Coin Mall Newsletter

October 2000

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Publisher’s Note: Look for a full issue after November 1st with exciting changes at the web site, and a list of new Coin Mall Dealers.

Redesigning our coins?

The following is from a Press Release from the Senate Banking Committee:

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Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, has announced that the committee will host a symposium to examine coin design, both ancient and modern, foreign and U.S.

Gramm said his goal is to encourage new U.S. coin designs that are "worthy of a great nation."

"We may not be able to match the golden era of coin design under Theodore Roosevelt, but we should try," Gramm said. "We are the greatest nation in the world, and our coins should reflect it."

The discussion, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, will be preceded by an exhibition of coins from the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

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Analysis

This is certainly a step in the right direction. The coins that came out of the redesign prompted by Teddy Roosevelt include the Standing Liberty Quarter, the Walking Liberty Half (in my opinion the nicest U.S. coin minted), the Mercury dime, the Buffalo nickel. Over the next 30 or so years after Roosevelt, these beautiful coins gave way to our modern coins. The state quarter series shows that Americans can get used to their change changing. The effect of new coinage would probably spill over to this hobby. Let’s hope something happens! The new dollar is beautiful, but it just will not circulate unless the dollar bill is removed from circulation. The quarter circulates well, as will the other denominations (except the half dollar, for some reason.)

Buffalo Nickel coming back

Congress has approved a commemorative dollar, which is the same design as the Buffalo Nickel of 1913-1938. Look for the coin to be released sometime next year. This is a beautiful coin, and with the larger working surface, it should be a very nice coin to add to your collection.

Recent Commemorative Coins

The commemorative coins issued over the past several years have until recently, not been very popular with collectors. After years of being gouged by the mint with high prices, and with diminishing profit potential (these coins used to appear on the secondary markets at much lower prices than original release prices) fewer and fewer collectors purchased coins. Many of the recent issues had sales in the thousands or tens of thousands. Collectors now seem to be realizing that demand is outpacing supply, and the secondary market value of these coins have been on the rise steadily. Perhaps this is fueled by the resurgence of the hobby due to the state quarters. Whatever the cause, look for these coins to increase in price over the short term.

Greedy Mint

I’m sorry, but I think the U.S. Mint has gone over the edge in terms of greediness. I liked when the original state quarter bags were offered at $29.95 for 100 ($25.00) – This included shipping. That is fair. Then, the prices of the bags were raised to about $10 over face value. That is ridiculous for the Mint to make a profit on something they usually sell for face value. Finally, rolls of coins now appear at $16.00 for a $10 roll, a healthy 60% markup of face value. I can’t wait to see what’s next. Unfortunately, the secondary market supports this gouging. I don’t believe the long-term will see this as a wise investment.

Thanks for visiting The Coin Mall ( http://www.coinmall.com )

Alan Cohen

The Coin Mall