Archive for July 2011
Gmail | Email Intervention | This is Great!
Here video that I should send out to my friends and family at one point or another. Let the intervention begin!
500 Ounces Of Gold Can Buy You Scenic, South Dakota
I love the legacy of Deadwood, and just think there is now a town in South Dakota that is available for just 500 ounces of gold. Who would have thought that you could be your own Seth Bullock or Al Swearengen. What an opportunity this would be to really own a town in the west! Included are a saloon, a working jail, and gallery of the Wild Wild West. I would only hope to own my own place like this!
B.E.P. | Monthly Production Reports | Eastern & Western Facilities May 2011
Either I’m slipping or I didn’t get an email from the B.E.P. these past couple of months, I would bet on the latter. But I’m not here to let you down, so here are the production numbers for May. The total for the Eastern Currency Facility is $11,552,000,000, with 99,529,000 total $100 notes produced, including 320,000 $100 star notes. The total for the Western Currency Facility is $812,800,000, all being just $1 and $5 notes. The yearly total dollar amount printed by the B.E.P. comes to $58,614,879,979. The amount of $100 notes being produced at the Eastern Facility is amazing to say the least. If I were to make an educated guess, I would say that the large production of $100 notes is from the faulty production and delayed release of The New $100 Note. As always, keep in mind I don’t have any figures for the currency that is retired and shredded.
The Official U.S. Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Coin Album
Pack your bags for an unforgettable road trip to some of the most awe-inspiring national parks and sites in our Nation! Discover why America is truly a land of beauty and splendor with the official United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Coin Album! This sturdy album is an excellent way to learn about the interesting history of each site featured in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program and showcase your quarter collection! Order today for only $9.95!.
Image/Text: U.S. Mint
CoinSecure | CP-16 CoinAnalyzer
I met with Richard Haddock, the president and founder of CoinSecure while I was in California. This is the technology behind the PCGS Secure Plus service, which is part of a long time battle to merge art and science in the numismatic world. The CP-16 CoinAnalyzer is the closest thing that has ever come to accomplishing this feat. The device has automatic coin imaging with computerized lighting, meaning the machine will take a perfect picture of the obverse and reverse of a coin. It analyzes and records unique coin patterns. And last but not least, it will record a digital CoinPrint; which identifies coin matches to a CoinPrint database. Like everything you might not like change, but you have to embrace it. Coin counterfeiting and doctoring has become a real problem these days. The CP-16 has some real world applications not just with rare coins, but maybe a collector coin should have its digital CoinPrint taken before it even leaves the mint. This can also create a historic pedigree of each registered coin, allowing ownership records of key coins to be traced for future generations of collectors. Just as you feel safe when you buy a graded/sealed coin, in a few years I tend to believe you will want to know your coins unique pattern is safely secured in a central database.
Abuse | Creates Direct Ship Restrictions.
This U.S. Mint has implemented certain restrictions on its Direct Ship Program due to abuse. It seems certain reward hungry people have been buying these coins on credit cards with reward programs and then returning coins to local banks. Local banks, in turn, returned coins to the Federal Reserve. This defeats the whole purpose of the program, because those coins never make it into circulation, thus not promoting use of the dollar coins. You can still take advantage of the program with a wire transfer, check, or money order. Well it doesn’t surprise me, a few people always ruin it for the rest of us!
Photo: U.S. Mint
1933 Double Eagle Seizure Upheld
The seizure of ten rare 1933 Double Eagles by the U.S. Government was upheld by a federal jury this past week. The coins which are worth tens of millions of dollars were taken from the U.S. Mint back in 1933 in a scheme plotted by a U.S. Mint cashier and jeweler Israel Switt. The family found the coins in a safe deposit box after Switt’s death. “The verdict has vindicated the fact that the coins are national numismatic treasures that belong to all Americans,” according to an official statement from the Mint. The fate of the coins is still undecided, but they will remain at the United states Bullion Depository at Fort Knox until such decisions are made.
Making the 2 Euro Coin
Here we have an interesting video on the making of the 2 Euro coin. Europe has gone in a different direction with their coining process, using bi-metal configurations to prevent counterfeiting. The Euro is the reigning king when it come to monetary values. I look forward to the day when the greenback retakes the title!
Safe Find | BROWN SAFE
Little did I know there was a rise, fall, then a rise again of manufacturers of quality safes in the United States. I have done many posts on the quality safes that were made here in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Names like Victor, Cary, and Herring-Hall-Marvin were made in the U.S.A., and built to last. Then came the import assault. An influx of highly affordable and very poorly built safes imported primarily from China. This rapidly put most American safe builders out of business. But the strong survive, and the Brown Safe Company was just that. Founded in 1980 it has grown into the premier safe and vault company providing worldwide security solutions. These safes and vault doors are first class!
Five More Reasons to attend the World’s Fair of Money
Visit any of the links above at The 2011 Chicago World’s Fair of Money.
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