Ever since the lower house of Congress passed a bill last week mandating a change in the composition of the U.S. penny coin, the debate around coin collecting circles has been about which substances the Mint is likely to use. Note that I didn't say metal... The debate about coining material includes the obvious candidates like steel and aluminum, but it also includes space-age composites like ceramic and high-density plastics. But really, are we even asking the right question here? Shouldn't the debate be more about whether we need the penny at all anymore, rather than about what substance to make it out of?

The issues for and against continuing to produce the penny are emotional, thorny ones. After all, if the solution was simple, we would already have acted decisively, either passing a bill that mandates the penny's manufacture for another quarter century or so, or passing the bill that ends the circulating penny entirely. And don't be so sure that if the penny comes to end, that the U.S. Mint will continue striking them for mint sets and collectors. It's one thing to mark up a roll of 25 Presidential Dollars by 44% (and make an $11.00 profit,) but what is the Mint going to do with a roll of 50 pennies? Sell it for 22 cents over face value? ;)

Anyway, I did some research into the pros and cons of the penny debate, and have come up with a summary of the arguments involved on both sides. Take a look at both sides of the penny issue, and then share your thoughts via the "comments" link below.

• Should the Penny be Retired?
• Summary of the Pros and Cons of Keeping the Penny

Photo courtesy of CoinPage.com

As part of the information that has been made publicly available in the news regarding the passage of the bill to cause U.S. cents to made of steel, the Associated Press cited some figures for the current cost of minting various U.S. coins. I thought I'd pass them along as a point of interest to collectors.

Approximate Current Cost of Minting Various U.S. Coins

• Penny - 1.26 cents
• Nickel - 7.7 cents
• Dime - 4 cents
• Quarter - 10 cents
• Dollar (Coins) - 16 cents

If the steel cent bill passes the Senate as written, it is expected to cost 0.7 cents (7/10 of a cent) to make each penny. Nickels will cost under 5 cents each, but the exact amount wasn't given.

U.S. Mint Coin Production Figures

In 2007, the U.S. Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies and 1.2 billion nickels, all at a cost exceeding their face values. Under the currently proposed bill, taxpayers would save about $100 million per year if these coins were made of steel.

More information about this bill can be found here:

• U.S. Mint Opposes Steel Cent Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives finally took some action yesterday (Thurs. May 8th) in an attempt to solve the penny crisis. The question doesn't seem to be "should we eliminate the penny?" but rather, "what should it be made of?" The bill, HR-5512, calls for a penny made out of copper-coated steel to be issued within 270 days (about 9 months) from the date of enactment. The bill also calls for a steel nickel (hmm, is this an oxymoron?) but doesn't set a timetable. U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy opposes this bill, primarily because it doesn't give the Treasury Department enough authority to prescribe the alloys U.S. coins are made from, plus Moy says that 270 days is too short to allow for proper testing and implementation. Furthermore, he hinted that the price of steel might even go too high in the near future to coin pennies cost-effectively.

Even though this bill passed the House unanimously on a voice vote, it is not expected to emerge unscathed from the Senate. A competing bill is expected to be introduced by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) in the coming weeks, perhaps before the Memorial Day recess. Judging by Moy's comments about the use of steel, I tend to think that perhaps Moy favors aluminum or some other metal besides steel. The last time the U.S. made steel coins, it was a disaster! The 1943 steel cent, issued during World War II to conserve copper for the war effort, was widely reviled by the public. It was partially coated in zinc, and therefore silver-colored, which made it easily confused with the dime. The fact that only the faces were coated, but not the edges, meant that the low-grade steel used in these pennies degraded into a rusted, ugly mess very quickly. Although minting technology has advanced substantially since 1943, and many nations (including Canada) have issued steel coins for decades (usually plated in nickel or other metals,) the U.S. has avoided this metal until now, probably because the large and politically well-connected vending machine industry uses magnetic coin validation technology in its machines. Replacing this stuff would be a real hardship, the industry claims.

