Latest RCM $20 for $20 Silver Coin Features Snowman!

The Royal Canadian Mint has started accepting orders for the latest release within their “$20 for $20″ silver coin program, which offers a 99.99% pure silver coin for its legal tender face value of $20.

Canadian Snowman $20 Silver Coin

The reverse design for the new coin features a fanciful interpretation of a snowman. He is pictured within a snowdrift wearing a winter scarf and hat completed with a carrot nose and broad smiling mouth. 

His spindly arms made of sticks help him to take part in the great winter tradition of the snowball fight. The design is by Jesse Koreck. Inscriptions read “Canada 2014″, “Fine Silver Argent Pur 9999″, and the denomination of “20 Dollars”.

On the obverse of each coin is the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II designed by Susanna Blunt. Inscriptions include “Elizabeth II” and “D G Regina”.

Each coin is struck in 99.99% pure silver and carries a specimen quality finish. The weight is 7.96 grams and the diameter is 27 mm with a serrated edge. 

A maximum mintage of 200,000 coins has been established with an ordering limit of three coins per household. The coins are priced at their legal tender face value of $20 each with free ground shipping.

http://news.coinupdate.com/latest-rcm-silver-coin-features-snowman-4515/

Silver & Gold Searches Spark Discoveries!

FLORENCE – Brad Karoleff, the 2013 recipient of the American Numismatic Association Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year Award, shared the history of the search for silver coins starting with Columbus sailing for the west in 1492.

Numismatic expert Brad Karoleff shares coin lore with Florence Rotary Club

Karoleff, partner with Coins Plus in Florence, spoke during the Sept. 15 luncheon meeting of the Florence Rotary Club.

Twenty years after Columbus, Cortez conquered the Aztecs by partnering with the Mexicans who were subservient to the Aztecs. The Mexicans rebelled with Cortez and took Mexico City which housed great palaces and pyramids.

The next explorer, Frances Pizarro, headed south to meet with the Incas in Peru which coincidentally was at a time when the country was in upheaval after the conclusion of a civil war. 

He conquered the Incas and took the gold for his country. In the meantime, he gives his brothers a reward land, one of which contained the mountain of Potosi which is one of the richest silver mines in the world.

The sailors headed north with their gold, passing through Panama and start heading back to Spain. The Plate Fleet head around the Florida, run into a hurricane and 12 of 13 ships sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Many other ships were successful in heading back, but English state-sponsored pirates intercepted a number of the Spanish ships. Nelson was one of these pirates who intercepted one of the largest ships in the East Indies. When he returned to England, he was given the title of Lord Admiral Nelson.

Many of these coins have been recovered and Karoleff had a few of them on display for the Rotarians to examine.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/florence/2014/10/04/silver-gold-searches-spark-discoveries/16737625/

25th Anniversary of the Canadian Space Agency!

The year 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)—the organization that oversees Canada’s leading-edge space program and fuels the nation’s space industry. 

 1 oz. Fine Silver Coin - 25th Anniversary of the Canadian Space Agency

The Royal Canadian Mint proudly celebrates this milestone with a unique fine silver coin featuring an achromatic hologram that brings the CSA’s work to life.

Only the second achromatic hologram coin produced by us! This new style of hologram creates a 3-dimensional illusion for you. Don’t be disappointed, hurry and order yours today!

Special features: 

•  Celebrate the founding of the organization that leads Canada’s space program!

•  Your coin is only the second achromatic hologram coin produced by the RCM! This new style of hologram creates a 3-dimensional illusion for the viewer.
 

•  Struck on 99.99% pure silver, your coin is special commemorative coin features on its reverse a  full-colour achromatic hologram that presents a Canadian astronaut floating high above the distant Earth. 

It's anchored to a foot restraint on Canadarm2, one of the CSA’s landmark technological developments, installed on the International Space Station. The hologram lends exciting depth and movement to the design.
 

•  Your coin is GST/HST exempt with a limited worldwide mintage.

