Monthly Archives: March 2008

The cost to manufacture pennies and nickels exceeds their face value. A newly introduced House bill would change the metal composition in coins to make them profitable again.

The newly introduced bill is not a new concept. A similar bill received attention late last year. The 'Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2007' failed to get through the gates when a mini firestorm erupted. Mostly because the bill contained more than what its name implied - a provision that would allow citizens to melt pennies.

That portion of the bill proved to be controversial. Why? The U.S. Treasury implemented a ban on melting 1-cent and 5-cent coins that went into effect just months earlier with a stated objective to save money.

IRVINE, Calif. – Bowers and Merena Auctions, America's leading rare coin auction house, delighted World coin enthusiasts in Baltimore and across the globe on March 1 with an action-packed special session of World/Ancient Coins as part of their first of three Official Auctions of the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention for 2008.

The World session was the grand finale of the four-session auction that realized a total of $9,764,934 and saw more than 3,200 lots cross the auction block. The World/Ancient session realized 2,155,414.

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Queensland, Australia. The Rare Coin Company is poised to set yet another world record when it bids to acquire the very first Australian Commonwealth Banknote ever printed, the 1913 Ten Shilling note.

Rob Jackman, the Company’s founder will attend the International Auction Galleries auction at the Sofitel Hotel Gold Coast in Queensland on Sunday 9th of March 2008 from 3pm. It is estimated that the banknote is valued at $1.3 to $1.4 million dollars and that the auction will attract a number of major coin dealers and private collectors.

If successful, this will be the second time in less than four months that The Rare Coin Company has set a new world record for the price paid for an Australian banknote at public auction. In November 2007, the Company paid $1,223,250 dollars for an Australian 1924 George V One Thousand Pound banknote, which was sold at auction by Nobles Numismatics in Sydney.

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Dallas, TX. A third selection of Early Seated Proof Sets from Phil Kaufman's superlative multi-million dollar collection (1839-1858) is being auctioned by Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries in their Platinum Night Auction at the April 16-19 CSNS convention in Chicago.

"Part One of the Kaufman Collection, realizing $1,712,600, was sold at the August 2007 ANA World's Fair of Money in Milwaukee," noted Heritage President Greg Rohan, "followed by Part Two at the January 2008 FUN auction, which realized $2,590,000. Part Three, to be offered at CSNS, comprises the Seated Liberty proof coins of 1839, 1842, 1846, 1849, and 1855. The fourth and final selection will be auctioned at the Baltimore 2008 ANA World's Fair of Money."

"Mr. Kaufman is an extraordinary collector," continued Rohan. "We started selling important selections from his collections in 2002, and have successfully concluded more than a half dozen separate consignments. We are appreciative of his continued trust in Heritage."

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