Susan Headley provides five tips on choosing a good coin dealer.
Here are the five questions she suggests you ask about them before you buy anything from them.
WASHINGTON - Can the coins jingling in your pocket trace your movements? The Defense Department is warning its American contractor employees about a new espionage threat seemingly straight from Hollywood: It discovered Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden inside.
This photo released by the Central Intelligence Agency shows a hollow container, fashioned to look like an Eisenhower silver dollar, which is still used to hide and send messages, or film, without being detected. Because it resembles ordinary pocket change, it is virtually undetectable as a concealment device. [AP]
What business-strike Roosevelt dime has the lowest mintage? Answer
What would be the total face value of every denomination of currency printed in the US in 1976? Answer
What year did Q. David Bowers publish “How to Start a Coin Collection”? Answer
Where is “Liberty” on the Washington Quarter? Answer
What US president appears on the 1972 American Revolution Bicentennial Administration medal? Answer
Here’s an interesting juxtaposition of news relating to our nation’s money and the blind.
First, in July 2006, Congress authorized the U.S. Mint to produce a silver dollar commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, creator of the alphabet for the blind.
Then, in December 2006 a judge ruled that, “American money represents an unfair impediment to the blind, and the Treasury Department must come up with new currency to help the visually impaired use cash.”
If you see an 1843 set of currency once owned by President Tyler on eBay, this is why. I can’t imagine they’re going to have an easy time selling some of these items because they’re so easily identifiable. Let’s hope the thieves are caught and brought to justice.
By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. - Robbers in surgical masks pulled off a $4 million coin heist at knifepoint outside a coin dealers convention, getting away with gold, silver and a rare 1843 set of currency once owned by President Tyler, authorities said.
It was the second time in two years that the Florida United Numismatists’ annual coin show had been hit, and this year’s loss was much larger.
On Saturday, a Minnesota coin dealer’s employee was unloading an SUV outside a luxury hotel when a robber in a surgical mask and a hooded sweater grabbed him from behind and held a knife to his throat, witnesses and the victim told authorities. Two other masked men grabbed a suitcase from the SUV, according to authorities.
“It’s a brazen happening. This kind of thing doesn’t happen often at all, at knifepoint,” said Robert Brueggeman, head of the Professional Numismatists Guild and owner of Positive Protection, which provided security at the convention.
Sheriff’s Deputy Carlos Padilla said the coins were extremely rare, which could make it difficult for a thief to sell them. “I guess it makes you wonder if the people that committed this crime even knew what they were getting,” Padilla said.
Last year, thieves stole about $450,000 worth of coins by breaking into cars, most of them while dealers ate in restaurants.
This year, the convention’s organizers had increased security with more off-duty sheriff’s deputies and a 24-hour secured room where dealers could store their coins, convention coordinator Cindy Wibker said. The four-day show attracted 1,750 dealers.