five hundred million dollars per year! That’s a grand total of approximately six hundred billion dollars over the course of thirty years! That is a lot of savings just by switching over to $1 coins.

What’s your opinion?

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Cool Coins For Different Coin Collections

The great thing about coin collecting is that everyone has different tastes and therefore different coin collections. There are so many different kinds of coins. There are different eras, years, countries of origin, etc. Everyone has different interests and different tastes.

This was very apparent the other day when I found a really neat website that was selling shipwrecked coins. You could search the coins by wreck, year, country of origin, and even reigning monarch!

While I was drawn to the old Spanish galleons and pieces of eight, my boyfriend was inexorably drawn to the Ancient Greek tetradrachm coins. We both loved looking at the coins from the Byzantine Empire.

This is exactly why coin collecting is a fantastic hobby. You may have such different tastes with regards to some coinage but in others you might be after the same coin from the same shipwreck or mint.

Coins don’t have to be brought up from the bottom of the ocean to be cool. A lot of circulated and uncirculated currency can be visually stimulating and mentally satisfying.

Of course, these coins need to have special care no matter what your tastes. The coin holder you use will depend a lot upon what kind of coin you have.

 

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Literature Comes Alive With Coin Collecting

While I am at work, I generally listen to audio books on my headphones. I started with a few of my favorite books and moved onto some that I didn’t know at all. One of these books was a classic by Jules Verne, author of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. This may seemingly have no connection to coin collecting but bear with me.

Around the World in 80 Days follows Phileas Fogg around the world on an eccentric bet with some co-workers that he just can’t make it. While on his journey, he proceeds through strange territories and countries spending money all the way. Eventually, Mr. Fogg arrives in the United States and passes through Utah. While in Utah, they visit the Mormon city of Salt Lake. While I could imagine this Englishman spending banknotes in pounds and dollar bills, I had no idea that Mormons had their own currency.

That’s when I saw that the February Heritage Long Beach Auction was actually going to be auctioning off an 1860 Mormon five dollar coin. It was certainly a sight to behold and definitely something I’d love to add to my coin collection.

On subsequent readings and listening of Around the World in 80 Days, I was able more easily to picture Mr. Fogg spending coins just like these. It certainly added a new dimension to my enjoyment of the book.

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One Dollar Presidential Coins

Have you ever wondered why some presidents appear in your coin collection and others don’t? What makes the guy on the dime (That’s FDR if you were unaware, who’s been on the dime since the 1950s) more important than say, Grover Cleveland? Well, now you don’t have to wonder anymore. The US Mint has unveiled a plan to print the Presidents 21-24 on gold coinage this year, 2012.

Soon your coin collection will feature Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Grover Cleveland. Yes, I said Grover Cleveland twice. This man served two, non-consecutive terms as President. That gets him two coins.

This is actually a continuation of a series of coins that started in 2005. The US Mint has been releasing four one dollar coins each year starting with Washington. This is when coin collecting is fun. You’ve got to “Get them all!” They give you something to look forward to each year and anticipation makes these coins a real treat to actually own.

While they were originally meant to be circulated, in 2011 these coins were declared to be minted specifically for collectors. This means there will be far less of them, which brings the anticipation up for collectors!

Surely, there have been (and will be more) coin folders just for this series.

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National Park Quarters

For years and years, I have been traveling the country trying to see each and every one of America’s beautiful National Parks. I have a little book filled with stamps that’s sort of like a passport. There are 58 in total. It’s not a dream that’s merely a young girl’s dream either. Ever since John Muir advocated for the preservation of the wilderness of the United States, hundreds of thousands have flocked to these beautiful locations.

What I didn’t know was that my love of the National Parks was about to also expand my coin collection. Over the course of eleven years, there will be 56 different designs featuring these beautiful places. But now, with these great coins to look forward to, where are you going to keep them? There are now great coin holders that are folders that show off both sides of each quarter. They’re similar in design to the coin holders designed for the fifty states quarters that the United States Mint released in recent years.

If collecting quarters isn’t your thing, you can look forward to the National Park silver bullion coins which will be over sized and .999 silver. They will present a bigger canvas for these designs and will probably also have their very own coin holders.

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Common Coin Minting Errors

Hidden in your coin collection might be a very rare coin. It comes in the form of a penny. Don’t collect pennies? Maybe you should start.

There are actually several types of pennies that are considerably valuable. Here is a partial list.

In 1955, there was a significant double cast on pennies. It actually looks like President Lincoln is smeared or stretched. It does not have a mint mark on the front of the coin, and it is extraordinarily valuable even if it is in poor condition.

