Book on numismatics released in Azerbaijan

The book "Basics of numismatics" by the official of the Institute of Archaeology and ethnography under the National Academy of Science of Azerbaijan Ganira Pirguliyeva, according to a source in the Institute.

The new edition speaks of the first coining and first coins in the territory of the present day Azerbaijan (3rd century B.C.), appearance of money circulation and trade turnover before mid 19th century unless Azerbaijan fell under influence of the Russian empire.

The book is bilingual in Azerbaijani and in Russian. Such a book is for the first time issued in Azerbaijani.

This is the third book of the scientist. Earlier she had released two monographs based on newest materials: "Money turnover in Azerbaijan in late 14th-early 15th centuries" and "Copper coins of Azerbaijan".

Source: news.az

$200,000 Deal Buys VDB Cent

Finishing a Lincoln cent set with top quality pieces got a little more expensive after a March 4 deal saw a 1909 VDB cent graded Proof-68 RB with star by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. and CAC sticker sell for over $200,000.

Though the exact price was not disclosed, Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics wrote in her blog:

“Yes, the coin we had displayed and always said was not for sale got sold. While we are not releasing any specific price, we will confirm the coin set a world record above $200,000.”

That makes it the most valuable regular issue Lincoln cent, she added.

Representing the buyer at the deal done at the Whitman Baltimore coin show was Brian Wagner, who operates a rare coin firm that bears his name in Milton, Wash.

“The new owner of this coin is the ‘McCullagh Collection,’” Wagner said.

“I represented the buyer of the coin and Legend Numismatics represented the seller,” Wagner explained.

Sperber called this collection the most spectacular Lincoln proof set that exists. “Congrats to both Brian and customer. They were persistent and were a dream to deal with.”

Sperber also noted that her customer for whom she sold the coin deeply regrets selling it. But if he misses it too much, he can remember it generated a profit that works out to a return of over 30 percent a year, she said, “and that should ease the pain.”

Source: numismaster.com

US Mint unveils new quarters with national parks

Get ready for another decade of quarter-mania. The U.S. Mint is hoping to repeat the phenomenal success it had with the 50-state quarter program with a new series of designs featuring the country's national parks and forests. The first five designs were unveiled in a ceremony Wednesday at the Newseum with the first coin scheduled to go into circulation next month. It will feature Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. If the new program attracts the interest of the original state quarters program, which began in 1999, it will be a true blockbuster. That one got 147 million people — nearly half the country — to participate in collecting those coins, according to Mint surveys. "We think we are generating a lot of excitement with the new program," Mint Director Ed Moy said in an interview. The new program will have 56 quarters in all, one for each state and territory and the District of Columbia, with five new designs introduced each year. The program will end in 2021 with a quarter honoring the Tuskeegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama, which was created by Congress in 1998. "Today, we celebrate the breathtaking landscapes and natural heritage of America the Beautiful by commemorating our country's most treasured places on our currency," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at the unveiling ceremony. The sites, nominated by each state, are being placed on the coins in the order that Congress put them under the care of the federal government, starting with Hot Springs in 1832, more than eight decades before the National Park Service was created. This year's coins will honor the country's four oldest national parks — Hot Springs, Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon — as well as Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon. Congress authorized production of the new quarter series in 2008. The states' selections were reviewed by the Mint's artists and engravers to make sure that images featuring each of the sites could be depicted successfully on a coin. The final choices were approved by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The Yellowstone coin features the Old Faithful geyser with a bison in the foreground while Yosemite depicts El Capitan. Each coin has the name of the park and state being honored and the words "E Pluribus Unum" on one side along with the year the coin is being issued. Just as with the 50-state quarters program, the "heads" side of the coin will continue to feature a profile of George Washington. One challenge to collecting this time around could be the weak economy. The Mint produces to meet demand, with fewer coins needed in years when economic activity is slower. Moy said the 50-state quarter program started off slowly and then built up demand as more people learned about the coins and started collecting them. At the peak of that program, he said that as many as 650 million quarters for each design were being minted. But now, with the economy still struggling to emerge from a deep recession, the number of quarters scheduled for each of the initial issues of the new series is down to less than one-tenth of that amount. "The economy has stabilized but the recovery is lagging a bit so there are not as many quarters being demanded by banks right now," Moy said. "But we think that once people know about this program, they will start checking their change looking for the new coins."

Source: google.com

Coin and Collectible show reveals local history

Coins, bills, and collectibles, all to buy, sell, and trade, but those aren't the only things being exchanged.

