Young Numismatist

Foreign countries do not seem as obscure as they used to be but back in 1955, 9 year old Barbara Payne would have begged to differ. Although she couldn’t pronounce the word, Barbara was already an established Numismatist. Barbara’s coin collecting endeavors began when her school held a contest to see who could accumulate the most foreign coins. After watching a film about the explorations of sailors to foreign countries, Barbara had an idea. She mailed her $1 monthly allowance and a letter to the Seaman’s Church Institute of New York, asking seamen for any 5 cent or 10 cent foreign coins. Barbara’s letter was posted on the institute’s bulletin board and soon merchant sailors were digging into their pockets and coming up with scores of coins, including a Mexican coin from 1851. Barbara’s biggest haul came from a West Indian sailor who had just gotten back from an around the world trip, his pockets jingling with coins from various countries. None of the seaman would accept Barbara’s money.

Free Silver Coins!

Have you ever been so enveloped in something that you cannot stop thinking about it? Have you ever been so obsessed with something that your day to day activities revolve around it and you may even start to dream about it? I’m not going to lie, there have been days where everything I did revolved around Numismatics and that night I even dreamed about money. Let me share my dream with you.


Although the details of my dream are a bit fuzzy, I can definitively state that I was in a fast food restaurant somewhere near my home. As I was walking to a table with my food, I came across a wad of cash lying on the floor. Not knowing what to do in this kind of situation, I contemplated picking it up. Since no one was around, I slowly picked up the money and put it in my pocket. Mind you, this was a DREAM, not real life. If this kind of thing ever does happen when I am in a conscience state, I would surely try to return it to its rightful owner. So anyway, getting back to my dream. After sitting down with my food and my new wad of money, lying right next to me was a stack of PCGS slabs and underneath the slabbed coins lay a handful of bills in currency sleeves. As I was beginning to get acquainted with all of my new treasures I unfortunately woke up, leaving my dream world and all of that free money behind.

We would all love to live in a world where money can simply be found lying on the ground, free for the taking but unfortunately that world does not exist, unless you know where to look. As mentioned in our previous “Roll Searching Wednesday” posts, searching through rolls of coins can prove to yield rare and valuable coins, but I would like to enlighten you with another, little known source of valuable coins. Have you ever walked through your local supermarket and came across one of those big green “boxes” standing up against the wall? If you haven’t, let me take this opportunity to enlighten you. This big green “box” is called a Coin Star machine, and it allows customers to bring in all of their spare change and deposit it in the machine in return for cold hard cash. Coin Star machines are quite convenient and they are used frequently. Now here is where your chance to find free money lies. Although Coin Star machines do a good job of sorting the coins, they do not accept silver coins, and when a silver coin goes through the sorter, it is rejected. If the person who put the coins in does not check the rejection slot, the silver coins will just sit there and become free for the taking.

Next time you go shopping and you see one of those big green “boxes” out of the corner of your eye, take a stroll by it. Who knows, you may be rewarded with a few free silver coins!

AND THE WINNER IS...

The winner of the Numismatic Hub's first contest ever and the winner of the Uncirculated 1996 American Silver Eagle is-

Jack D from Tulsa, OK!

Thanks to everyone who entered.

Stay tuned for new exciting posts on the Numismatic Hub

Roll Search Wednesday-What to Look For in Rolls of Cents

In this next installment of Roll Search Wednesday, the Numismatic Hub would like to share with all of our readers a detailed guide for coins to look for when searching through rolls of cents. Cents seem to be the most popular denomination when it comes to roll searching do to the price per roll (.50) and the fact that basically all banks will have rolls available for purchase.


If you’re new to this whole roll searching thing, you can refer back to our past “Roll Search Wednesday” posts for some tips and tricks to properly roll search and how to search efficiently. If you have done all of your necessary reading, get out the white gloves and the loupe and lets get ready to crack open some rolls!

Wheat Cents- Probably the most common “treasure” that can be found in a roll of cents is the Wheat Cent. Wheat Cents are dated from 1909 to 1958 and the reverse of the coin adorned by two wheat stalks. Most common date Wheat Cents in circulated condition are worth about 3 cents each.

1909-S VDB- The rarest Wheat Cent is the 1909-S VDB, VDB coming from the designer, Victor David Brenner’s initials being displayed on the reverse between the wheat stalks. With a mintage of only 484,000, the 1909-S VDB can be worth from hundreds of dollars in low grades to thousands of dollars in mint state grades.