Depending on if you can find one of these coins in exceptional condition, the double eared Lincoln is very valuable as well. It actually looks like Lincoln has two ears on the side of his head in the 1984 minted coin.

Possibly one of the most valuable coins is actually the 1931 S coin. There’s almost nothing at all remarkable about this penny at all except that 1931 was a very sparse year for minting coins. This makes this particular penny highly prized and very valuable in any condition at all.

So you see, your coin collection may be hiding a gem of a coin! Be sure to check your pocket change before you spend it on a soda.

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Starting a Coin Collection

Beginning a coin collection does not have to be daunting or overwhelming. Collecting is supposed to be fun! You should get enjoyment from collecting and have it be a relaxing, enjoyable part of your life. Here are some tips to help you get started.

The first rule is: check your pockets. No, seriously. There could be coins in your pocket that are actually worth more than their face value. Check all of the change before you spend it. Double stamped or misprinted coins show up all the time and could be valuable parts of your coin collection.

Secondly, you should buy a book about coin collecting. Yes, this might seem a little counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t you be spending your money on coins instead of books? While this is true in the long term, coin collecting won’t be nearly as lucrative if you don’t know which coins to buy in the first place. This is where a good book about coin collecting can be helpful.

Lastly, you should start small. You’re not going to go out and buy a gold Spanish galleon the first time at an auction. You’ll probably start with smaller, domestic or lines of coins and work your way up to priceless artifacts.

Your coin collection will grow in no time with these tips!

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Coin Collecting Tips – The Cartwheel Effect

When looking to see if a coin in your coin collection is actually mint or if it has been cleaned and “shined up” to look mint, there is no debate on the best way to tell. Though it may sound funny, the way to tell is to see if the coin can do cartwheels. Yes, I said cartwheels.

When a coin is minted, the metal is actually changed on a molecular level to be poured into the dies (or molds) of the coin. The flowing metal, when it cools and is finished minting, has a fantastic luster. This can be attributed to something called “flow lines.” When the metal is poured, it is made to go a certain direction to be pressed. You can see under a magnifying glass the tiny flow lines radiating around the coin. This is obviously easier to see on larger coins. When held up to the light and rotated or pivoted, a band of light reflecting off of the coin will appear to spin or “cartwheel.” This effect can be seen without the use of a magnifying glass.

This effect is easier to see on the obverse (head) side of the coin. This is the best way to tell if your coin collection holds a mint coin or just a shiny one as once a coin has been circulated it loses that luster that causes the cartwheels.

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What Coin Holder is Right for You?

As a coin collector, you might have trouble knowing exactly how to care and house your ever growing collection. It is important to pick out the proper type of coin holder for each of your different types of coins. Didn’t know there were different types? Here are just a few of them.

There are coin folders and you’ve seen them everywhere. They’re usually used to house specific types of coins. For example, the 50 states quarters are generally stored in coin folders.

The second type of coin holder is the clear tube. These are generally used for your less valuable and heavily circulated coins. When you put these coins in the holder, they rub against each other, causing dulling, flattening, and scuffing.

Plastic holders are a great way to keep your higher end coins looking in as good of shape as possible. The clear plastic also allows you to see both sides of the coin. In a similar fashion, cardboard coin holders are a great way to keep the oils from your hands off of the coin while you’re looking at them. They’re also less expensive.

If you have a remarkably valuable coin that needs heavy duty protection, I suggest you send it off and get it “slabbed.” This is a process that will seal your coin inside a heavy plastic case. In most cases they will also grade the quality of the coin when they do this and stamp it on the slab.

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What to Buy a Coin Collector

The holidays are coming and there’s always that one person on your list that you’re trying to find that perfect gift for. Luckily for you, if that person is a coin collector you have several options! You see, coin collecting is a hobby that always requires upkeep. There are always new coin holders to buy or even a new coin itself! But there’s so much more than that.

This year, why not purchase the coin collector in your life a Lighthouse USB Digital Microscope? It’s an amazing new addition to the collectors arsenal and especially useful for the modern day collector. You can do almost anything with this piece of equipment! If you want to shoot a short video and store it online, all you need to do is plug it in, install the drivers from the included CD and you’re off and running.

This microscope will make any coin view from 20 times to 200 times larger than actual size! If you see a mark you’d like to take a picture of, all you do is press the button and it saves it right to your computer. This piece of equipment is truly ushering in a new age of collecting and sharing that collection with others. It also makes the perfect gift for that special someone on your list.

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