Trillion Dollar Coin Update

Some weeks ago, I wrote about an idea floated in the US about minting a $1,000,000,000,000 coin - now we know it is not going to happen (for the time being at least!).

Has this story just caused fantasies and dreams about such a unique coin? Or has it taught us anything?

I believe it has reminded us that the economy is not outwith the control of those in power and that debt does not mean the same to large sovereign nations as it does to the populus.

A Relaxing Hobby

If you have had a stressful and relentless day at work, then spending a couple of hours in your study with your coins and looking at them under magnification  can be a great way to forget about your work life and unwind (if your wife lets you get a couple of hours!) I even work with my wife!!

There is something mesmerising and entirely removed about studying your coin collection that I certainly find calming - try it!

British Five Pound Coins

I was asked today for advice by a friend. She wanted to know what to do with her collection of five pound coins (she is not a collector) that were given to her by her grandmother.

My advice to her was to keep them somewhere dry and safe and to keep them separated in the original envelopes they arrived in! Interestingly, unlike most other people who seem to think such coins are worth ludicrous amounts of money, she asked me what they were worth and when I told her she was pleasantly surprised to realise that they are probably worth more than the face value she had assumed that they would fetch!

I think I had an effect on her when talking about her coins and my coins - I even found her looking up Ebay for coins this afternoon!!! Maybe I have helped to inspire someone new to take an interest in coins!

Update on Fake Morgan Dollar

A few days ago I posted about being duped with a very authentic looking Morgan Silver Dollar that when weighed came in at 17% lighter than it should have done! Thankfully I can report that the seller has fully reimbursed me now for the purchase price PLUS postage charges (not the cost to post back to them however). I think I have been fortunate here - probably because the seller themselves had been fooled by the coin too but I do believe it serves a salutary warning to always check the basic parameters of any coins bought on Ebay. Highly collectable and valuable coins like these are more likely to be counterfeited but I always check every coin I buy now as soon as I receive it! Just for reference, a Morgan Dollar coin should weigh 26.73g (although a little less may be ok if very worn) and measure 38.1mm across. Obviously a convincing forgery might match these specifications but the vast majority will weigh 10-20% less if they are fakes as they will be made of a lower silver content alloy.

Modern pound coin collection

One of my collections just now is the series of modern £1 coins. I'm trying to complete it entirely out of circulation coins I come by in change - some of them are quite beautiful really! The Forth Bridge and Millennium Bridge issues are particularly attractive in my book. At 30 coins, it is a nice sized collection plus you can do it quite easily just out of change!

There are a few challenges though - while there are tons of 1983 (over 440 million minted) coins out there, the number of 1986, 1988 (about 7 million minted) and 1995 coins particularly are quite low.

I think this is an excellent way of beginning a collection on a budget - all you are doing is turning £30 in 30 £1 coins - so you can always break the collection up and you haven't lost any money!

Trillion Dollar Coins - Madness or Amazement?

What is the Trillion Dollar coin?

The USA, like most of the western world has a huge government debt. One way to pay it off would be to actually create more money and give it to their debtors! In America, section 'k' of the 'Denominations, specifications, and design of coins' law states :

“The Secretary may mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time”

Normally, to meet debts that are due for payment the government will borrow a bit more as bonds and use these 'loans' to pay off the older ones. The idea here (in very simple terms) is that if the secretary [of the treasury] decided to make a few of these coins, he could in effect just pop them in the government's bank account – this way there is plenty of money in their account and the cheques owed to debtors can be issued and cashed!

What is the downside?

If enough of these coins are introduced to the US economy, there is a worry that inflation will spiral out of control. Most people in the know seem to be of the opinion that as long as the government exercises restraint and only produces enough to get by (not to pay off all government debt) then this won't be too much of a problem as the federal reserve can essentially negate (or sterilise) this influx of currency by cancelling some of its reserves.

What will it look like?

One thing we know is that if such a coin is produced it has to be made of Platinum. As far as I can gather, it would have to have someone's face on it and I have gathered that it has to be someone no longer living (I can't find any cast iron proof for this). The most talked about person to adorn such a coin seems to be Ronald Reagan.

Will it happen?

From an interest point of view – I hope so! In reality, I don't think anyone really knows!

A novel approach to coin collecting!

These Indian children have started collecting coins in a very interesting way!!!
Links to BBC news article

Silver Coins of Britain

One thing I find confusing a lot of people who are new to coin collecting is the subject of Silver Coins. I thought a good idea would be to post a very brief outline of what makes a 'Silver Coin' (British coins at least).

There are a few points to make:

1. No circulation coins produced after 1946 are made of silver at all.
2. From very early (12th century) until 1920, the silver coins were struck in sterling silver (92.5% Ag). The remainder was copper.
3. From 1920 until the removal of silver completely, the 'silver coins' were composed of 50% silver. If you have ever wondered why these coins tended to tarnish slightly brown it is due to the addition of manganese at this time.

