By Coinweek ….
CoinWeek News Wire for September 1, 2017:
Brain Food
1.) Scrooge McDuck and Switzerland
For almost 400 years, kreuzers were probably the most important small coins being circulated every day in Switzerland. It was not only a method of payment, but was also used to measure the value of other coins. Kreuzers began to be minted in Switzerland in 1425 and were in circulation until 1850. The kreuzer originally came from Tyrol and soon spread far and wide in Austria and abroad, and Switzerland was no exception. The coin was produced by numerous Swiss mints in the 15th century…
2.) Reports of Cash’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
The funny thing about cash is that it is cheap to make but expensive to manage. The upshot is that neither the Fed nor the ECB nor private banks has any incentive to order or distribute more cash than they need to meet organic demand. If transactional cash in circulation is rising, then this is a function of consumers’ preference to hold and use paper money.
As an aside, it also puts to rest the notion that central banks are conspiring with the “deep state” to ban cash…
Under the Radar
3.) More Rama IX memorial coins after quick sale of first batch
Responding to public demand, the Treasury Department is going to mint more commemorative coins to mark the funeral of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej…
Banknote News
4.) Banned notes in bank vaults, await shredders
The central bank said it is in the process of procuring shredders and currency verification systems to detect fake notes among the accumulated notes, as per the annual report…
5.) Reserve Bank lets PM off hook for defacing bank note
A Reserve Bank spokesperson told Newshub the Bank have an understanding with certain people, saying that for Sir Edmund Hillary, Governors General, Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers signing notes is “acceptable behaviour”.
The bank does not encourage the signing of bank notes but they do have an understanding for “suitable purposes”…
6.) Fake £20 Scottish bank note warning on the north coast
The PSNI’s North Coast district has issued a warning that there has been an upturn in the reported incidents of fake £20 notes being used in the region…
7.) Cash-Burning Activist Sets West Africa’s Social Media on Fire
A West African activist who burned a bank note to demonstrate his hatred of the regional CFA franc has reignited a decades-old debate and prompted thousands of supporters in former French colonies to turn to social media and demand that the currency be scrapped…
Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency
8.) Does Bitcoin Have a Mining Monopoly Problem?
During bitcoin’s early days, anyone could “mine” it using their home computer. But as the price of digital currency climbed towards $100 in 2013 (it’s now over $4,000), professional mining groups with specialized computer chips emerged. Today, these groups, or pools—nearly all based in China—have become concentrated and now dominate the production of new bitcoins…
9.) Neo-Nazi Bitcoin Transactions Made Public by Twitter Bot
In the wake of the Charlottesville attack, one Twitter Bot is taking matters of tracking down the neo-Nazis into its own hands. The bot, simply called ‘Neonazi BTC Tracker’ is publishing a tweet each time a Bitcoin transaction is posted to the wallets owned by known neo-Nazis. The tweets include every transaction posted to the wallets, as well as detailed reports of each wallet balance.
The bot brings to light recent discussions regarding just how anonymous Bitcoin transactions are, and whether users are at risk if their wallet addresses have become known…
10.) Fake Satoshi Trolls Bitcoin News Sites, Tim Draper To Push New Altcoin
A number of news publications, as well as Tim Draper, were trolled Friday by someone claiming to be the ‘real’ Satoshi Nakamoto. After a number of attempts to document his identity as Satoshi via private keys, the fake Satoshi cut off communication.
After some research, it was clear that the statements were made in order to pump a new altсoin…
11.) Vietnamese PM Approves Plan to Authorize Bitcoin As Form of Payment
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has reportedly authorized a plan that could lead to the official recognition of digital currencies like Bitcoin as a form of payment in the country by 2018…
12.) Chinese Producer Embeds Bitcoin Mining Chips In Household Appliances
Based on the patent application, Midea plans to embed specialized mining chips inside its appliance products like air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and TV for the purpose of digital currency mining. Once the chips are programmed, the products will then connect to a cloud-based service and contribute their hashing power to mine cryptocurrencies…
13.) Burger King Now Has Its Own Cryptocurrency—the ‘Whoppercoin’—in Russia
The Whoppercoin launched in tandem with a new loyalty program. For each Whopper burger customers purchase, they’ll receive one Whoppercoin in a special cryptocurrency wallet. While the coins’ wider use is unclear, some reports suggest that the Whoppercoin will be accepted as payment at Burger Kings across Russia…
14.) Central Bank of Papua New Guinea Embraces Blockchain in Effort to Help Unbanked
The country is hoping that the added focus on digital technology will produce greater levels of overseas investment, as well as economic opportunity at home. Because of the infrastructure issues facing the country, many of the poorest inhabitants are too far removed from the banking sector to have any viable options…
Gold, Precious Metals & Bullion
15.) The Truth About the Fort Knox Gold
The Federal Reserve is actually a private system, while the Treasury is an arm of the U.S. government. And the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution prevents the government from taking private property without just compensation. To get around that legality, the “just compensation” was a gold certificate the Treasury issued to the Fed in exchange for its physical gold.
