A quiz: When was the first guide book of United States coins published? Most will answer “1947,” the cover date of the Red Book’s first edition. The correct answer is “1860.” In that last antebellum year, George F. Jones invented the retail price guide for American coins.
Bidding on the Missouri Curio Cabinet of Half Cents began Oct. 28 and continues to Nov. 8, in an Internet sale conducted by Heritage Auctions. The collection is offered in a special cataloged internet sale by Heritage.
The mintage limit for the 2015 First Spouse bronze medal set is unlimited. The U.S. Mint confirmed to Coin World that, nine days after sales began Sept. 21, Mint officials lifted the mintage limit. The limit was originally announced as 20,000 sets.
The Monuments Men now have a monument of their own — a congressional gold medal honoring members of the World War II military unit for their service in recovering and preserving artwork stolen by Axis personnel during the conflict.
It’s time to catch up on the week that was in numismatic insights and news. Coin World is looking back at its five most-read stories of the week, according to reader metrics. Click the links to read the stories. Here they are, in reverse order.
Heritage’s fourth and final auction of coins from the collection of Pennsylvania numismatist Eugene H. Gardner featuring duplicates, upgrades and specialty pieces not part of his core sets brought nearly $6 million on Oct. 28 in New York.
It took less than four hours for the 2015 Coin and Chronicles Set – Lyndon B. Johnson to sell out on Oct. 27. It went on sale at 12 p.m. ET, and according to the Mint, available inventory was “depleted” by 3:57 p.m. ET. The set, which is the fourth such release of 2015, features a Reverse Proof Lyndon Johnson Presidential dollar.
A number of private mints have minted tokens for commerce or medals for commemoration throughout the years. One of those mints that remains active today is the Lombardo Mint. We recently encountered one of its pieces, an aluminum medal with a Peace dollar design, and wanted to learn more. Here is what we found.
The Congressional Gold Medal was presented collectively to the Monuments Men Foundation on Oct. 22 during a ceremony in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Bronze versions of the medal are available for purchase from the U.S. Mint.