Of course, vending machines don't generally accept pennies, so making a steel cent shouldn't affect them. But once we open the "steel coin door," will we ever be able to close it? The way that existing beneficiaries of government contracts have a powerful influence over future policies and legislation via lobbying efforts, it is often very hard to change things once they are set in Washington. Once certain steel providers get those lucrative U.S. Mint contracts to supply the metal and/or coin blanks, they'll fight tooth and nail to increase the Mint's use of their products. I understand Moy's reluctance to be legislatively bound to any certain metal composition, and think it is well past time to hand over the authority to determine coin alloys to the Treasury Department (and by extension, the U.S. Mint.) After all, they are experts in this business.

What do you think? Should the Mint have the authority to decide the metals that coins are made of? Or should we leave that power to Congress, as the Constitution says it should be? Or maybe we should just do away with the penny entirely? Share your views via the "comments" link below.

See also: Current Costs to Mint U.S. Coins.

Like many coin collectors, I got my start in the hobby as a child, by finding something strange or unusual among the daily pocket change. As a kid in the '60s, Wheat Cents were plentiful, and my heart always skipped a beat when I saw a 1955 as I scrutinized it to decide whether it might be the 1955 Doubled Die or not. (Little did I know that had I actually found one, the doubling was so severe that it would jump right out at me!) We found Buffalo Nickels in pocket change, too, although they usually didn't have any dates left on them. My mom even remembers the first time I found a Mercury Dime. It was so different from the "normal" dime that I proudly announced I had found a "foreign coin." Although I don't remember this episode, I don't doubt her memory at all. Stylistically, the Mercury Dime is quite different from what many people consider to be the "boring" presidential portraits our coins bear today.

So, what sparked this little blaze of nostalgia? I was at a family gathering recently where I saw some cousins I haven't seen in twenty-five years. They don't remember much about me except that several times I was asked, "do you still collect coins?" This is how the child-me is remembered in family circles: the zealous coin and stamp collector. (Fortunately, I unloaded my 37-album, 100,000+ different world stamps collection in 1981-82, before the stamps market imploded, to pay for college.)

I often read about today's collectors lamenting the good ol' days, when you could still find Wheat pennies and silver dimes and quarters in circulation, and how all that is gone now and there is nothing left for today's kids to find. Are these people crazy?!?!?! There is more to find in circulation today than we ever had as kids in the 60s and 70s, with all these Statehood Quarters floating around, and Jefferson Nickels going back nearly seventy years! Try buying $4 worth of nickels some time and see what you can find! I know of several people who actually supplement their monthly income by sorting through rolls of half dollars for the 40% silver coins, because most Americans think the silver stopped in 1964. (In fact, it continued in the half dollars until 1970.)

As if these circulation finds aren't enough, you can sort through all kinds of denominations of coins for errors and varieties, such as doubled dies, cuds, and repunched mint marks. If errors aren't your thing, then buy boxes of brand new pennies or nickels or whatever and search them for ultra-high-grade coins such as MS-70 pennies. You can buy these rolls of coins at face value at any local bank, although the tellers might not be too cooperative at first. I have an article that explains how to deal with the banks when they claim they can't get rolls, or they want to charge you extra for them. It's called Insider Secrets to Getting Rolls of Coins From Banks. If you're not sure what to look for, you can start with the resources listed below:

• Top 10 Most Valuable Coins in Circulation
• Book Review - Strike it Rich With Pocket Change!
• Lincoln Memorial Penny Varieties

The 2008-W Silver Eagle has been found to have two different reverse types, one of which is being referred to as the 2007 Reverse and the other the 2008 Reverse. NGC was the first to report about the variety on the Web, although Leesburg, Georgia collector John Nanney had reported a specimen a day earlier to Coin World, and thus earns discovery credit. This transitional variety can only be found on the 2008-W Silver Eagles minted at West Point, and sold originally through the U.S. Mint Web site. This variety will not found on the "generic" 2008 Silver Eagles. The variety is a called a "transitional" variety because the variety is the result of a transition at the Mint from one master die type to another. (A master die type is properly called a hub.)

