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HomeNewsCoinWeek News Wire for March 10, 2017

CoinWeek News Wire for March 10, 2017

Gold

By Coinweek ….

CoinWeek News Wire for March 10, 2017

Brain Food

1.) Switzerland ranked world’s worst currency manipulator

The Economist magazine placed Switzerland first in a recent ranking of currency manipulators. According to the analysis, China, commonly thought of as the world’s champion at keeping its currency’s value artificially low, appears to be doing the opposite: actively trying to push the value of its currency up. On the other hand, Switzerland that has been working hardest to artificially devalue its money

2.) Native American $1 coins honor the contributions of tribes and individuals

The United States Mint began issuing Native American $1 coins in 2009, to recognize and honor the many contributions and accolades of the Native American community towards the development of the United States

Under the Radar

3.) Collectors’ editions of new £1 coin on sale

Collectors’ editions of the new £1 coin made from precious metals are being sold ahead of the currency’s release into general circulation, the Royal Mint has announced.

Gold, silver and platinum proof coins, plus uncirculated “mint condition” versions in non-precious metals go on sale on Monday ahead of the tender’s full roll-out on March 28…

Current Events

4.) Swedish Royal Coin Cabinet is closing

Sweden’s Royal Coin Cabinet has been around for about four and half centuries. Initially commissioned by King John III (at a time when Sweden was being pawned due to financial problems), the oldest known inventory of the collection dates from 1630. At that time the collection consisted of 57 coins and associated medals. Today the collection consists of more than 600,000 numismatic-related objects from all over the world

5.) New £50,000 reward appeal for return of Scotland’s first ever coins – as rest of collection is gifted to nation

A total of 1000 pieces from the Stewartby collection, a hoard of 12th- and 13th-century silver pennies described by one expert as “our national treasure” was stolen during a break-in at the home of Lord and Lady Stewartby in Broughton, near Peebles ten years ago.

The whereabouts of the coins has remained a mystery for Lord Stewartby, who had been collecting coins since he was a schoolboy, and is recognised as being a leading authority on the subject.

Many of the pieces date back to 1136 when the very first Scottish coins were minted.

A £50,000 reward for the return of the stolen coins remains active…

In Memoriam

6.) Library donation honors local coin shop owner

The Ames Coin Club is raising money to add resources to Ames Public Library in the name of Scott Nichols, the former club member and owner of Chester’s Coins & Gifts, who died last May

Crime & Punishment

coin_crime_alert7.) NCIC Crime Bulletin

From the Numismatic Crime Information Center (NCIC):

Missing/Stolen Coin

A package was delivered to a New York dealer on Wednesday March 8, 2017. The postal and Internal box were open.

The following coin was missing from the package:

(1458-90) Hungary 1GG Matthias Corvinus NGC 64 (NGC Cert #3725539-003)

Click on the link for an image of the coin.

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

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

www.numismaticcrimes.org

8.) Second man charged in Hammond, IN coin shop robbery

A 22-year-old man was accused Monday of participating in the botched armed robbery last January of J & J Coins in Hammond.

Deon T. Hendricks was charged in Lake Criminal Court with armed robbery, battery by means of a deadly weapon and four counts of criminal confinement…

9.) Policeman who stole ancient gold coins he found with metal detector is jailed

A policeman who stole 10 ancient gold coins that he found with a metal detector has been jailed for 16 months.

David Cockle, 50, found the Merovingian Tremissis coins in a field in west Norfolk and sold them to a dealer for £15,000.

He had entered into a contract with the landowner to split the proceeds of any find 50:50, but failed to tell the landowner of his discovery…

[For previous News Wire coverage of this story, click here. —CoinWeek]

Counterfeit Cavalcade

10.) Counterfeit ‘high-quality’ $100 notes circulate across Melbourne, Australia

A counterfeiting ring has hit Melbourne with an influx of $100 notes in circulation, described as high-quality fakes. The fraudulent money is believed to have the same feel as the polymer notes, and include the clear lyrebird window, but each carries the same serial number: AI 13933231

Banknote News

11.) What to know about the new 5 Ghanaian cedi banknote

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has unveiled a commemorative GHc 5 bank note to celebrate the financial sector regulator’s 60th anniversary, an anniversary which coincides with Ghana’s 60 years of independence.

The new bank note displays an engraved portrait of Dr. James Kwegyir Aggrey, the famous educationist, missionary and teacher…

Gold, Precious Metals & Bullion

12.) Rhodium on Best Run in a Decade

Rhodium’s on the best run in a decade on expectations of more demand for the material that’s used in cleaning toxic car emissions. One of the rarest precious metals, it climbed the past seven months and is up 19 percent this year, outperforming most major commodities

13.) Bank of Mexico Reveals Its Gold Bar List

Of the 3.881 million ounces of gold that the Bank of Mexico has at the end of October 2016, 98.95% are held in the United Kingdom, 0.0004% at the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States and the remaining 1.05 % in Mexico

14.) London silver benchmark providers to step down

“Benchmarks are highly regulated and deeply scrutinized,” said Ross Norman, chief executive officer of London-based Sharps Pixley Ltd. “It follows there is much work and cost, but for very modest commercial reward, plus the ever-present danger of legal action or reputational damage—whether guilty or not.”

