I just learned that anyone who purchased a 2004 Freedom Tower Silver Dollar can return them for a full refund or cancel an order if you never got the coin in the mail. You should be getting a letter in the mail from Eliot Spitzer with instructions on how to go about it.

Here’s an excerpt from the article where I found the good news.

Consumers who were victims of false advertising and purchased the “2004 Freedom Tower Silver Dollar” may get their money back.

Last week, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sent 178,000 letters to consumers on how to get a refund or cancel their orders.

In November, New York state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Cannizzaro of Albany County found the National Collector’s Mint, based in Port Chester, N.Y., and operated by Avram Freedberg of Stamford, engaged in fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices in marketing the coins.

The coin is ostensibly designed to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and allegedly is made of pure silver recovered from the lower Manhattan site.

Cannizzaro ordered National Collector’s Mint to stop engaging in the fraudulent and deceptive practices of which it was found guilty.

Read more…

(Irvine, CA) - Pioneering Internet auction service, Teletrade, celebrated its 2,000th sale on February 13 by making a donation to the American Numismatic Association’s Young Numismatists (YN) program and announcing special savings for successful bidders in that sale and as well as a future auction.

“We’ve now had 2,000 successful sales of certified U.S. coins since Teletrade’s founding in 1986, and that’s more than any other numismatic auctioneer,” said Paul I. Song, Vice President. “In addition to the donation to the ANA, we gave every successful bidder in the 2,000th sale free shipping and handling.”

As part of the continuing celebration in 2005, Teletrade also announced that every successful bidder in sale number 2005, to be held on Wednesday, February 23rd, will have $20 immediately deducted from their invoices.

“We are rewarding our loyal customers and supporting the ANA by donating $2,000 worth of numismatic reference books for the YN programs,” said Song.

“Providing copies of the 2005 edition of A Guide Book of United States Coins, the popular ‘Red Book,’ is a compelling and appropriate donation for such an important organization as the Young Numismatists, where tomorrow’s numismatic leaders are being trained and nurtured.”

Teletrade conducts an average of three Internet auctions of certified U.S. coins each week, with special monthly and quarterly sales. Over 100,000 collectors, dealers and investors have registered on the free, easy-to-use web site, www.Teletrade.com.

“Our consignors enjoy the company’s fast turnaround time, generous cash advances, high prices-realized and the unblemished record of delivering their settlement checks,” Song emphasized.

“In 19 years we’ve grown from a start-up company with a great idea to the world’s premiere numismatic internet auction house because we do more for our consignors and bidders. They know Teletrade is the place to buy or sell certified U.S. coins, whether they’re $10 or $100,000 each.”

The 2,000th sale was a “Sunday Rainbow Auction”, literally our most colorful and one of our most popular specialty collecting categories with almost every coin offered toned or rainbow-hued. The Rainbow Auctions are conducted quarterly. Premier and Contemporary Classics sales are held each month featuring, respectively, the finest and rarest United States coins and modern rarities from the 1930s to the present.

Teletrade’s buyer’s fee is only 10 percent, while most other numismatic auction companies charge 15 percent; one-third higher fees than Teletrade. In addition, consignors can save more than 40 percent on certification costs by submitting their coins to Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) through Teletrade.

Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover credit cards are accepted with no additional fees.

Teletrade is a division of Greg Manning Auctions Inc. (NASDAQ: GMAI). For additional information, contact Teletrade at 18022 Cowan, Ste 107, Irvine, CA 92614-6805. Phone: (800) 949-2646. E-mail: [email protected].

Question: I am a new collector, and have only been collecting the new U.S. state quarters casually. I am wondering how I can continue to increase my collection and keep the coins I already have in good condition.

Answer: Excellent question. As for keeping your coins in good condition, a useful resource is this FAQ where it discusses how to store your coins.

The other question of how to increase your collection is a little harder to answer. There’s not one way to accumulate coins, so you have some options. A low cost solution is to go to your local bank and get a few rolls of quarters, then pick out the ones you want for your collection and exchange the quarters you don’t want for new ones. It will take time to build a collection this way, but it’s very rewarding when you finally complete it.

Another way is to go to a local coin dealer and let them know what you’re interested in so they can keep their eye out for items that come their way and hold them for you.

Third, you can attend coin shows if there are any in your area. There you will find are dozens of dealers all selling their wares. If you have the money, you could complete your collection in a day at a coin show.

I hope my answers helped, thanks for submitting your question.

Someone (or a group of someones) at rec.collecting.coins compiled two large lists of coin collecting web sites. However, out of all the links, one is conspicuously absent.

This site.

Even though this site was snubbed, there are a lot of useful and interesting sites listed, so for your benefit, I’m linking to them. They’re called Web Sites of Interest Part 1 and Part 2.

Enjoy.

The National Collector’s Mint now has a FAQ, or Frequently Asked Questions page, where it answers some of the questions that I’ve heard from people. One of the most common questions I’ve gotten is, “I have sent in a check and it has not been cashed. Where is my money?”

Their answer:

Currently we are temporarily prohibited from shipping or accepting orders for the Freedom Tower Commemorative. We are working to try to bring this matter to a speedy resolution. Until that time, we are unable to ship orders. We will notify interested customers if and when we are able to proceed with orders. Your payment will not be processed until we are able to ship your order

I also heard from someone who received solicitation from them to buy a $5 gold coin, so they’re still selling other items, but not the 2004 Freedom Tower Dollar.

They also have contact information if you have any questions about any of this. I’m including it here as well in case they take it down.

National Collector’s Mint 8 Slater Street Port Chester, NY 10573

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 1-800-452-4381 between 9am and 6pm EST, Monday through Friday.

Fax: 914-935-3321

Incidentally, I noticed their e-mail address was not at nationalcollectorsmint.com but ncmintonline.com. I tried going to that site, but it doesn’t appear to have anything there.

If I find anything else out about the court case, I’ll post about it here.