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Last week, March 21-24th, 2018, we attended the Long Beach coin show in California. The show is held three times year, and is one of the larger shows of the year nationwide. Due perhaps to it's location, and the more difficult tax situation, it tends to not be as well attended as shows in more "coin show friendly" states, although it still brings in many dealers and collectors, particul …

The FUN coin show in Tampa FL, January 3-7th, 2018, was one of the best shows we've attended in years, in terms of overall, healthy market activity. There was a good amount of buying and selling for us, but also just for the coin market (errors and U.S.), the activity and buzz was visible everyday we were at the show. Even Saturday, when the show started to wind-down, there were dealers and c …

Baltimore Coin Show Report  November, 2017The recent Baltimore Whitman expo, held in Baltimore, Maryland November 8-12, was an excellent show—one of our best of the year in fact. There were, relatives speaking, a lot of error collectors in attendance, as well as activity both buying and selling. We sold more than we usually would at a Baltimore show, and were pleased with the total sales for …

We recently made a discovery that Coin World has published in their weekly paper. Proof Ike dollars and Kennedy halves are known from the 1970's which are struck on aluminum coins or tokens. Until now, it was unknown what token or coin these proof Ike and Kennedy halves were struck on, but we did some research and were able to figure it out by clsoely examing a proof 1970-S Kennedy half and a proo …

Coin World just recently reported the existence of a 3rd known example of the remarkable two-tailed Washington quarter mule. The coin has two reverses, and as such cannot be dated, but it is believed to date back to the 1960's.The full article can be found on Coin World's website: http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/09/pcgs-certifies-two-tailed-washington-quarter-dollar.html?utm_medium=Ema …

Do you feel like you know the difference between a mint error and a "damaged" coin? Do you know the difference between an error and a variety? If not, you should take the ANA's correspondence courses ""The Modern Minting Process", and "U.S. Minting Errors & Varieties." They are excellent courses which will teach you all the fundamentals (and more) about errors and varieties. You will then have a s …

For those of you who are not members, CONECA is the no.1 error coin club in the United States. It has approximately 650 members across the U.S. and around the world, with members participating in writing articles for the club journal "Errorscope", and with annual club meetings held in conjunction with the ANA World's Fair of Money. The club also is a excellent way to connect to the "experts" …

Above Image via Coin WorldThe Denver Mint is very concerned about catching any errors before they make it out of the Mint, as this article details. Interestingly, the Mint employs a tool for catching rotated dies, and also for checking the coin's thickness. Additionally, the article shows photos of the Mint employee visually checking coins (which is done every 15 minutes.) The odds of a cud gettin …

There is a lot of talk in the last decade about "gradeflation", and it's effect on the coin market. Dealers and collectors are worried about changing standards, and the effect it has on their coins' value. It is this author's opinion that collectors need to go back to their roots, and stop collecting "grades" and instead start collecting "coins." What does it mean to collect a "coin" as opposed to …

One of the most well known and popular U.S. mint errors just sold: a 2000 Sacagawea dollar/statehood quarter mule. The coin is graded PCGS MS-66 and brought $85,000, and was sold to well known Sacagawea mule collector Tommy Bolack, who now owns and incredible 12 examples. Below is a link to the Coin World article.  http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/05/collector-now-o …