The U.S. Mint press relations office provided some interesting information about this variety and the minting of Silver Eagles in general. Here are some of the facts they provided:

• Approximately 47,000 2008-W Silver Eagles were released with the 2007 reverse type.



• The reason for the change in hub is that the Mint has upgraded from using hand-engraved hub creation methods, to digital engraving methods.



• The Mint believes that 15 dies with the 2007 Reverse type were involved.



• The variety was created during 3 production shifts, which is how the Mint arrived at its estimate of the number of coins involved.



• The U.S. Mint marketing materials depicted the 2007 reverse type.



• The Mint did not plan for the hub change to happen mid-year, and has confirmed it was unintentional that the 2007 Reverses were used for 2008.

So, what does all of this tell us? First of all, we learn some fascinating facts about West Point Mint Silver Eagle production. If 15 dies and 47,000 coins were affected, some simple math tells us that each die pair is only striking about 3,133 coins, which is incredibly low by modern minting standards, even for Proof coins. By comparison, each penny die is believed to strike nearly 1,000,000 coins! Proof dies are believed to strike between 5,000 to 15,000 coins. So why is the West Point Mint Silver Eagle die life so short? The answer is probably that the U.S. Mint is taking very great care in trying to produce extremely high-quality W-mint Silver Eagles.

Now, can we use these same numbers to extrapolate the production rates for normal bullion Silver Eagles? The W mint-marked coins are a premium product, somewhere between business strike and Proof in quality, or so we thought. The evidence here seems to indicate that the Mint is applying Proof quality standards to these coins even if they lack the mirror finishes and frosted devices most Proof coins have. However, there isn't a great deal of difference between the finishes of a normal bullion Silver Eagle and a W-mint one. The Mint says that the blanks for the W's are specially burnished but I honestly can't see any difference, even under a 10x loupe. Therefore, I think it's reasonable to conclude that regular Silver Eagle dies get about the same ratio of coins per die as the W coins do. Maybe by changing the hub, the Mint was also hoping to get more life from the dies?

Several readers reported that the U.S. Mint's marketing materials for the 2008-W Silver Eagle depicted the 2007 Reverse type. The first of these reports came from Konrad Wilder of Elberton, Georgia, who forwarded to me the U.S. Mint's email brochure for the coins. I've also seen scans of the Mint's printed brochures, and seen that the U.S. Mint Web site (as of the time I write this) also shows the 2007 Silver Eagle hub type, but folks, this isn't just a 2007 reverse matched to a 2008 obverse! Look closely and you'll see that the 2008-dated obverse also has the lettering style of the 2007 hub! It looks like the marketing department Photoshopped the 2008 date onto the images of the 2007 coins and went with it! I can't help but wonder if the Mint's marketing department thought that collectors simply wouldn't notice, or whether the marketing department just doesn't give a darn what the collectors think. Knowing what I know of federal bureaucracies, my guess is that these thoughts never even occurred to them at all!

More About Silver Eagles and Related Topics:

• How to Tell if Your 2008 Silver Eagle Has the Transitional Variety



• Does the U.S. Mint Make Error Coins on Purpose to Help Sell Coins?



• How to Detect Fake Silver Eagles

Stay informed about news and information related to coins! Subscribe to my FREE weekly About Coins newsletter now!

Last week, I presented an ethics scenario detailing my experience with a certain dealer at a recent coin show. I had been looking through a small box of Morgan Dollars, mentally adding up to make an offer for the whole lot based roughly on the prices marked on the coins. Suddenly the dealer snatched the box right out of my hand and placed it in front of another customer, to whom he sold the whole batch in a transaction he took pains to avoid my hearing, despite my interjections that I, too, wanted to buy the lot and my request that my offer be considered. In the end, I was left holding one of the coins from this lot, which I eventually bought as a single coin. You can read the entire scenario, along with everyone's comments, in the original coin dealer ethics "Who's on First" column.

