Numismatic Blog and News Headlines - October 21, 2008

Four numismatic articles are referenced on CoinNews every Tuesday and Thursday. These articles are not authored by us, but we recommend collectors read them for their unusual or interesting content. Have you written or know of an article that should be highlighted on CoinNews? Please let us know! Here are today’s articles:

Silver bullion provides collectors with opportunities
By Paul Gilkes, COIN WORLD

Silver bullion is bought and sold in various forms for a multitude of reasons including investment, collecting, diversifying assets or as a hedge against inflation. What form of silver bullion to buy is a common question among those thinking about acquiring quantities of the metal. According to GoldPrice.org (online at www.goldprice.org), silver bullion is marketed as silver nuggets; bars, wafers and rounds; and as coins.

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Coins Stay Strong as Stock Market Routed
By David L. Ganz, Numismatic News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average October plummet and the worldwide consequences of Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy and its stock going from a 52-week high of more than $50 to a low of about eight cents a share, has brought unparalleled activity in the numismatic market. It has also in the face of wild price swings made rare coins appear to be the pillar of stability.

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Design Extensions Puzzle Variety Experts
By Susan Headley, About.com: Coins

Leading variety coin experts have been puzzled for several years by a type of minting process error called "design extension." Design extension, an example of which is pictured here, appears in the form of "trails" that extend from design elements on the subject coin. This phenomenon has also been called "die trails" and is often found on pennies that exhibit "wavy steps."

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State of the Mayhem — oops, I mean Market
By John Feigenbaum, John Feigenbaum’s Ramblings

It’s been a while since my last posting but I’ve been doing my best to observe the external markets to pass on some worthwhile perspective on how the financial crisis is affecting the coin hobby/industry/investment market. For starters, it does feel as though we’ve been relatively insulated from the major vicissitudes of the market swings. Coin values have remained steady throughout the past month or so (and they were quite healthy before) but I do expect…

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