Archive for May, 2007
As an alternative form of storage or display you can always keep your coins in plastic coin tubes. No long-term use of PVC based products should be your goal here, although short-term use is acceptable.
As the name implies what you’ll be getting are coin tubes of a certain size in which you can store your coins. What you do here is load your coins in one at a time until the coin tubes or the roll becomes filled up.
Since, as you can imagine, it might be a bit difficult to look at your coins when they’re placed in this fashion, you should only use it if you’re not going to want to look at your coins all the time. If and when you do want to take a peek at them, you’ll have to take the coins out one by one.
This is of course not a problem if the coin you want is somewhere near the top, but what happens if it’s nearer the bottom than the top? You’ll have to empty the whole coin tubes of coins to get to it and do it in manner which won’t damage them by rough and tumble handling.
I don’t use this type of storage very often since it’s very difficult to get to the coins all the time. But it does however, have its advantages and the fact that you can bundle all your coins into compact coin tubes does save you on lots of space.
Also the fact that you can put in your whole collection, or most of it anyway, of Lincoln cents is a great advantage. Having gone to all the trouble of collecting the best coins I could lay my hands on, the last thing I want to do is to put them in a cloth bag or a cookie jar or some such thing.
As for placing them in display folders, can you imagine the space I’d need if I was to put every single last cent, nickel, dime and quarter I had collected over the years in display albums? I’d barely have room to walk! Okay, so that was a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the drift, right?
Besides, if you don’t want to take your coins out all the time and look at them, then the coin tubes are also good in that, if you pack it to full capacity the coins will stay locked in one place without giving in to the urge to move around.
About the Author
Muna wa Wanjiru is a web administrator and has been researching and reporting on internet marketing for years. For more information on coin tubes, visit his site at coin tubes
May 26th, 2007
I’m fairly fascinated with US gold coins and their history, unfortunately for me it’s a fairly expensive hobby as well as being a fascinating one. I do persevere though as much as I can and try to get my hands on as many gold coins as my budget allows me to! Gold has been used in some form or other throughout the history of the world in many ways and in many forms. From simple gold nuggets to US gold coins to gold bars and even gold biscuits, gold has literally made the world go around.
At least that was the case for mass circulation up until very recently in the twentieth century. At which point I’m afraid that gold was taken out of the loop as a means of daily monies and replaced with other things such as copper, nickel and paper. And whereas with gold it was the intrinsic value that was taken into account when any trading was done, with paper money, it’s the promise of the value to be paid by the government that makes this particular world turn around.
It’s an interesting idea and one which bears further exploration, especially if you’re more into the numismatics side if things instead of solely into coin collecting. And yes, that was a mouthful of a word and I hope you’ll forgive me for throwing it around! However, it needed to be said, and if you don’t feel up to getting your mouth around it I suggest you leave it for now. Even now, after hearing the word spoken and having read and written about it, I still find it hard to get my tongue around it with any sort of dignity.
If I don’t give it due consideration before I speak - the word, not the actual practice of it - I find myself uttering a mouthful of utter gibberish and end up looking like a total dimwit. So take heart and don’t give up hope - if you do like the numismatic side then you have all the time in the world to learn to say it properly.
Unfortunately US gold coins were stopped being minted in 1933 during the depression era in an attempt to bring the US out of its slump. It was then made illegal for anyone to hold any gold bullion or US gold coins, and most gold coins were recalled and melted.
Luckily for the coin collector of today, there were a few hardy coins still surviving and most of these I have to say were probably lurking somewhere overseas. That leads us to where we are now with US gold coins - scarcity and rarity.
To better give you an example of what I’m talking about, a 1933 US Saint Gaudens Gold Eagle went for a whopping seven and a half million dollars. Don’t get your hopes up though, it doesn’t mean that your US gold coins will go for the same price or even a fraction of it.
What it does mean though is that some coins are still rarer than others and more in demand. US gold coins were minted until 1933 but even after the ban was lifted on gold bullion and gold coin ownership in the 1970’s no more US gold coins were minted that would go into circulation.
About the Author
Muna wa Wanjiru is a web administrator and has been researching and reporting on internet marketing for years. For more information on US Gold Coins, visit his site at US Gold Coins
May 21st, 2007
A very large and fun part of collecting coins is displaying them, and sharing this display with others to appropriately admire. The pleasure you get when you can proudly show off your collection to another person - be it another collector or not - is immense. There are many other reasons of course for displaying your coins properly, but I feel in this case at least observing the proper course of action need not be about the right thing to do of taking care of your coins.
For me at least, a very large part of collecting my coins is the ability to touch them and to see them proudly displayed. Unfortunately with the rarer and more expensive coins I can’t take them out to play and run them through my hands like water. But I can do that with some of my lesser sets and these I have to say I haven’t displayed as proudly as the others. Not for any other reason than because it’s easier to take them out of the tubes or the rolls than it is out the display albums or holders.
It’s also a great ego boost when other collectors will openly admire your work, and a properly displayed collection is the only way to get that little rush of pleasure. As with anything, you’ll find there are numerous variations on any one theme, and you can probably find just about anything to suit your tastes if you look hard enough. On my part these are the main ones that I use, and I hardly ever deviate to any of the newer varieties of display items available. Unless of course the verdicts are in and it’s found to be something that is simply amazing. And you don’t get too many of those!