Most of the readers who participated in the discussion about this topic felt that I had been badly treated by the dealer, and many folks left the opinion that they wouldn't have purchased anything from this guy had they been in my shoes. A few speculated about my reasons for buying the coin, wondering if it was counterfeit or perhaps a rare VAM variety. Several readers called for me to name the dealer openly so that others could be warned about him, and some people wanted to see the dealer's side of the story.

First off, I must confess that I only told half of the story here when I gave this scenario. My main reason for doing this was that I wanted the focus to be on the actions of the dealer and not speculation or excuses as to why he might have behaved so rudely. Although the circumstances of this dealer's life might mitigate his behavior in many people's eyes, nearly everyone I asked who has known this dealer for years through the coin show circuit assured me that his attitude isn't much changed by the tragedy he suffered; he has always been a bit surly and in possession of precious little patience. A couple of people characterized him as the "greedy sort of dealer" who doesn't act in the best interests of the hobby (but this is true of many dealers.)

The dealer I had this encounter with is named Lenny Bird. Here is an account of the tragedy that befell him just over a year ago, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007:

Niles, Illinois is a normally quiet suburb about 25 miles northwest of Chicago, but on this chilly, late-winter day, the peacefulness of a man's home and life were shattered forever. Coin dealer Lenny Bird was upstairs in the home he shared with his son, Michael, when he heard a commotion downstairs, and a pop pop pop that sounded like gunfire. Lenny, who kept a gun at home for protection, since he dealt in rare coins and jewelry, and had been the victim of a previous burglary attempt, grabbed his weapon and rushed down the stairs.

His beloved son, only 28 years old, was lying on the floor near the entryway. Michael's blood was spreading quickly into a wide puddle as Lenny gave chase, firing off a few rounds of his own. By the time police arrived moments later, all Lenny could do was hold his dear son's body; Michael died on that chilly February day because someone wanted to rob Lenny's safe.

Lenny has been in the coin business for decades, and is fairly well-known in the greater Chicago numismatic community because of his frequent appearances as a seller at local coin shows. The death of his son stunned the numismatic community, serving as a reminder that personal security is an important consideration for us all. Lenny used to hand out business cards with his home address and phone number on them; today he won't hand out any business card at all, and the only phone number he gives out is a cell phone.

When I visited Lenny's table at the coin show weekend-before-last, I didn't know who he was. Of course I knew a local dealer had been robbed and that his son had been killed, and I might have been able to tell you that the dealer's name was something-Bird, but I didn't know that this particular man was the victim. I'm not in the habit of scrutinizing everyone's name badge at coin shows, (a habit I should probably learn as a journalist,) so when a couple of folks came by and said things like, "I'm glad to hear the good news," and "you're still in my prayers, my friend," I didn't realize what they meant. (The "good news" is that the police recently caught Michael's killer.)

As I noted in my original write-up, I wasn't at Lenny's table for very long, no more than maybe 3 or 4 minutes before Lenny snatched the box of coins out of my hand. However, after that incident, around the same time that I realized that I still had one of the coins in my hand, the person had come up to Lenny's table who said he was glad to hear the good news. In response to this, Lenny reached behind himself and brought forward a folded-open newspaper which was open to a story about the capture of the killer. He set the paper down between myself and the other guy, and then looked at me and said, "This guy killed my son. They've finally caught him!"

