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HomeNewsCoinWeek News Wire for July 7, 2017: Hamilton, Silver Eagles, Metal Detecting...

CoinWeek News Wire for July 7, 2017: Hamilton, Silver Eagles, Metal Detecting…

CoinWeek News Wire

By Coinweek ….

CoinWeek News Wire for July 7, 2017: Hamilton, Silver Eagles, Metal Detecting…

Brain Food

1.) What Happened When Hamilton Lost the Mint

When Hamilton first began studying and reporting on the need for a mint, he and Jefferson were still civil, if not close friends. Politics and rivalry soon divided them, which was only made worse when Washington decided that his Secretary of the Treasury was too busy for another undertaking, and put the US Mint under Jefferson’s much-smaller State department

2.) The Coin That Started as a Hollywood Scandal

One way of casting a more positive light on Hollywood was an exposition, set to be held in Los Angeles in 1923. The organizers of the expo needed funds for the event, and decided to ask Congress to pass legislation for the creation of a coin. However, since Congress had no desire to bail Hollywood out, the coin had to commemorate something that America wanted to celebrate

3.) Myth-making and belonging: the coins of the Roman provinces

Normally the cities employed Greek myths as part of their ‘history’, but here we have something else. On the right-hand side, we see two figures in a large chest – what the Greeks called a kibotos and the Romans an arca (we get the word ‘ark’ from the Latin word). Above, a bird approaches with a branch; on the left, we see two figures: one male, one female, their hands raised in an attitude of prayer. To make it even more explicit, the side of the chest bears the name Noe, the Greek version of the name Noah

4.) Bucking the system: How 50 years of decimal currency shows the emergence of an independent nation

Some, today, wonder if New Zealand was too conservative in its choices. Art historians, such as Dr. Mark Stocker, Te Papa’s curator for historical art, believe Kiwis made a “safe” choice in 1967, and turned down designs that may have proved more popular today

Under the Radar

2002 Commonwealth Games Coin United Kingdom5.) The rarest and most valuable £2 coins revealed

The most valuable is the Northern Ireland 2002 Commonwealth Games coin, deemed the rarest of all the 37 £2 coins currently in circulation. It is the only coin to have a mintage of less than 500,000 and is currently selling on eBay for around £40

6.) Georgia’s new 5 Lari silver collector coins released July 7

Brand new 5 GEL (Georgian lari) silver collector coins are coming into circulation today to promote the Georgia’s rich culture and history of ancient winemaking traditions.

The new coins picture Georgian vine varieties, wine and a large, ancient Georgian winemaking vessel qvevri

7.) Russia’s Central Bank Issues Coin Dedicated to Armenian Painter Aivazovsky’s 200th Anniversary

The Central Bank of Russia has issued a commemorative coin on the occasion of 200th birthday anniversary of famous Armenian seascape painter Ivan Aivazovsky

Current Events

8.) Indian collector seeks to open largest coin museum in UAE

Over the course of the last 25 years, 30-year old Lucknow native Manish Dhameja has amassed a personal collection of over one million coins from 501 current and defunct nations, territories and islands, some dating as far back as the 16th century. Collectively, the coins are valued at well over $1 million

9.) George Osborne had a secret plan to scrap 1p and 2p coins

Former Chancellor George Osborne had a secret plan to get rid of 1p and 2p coins, but was stopped by then-Prime Minister David Cameron who worried the move would harm the image of the Conservative party

10.) PLANNED YINGLUCK ‘COINS’ BY SUPPORTER DRAW CRITICISM

Thailand Proposed Medal Draws ControversyThe proposal mostly drew outrage from Yingluck supporters, who said such move by Anurak Jeantawanich, or Ford Red Path, could only invite allegations that the former prime minister doesn’t know her station in life and is presenting herself on a par with royalty. In Thailand, legal tender coins are only made with the image of members of the royal family, chiefly the king.

“Oh my God!… This is like sending [Yingluck] to the execution ground,” wrote an anti-Single Gateway Facebook account on Sunday

11.) Royal Canadian Mint’s Truong appointed Officer of the Order of Canada

Dr. Hieu C. Truong’s distinguished career at the Royal Canadian Mint was marked by numerous inventions which, in addition to revolutionizing coin manufacturing on a global scale, furthered Canada’s reputation for innovation and created a vibrant export market for Canadian coin technology. Dr. Truong helped establish Royal Canadian Mint coins as the world’s most secure and gave Canadians a unique and unforgettable way to commemorate their most important events. Always an innovator always ahead of his time, Dr. Truong holds seven patents related to coin colouring, plating and precious metal refining, and his achievements have touched coin users in Canada and around the world

In Memoriam

12.) John Spring

He became increasingly fascinated by the personalities behind the collections sold at auction – the collectors, the dealers and the auction houses. During his visits to Spinks in the 1980s and 1990, we would discuss the famous collectors of the past, named and unnamed. With his computer-processing background – his first job in 1960 was with IBM, as a systems’ analyst – he started to organise the information, and to form an important collection of illustrated sales catalogues. This work resulted in his major Bibliography, and on and off, it took John almost 30 years

13.) Ootje Oxenaar

Film clip about Dutch graphic designer and banknote designer Oxenaar.