1914-D- Considered the second rarest cent is the 1914-D wheat cent. With a mintage of just over 1,000,000 coins, the 1914-D has a far higher mintage than the 1909-S VDB. Although the 1914-D is considered the second rarest wheat cent, it does not hold the same prestige as the aforementioned coin. Mint State examples of the 1914-D are quite hard to come by due to the fact that these coins saw a lot of circulation. Mint State examples have sold for upwards of $26,000.

1984 “Double Ear”- A very cool and little known about variety is the 1984 Double Ear Lincoln Cent. It is called the “Double Ear” variety due to the fact that it looks like Lincoln has two ear lobes. The doubling of the ear lobe can be clearly seen directly under Lincoln’s ear. This is a great variety to look out for while roll searching because the variety is little known and 1984 cents are an abundant sight in pocket change and rolls. The double ear can range in price from $100 in lower grades to upwards of $1000 in examples that are uncirculated.

1955 Double Die- Considered the greatest Double Die on any coin is the double die seen on the obverse of the 1955 Wheat Cent. Every aspect of the obverse of the coin is doubled, from the date to “In God We Trust” are clearly doubled and the doubling is visible to the naked eye. The 1955 Double Die is highly popular world wide and at the time of its discovery became highly publicized. Finding one of these in a roll of cents would be truly spectacular but looking out for it can never hurt.

These are just a couple of things to look out for while searching through rolls of cents. If you come across anything that looks different while searching put it aside, it can turn out to be something special. Look out for our next installment of Roll Search Wednesday, when we take a look at rolls of nickels!

You Want New Coins? It Helps to be a Girl

Whenever the United States releases a new coin to the public, there seems to be a mad rush for the new coins. This was seen when the first Presidential dollar coins were released to the public back on February 17, 2007, when the George Washington dollar coins were released. Anxious patrons stood in lines at banks around the country to snag the first rolls of the newly minted coin. Today, customers are able to buy coins on a first come first serve basis, no matter if they are man, women or child. This scenario was not the same back in 1862, when the Philadelphia Mint was sent to release the new Indian Head Cent.


When the new 1862 Indian Head cent was released from the mint, men had began to line up for the new coins hours before the release date. Women, on the other hand, took their time getting to the Mint. Back in 1862, Women were able to walk right up to the Mint without having to wait in line like the men. This of course sparked anger in the men, who had been waiting for hours. The first man was not served until each and every woman was served.



Reference- The Philadelphia Mint, The New York Times (1857-1922)

The Internet and Coin Collecting

Coin collecting has certainly changed in the last few decades. What happened to the days where coin collecting was considered a family hobby, days where time was set aside specifically to enjoy coins as a family? Long gone are those days. In today’s modern society of technology and innovation, life is lived at a tremendously faster pace than decades ago. Whereas coin collecting was considered a family hobby years ago, today it is a hobby enjoyed by a predominately male faction. Unlike years past, the hobby fails to be enjoyed by the younger generation. With all of today’s modern comforts, the appeal that coin collecting once had is now in decline. What will happen if the hobby never captivates young children like decades ago? Once the current Numismatists leave this world, who will be there to embrace the legacy that they left behind if kids today are not involved in the hobby?


Today, almost anything can be found on the internet. Most brick and mortar coin shops own websites that display their products and countless sources of numismatic information can be found in seconds. The internet has allowed for the spread of numismatic knowledge to millions worldwide. Each year, the number of coin collectors has increased and since a vast number of children and teenagers use the internet, the number of Young Numismatists has grown as well.

The American Numismatic Association does an incredible job of serving as a regulatory committee in the world of coin collecting, but they also do a fantastic job of keeping collectors involved and informed. The American Numismatic Association’s main publication, The Numismatist, is a prominent source of educational numismatic articles from various topics. A lesser known publication that is published by the American Numismatic Association is Your Newsletter, an online coin collecting publication for Young Numismatists, written by Young Numismatists.

The internet has enabled many collectors to be reintroduced into the hobby and countless more to be introduced into the hobby. With countless sources of information, various blogs, forums and auction sites, coin collecting is stronger then ever. Although the number of kids and women that are involved in the hobby is diminutive as of now, the ever expanding internet will continue to spread the allure of the hobby and no doubt inspire countless others to be reintroduced into the hobby.

Numismatic Hub's First Contest Ever!

The Numismatic Hub has been in operation for week and already we have had over 500 readers! As a thank you from the Numismatic Hub we are holding a contest! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling about what your favorite aspect of Numismatics is. It could be anything, just let us know! In order to have a valid entry, you must leave your first name and your last names first initial! Just type it after you tell us about our favorite aspect of Numismatics!