To this day, the Fed carries that gold certificate on its balance sheet…
16.) Gold Shaken by Mysterious 2 Million-Ounce Trade
In a span of one minute, gold futures contracts equaling more than 2 million ounces traded — about 20 minutes before Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was to address a gathering of policy makers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming…
17.) Germany Finishes Bringing Gold Reserves Back From France
Germany’s central bank says it’s completed a plan to repatriate gold reserves it stashed abroad during the Cold War three years ahead of schedule. The Bundesbank said Wednesday that 91 metric tons (100.3 tons) of gold had been returned from Paris.
The plan, initially expected to take until 2020, involved returning 374 tons of gold from Paris, and 300 tons from New York…
18.) Krugerrand dealers no longer required to be members of SAAND
The commission’s investigation found that the requirement for SAAND membership could be used to raise entry barriers into the local numismatic industry…
19.) Japan Sees Surge In Gold Smuggling As Yakuza & Wealthy Chinese Team Up
The payoff for each side is simple: Chinese investors, who are increasingly fearful that a depreciating yuan will create turbulence in local stock and bond markets, can circumvent China’s stringent capital controls and move their money out of the country. And by cheating the Japanese government out of a consumption tax, the Yakuza stand to make a healthy profit…
Crime & Punishment
20.) Man gets 3 months’ jail for abetting sale of four fake gold bars to pawnshop
Adrian Chan Hanqi, 29, admitted to two counts of abetment by conspiracy with Johnson Quek Chaur Liang, 23, to cheat Maxi-Cash by making the staff believe that four pieces of Perth Mint Australia gold bars were made of pure gold, and induced the staff to hand over a total of $6,320 to Quek…
21.) Cairo Airport foils attempt to smuggle Khedival-era antiquities to Saudi Arabia
Director General of the Antiquities Units at Cairo International Airport, Hamdy Hammam, said the coins included 25 Ottoman coins, 50 from the Sultan Hussein Kamel era (1914 – 1917), 74 from the reign of King Fouad (1922 – 1936), 247 from the King Farouk era (1936 – 1952), as well as three Saudi Arabian coins from the reign of King Abdulaziz Al Saud (1932 – 1953) and two pre-1948 Palestinian coins printed…
22.) Does this guy think he’s Blackbeard? Bank fraud, false identities, hidden gold coins
A California man is going to federal prison for a $460,000 bank fraud scheme in which he used much of his ill-gotten gains to buy gold coins, which he hid and remain hidden…
23.) British engineer who lost wife at sea arrested on suspicion of stealing £80,000 in rare coins
Investigators say they recovered some of the stolen coins from Bennett’s life raft when he was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter on the night his new wife Isabella Hellmann, 41, was lost overboard in May. The couple have a nine-month-old daughter together…
Treasure & Archaeology
24.) Treasure hunters unearth nearly 2,000 Roman coins
While some are badly corroded, dozens are in remarkable condition given how long they have been under the ground. The coins are known as radiates and all made of bronze with one per cent silver. They were a common currency in the late Roman period. In about 260AD, Briton was part of a breakaway Gallic empire…
25.) Too good to be true: 8-year-old’s ‘rare coin’ not an ancient artifact
Originally thought to have been minted during the 66-70 CE Jewish Revolt, the piece is actually a worthless, kid-made souvenir from the Israel Museum’s Youth Wing…
26.) Treasure hunter finds 17th century coin that once belonged to pirate
Armed with a metal detector in 2014, Jim Bailey unearthed a small, silver coin about the size of an American dime. It has Arabic etchings on its faces and historians say it is from the 1690s and belonged, at one time, to the infamous pirate Henry Every.
“In the late 17th century, the American colonies were engaged in piracy in the Red Sea,” said Bailey…
27.) London coin company snaps up Roman hoard from Lincolnshire at Hansons
Made up mainly of bronze coins featuring the emperor Constantine the Great and members of his family, the hoard is thought to have been buried around 340AD. They were discovered in 2014 by two Midlands metal detectorists…
Museums & Exhibits
28.) How The Age Of Trump Is Reflected In Julius Caesar’s Roman Coins
Part of having power, I thought as I looked at the coins, is knowing how to make oneself — or more accurately, one’s image — ubiquitous. Perhaps compelling people to hit “retweet,” creating more and more versions of one’s message, is not that different from forcing one’s face onto coins, and having more and more of them made…
Upcoming Auctions & Events
- Warsaw Coin Expo – September 1-2
- Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) Electronic Auction 405
- Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) Auction 106 – September 13
- Paul-Francis Jacquier Ancient Numismatics Auction 43 – September 15
- InAsta Auction 70 – September 23
Worthy Additions to Your Library
29.) Medieval European Coinage, Volume 8: Britain and Ireland c.400–1066
This volume of Medieval European Coinage traces the coinage and monetary history of Britain and Ireland in the early Middle Ages, offering the first major single-volume treatment of the subject in decades. It examines the period from the end of the Roman province of Britain in the fifth century to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. The volume re-evaluates the complex seventh- and eighth-century English coinages, follows the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon coinage into one of the most sophisticated monetary systems in medieval Europe, and also covers the coins issued by Viking settlers in parts of England and Ireland. Bringing recent advances in historical and numismatic research to a wider audience, this landmark volume is supported by one of the most complete catalogues of the period illustrating the world-class collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum…
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