News Archive (2008)

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International News at Coins Market

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Wayne Sayles - Ancient Coin Collecting

Over the past several years I have frequently encountered the view that repatriation of cultural objects is ethically the "right" thing to do. That is a claim loaded with philosophical nuances that have been, are being and will continue to be hotly debated. One might think that the views are consistent and polarized between two extremes, and typically that is true. There are cases, however, where one simply cannot find a logical and consistent thread.

A METAL detector who dug up an invaluable hoard of Roman coins in a South Devon field has been told: "You can't keep them."
The 243 coins were thought to have been stashed away by Roman Britons more than 1,500 years ago just as the Empire was on the verge of collapse.

How did it happen that unpretentious business strikes of a common coin, one with a mintage of 5 million pieces, became $10,000 numismatic superstars less than five months after the coin began circulating? This is not a trick question, nor does its answer involve mint errors or rare die variations.

Odyssey Marine, the southern Florida concern that has found more coin treasurers than any other salver, has a new discovery as of Feb. 2: the wreck of HMS Victory, which sank in the English Channel on Oct. 4, 1744 taking 1,150 sailors and four tons of Portuguese gold to the bottom of Davy Jones's locker.

Worldwide economic turmoil is reaching more deeply into the coin market, stirring greater volatility in values.

Some market segments continue to trade very actively, such as coins priced at less than $500 or a little more. But other areas of the market are really being squeezed. There's no clear pattern right now as to the market direction, except for an overall softening of values.

February 03, 2009
Today, Mint State Seventy (MS-70) denotes a perfect coin or does it? That was not always the case. There was no MS-70 when I started collecting coins. Or perhaps I should write that I cannot recall ever seeing, hearing, or reading about an actual coin reaching this grade. In fact, the only coins that were graded using numbers were large cents.

New Zealand is poised for another gold rush but it's unlikely anyone will be digging for their fortunes.

As gold prices hit record levels, it's overseas buyers with money to spare who are turning their dollars into Kiwi gold.

A precedent-setting international partnership is being set up between the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Mennica Polska, the Polish Mint, to grade the mint’s new commemorative coins as well as to establish a submission center at the mint in Warsaw, Poland for the convenience of local collectors and dealers to submit coins for PCGS certification.

The unique 1793 Wreath U.S. large cent variety (Sheldon NC-5, Crosby 10-F) in the collection of the American Numismatic Society has been authenticated and graded by Professional Coin Grading Service as AU-58.

U.S. and world bank notes, stocks, bonds and security printing ephemera from the American Bank Note Co. archives, as well as selections from the "East Bay Collection," will be offered on Feb. 18-20 as part of H.R.Harmer, Inc. and Archives International, LCC's "American Bank Note Company Archives, Part IV" auction at H.R. Harmer's offices in Bethel, Conn.