Long before impersonators of the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan popularized the phrase “billions and billions,” coin collectors of my generation were trained by the Mint post-1965 to think in terms of of billions and billions as it poured out copper-nickel clad coins to replace silver coins and end once and for all a national coin shortage. Continue reading →

If you saw the front page, you must be aware that I have been at the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany. This was my fifth trip and I still felt like kid visiting the circus for the first time. There was so much to see. There were so many people to talk to. There were so many new coins (and old) to look at. Continue reading →

The very first response to my annual forecast column of last week has arrived. The writer disagrees with my forecast that gold will be down for the year. I expect that he isn’t alone in that opinion. I hope to receive other reactions. Continue reading →

Is it possible simply to be a collector anymore, or do you have to be a collector/investor, or worse, an investor these days to be a success in numismatics? Read this week’s Viewpoint. I can understand collectors sometimes feeling like tourists in their own land. Continue reading →

The decision to suspend production of dollar coins for circulation indirectly is kicking the props out from under the cent and the nickel because it is seigniorage from the dollar coins that is masking the large losses the U.S. Mint takes each year to strike cents and nickels. Continue reading →

Coin collecting is about as close to an eternal hobby as we are likely to see on this earth. We can count on it carrying on through the remainder of our lives. But what else would we expect of a field that has its roots in the actions of Italian princes during the Renaissance 700 years ago? Continue reading →