Numismatic News April 29, 2025

Anyone following the market in recent weeks has endured some serious whiplash. The price of precious metals, recently driven downward by the implementation of tariffs, is experiencing gyrations that make tracking the value of one’s coins difficult. Simply put, volatility makes pricing harder, as the values of many world coins (and even U.S. coins) are primarily driven by their precious metals content. This could open doors for arbitrage but also leave you catching a falling knife or taking a bath. From mid-March to April 1, 2025, gold and silver especially kept making forward strides. In the days leading up to the publication of this column, we locked in new baseline prices for all four metals listed at NumisMaster. Silver was priced at $30.50 an ounce, with gold exactly 100 times…

Here are some answers sent from our e-newsletter readers. Read more responses at www.numismaticnews.net. Is collectible cryptocurrency here to stay? Why or why not? Not for me, but if a lot of collectors do, it could be worth it as an investment. Name and Address withheld I absolutely think it is here to stay. As long as Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies have value, having a collectible tangible cryptocurrency coin in your hands makes perfect sense. Michael Barr Address withheld Personally, I see the prices being paid for these coins, and I think it’s insane. Somewhere, there are tulips to be bought-(if you know what tulip mania was in Holland in the 16th century) I personally would never spend a penny on it as I still think it’s a sham. Roy…

This is my total year of coin roll hunting finds for the calendar year of 2024. I regularly hunt, on average, $1,000 per week of primarily customer-returned rolls of nickels, dimes, quarters, and halves. This is the list of finds for the year, seven rolls of various dates of NIFC halves, 30 90 percent silver 1964 Kennedy halves, 13 Franklin halves, one Walking Liberty half, 170 40 percent silver halves, six 1987 halves, one 1987 proof half, 20 proof halves, five silver Washington quarters, seven 2019 W quarters, seven 2020-W quarters, seven proof quarters, 10 S-Mint NIFC quarters, 12 “In God We Rust” error quarters, eight 2021 Washington crossing Delaware small crown die chip quarters, three 2021 Washington cross Delaware Full bird’s nest crown die chip quarters, one silver Canadian…

■ Hawaii’s first domestic coinage was the 1847 cent. Why was it the only denomination struck? In 1846, the Hawaiian legislature passed a bill for “a currency of the Hawaiian Islands” valued on the U.S. model of 100 cents to a dollar while retaining the Spanish denominations of the dollar, its half, quarter, eight, and sixteenth. The legislation made no provision for minting anything beyond the cent or keneta. Merchants were prejudiced against these cents, ultimately ensuring they wouldn’t circulate. ■ Who produced Hawaii’s 1847 keneta coins? The Hawaiian government paid $869.56 for 100,000 keneta, or cent, coins from H.M & E. I Richards in Attleboro, Mass. The Richards company was a jewelry firm likely best remembered for producing Hard Times tokens. The Hawaiian Treasury still had 88,000 unissued keneta…

Maryland’s numismatic and bullion community now faces a significant shift after both chambers of the state legislature passed House Bill 352, the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2025. Included in the budget is a provision repealing the sales-tax exemption for precious-metal bullion and coin purchases over $1,000, with an exception retained for events held at the Baltimore Convention Center. With the legislative session adjourned on April 7, the bill now heads to Governor Wes Moore for review. The Governor has until May 27, 2025, to sign or veto the legislation. Barring a veto, the repeal will take effect July 1, 2025, once again subjecting numismatic and bullion transactions to Maryland’s 6 percent sales tax. Previously safeguarded under Statute 11-214.1(b) of the 2024 Maryland Tax Code, the exemption was one…

A Condition Census 1796 Quarter Dollar, B-1, MS61 PCGS from the Frost Collection sold for $168,000 to lead Heritage’s April 3-6 US Coins Signature® Auction to $6,826,524. The example in this auction was from the rarer B-1 variety of the coveted coin. “This is an exceptional coin that comes from a low mintage, and survivors in Mint State are few and far between,” says Todd Imhof, Executive Vice President at Heritage Auctions. “The B-1 variety is even more elusive than the B-2, and this coin is one of the top half dozen examples.” A 1915 Indian Eagle, PR66 NGC, one of just 75 proof examples struck in 1915 by the Philadelphia Mint, achieved $117,000. The surviving population has been estimated by John Dannreuther as 40-45 pieces, while NGC and PCGS…