So “few sensible or sane people would want to create a financial benchmark—and yet it is absolutely necessary for the normal functioning of markets … This is where regulation and compliance collides heavily with market practice—put another way: ‘the operation was a complete success, unfortunately, the patient died’.”

15.) Where are the Greek State Gold Reserves Stored?

The Greek State gold reserves amounting to 149.1 tons are stored in Greece, Britain, the U.S. and Switzerland, according to the Bank of Greece.

BoG assures Greek citizens that the 149.1 tons of the country’s gold reserves worth 5.3 billion euros are safe, as almost half of it is kept in the BoG treasury and the remainder 50% remains for decades in the Bank of England, the New York Federal Reserve and in Switzerland’s UBS

16.) Backers of tax cut on gold coin sales bring in Ron Paul

Paul got pushback from Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, who called the effort a way to give tax breaks to speculators and gold coin dealers.

“I’m trying to wrap my mind around how this isn’t just another tax giveaway to coin collectors,” Farley said. “I get your point that you don’t tax money when exchanged money for money. And I would buy that, if the $20 gold piece from 1850 was going to be traded for a $20 bill.”

Instead, he noted, the price on coins is based on how much precious metal they contain and condition, not face value…

17.) LAWRIE WILLIAMS: Australia’s 2016 Gold Output Highest This Century

[T]he country’s 2016 new mined gold output came out at 298 tonnes, the highest annual production total since 1999. This would seem to confirm Australia’s position as the world’s second largest gold producer after China (ca 455 tonnes according to latest USGS figures) and still ahead of Russia in third place which the USGS estimates produced 250 tonnes

18.) One ounce of South African fine Gold is the number one investment Coin in Germany

[T]he Rand Refinery and the South African Mint jointly produce 1 million coins yearly, continuing to rise, of which the German-speaking countries purchase half of the ounce coins. Amongst all bullion coins traded in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Krugerrand has a substantial market share

Treasure & Archaeology

19.) 800 ancient copper coins discovered in Budgam

Archaeologists of the Archives, Archaeology and Museums Department, who are investigating the findings, in their preliminary report, has dated the coins to 11th to 12th century AD, when Yassakara and Lohora dynasties ruled over Kashmir, he said.

Earlier, sultanate period coins were recovered from Chrar-e-Sharif area of Budgam, while the department also recovered a huge hoard of more than 2,000 ancient coins from Watnar village of Anantnag district in south Kashmir in the past…

20.) 2,000-YR-OLD ARTEFACTS DUG OUT FROM SATARA DIST

“The lead coin is comparatively rare to find as silver and copper ones were common. One side of the coin is inscribed with the name of the King in the Brahmi script, ‘Rayosri Satakarni’ and on the other is a swastika and an elephant,” Pendam added.

21.) Police recover 195 ancient gold coins from Tonk in 3 months

Police have recovered 195 gold coins dug from Tonk district in the last three months. Police had started a search operation from December 5 last year when they got the evidence that a large number of gold coins were dug by villagers

22.) Archaeologists uncover Roman-era road, coins near Bet Shemesh

Archaeologists said coins were discovered between the pavement stones: a coin from the Great Revolt (67 CE), a coin from the Umayyad period, a coin of the prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, dating to 29 CE and a coin of Agrippa I from 41 CE that was minted in Jerusalem

Upcoming Auctions & Events

“Good News, Everyone…”

23.) Mysterious return from the Caribbean of stolen rare 200 year-old Padstow Bank note

Intrigue turned to astonishment for John Buckingham when an exotic letter which dropped on his doormat turned out to contain a rare 200-year-old Padstow Bank note stolen from a museum more than 30 years ago

World of the Weird?

24.) These seven archaic ‘zombie laws’ still exist in the Canadian Criminal Code

Before modern coins became minted with sturdier alloys of nickel, copper or steel, coin clipping was a more common crime. It involved trimming bits off gold or silver coin. The shavings could be collected, diluted with base metals and melted into counterfeit currency. Section 451 of the Criminal Code therefore made it an offence, punishable with up to five years in jail, for anyone to have in their possession gold or silver clippings or to have engaged in “lightening a current gold or silver coin.”

Just for Fun

25.) The world’s most beautiful banknotes, in pictures

[The link above presents a slideshow of attractive banknotes from around the world. —CoinWeek]

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CoinWeek
CoinWeekhttps://coinweek.com
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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