Like any specialized area, acronyms are commonly used by coin collectors to make it easy to discuss topics. The side effect is that people who don’t know the acronyms feel left in the dark.
If this is how you feel when reading about coin collecting, don’t dismay, there’s still hope. Here are several sites that have lists of commonly used acronyms and abbreviations in numismatics.
Some people have questioned the authenticity of the Wisconsin Quarter error, claiming it was a deliberate act of a mint employee. Others say it was in fact an unnoticed flaw in the die. Even the experts don’t agree on it. Ken Potter says that they are not a collectible because it’s a minor die gouge.
Q. David Bowers, affiliated with American Numismatic Rarities is not so sure.
He says, “I think when you get a first view of it, it looks like a die flaw, and if you view it like that, then it’s probably not a collectible. I view it a little differently, with a little capriciousness, where something funny maybe went on at the (Denver) Mint.”
Bowers believes it to be a legitimate variety. “It looks like it was done deliberately by someone who had access to two working dies at Denver,” he explained.
“I think it’s one of the nicest, most exciting things to happen to our hobby in a long time. I think it’s going to become part of what we all do.”
In this undated photo provided by David Lawrence Rare Coins, this pristine-condition rare dime made in 1894 at the San Francisco Mint sold Monday, March 7, 2005, for $1,322,500 at a rare coin auction in Baltimore. Only 24 dimes were made in 1894 at the San Francisco Mint, and this is the finest of the 10 known surviving specimens, according to John Feigenbaum, President of David Lawrence Rare Coins of Virginia Beach, Va., the auctioneer. The coin was consigned by collector, Bradley Hirst, of Richmond, Ind., who paid $825,000 for it six years ago, and sold to an anonymous bidder who participated in the auction by telephone. (AP Photo/David Lawrence Rare Coins)
That’s the most anyone has ever paid for a dime.
When I was a lad growing up in a small town at the edge of the world, I whiled away the time by collecting coins.
That is a confession I am not especially proud to make, particularly after finding my old collection of nickels. I can recall how excited I was when the little holes in the coin collectors’ book were nearly filled with nickels.
But looking it over a few weeks ago, I can’t figure out why I was so thrilled by my collection of, except for different dates and mint marks, essentially identical coins. During World War II, I told myself, the nickels were made out of different metal combinations. Yet, I replied, they still had the same old profile of Thomas Jefferson on the front, and his house, Monticello, on the back – page after page of heads-and-tales Tommys and Monties.
Not so long after that, though, I came across some new nickels that were different on the back in honor of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Louisiana Purchase and the Westward expansion of the United States (I know they started doing that state thing with quarters, too, but, truth be told, nickels are more in my price range).
So now, just like with the quarters, every few months, the mint makes a different nickel.
While this might not make getting nickeled and dimed to death any more pleasant, it would at least give your pocket change a little variety, and for those who collect coins, something different to stick in those little coin windows.
They’re going to change the way Jefferson looks, which excited me for a second when I actually thought they were going to have TV’s George Jefferson on the front and a deluxe apartment in the sky on the back.
Actually, it’s just a different profile of the ex prez, but they are going to put a bison on the back of the coin. This, no doubt, will create a public outcry to return the American Indian to the front of the five-cent piece. But that’s not likely, since the leaders of our nation put Sacagawea on that dumb golden dollar coin, which, as far as I’m concerned, continues our mistreatment of the native people. It also makes me wonder if those Sacagawea dollars will fit in slot machines at the Indian casinos, but there’s no room in this column for that sort of speculation.
What I want to speculate upon is whether this nickel thing portends an exciting new direction for the United States mint.
Buying coins online can be a convenient and cost-effective way to increase the size of your collection and it can be a great way of locating those last few coins you need to complete a series. However, buying online can also be a risky proposition. I just ran across this news article about a man who sold coins he didn’t have on eBay.
The FBI found him and now he’s facing 20 years in prison, but it was surely an unpleasant experience for those who bought coins from him.
To make sure you don’t end up buying coins that don’t exist, try to buy from sellers on eBay who have a long history of positive feedback. The most recent feedback is the most important, because in this case, the guy selling the coins used his girlfriend’s account.
Another thing you can do for larger purchases is to use an escrow service so the seller doesn’t get the money until you receive the coins. It adds to the expense, but it also insures that you get what you’re paying for.
I take comfort in the fact that most people you deal with are honest, upstanding individuals. It’s just those few dishonest people that you have to watch out for.