All at once, my vague recollection this horrible event came rushing back. I mumbled something asinine like, "oh, that's YOU that this happened to?" and pretty soon there was another newspaper on the table, this one an account of the murder itself. While I was reading, the other guy had a brief conversation about the killer's capture, and when I was alone again with Lenny I felt very awkward. All I could think of to say was, "I think I'd like to buy this coin," (meaning the Morgan Dollar I was still holding.) "How much is it?" Lenny got out his Grey Sheet and looked it up, and announced that it was $29. I asked what grade basis he used for the price and he said, "MS-60. Is that a problem?" (Already that nasty attitude was back in his voice.) All I could think of was that I wanted to get away from his table quickly and courteously. I bought the coin primarily because I was keenly uncomfortable and felt like I would be being a real jerk if I didn't at least buy something. After all, this poor guy had suffered a genuine tragedy and I really felt sorry for him but I didn't know how to express it to this curmudgeonly stranger. I guess buying the coin soothed my conscience a little, and the price didn't seem overly ridiculous although it was more than double the price marked on the coin. When I got the coin home and could examine it at leisure, I discovered that it is 1897-P VAM-2, a subtle repunched-date variety that doesn't normally warrant a premium. The grade of the coin, however, according to a couple of other dealers who know Morgan Dollars much better than I, would probably come in at MS-62, MS-61 for certain, if I sent it to NGC or PCGS. This fact doesn't add much value to the coin.

I haven't asked Lenny Bird if he wants to give his side of the story yet because I hadn't told the full story until now. In addition, I decided not to quote any of the comments that readers left, because I didn't want to make anybody appear to be crass or insensitive, since people might feel a little differently had they known the rest of the story. While I don't think that Lenny's tragedy excuses his rude, unfriendly behavior, I am very reluctant to condemn him too harshly since I've never walked in his shoes. One thing is certain; I wasn't the only visitor to his table who found him to be rude. Here is a quote from a Collector's Universe Forum member called "Speety":

On a side note, dealers don't be fooled by someone's age. Once again I, who just turned 18, got a snooty response from a dealer when I asked to see an 1841 AU-58 seated dollar. The dealer, Lenny Bird, just replied with 'It's $2,800' twice when I asked to see the coin and didn't move a muscle to open the case. Now $2,800 isn't pocket change but when someone asks to see the coin you allow them to see the coin -- I certainly could have dropped $2,800 on the coin if I thought it was nice, but because of his BS attitude he lost a potential customer for good. (Here is a link to Speety's original post.)

So, this brings us to another Ethics question: Knowing what you know now, has your opinion of this event changed? Was Lenny justified in snatching the box out of my hands, and making a deal that excluded me, the person who presumably had current "claim" to an interest in buying the coins? Do you still feel as harshly towards him as you did when you left your comment last week? I think this discussion will shed some interesting light on human nature, and I look forward to hearing your responses.

Billy Crawford has published the latest edition of his free Die Variety News Magazine, issue #13. The cover story for this issue is the mysterious 2004-D Roosevelt Dime which has an apparent doubled ear. The doubled ear is difficult to see in the small photo I have here, but if you click through to Billy's site and look at the full-sized Die Variety News #13 cover, you'll see an enlargement of this intriguing coin. Inside issue #13, Billy examines this remarkable coin and provides an answer to the question people have been asking ever since the coin was discovered: Is it a doubled die? Was this semi-circular mark on the ear made by the same person who added the "extra leaf" to certain Wisconsin Quarters (also done at the Denver Mint in 2004?) Or is this mark just some kind of random die damage? Billy shows us what he thinks is the cause, using his lovely large-sized microphotographs and a clear, point-by-point explanation of his theory.

Another feature in Die Variety News #13 includes a look at the 1988 penny reverse transitional varieties. Transitional varieties are a type of die variety that happens when the Mint switches from one (master die) hub to another, presumably between coining years. Sometimes an old reverse die from the previous year gets used with the obverse die dated the following year, resulting in a mule of sorts. (A mule is a coin struck with the wrong obverse and reverse dies matched together.) Billy explains more about transitionals, plus he provides photos that show us exactly what to look for. I think transitionals will rise in value significantly once they become better understood by collectors. (As an aside, we have an interesting transitional variety happening right now in the Silver Eagle series! The Mint has matched the 2007 reverse type to an unknown number of 2008-dated coins.)