"It's a part of Idaho history, it's a piece of the past that very few people know anything about," says antique shop co-owner, Richard Jimenez.

Richard Jimenez is talking about not one, but 270 pieces of Idaho history. He collects local poker chips from the early 1900s. Most gambling was made illegal in Idaho in 1949.

"A lot of the poker chips that are out there, when they closed down the gambling they got discarded and thrown out so the only chips that are available are from people who used to own the businesses or the people that gambled that hung on to a few after it stopped," says Jimenez.

From chips to pennies, 22 dealers showed off their prized possessions and some turned a profit on hard to find coins!

"Even the 2010 pennies that have come in, I have yet to see them; I had to get them from one of the collectors here, the dealers, because I haven't even seen them yet, can't even get them at the bank," says president of the Coin and Collectible show, Ed Gyorfy.

Ed Gyorfy is amazed at how a brand new coin can become so hot!

"It's just history, and it changes constantly, and there is always something new coming out which makes the older stuff even more collectible and more interesting and there is just so many stories behind it," says Gyorfy.

Some of the chips seem impossible to find but it's events like this where Richard meets new people to help him add to his collection.

"A woman that I got a hold of in Twin Falls and she got these chips from those two clubs; she called last week and said she found some more chips that were a different color," says Jimenez.

For Richard, it's more than collecting poker chips it's the experience and the education that comes with it.

"When you sit down and talk with them, you get a lot of history and stories, and how it went on and the fact that a lot of people would spend their whole checks on it," explains Jimenez.

While this show may be ending, the quest certainly isn't over for Richard. He'll be packing his bags in a couple weeks and heading to Twin Falls for more "history rich," poker chips.

Source: kidk.com

Wartime pilots get gold

The forgotten military pilots were finally remembered when a Congressional gold medal was given to the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II on March 10.

On hand to receive it were about 200 women who served. They are now mostly in their late 80s and early 90s.

Some came in wheelchairs and many sported dark blue uniforms. As a military band played “The Star-Spangled Banner,’’ one of the women who had been sitting in a wheelchair stood up and saluted through the entire song as a relative gently supported her back.

“Women Airforce Service Pilots, we are all your daughters; you taught us how to fly,’’ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She said the pilots went unrecognized for too long, even though their service blazed a trail for other women in the U.S. military.

In accepting the award, WASP pilot Deanie Parrish, 88, of Waco, Texas, said the women had volunteered without expectation of thanks. Their mission was to fly noncombat missions to free up male pilots to fly overseas.

“We did it because our country needed us,’’ Parrish said.

WASP Ty Hughes Killen, 85, of Lancaster, Calif., put it more simply: “We’re a bunch of tough old ladies,’’ she said in an interview.

Thirty-eight WASPS were killed in service in World War II. But they were long considered civilians, not members of the military.

They were only afforded veteran status in 1977 after a long fight. It’s estimated that about 300 of the more than 1,000 WASPs are still alive.

The gold medals were presented at a special ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C A day earlier, the women participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Memorial.

Collectors could buy 3-inch and 1.5-inch bronze reproductions of the medal for $38 and $3.75, respectively, starting March 26, on the U.S. Mint Web site at www.usmint.gov/catalog.

Source: numismaticnews.net

Change needed as Argentina coin shortage grows

Despite Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s promise more than a year ago to introduce electronic bus tickets in Buenos Aires, the vast majority of the capital’s bus lines still only accepts coins. This would not be such a big deal if not for the fact that Argentina has had a coin shortage for more than three years. The crisis has turned normally mundane tasks – like buying a newspaper or a snack – into a big hassle. There are various theories about the origin of the crisis. Some claim people are hoarding coins because inflation is making the metal worth more than the coins’ face value. Bus companies run side businesses selling change to companies for a fee, and a black market in coins has sprung up. Government advertisements urge people not to hoard. It may simply be a sign of exasperation, but people here seem to agree that the situation is getting worse. People like Estefania Franceschi, a journalist, is fed up with being offered candies instead of change. “Banks only give you up to 10 pesos in coins," explains Daniela Zeitune, a psychologist. "You can get change at the main train station, too, but if you’re working, you simply don’t have time to join the long queues.” Zeitune's husband, a doctor, has befriended the man who services the vending machines at his hospital, and so he often gets a fresh batch of coins. The situation is also leaving buskers and the homeless short-changed. Alita Casal, a postgraduate student, says, “People sometimes hesitate handing coins to street musicians and beggars because they are afraid to run out.” Some enterprising performers now offer change back to passersby. Though one Chinese-owned supermarket chain has come up with an innovative solution – giving out vouchers whenever they run out of coins – it is clear that Buenos Aires is in need of a lot more change.