The contest will end at 8:30 EST on Sunday, April 11th.



The prize you ask? We are giving away and uncirculated 1996 American Silver Eagle. The 1996 American Silver Eagle is considered one of the rarest Silver Eagles ever minted.



ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!



Good Luck!

Roll Search Wednesday- Do it Right

This installment of Roll Search Wednesday will describe a step by step process of how to methodically search through an abundance of rolls. Yes, there is a process because if you attack roll searching blindly, you will find yourself overwhelmed and confused, and most likely missing out on the good stuff.
Know the coin- Before you go to the bank to buy some coin rolls to search, ask your self what your motive is. Are you looking to find older dated coins, coins made of silver, coins to fill up an album? These are questions that you should ask yourself before going to the bank. If your want to find older dated coins, I personally would stick with searching through rolls of nickels or cents. From experience, these denominations seem to possess older coins than rolls of dimes and quarters.

If you’re looking to stumble upon a goldmine, or in our case, silver mine, the half dollar roll seems to be the roll of choice for most roll searchers. Due to the lack of circulation that the half dollar gets, they are less likely to have been scoured for silver. In case you don’t know, 90% silver half dollars are dated 1964 while 40% silver coins are dated 1965-1969.
Pay the price- Once you decide what you would like to accomplish on your roll searching mission, go to the bank and buy some rolls. Rolls of cents contain 50 coins and cost .50, Nickels contain 40 coins and cost $2.00 per roll, there are 50 dimes in a roll and cost $5.00 per roll, Quarter rolls cost $10.00 and contain 40 coins while rolls of half dollars contain 20 coins and are cost $10.00 a roll.
Get geared up- Once you have procured your desired rolls, drive home and get ready to gear up! When I search, I like to utilize a nice, wide open space, preferably a kitchen or dinning room table that is free of clutter. I like to wear a pair of cotton gloves because many coins turn out to be quite dirty and will leave nasty grime on your hands. I also like to keep a loupe or a magnifying glass at the ready just in case I find an odd coin that I’d like to examine further. If you plan on searching for varieties, such as Repunched Mint Marks (RPMS) or any type of Double Die, a loupe is a must have. If I am looking for certain dates, I keep a list at the ready to cross check the coins and cross them off as I find them. Finally, I like to have some 2X2 coin holders or vinyl flips at the ready so if I find a keeper, I can immediately segregate it from the rest.
Just some tips to remember while roll searching-
Patience is a virtue- Your not going to open up you first roll and discover that it is filled with Wheat Cents or 90% silver coins. Don’t lose hope and continue to search.
Be organized- Don’t open all of the rolls at once. Open one at a time, search through it and move to the next one. Keep the coins that you don’t plan on keeping in a separate pile or preferably a container of some sort.
Happy Searching!

Third Party Grading-PCGS' Secure Plus

One of the leaders in coin certification has just released a new service that that has the possibility to change the face of the certified coin market. On March 25, 2010 PCGS, Professional Coin Grading Service, announced the liberation of their self proclaimed “Big One” which turns out to be their new Secure Plus service. Coins submitted under the new service will laser scanned and the surface of the coin will be documented to detect any attempts of tampering with the appearance of the coin, such as artificially toned or puttied. The new service allows everything about the coin to be stored in a database, from its given grade to pictures of the obverse and reverse. If the coin is ever stolen and re submitted to PCGS, all of its information would pop up in the PCGS database and the coin will be returned to the rightful owner.



In this modern grading system that is used today, there are sometimes huge gaps in the price of coin from one grade to the next. A coin graded Mint State 62 could be worth thousands of dollars less than the same coin graded at Mint State 63. The new Secure Plus service offered by PCGS hopes to eliminate the discrepancies between similarly graded coins by bestowing a “+” on the holder of a coin considered superior for its grade. So what justifies a coin receiving a “+”? A coin that possesses multiple characteristics that place it in the top 10-15% of all coins in its grade will receive the coveted “+”.


What does this new service mean for the certified coin industry? Well I feel that coins that receive the “+” will be highly coveted because they will be seen as the best of the best. The new Secure Plus grading service seems to me as the transition of coin collecting from a hobby to strictly a business, where consumers will only be buying coins that were deemed superior to all the rest. Secure Plus can be a blessing for the vast majority of collectors out there who buy a coin, not based on the grade on its holder but by the character it possesses. I feel that many “high end” collectors will only be buying Secure Plus coins and in turn, prices for coins in normal holders will plummet leaving some golden opportunities open for the “little guys” out there.