The one thing that I want to mention here is to stay away from anything PVC. The catastrophes that could befall your collection are immense so stay away from anything PVC. I have to say that you should also stay away from papers that are going to react adversely with your coins. Some papers will produce an acidic compound that will eat right through to your coins and leave them in a very sorry state.
I will however reiterate that even after you have properly placed your coins for displaying, you should also look for a place to store your display cases. They shouldn’t be kept anywhere that’s going to become damp or humid, or where moisture can easily gather on the coins. You might want to think about investing in proper storage containers as well for your coins, but for my tastes that’s going further than I want to.
I put my coins in the display cases and then I place these in a place where I can be relatively certain they won’t gather any moisture, and which isn’t subject to humidity or dampness. For this timely storage place I found I owe my thanks to the advancement of technology. With the advent of the DVD into the world I was finally able to clear up some much needed space and lug my stash of videos to somewhere else.
And since I don’t need half as much space for my DVD collection as I did for my video collection, I can keep my storage boxes where I used to keep the videos! It’s all sorted out and in no time at all. Of course I wouldn’t recommend this course of action if you’ve got some really valuable coins in your collection. In which case, you might want to think about safety deposit boxes or something along those lines.
About the Author
Muna wa Wanjiru is a web administrator and has been researching and reporting on internet marketing for years. For more information on Coins, visit his site at Coins
May 15th, 2007
The thrill of this way of diversified investing is that you are actually investing using one of the oldest ways in the world-gold and silver coins. The thing is that gold for certain is one of the stablest mediums in the world. Imagine that you and Croesus the king of Lydia who lived from 595 BC and died 546 BC actually share something, a desire to store wealth through acquiring gold coins. Actually I will be talking more about coins then bullion but it is equally as financially stable to collect but doesn’t have the numismatic value of coins. So what we are looking at is an investment in a product that you can hold in your hand, has stable value and can be a hedge against severe market or especially economic downturns. Cool huh? Can you imagine getting the same thrill from a beautiful and expensive gold piece and then hold a notice of the purchase of stock. Although ones value may at that moment be more valuable than the other-for sheer awe nothing beats the feel of a gold coin. Speaking of awe at the sight of a gold coin,, my wife and I visited Charlestown, SC last month and were privileged to visit the restoration of the CSS Hunley. For those who don’t know, the CSS Hunley was the first recorded combat submarine that actually sunk a wooden hulled ship off Charleston Harbor during the war between the states. One of the recovered artifacts was a gold $20.00 piece that the owner had had at the battle of Shiloh. He had been shot in the hip the bullet hitting the coin in his pocket. The coin saved his life but was bent. The owner had a jeweler write on the coin the date and circumstances of the battle that stated that the coin saved his life.. We saw this coin 143 years later just as shiny as new but with the marks from the bullet. What do you think that a coin like that was worth? Priceless? It certainly was then to its owner . Or could you even place a price on it?
Now for anyone to find the idea of gold coin collecting as a means of diversified investing , archaic and very old fashioned let me further relate events that occurred in the 1980s, not so long ago. During the four years of President Carter one of the favorite hedges to inflation and the general instability of the economy at that time was gold coins. The coins most easily available in large lots was the Krugerrand from South Africa. I am sure that you are aware that during the height of the inflation that occurred in the Carter years, the severe rationing of gas from OPEC during that time and the economic downturn, the choice of the Smart Money Crowd was Krugerrands. They were easily available of high quality (.917 purity) and the government permitted their purchase.All though the American Government did not allow private ownership of what was termed “bullion” but did allow ownership of foreign coins this soon became an all-time favorite of many professional men and women.. The Krugerrand was first minted in about 1967 and soon fulfilled the need for a stable and easily portable one ounce coin with a purity factor of .917. Its sort of amusing to me that Paul Kruger’s likeness was on a coin which was probably made from the gold discovered at Witwatersrand in South Africa and for which he once said that the discovery ” will cause our land to be soaked in blood.” How right he was. But gold has always had that reputation. A careful check of the spot market for gold on the day this article was written shows that the bid was $662.83 and the ask was $665.63. To give you some thoughts about the stability and usefulness as a hedge against economic fears-this comment came from a precious metal trader in Europe, “if we can get above the resistance to an increase in gold prices from 667.00 it should easily run up to the $700.00s in price.” And a comment from a bank in Europe suggested that recently precious metals fell somewhat due to the quarter-end squaring by funds (that invest heavily in metals) after the metals failed to break above the resistance levels. Further the situation surrounding the incident of the seizures of the British Navy personnel by Iran continued to fuel safe-haven interests and supply concerns for crude oil should the situation escalate.” For what it is worth most analysts are bullish on the near-term effects of the bid and ask prices of gold and take the longer view that gold remains the place for the safe-haven of money during troubled times. And I might add a worthy asset to your diversified investment portfolio.
Check back if you will to this website because I am going to continue to read and write about gold, silver, platinum and palladium as havens for safe money during troubled times. A final thought or two. Ask any family in Europe whose grandparents had to flee from invading armies what is the one thing that always has worth and I suspect they would say, gold. Paper money is easily de-valuated and debased by printing without pause but gold?
About the Author
Jim Cone is a retired RN and Hospital Administrator and has an interest in investing basics. You can visit him at http://www.diversified-investor.com
May 11th, 2007