Banknote News

14.) The Money Fixers

When your life savings gets torched in a house fire or put through a shredder, there is a roomful of people who may be able to help: a team of specialists with the legal authority and technical skills to say whether messed up money lives or dies. They are the people of the Mutilated Currency Division.

On this episode, we go inside the Mutilated Currency Division. We find stories of a cow with an appetite for currency, a hundred thousand dollars stuffed into a mailbox, and a court battle between the government and millions of dollars in mutilated money

15.) Bashar Assad Face of New Syria Bank Note

Assad’s face appears on the new banknotes at a time when his government is boasting military successes against the armed rebellion around Syria. The currency previously only carried images of historic icons or pictures of his father, Hafez Assad.

Syria’s currency has crashed as the country’s seven-year-long war rages on. Trading at 47 liras to the dollar in 2011, it’s currently going for 517 liras to the dollar

16.) With a new banknote, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tells everyone he’s here to stay

Assad’s serious-looking portrait on the new banknote is also raising eyebrows.

“Assad has reverted to type,” Landis said. “He can no longer be seen as the kinder, gentler Assad. He also needs to reassert the authority of the state — which is him. What better way to do it than by putting his face on a new bill?”

17.) ‘If Day’ currency blast from the possible past

“If Day” made Canadians think of what it would be like if Germany had won the war. It included things like bottle caps with swastikas, a Free Press front page showing Hitler visiting Winnipeg and your bill, which is known as scrip

18.) The bridges portrayed on EU currency aren’t fictional anymore

As there were only seven banknotes and 19 eurozone states, displaying actual existing bridges would favor certain countries over others, so fictional bridges were used. But then, Dutch designer Robin Stam thought it would be fun to make them real

19.) Dundee Woman Slams ‘LAUGHABLE’ Moment Shop in England Turns Down Her Scottish Bankn Note

“We were in Turkey recently, a country outwith the EU, and they accepted our Sterling but a few miles down the road in England we can’t use it?”

Going Cashless

20.) Inside the plan to make Taiwan cashless

China is leading the world in mobile payments. The two biggest players, AliPay and WeChat Pay, have a combined total of over 700 million monthly users, and processed about US$3 trillion in payments in 2016.

Neighbouring Taiwan, on the other hand, is a little slow on the uptake. Mobile payments only accounted for 26% of total electronic payments in the country, according to the Financial Supervisory Commission

21.) South Korea is Preparing to Regulate and Legalize Bitcoin

[R]epresentative Park Yong-jin, a lawmaker and member of the country’s ruling Democratic Party is drawing up three revisions this month to build a regulatory framework for digital currencies

22.) Even after 50 years of decimal, cash shows no sign of dying

Banks prefer to move electrons (digital money), than atoms (physical notes and coins), and have waged war on cash using eftpos, credit cards, and online banking.

But despite predictions of the death of cash, its use continues to at grow three times faster than the economy

Crime & Punishment

coin_crime_alert23.) NCIC Crime Bulletin

From the Numismatic Crime Information Center (NCIC):

Theft

Atchison, Kansas police are investigating the theft of the following coins:

  • 1911 $21/2 Indian Gold MS64 31377603
  • 1912 $21/2 Indian Gold MS62 60043113
  • 1914D $21/2 Indian Gold MS62 1713143003
  • 1925D $21/2 Indian Gold MS64 2019421020
  • 1926 $21/2 Indian Gold MS64 21124892
  • 1927 $21/2 Indian Gold MS64 02773868
  • 1928 $21/2 Indian Gold MS64 24615606
  • 1929 $2/12 Indian Gold MS64 32783505
  • 1891S $20 Liberty Gold MS63 60137574

Colonial Missing/Stolen

A 1788 Massachusetts Colonial Ryder 12-H variety has been reported missing/stolen. The coin was shipped via eBay’s international shipping program and cleared New York customs.

Stolen 1788 Massachusetts Ryder 12-H, images courtesy Doug Davis & NCIC

Contact the NCIC’s Doug Davis if you have any questions or information about any of the cases above. You can reach him at (817) 723-7231 or email him at [email protected].

* * *

The Numismatic Crime Information Center is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation. P.O. Box 14080 Arlington, Texas 76094.

www.numismaticcrimes.org

24.) They pumped Rs 50cr fake coins into India

In October 2016, the police busted the gang and arrested two men named Gulshan Gambhir and Sachin. Its factories were raided and fake coins with the face value of more than Rs 6 lakh in denomination of Rs 5 and Rs 10 were seized.

