1. Coins play significant role in murder investigation

Last week, a feature from Dateline, NBC's long-running true-crime documentary series, investigated the murder of a coin-collecting couple from Springfield, Mo.

The slain couple, Gary and Jan Tyrell, were avid coin collectors who gathered thousands of coins and were also collectors of other items, including decorative tusks. 

A bag of coins, valued at $1,210 face, and $18,351 in melted materials, proved to be key when discovering who committed the crime.

“Kelly Edington was working at his desk inside his shop, R&K Coins in Springfield, when a guy holding a large tub of coins walked in,” NBC’s Dennis Murphy reports in the segment.

The man who walked into R&K was an avid coin collector himself, whose role in the crime proved to be significant.

We'll let Murphy and Dateline tell the rest of the story. 

2. 'Hell money' confiscated in Detroit

More than $4.5 million in notes printed on paper that is specifically meant to be burnt, most often as an a offering to the deceased in what is a common ritual in Asian cultures, was recently confiscated by U.S. Customs in Detroit's airport. 

Read the bizarre story.

3. Nothing but time

Time is the theme of a new colorful coin out of Austria.

“The ringed-bimetallic €25 coin is the newest issue in an annual series that features heat-treated niobium to offer color on the coin.”

Have a look. 

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5.  Precious metals pricing

Kitco.com lists the following prices per ounce Tuesday at 5:22 p.m. ET:

• Gold: $1,231.70
• Silver: $14.805

6. Hot topics

Check out three interesting stories from the last couple of days:

1. U.S. palladium coin moving closer to reality for collectors
2. Patience pays off with Jefferson 5-cent pieces: Found in Rolls
3. Variants on reverses of 1972 Jefferson 5¢ coins: Making Moderns

7. Something Social