A few months ago, I told readers about a mystery coin, a Presidential Dollar with mysterious abrading marks on it. Despite numerous theories, nobody could offer an explanation for these coins that most experts were willing to accept. Now, Billy thinks he's figured out the mystery, and his explanation and photos are in the current Die Variety News.

Other features of this issue include a 2006 penny with a strange reverse, some Wyoming State Quarter doubled dies, a selection of newly-discovered Ocean In View Nickel doubled dies, and Billy's regular columns, "This & That" and "Variety Spotlight." As always, Billy offers Die Variety News free of charge in PDF format, so please use good netiquette and save your copy to disk so that you can cut down on the load on Billy's server. Anyway, it reads and scrolls much faster if you save it to your disk, plus you'll always have it for future reference.

• Billy Crawford's Die Variety News #13

Photo courtesy of Billy Crawford and Die Variety News.

This week's Coin Dealer Ethics column was inspired by an event that took place this past weekend at the Central States Numismatic Society (CSNS) annual convention and coin show, which was held in Chicago. This sort of thing seems to happen to me at practically every coin show I attend, although this particular instance of it was more extreme than usual. Here's what happened:

I was walking along a row of dealers' tables, eye-balling the offerings of the various sellers. Most of them had their material in glass cases or behind their counters, but a few had lower-cost boxes of slabbed coins or even 2x2s right up front where buyers could pick through them. Since the lower-cost coins are the only ones I can afford, I usually stop at such tables and have a look.

I don't know if this is just me, or whether most people share this opinion, but I find it extremely rude when someone starts reaching into the same box that I am looking through, especially if it's a small box, like a single- or double-row box of 2x2's. I never butt into anybody else's examination of these boxes, and in the situations where there are large cases or plastic bins of material where 2 or 3 people can easily pick through at the same time (e.g. hundreds or even thousands of coins,) I still always defer to the person who might already be there by asking, "Do you mind if I look, too?" Occasionally, someone who is methodically sorting through the stuff might ask that I wait, and I don't have any problem with this since they got there first. In the case of the smaller boxes, I simply politely wait my turn, and if someone looks like they're going to be awhile, I'll come back later if I really want to see the coins there.

What happened this time to annoy me so much was that I had money burning a hole in my pocket. I hadn't found much of anything I wanted to buy, so I had several hundred dollars looking for some coins that needed a nice home. I happened across a dealer who had several bags of bulk material on his table, priced as lots where you had to buy it all, not just pick things out. One of these bags had silver dollars in it, mostly Peace Dollars, but a few 1921 Morgans, also. As I was fondling the bag, trying to get a better idea of what was inside, I spied a 2x2 box of Morgans a few feet away at the same dealer's table. Since the bagged lot wasn't exactly "calling out" to me, I began looking through the 2x2s.

Each one of the Morgans in this box was AU or better. (AU stands for the coin grade About Uncirculated.) They were all common dates of the type that typically sell for bullion value (b.v.) plus a couple of dollars, even in AU and low Mint State grades (such as MS-60 to 62.) On the back of each 2x2 was a price, ranging from $14 to $19. There were a total of about 30 coins in this box, all very common date, all low MS and AU grades. The type of stuff that's going into the melting pot in large numbers right about now.

To be honest, I didn't expect the dealer to sell me BU Morgan Dollars for $14 each at the current price of silver. I did, however, take his prices as an indication that he was charging the b.v. plus small commission type of price, especially in light of the fact that he had whole bags of bulk-priced material on his tables. This seemed to be a dealer who seriously wanted to move some merchandise, so I think my mental summation of the situation was perfectly logical, under the circumstances.