Design:
Your coin features an achromatic hologram image of a Canadian astronaut floating weightlessly above the Earth. 

The astronaut is anchored to a foot restraint on Canadarm2, which bears the Canada Wordmark. In the distance we see the cloud-mottled blue surface of Earth, backed by the black depths of space. 

The hologram lends depth and movement to the design; the astronaut seems to float above the Earth.

Packaging:
Your coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint-branded maroon clamshell with graphic beauty box.

http://www.mint.ca/store/coins/1-oz.-fine-silver-coin-25th-anniversary-of-the-canadian-space-agency-mintage-10000-2014-prod2180036#.VC5Y-fldWXg

The Canadian Mint's Answer To The American Eagle!

Two years after the Silver American Eagle coin was issued in 1986, the Royal Canadian Mint issued their own version of a silver bullion coin that offered a higher purity. 

 1oz Silver Maple Leaf

The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is the official bullion coin of Canada and boasts a .9999 fine silver purity prized by collectors and investors alike.

Like its gold counterpart, the Silver Maple Leaf has a simple yet elegant design of a sharp looking five pointed maple leaf on the obverse and the familiar face of Queen Elizabeth II on the reverse.

The white glow of the higher silver content makes this coin shine brilliantly under any lighting and emphasizes the fine detailing on the maple leaves.

A fun fact is that different dates, most notably 1996 and 1997, have value that far exceeds their bullion price due to very limited mintage those years. 

To combat counterfeiting, new savvy security features were added to the 2014 design including complex radial lines and a micro-engraved laser mark. 

The Silver Maple Leaf makes a great alternative to the Silver American Eagle if you are looking to save a little money in premiums but still want a very pure silver bullion coin.

Silver Maple Leaf coins are available individually, in tubes of 25, or boxes of 500. We give discounts based on quantity.

http://rrbi.co/1-oz-canadian-silver-maple-leaf-2

Fort Moultrie To Be Featured On Coin!

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND - Fort Moultrie is about to be made of something richer than any other park in South Carolina. 

An image from the history of the iconic national park at the tip of Charleston harbor will be minted onto quarter coins in 2016. As a bonus, a number of "investment coins" will be minted, three-inch discs of fine silver. Those coins now sell for about $225 each.

      The Design Rendering Of Sgt William Jasper To Be Featured On Some Quarter Coins In 2016

Sgt. William Jasper waving the Palmetto flag was picked by a U.S. Mint citizens committee earlier this week. Gary Marks, committee chairman, called it a depiction of an iconic moment in the classic 1776 Revolutionary War victory that immortalized the fort.

"We felt it was a heroic rendering of Sgt. Jasper," said Marks, a Lebanon, Ore., medallic artist.

"It's a great recognition, and 2016 will be the centennial celebration of the National Park Service," said Park Superintendent Tim Stone. "Sometimes Fort Moultrie gets in the shadows of Fort Sumter. But a whole lot of history took place here."

The Fort Moultrie coins will be among five national park or site designs issued for 2016 as part of the America the Beautiful series started in 2010. All told, 56 America the Beautiful designs will be issued, one from each state or territory. The designs appear on the reverse side of the coin; the obverse side still depicts George Washington.

In that furious 1776 battle, nine British warships pounded the fort for more than nine hours trying to seize Charleston, the largest town and maybe the most significant seaport south of Philadelphia. Among them, the ships stacked nearly 300 cannons and touched off some 32,000 pounds of gunpowder in the fight.

The fort, not yet even fully built, had only 30 guns. But it also had two walls of spongy palmetto logs with a 16-foot-wide packing of sand between them. Cannonballs bounced off.

In an attempt to humiliate and demoralize the Patriots, the British shot down their flag - a dishonor, because striking the colors was a sign of surrender. 

The intrepid Sgt. Jasper leaped the walls, grabbed the flag out of a ditch in the sand, defiantly waved it at the British and jammed it back up on a ramming staff.

The battle took place just as the founders gathered in Philadelphia to debate and eventually sign the Declaration of Independence, and the victory likely boosted the confidence of the signers.