Modern 'silver' circulation issue coins ie. 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p AND even £5 coins are made of an alloy (cupro-nickel) which contains no silver at all.

There are still silver coins produced in Britain but most of these are intended from their creation for collectors.  Proof sets are generally made from sterling (92.5%) silver.

Of course, there is the silver Britannia coin (pictured to the right here) which as of 2013 is produced with very fine silver indeed (99.9% Ag) which at 1 troy Oz and today's silver prices is quite a valuable Bullion coin!

Fake Morgan Dollar from Ebay

Unfortunately, I must report that I have been duped on Ebay for the first time over a Morgan Silver Dollar! I must admit I wouldn't have noticed the forgery coin had I not weighed it however. I think this incident proves to me the importance of buying a reliable small digital scale for weighing coins. These can be picked up nowadays for a few pounds and I am certainly glad I purchased one!

A real Morgan dollar coin should weigh 26.73g. If your coin's weight differs from this by more than a gram, I would be very suspicious it is a fake as the official tolerance for a Morgan dollar's weight was 0.097g but bear in mind that worn coins will weigh as much as 0.5-1.0g less than this due to the loss of silver content. The coin I received weighed 22.17g! At 4.56g (17%) lighter, there is no doubt this coin is a fake made of a lower silver-content alloy (especially as it is in 'very good' condition).

I won't post a link to the seller of this coin, as I don't believe they knew themselves and they have offered to refund the purchase price on return of the coin. I will be posting their link if things don't work out like this however!!

The moral of this story, I think is caveat emptor (buyer beware) with Ebay coins. It also proves the value of a good digital scale to weigh your coins on as soon as you receive them.

Experiences of Ebay Coin Buying

Experiences of buying coins on Ebay

We all know Ebay and for those of us (like myself) without a local coin shop, online purchasing becomes almost compulsory for all but the simples collections from your pocket change. Ebay is certainly the biggest and widest ranging source of coins on the web. But should we use it? I have put together a list of bullet point for and against buying coins on ebay based on my own personal experience.

For

 1.       Unrivalled number of coins for sale

-          I find that at any one time there are usually between 100,000 and 200,000 listings on ebay.co.uk alone! Remember, many of these contain more than one coin each!

2.       Buyer protection

-          Ebay provides a degree of protection to buyers who are treated unfairly. I have only had to test this once so far and found it to be fairly robust.

-          Pay with PayPal and there is even more security and protection

3.       Global availability

-          Ebay certainly does open up the world to you as anyone with a computer and internet connection can add an item for sale. This potentially allows you to obtain interesting and exotic coins from place you may otherwise struggle to find.

4.       Bargains

-          Granted there are less amazing bargains out there than I anticipated (probably because there are a lot of very knowledgeable numismatists out there!) but once in a while I find a coin that has slipped through the net of eagle eyed ebay watchers!

Against

1.       Fakes

-        Unfortunately there seem to be a worrying number of forgeries out there on Ebay. There is no fool proof way to avoid them really but you can take some steps to reduce the likelihood of being duped and again Ebay does offer some degree of protection.

2.       It’s all digital!

-          The technology that allows us to physically touch things through our PC monitors has yet to be developed! There is no substitute for feeling and seeing ‘in person’ the coin you are thinking of purchasing. Without this you cannot inspect under magnification, weigh or measure the coin. I’m sure if we could, there would be a lot less forgeries on Ebay!

3.       Global availability

-          Being global isn’t all good! I have seen a fair few coins that even to my amateur eye are clearly fakes on Ebay. I have to concur with a lot of other websites’ opinions that the majority appear to originate in China – for this reason, I tend to restrict my browsing to EU or US only.

4.       Postage costs

-          Particularly for small inexpensive lots, the p&p charges add substantially to the overall cost. One way round this is to find a seller who has listed a number of lots that interest you and enquire about combined post and packing charges. Often they are able to send 6 coins for the same or similar cost as 1!

EU "Cookie Law'

Hi, you will see cookie policy pop up in the bottom left of your screen when you click onto this site for the first time - this is because of the new EU 'Cookie Law'! Being in the UK, we have to have such a warning these days even for Google Analytics!

Introduction

One of the main reasons for this blog is that most of the information out there about starting to collect coins seems to be aimed at the American collector. I do collect some US coins too but being based in the UK (and an area without any nearby coin shops), I have found a lot of the advice and information to be less helpful.

Hopefully some of my experiences will be of help to other people.

I will add more to the site over the next few days but in the mean time please have a look at the links I have included on this blog - they are all sites I personally find very useful.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!