Source: csmonitor.com

Market Indicators That Signal Gold and Silver Price Jumps

For many years, there have been potential buyers of gold and silver who have sat on the sidelines, waiting for “the right time to buy.” In my experience, most of these people never do get around to actually jumping into the market. Those who eventually do will often wait so long that they end up buying only after the market has seen a major rise.

To help these fence-sitters, let me share some market indicators that I have observed for over 30 years as being reliable clues that prices will soon rise by significant percentages.

Several of these clues have to do with identifying whether the market is experiencing significant shortages of physical metals.

In the silver market, there are two indicators that need to be flashing warning signals at the same time. One is the price relative to melt value that wholesalers are paying to purchase US 90% silver coins. Refiners have to purchase these coins at least two percent below their melt value in order to profitably refine them to sell as pure silver. If the wholesalers are paying more than 98% of the melt value of the coins, this major potential supply of silver will not be melted down and refined, causing supplies to tighten. If the wholesalers are paying less than 98% of the melt value, that means refiners can profitably purchase the coins to melt and refine, causing physical silver supplies to increase.

The other silver indicator is the difference between the London market silver spot price and the New York COMEX silver spot price. For a bar to be deliverable on the London exchange, it has to be refined to a minimum of .9999 purity. Bars for COMEX delivery need only be .999 pure, which is not acceptable for delivery in London. The London Bullion Market Exchange is the world’s largest physical silver market. Very large orders for physical silver are almost all transacted in London.

The London market is where Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway bought its 129.7 million ounces of silver in the late 1990s. When Buffet demanded delivery instead of holding paper contracts, there simply were not enough silver inventories on the London exchange to fill the order. To obtain sufficient silver, those who sold to Buffet bought huge quantities of COMEX silver, sent it to the refiners to be refined to the higher purity, and shipped it to bonded warehouses in London. As the delivery deadline neared, Buffet let the sellers off the hook (at a ransom of about 50 cents per ounce {when silver was about $7 per ounce} for a six month delivery extension, I heard), the London silver spot rose to a premium of about 37 cents per ounce higher than on the New York COMEX.

According to the best information I have, in large quantities it would cost 8-10 cents per ounce to refine COMEX silver to the higher purity standard and get it air-shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to London.

Currently, wholesalers are paying about 99% of melt value for US 90% silver coin, which means that this source of physical silver is not available to refiners. However, the London silver spot price is only about three cents above the COMEX spot, which means there is no urgent shortage of physical silver in London. Conclusion—the price of silver is not set to explode in price immediately. When both of these indicators turn positive, though, watch out.

In the gold market, perhaps the most important indicators are the degree to which the price of gold can be suppressed and how quickly it recovers. In years past, it was possible for the US government, through its trading partners, to almost invisibly knock down the price of gold by 10-20%, where it would often take at least three months to recover. In such circumstances, it was obvious that the price of gold was not going to explode upward.

Compare that experience to the gold market since early December 2009. The price of gold dropped barely 5% at the most extreme from the early December all-time highs. Even this limited decline was only accomplished by ever more blatant manipulation tactics—think of the statement by the International Monetary Fund that it would sell almost 200 tons of gold “on the market” and the decision by the Federal Reserve to raise an overnight bank lending rate by 50% (from 0.5% to 0.75%) as two glaring examples.

Three consecutive days last week, the price of gold was almost instantly knocked down 1-2% (a pattern rarely observed in freely traded commodity markets) at the key times of manipulation: upon the open of the London market, or right after the London PM fix was set shortly after the New York commodity markets opened, and right after the COMEX closes. Yet, the price of gold quickly recovered almost all lost ground as new buyers jumped in to snap up gold at the bargain price. This pattern of a 1-2% drop in the gold price in the space of a few minutes is about as obvious a sign of manipulation as there is.

Conclusion—the extreme volatility of gold price swings in the past few weeks indicates a significant possibility that the price of gold will soon rise by 5-20% (or more).