Col. William Moultrie, the fort commander, designed the flag, which featured the distinctive crescent "moon" now a part of the state flag. But the "moon" might actually have been the silver crescent emblem worn by the 2nd South Carolina Regiment that defended the fort. It's still debated.

Fort Moultrie was chosen as the site to be depicted by then-governor Mark Sanford, a Sullivan's Island resident at the time. Marks said he expected final approval of the design to be made before the end of the year.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140925/PC16/140929562/1177/fort-moultrie-to-be-featured-on-coin

Collecting Old Chinese Silver Coins Can Be Daunting!

Collecting old Chinese silver coins can be a daunting task. There are so many counterfeits out there that the values of professionally graded and slabbed coins are being driven through the roof.

Collectors are afraid of buying a pig in a poke, so to speak, and would rather pay up for a graded, genuine specimen than risk a smaller sum of money and perhaps end up with a fake coin. 

 China Yunnan Province 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar) 1908

7 mace, 2 candareens in the Chinese weight system is equal to the amount of silver used in one dollar of the time. The denomination was designed with this in mind, and the coins are listed as dollars in some catalogs. 

Genuine coins weigh 26.8 grams and measure 39 mm in diameter. They are struck in 0.900 pure silver, not sterling, which is 0.925. The Chinese inscriptions read 'Yün-nan Sheng Tsao' and 'Kuang-hsü Yüan-pao'. Kuang-hsü was the ruler at the time.

Worn: $50 US dollars approximate catalog value
Average circulated: $250
Well preserved: $600
Fully uncirculated: $3000

The coin in our picture comes from Stack's Bowers and Ponterio where it sold for $1200 US dollars in a 2014 auction. CoinQuest thanks Stack's Bowers and Ponterio for use of their coin image. I like the toning!

There are so many counterfeits of these (and similar) coins on the market that one must take extreme care when dealing with these coins. Only buy from dealers you know and trust.

 Ebay is not a good source for these coins. See for example this entry on ForgeryNetwork which shows a counterfeit 7 mace 2 candareens struck in real silver.

Damaged coins will be worth much less than the values noted above. Please visit our Important Terminology page found at the top left in order to properly interpret these catalog values.

http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=17910

Fall Of The Berlin Wall Silver Coin Issued By The Republic of Palau!

The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the beginning of the German Reunification. The decisive factor enabling the reunification was the support of the Soviet Union’s head of state. 25 years later, the historic event is remembered on this Palauan coin. 

Fall Of The Berlin Wall Silver Coin Issued By The Republic Of Palau

It’s been designed by Coin Invest Trust with brand new 3D laser technology to produce a latent image on the coin surface. From different angles, the Fall of the Berlin Wall Silver Coin renders visible the two major protagonists from 1989: Helmut Kohl and Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 belongs into the category of historical events whose significance can never be overrated. 

It was the turning point at which the Cold War ended and the reunification of the two German states began. Two men were the driving forces behind the developments. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Since 1985, Gorbachev had been reforming the communist Eastern states under the slogan of «Glasnost» (transparency) and «Perestrojka» (reorganisation). 

By granting the Eastern Bloc greater autonomy, he signalled the West that he was welcoming change. Helmut Kohl, who was hoping for a reunification like so many other German politicians, was able to turn these signals into concrete concessions for a reunified Germany. 

Unlike in 1953, the peaceful demonstrations of discontent citizens were not put down violently. Instead, the two statesmen advanced the reunification of FRG and GDR and in this context emerged Kohl’s ten-point agenda, which he presented during a speech to the German Bundestag in 1989.

In 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his active involvement in promoting the reunification. He in turn nominated Helmut Kohl for this distinction in 2007.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, as a united effort of both these men, is vividly captured on this commemorative coin thanks to technological sophistication: both portraits are united in one latent image, which, from different angles, shows Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl individually.

http://www.coinweek.com/coins/commemoratives/fall-berlin-wall-silver-coin-issued-republic-palau/