Coins and Currency Weekly
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Coins and Currency Weekly© is Published by Alan Cohen

September 25, 1998

Issue #2

I’d like to thank everyone for the kind feedback from the last newsletter. It seems to have been very well received, which is something I was hoping for. I hope you enjoy the newsletter for many issues to come.

New $20 Bill

The biggest news of the week was the release of the new $20 Federal Reserve note. This was done on September 24^th. If you haven’t seen one yet, don’t worry – It usually takes a few weeks for these bills to actually reach most people. Of course, the old $20 bill will still be able to use, and probably always will. However, bank notes tend to wear out pretty quickly, so it will not take too long to see them removed from circulation. As they wear out, the new bills will take their place. An unscientific evaluation shows that out of 9 $20 bills in my wallet, 6 are dated 1995 (The most recent issue before the new one), 2 are dated 1993 and 1 is dated 1990. The average lifespan for paper currency is about 18 months.

If you are interested in learning more about US currency, and specifically more about the new $20 bill, visit http://www.moneyfactory.com/ - This is the web site for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Long Beach Show

As I write, the Long Beach Collectibles Expo is still taking place. This show is held three times a year, in September, February and June. Hundreds of coin, currency, and collectibles dealers display here. This show can be very overwhelming to an inexperienced collector, but it is definitely worth going to. I have been to every show for the past couple of years, and this one was as good as previous shows. Over the past couple of years, the show has gotten smaller, and the price for a dealer booth has increased. The previous show occurred when silver prices were quite high, so there was a lot of bullion at that show. With silver at a much lower price currently, there was significantly less on the floor. There did appear to be about the same number of dealers as the last show.

One really nice booth was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, with their billion dollar display. Right in front of me was a sheet of 12 uncut $100,000 bills, and 12 more showing the reverse. Quite amazing, 2.4 million dollars right there. They also showed off the new $20 note, it was nice to finally see it in person. This show concludes on Sunday, September 27, and will return in February of 1998. I plan on going down again tomorrow, and then spending some time in Long Beach and perhaps seeing the Queen Mary. Show information can also be found on the web, at http://www.longbeachshow.com/

Discover Magazine

Discover Magazine happens to be one of my favorites, and one of the few non-collectibles magazines that I subscribe to. I was really surprised that the October issue has a money theme to it. I was even more surprised that most of the articles are available on the web. They were very interesting, and I strongly suggest reading them. Due to copyright laws, I can not republish the articles here in this newsletter, but I can point you to the exact web address to read the articles. The web address for Discover Magazine is http://www.discover.com – In particular, I strongly recommend the following articles:

Euroland or Bust: The Euro

http://www.discover.com/oct_issue/gthere.html?article=euroland.html

The Cradle of Cash: History of Money

http://www.discover.com/oct_issue/gthere.html?article=cradle.html

Until Next Week,

Alan Cohen

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Coins and Currency Weekly© (CCW) is published by Alan Cohen. It is a weekly newsletter devoted to coins and currency - Current news, viewpoints, and other collecting information.

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