There is one more indicator to watch that could signal imminent near term jumps in gold and silver prices. If the interest rate yield on 10-year US Treasury debt tops 4%, that would be a sign that investors are becoming extremely worried about near term inflation. In fact, that would indicate that investors are concerned enough about inflation to overcome the hundreds of billions of dollars that the US government’s has spent in recent months to hold down this key interest rate. The interest rate nearly reached 4% last December, but has been heavily manipulated every week since. If investor fears overcome the US government’s financial might, the prices of gold and silver will be off to the races.

There are many more indicators used by other analysts that I also examine, but these are some key basic ones that I have found to be of more significance than others. You are welcome to use them for your own profit.

Source: coinupdate.com

Klitschkos to 'flip coin' to fight Haye

The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, will flip a coin to see who fights Briton David Haye in an attempt to unify the world heavyweight titles.

The Ukrainian Klitschkos hold three of the four recognized heavyweight titles, with WBA champion Haye, who fights John Ruiz on April 3, a constant thorn in their side.

Vitali, the older of the brothers at 38, has now admitted that Haye is firmly on the radar for both fighters, although as yet they do not know who will face him.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards in Abu Dhabi, Vitali said: "I told my brother, 'I want to fight Haye', but he said no, he wants to fight him.

"For him it is personal, but for me I want the title. My brother already has two but I have to clear it with him. I really hope he listens to his older brother.

"Always you need motivation and the motivation is to have all the titles in the family. Everyone wants to see a unification. Champion against champion. Haye has the choice, one of the brothers Klitschko.

"I'll tell Haye it's easier to beat me, because I'm older and I don't have as much energy as my brother. I keep my fingers crossed that he beats Ruiz. Not because I like him, but I want his title and to shut his mouth.

"Maybe we decide by coins who fights him. Let's hope my brother listens to me. He must always respect old people.

Klitschko also confirmed that he will defend his WBC title against London-based Pole Albert Sosnowski on May 29 in Gelsenkirchen.
Sosnowski has stepped in to take the fight after former WBA champion Nikolai Valuev, who lost his title to Haye last year, turned down a reported $2.5m to fight Klitschko -- a decision that resulted in the Ukrainian called the giant Russian a "chicken".

Source: cnn.com

Time to Put Coins on Your Banking Radar

There is movement online urging Americans to take their money out of big bad banks and put it into nice small(er) local banks. However you might feel about this particular movement, it is an understandable one in the aftermath of the near financial collapse of the country.

It would certainly behoove collectors to find institutions that are collector friendly and to do their business with such banks. The question is how do you go about finding them?

Some banks do go out of their way to keep up with the latest Lincoln cents or dollar coin issues. Some banks do not mind when collectors make inquiries about new coins. I receive e-mails and letters about this from time to time.

Unfortunately, not all banks are helpful. In fact, most banks are probably downright hostile to the idea of collectors getting new issues from them. My volume of e-mails on this topic seems to bear this out. Just look at the Buzz page for the latest poll results about whether banks are making enough of an effort to obtain the new 2010 cents with the Union shield.

I understand that getting coins is a banking activity that incurs a cost that must be covered by the banks in the normal course of business and most collectors probably don’t generate the fees from this type of service that a coin-using business would.

While this may be strictly true, and I certainly believe it is, I also believe that that isn’t necessarily the right way to do the accounting.

If all banking amounted to was providing coins to people, then banks certainly would need to recover their costs on every coin supplying transaction. However, as you know from your own experience of banking, processing coins is just a tiny piece of the larger picture.

Supplying new coins could be considered a service to depositors who have checking accounts, certificates of deposit, perhaps consumer loans, or gasp, even a mortgage. Coins are just a tiny part of a relationship.

Attempting to persuade bankers to see this is probably not worth the effort. Finding bankers out there who already believe this seems to me to be a more worthwhile task. They are out there.

But that means collectors themselves need to put bank coin services on their radar. Many collectors who asked for new cents from banks in 2009 had probably never asked their bank for coins before.

Dealers who handle rolls and bags of coins have long-standing relationships cultivated over many years. The average collector, if he ever had such a banking relationship, probably let it slip long ago.

I certainly did. I had such a relationship with a small Iowa bank when I had my paper route in the 1960s and was actively searching change to fill Whitman albums.

It probably was no accident that the institution was small and it was in a small town. When I moved to a larger city in Wisconsin, the financial institutions were much less friendly. I didn’t push the coin matter. Maybe now is time for collectors to push the coin matter and cultivate banking relationships that will satisfy them for years to come.

Source: numismaster.com