The probe revealed the names of Luthra brothers who were running the syndicate. In December, the cell arrested Sweekar, one of the brothers who ran the gang from India, and found counterfeit coins with the face value of Rs 17,390 on him. Since then, Special Cell teams had been camping in several areas, including the Nepal border, to track the kingpin

25.) Thousands of pounds worth of rare coins stolen in Kent

A collection of 2,500 rare coins worth thousands of pounds was stolen during a burglary in Maidstone. The collection includes a number of modern, but rare £2 and 50 pence pieces, as well as distinctive coins no longer in circulation

Treasure & Archaeology

26.) £4.5bn treasure hunt launches for gold in Atlantic war wrecks

If the initial operation on the three wrecks off the coast of Ireland proves successful, the team hopes to salvage cargo from 20 prime sites across the world using top-secret data to recover as much as £300 billion

27.) Eastern Roman gold coins found in 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb

Two Eastern Roman gold coins were found in a 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb in Northwest China’s Xian City, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology (SPIA) said on Thursday.

Chinese archaeologists believe that one of the gold coins was minted during the reign of Anastasius I who was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 491 to 518.

The other gold coin however is a more rare one and bears stylistic similarities to coins minted during the reigns of both Anastasius I and Justinian I, who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565.

The Chinese tomb also included a silver coin minted during reign of Peroz I, who was the king of the Sassanian Empire between 459 and 484.

2017 American Silver EagleGold, Precious Metals & Bullion

28.) U.S. Mint’s 1st-half sales of American Eagle gold coins weakest since 2007

U.S. Mint American Eagle gold coin sales in the first half of 2017 were the lowest for this period in a decade, while sales of silver in the period were the weakest since 2008, government data showed on Friday.

U.S. Mint sales of American Eagle gold coins totaled 6,000 ounces in June, down 92 percent from June 2016 and bringing the tally for the first half of the year to 192,500 ounces.

Sales of American Eagle silver coins totaled 986,000 ounces in June, down 65 percent from a year ago. This brought sales for the first six months of 2017 to 12.2 million ounces, the weakest for the period since 2008…

Upcoming Auctions & Events

Auction News & Results

29.) Australian Holey Dollar coin from 1813 sells in London auction

The Holey Dollar sold at Morton & Eden, struck on an 1806 Charles IV eight reales (from Mexico City), did indeed have an intriguing provenance

Museums & Exhibits

30.) Ghana’s Coin Art: Artist uses devalued currency to showcase political structures

Yaw Owusu’s exhibition is called ‘All that Glitters’. It features installations and sculptures made entirely from local coins.

Worthy Additions to Your Library

31.) Papal State – Volume I

Numismatics Varesi has just published the first volume on the Papal States – From its origins (651) Leo X (1521) – the series MIR (Regional Coins Italian). The work of Alessandro Toffanin is 17×24 format, consisting of 460 pages with color illustrations, rarity, assessments (MB and SPL) and references to at least three works of industry. The cost is €120 plus shipping and is available online.

32.) Review: What really creates the value of money

The journey from coins to accounts was marked by scandals, crises and depressions. Sometimes the government ignored or even abetted monetary excesses; sometimes it put disastrous limits on the supply of money.

The path might have been smoother if more people had understood earlier that money was essentially man-made

33.) COINS ARE LIKE SONGS: THE UPPER CANADA COPPERS, 1815-1841

A new and exhaustive study of the copper tokens of Upper Canada from 1815 through the formation in 1841 of the Province of Canada. In addition to a full and updated catalogue of these issues, Faulkner’s work provides a detailed historical and contextual analysis of these pieces, providing a much richer understanding of the tokens than was previously available

34.) ‘Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors’ shortlisted for the 2017 Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year

The Bookseller said Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors has ‘echoes of the beloved 1996 winner Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers’. ‘These are wonderful books for hobby obsessives, although my advice is that, should you see someone reading these books on public transport, stay very far away from them indeed,’ said the Bookseller

“Good News, Everyone…”

35.) Boy, 6, gifts deputies with special coins at Walt Disney World

Aiden, a 6-year-old boy from Tampa, visits Disney often with his dad and hands out coins to deputies. The coins he hands out have Saint Michael on the front, who is the patron saint of law enforcement

World of the Weird

36.) Why I’ve got a coin up my groin

Friends told Stu someone had dropped coins into a schooner he then skolled, currency included. An X-ray taken at Royal Darwin Hospital showed a 20c piece lodged near the base of his spine and a 50c piece in his oesophagus. A $2 coin he is also believed to have swallowed had already made an exit. Stu said he managed to pass the 20c piece without noticing.

But the 50c coin proved more problematic

Just for Fun

37.) SHORT OF THE DAY: ‘MARTIN’ MAKES METAL DETECTING MENACING

But what about the dark side of metal detecting?

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Coinweek is the top independent online media source for rare coin and currency news, with analysis and information contributed by leading experts across the numismatic spectrum.

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