Money Monday- Tons and Tons of Gold

For any avid bullion collector out there, it is common knowledge that Fort Knox holds the largest amount of the Nation's gold supply, but other than that, not much more is known about one of the most secure places in the world. We all know that Fort Knox is home to a lot of gold, approximately 5,051 tons of the shiny stuff, but haven’t you ever wondered how it all got there?
Starting in 1936, a year after the Gold Vault was built, gold started to be delivered to Fort Knox. Gold came in from all over the country, including the Philadelphia Mint. An article from TIME Magazine dated January 25, 1937 tells the journey of the first 200 tons of gold to be delivered from the Philadelphia Mint to the Fort Knox Gold Vault in Kentucky.
Back in 1935, Nellie Tayloe Ross was the Director of the U.S Mint and she was in charge of overseeing the first shipment of gold to Fort Knox. Employees from various government agencies worked throughout the night carting the canvas wrapped gold bricks to the four mail coaches of a special nine-car train that would travel 530 miles to the Gold Vault.
The shipment of gold arrived at Fort Knox the next morning met by Brigadier General Daniel Van Voorhis, Fort Knox commandant, and a motorized unit of the Seventh U. S. Cavalry brigade. The 400-troy-oz bricks were painstakingly removed from the train and loaded into waiting Army trucks and delivered a short distance to Fort Knox.
This long delivery procedure would be continued about 20 more times as gold shipments came to the Fort Knox Gold Vault from around the country. Today, the gold inside Fort Knox is valued at over $1 billion dollars and to this day there has never been an attempt to break into the Gold Vault at Fort Knox, making it one of the most secure facilities in the nation.

Supplies Saturday- The PCGS Blue Box

We here at the Numismatic Hub are going to write the inaugural post of Supplies Saturday on a supply that is quite unconventional, usually overlooked as a versatile supply. The PCGS Blue Box, as it is commonly referred to can be an indispensable device for organizing your collection, in fact, when I received my first PCGS Blue Box I owned approximately zero slabbed coins so I found other uses for it.
For those who are sitting here and wondering what a PCGS Blue Box is, let me explain. When someone, say a dealer or collector, sends coins to a grading company to be graded, the grading company returns the freshly slabbed coins in a slab box. PCGS of course, uses a blue slab box, hence the name!
So back to the uses of a PCGS Blue Box. Like I said earlier, I didn’t own any slabbed coins when I was first given a Blue Box, so I came up with some uses that would fit my needs, here are a couple:
Storage- Everyone was probably already thinking about using a Blue Box for storage, and they are quite good for storing things. I for one had an abundance of rolled up coins that were quite irritating to keep together and transport. Empty Blue Boxes are the perfect size to store rolls in and you can fit about thirty rolls in one box depending on the denomination that you are storing. Blue Boxes are also an ideal place to store miscellaneous 2X2’s that don’t fit in your collection!
The Blue Box Survival Kit™- Have you ever gone to a coin show and constantly miss placed your loupe, coin holders, price guide or some other item that is necessary to successfully browse the bourse? Well the solution is here! With a Blue Box you have the perfect survival kit for any coin show. Just fill up the box with show necessities and your good to go! Not only will you have the opportunity to show everyone that you are an avid collector, you won’t misplace your stuff ever again!
So next time you think about throwing out some spare PCGS Blue Boxes, think about these helpful tips that can take your collecting to the next level!

The Future of Coin Designs

THE STATE OF NUMISMATICS IS IN SHAMBLES! Ok, not really, but have you ever wondered where the future of Numismatics lies? Long gone are the days of finding abundant silver coins in circulation and key date coins are becoming harder and harder to find in their once pristine condition. Now, most collector coins are being held in collector’s hands or packed away in the remains of yester year. As time goes on, it’s inevitable that some coins will be inadvertently destroyed or lost, or once Mint State coins will be subjected to improper handling and reduced to a lesser grade.

In my own educated opinion, they just don’t make them like they used to. Instead of the beautiful ornate designs of 100 years, coins of today have impersonal designs that lack the spirit and heart of America. Although it’s nice that we are honoring the Presidents who helped form this country, the computer generated designs are hideous and lack character!

In 100 years, if coin collecting still exists, will our children and our children’s children look back at our coinage; will they gaze in awe at the “beautiful” designs like we do today? Or will the government continue to slip into a world ugly, mass produced coins? Maybe the government will decide to do away with designs on coins completely and resort to using color coded metal disks? Only time will tell.

Leave a comment with your opinion of the future of coin designs!