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Olsen 1913 Liberty Head Nickel to be Displayed At Portland National Money Show

by CoinWeek on August 21, 2009

The Olsen specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel, the most famous of five known specimens, will be displayed at the 2009 National Money Show™ in Portland, Oregon.

olsen_1913_liberty_nickelThe coin has has been graded Proof-64 by both PCGS and NGC. It has the distinction of being the only 1913 Liberty Head nickel ever handled by B. Max Mehl, who made it a centerpiece of his lifelong advertising campaign. It was also briefly owned by Egyptian King Farouk. When the set of five 1913 nickels was broken up in the 1940s, the Olsen specimen was sold first to James Kelly and then to Fred Olsen, whose name it has kept ever since.

The Olsen specimen was featured on “The $100,000 Nickel” episode of Hawaii Five-O soon after it broke the record for the most expensive coin ever sold in 1972. During the episode, the “star” coin is stolen by a thief and spends much of the episode passing from hand to hand as the human stars of the program look for it. The coin’s price doubled to $200,000 when it was purchased by Superior Galleries in 1978. It has been resold on several occasions since then, most recently fetching $3 million in June of 2004. Read the full article →

Indian Head Eagle, No Motto, 1907-1908

by CoinWeek
Indian Head Eagle, No Motto, 1907-1908

In 1907 a collaboration between the dynamic president Theodore Roosevelt and renown American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens resulted in the replacement of the previous Liberty Head design on the ten dollar gold coin. The new design featured a native American on the obverse, and a standing eagle on the reverse. The Indian was modeled after the figure of Nike (representing Victory) that was part of the Saint-Gauden’s equestrian Sherman Monument located at the entrance to New York’s Central Park, and the reverse was a representation of America’s symbol, the bald eagle.

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Museum Showcase, World Mints Headline Los Angeles World’s Fair of Money

by American Numismatic Association
1849 $20 Pattern

The American Numismatic Association’s 2009 World’s Fair of Money® gives visitors the chance to see some of the world’s most beautiful and valuable coins, interact with top numismatists, and explore one of the country’s most exciting cities. The event will be held Aug. 5-9 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and will feature more than 1,100 dealers and vendors, world-class exhibits, 15 mints from four continents and education presentations for every age and interest level.

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NCA RECOVERS NEARLY $900,000 FOR COIN CONSUMERS

by CoinWeek
Thumbnail image for NCA RECOVERS NEARLY $900,000 FOR COIN CONSUMERS

A consumer watchdog organization has recovered nearly $900,000 for buyers who paid far more for coins than they were worth.

The money represented full refunds in 16 recent disputes, according to the New Jersey-based not-for-profit group, the Numismatic Consumer Alliance, Inc. (NCA).

The consumers had purchased the coins – mostly overpriced bullion coins and other modern issues – on the basis of telemarketers’ sales pitches, NCA said. It said the Alliance was able to obtain full refunds totaling $884,769 for coins which were worth a fraction of their purchase price.

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Dave Bowers in Spotlight at PNG’s Share the Knowledge ANA Seminar

by CoinWeek
Q David Bowers

(Los Angeles, California) – Award-winning numismatic author, acclaimed researcher, well-known dealer, Q. David Bowers, chairman of Stack’s and numismatic director of Whitman Publishing LLC, will be the featured speaker at the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) Share the Knowledge seminar during the American Numismatic Association (ANA) World’s Fair of Money convention in Los Angeles.

“An Hour with Dave Bowers” is the latest in the continuing series of free PNG educational seminars for collectors and dealers being conducted at shows around the country. The program featuring Bowers will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, August 7, 2009, in room 511-B of the Los Angeles Convention Center West Hall, site of the ANA convention. A complimentary light lunch will be available for audience members.

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January 2010 George Frederick Kolbe Public Auction Sale: The Stack Family Numismatic Library

by CoinWeek
Thumbnail image for January 2010 George Frederick Kolbe Public Auction Sale: The Stack Family Numismatic Library

On January 9th, 2010, George Frederick Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books will offer for sale at public auction the remarkable numismatic library carefully assembled over seven decades by the New York numismatic firm founded by brothers Morton and Joseph and ably carried on by Norman, Benjamin, Harvey, Susan, and Lawrence Stack. For over fifty years, the fabled American portion of the library has resided in antique bookcases lining one wall of Harvey Stack’s office, and along the opposite wall as well. Other portions of the library were, for many years, located throughout the main floor of the firm’s New York City retail location

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The Ten Rarest Gold Dollars

by Doug Winter
Thumbnail image for The Ten Rarest Gold Dollars

During the last year or so, I have been working on a series of articles that discusses the ten rarest individual issues in each of the Liberty Head denominations. I haven’t done one of these articles since October 2008 when I wrote about the ten rarest Liberty Head quarter eagles.

Gold dollars are a series that is on my mind right now, especially considering I am selling a wonderful group of Type Three Proofs known as the Tri-Star Collection. This seems like a good segue into this article.

The gold dollar coinage was produced from 1849 through 1889. These are the smallest gold coins struck by the United States mints, both in terms of value and size. Coins were produced at the following mints

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NGC Ancients Grades Armenian Rarity

by CoinWeek
Thumbnail image for NGC Ancients Grades Armenian Rarity

A box of “old coins” purchased for $28.25 at an estate sale near Burlington, VT held an unexpected surprise: its contents are estimated to be worth more than $15,000 because it included one of the most important Armenian coins in existence.

It was Richard Martineit’s good fortune to be at that auction in October, 2007, where more than 1500 lots were sold in two days. One that caught his eye was lot 1597, a group of 13 coins in a box labeled “Roman & Ancient pieces.” It contained a variety of silver and base metal coins issued from the 3rd Century B.C. to the 11th Century A.D. Highlights included a Roman silver denarius of 41 B.C. with the portraits of warlords Marc Antony and Octavian, and three coins struck by Greek and Roman rulers of Egypt.

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BOWERS AND MERENA AUCTIONS REALIZES MORE THAN $4.2 MILLION IN BALTIMORE IN JUNE

by CoinWeek
Thumbnail image for BOWERS AND MERENA AUCTIONS REALIZES MORE THAN $4.2 MILLION IN BALTIMORE IN JUNE

Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, returned to Baltimore for the second time in 2009 to present the Official Auction of the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention at the Baltimore Convention Center June 10-13. The auction of the nearly 2,500 lots realized a total of $4,225,995 over three live sessions, plus the inaugural online session of the official Baltimore auction.

The standout highlight of the auction was lot 757, an 1876-CC Twenty-Cent Piece in PCGS AU-58 with a fascinating history, which realized $207,000. Believed to be one of perhaps just 12 to 20 examples known, this specimen was acquired in Virginia City, Nev., by Gold Rush “Forty-Niner” John Seagraves Pick

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