I started looking through the box of the AU/MS Morgans and doing some mental addition, planning to make an offer for the whole box, since this was the sort of thing I had hoped to find, and the implied prices seemed to fit within my burning budget, assuming about $20 a coin. I had been at this for less than five minutes when another buyer approached the table and started looking at things. He saw the bulk-priced bag of mostly mid-grade Peace Dollars, and took a good look at the contents. Then he noticed the box that I was looking through. He reached right in between my fingers practically and extricated a coin. He announced that this was exactly what he was looking for, and that he wanted to buy the whole box. The dealer took the box right out of my hands and placed in front of this new customer and said, "make me an offer."

Of course I spoke up immediately and said that I was here first, and that I was planning on doing exactly that same thing, making an offer on the whole box. The dealer pulled the other guy away from my earshot and after a whispered conversation, some money changed hands and the guy walked off with the box of Morgans. Twice I tried to butt into the conversation, first pleading with the dealer to hear my offer, and then appealing to the customer for fairness ("how would you feel if I just walked up and snatched some coins out of your hand while you were considering them?") and was ignored on both counts. I have no idea what the guy actually paid for the coins.

It was only after the guy walked away with his new purchase that I realized I was still holding one of the Morgans in my hand! The price on the back of this 1897-P BU Morgan Dollar's 2x2 said $14, and the grade was MS-60. Although I was extremely irritated at this turn of events, I'm also the type of person who doesn't generally let anger or the heat of the moment cloud my judgement (although I can get really mad later. I guess I'm the "slow-burner" type.) I hadn't purchased anything at this show yet, and I was about to leave for the day, and here I am holding a very nice-looking (and affordable!) Morgan Dollar, so I asked the dealer what the price was.

I have to confess, the dealer was quite nasty to me, even after his rude behavior of a moment ago. He snarled out a price of "about $30." I was surprised at this, since the $14 price tag on the coin was quite a distance away from this quote he was giving me, and I just figured that maybe he didn't want to sell the coin to me at all for some reason. (I've never had any transactions with this dealer before although I've seen him at several large shows.) I pointed out the $14 price tag and asked him why he had this price on his coin if he wasn't planning to honor it and his reply was something along the lines of, "You must be stupid or something. The price of the bullion in that coin is higher than $14."

At this point, the guy had finally filled up my B.S. quota, and I was about to tell him to take his coin and his attitude and insert it into a certain warm, humid, and dark anatomical location, when he added, "I'll sell the coin at Grey Sheet Bid, that's fair, isn't it?" (The Grey Sheet is the main price guide most coin dealers use, which is published weekly. These prices are wholesale prices and generally very fair when offered to a retail customer.) I asked him why he had a $14 price on the coin if he wasn't honoring that price (or something reasonably close to it, adjusted for daily market fluctuations in our very active market right now.) He claimed that the price must have been put there by a previous owner (but he never went so far as to apologize for the misunderstanding about it.) Since this guy seemed to be answering questions now, I took a shot at the ol' "Why did you let that last guy buy that box of coins even though I was here first and had expressed an interest in them and offered to bid? Wouldn't it make sense to take the highest offer between us?" (This is really beside the point; I feel I should have had first refusal, period, but we can argue that in the "comments" section below.)

The nasty edge returned to this guy's voice, and he asked, "Look lady, do you want the coin or not? It's $29." (By this time, he'd opened up the Grey Sheet and gotten the price.) I really did come very, very close to telling this guy off, but I dug into my purse and found the $29 because it was a really nice coin and I didn't want to go home from the show empty-handed.

What do you think about this transaction? Am I being overly selfish by thinking that I should have the right to finish looking through a small coin box before the next guy comes along and buys it out from under me? Maybe this dealer is just a poor example of his profession? (If so, his behavior is not at all uncommon, in either the surliness nor the lack of respect given to first-time customers.) Please share your thoughts via the "comments" link below, and next week we'll have a look at some of your responses. I'm also inclined to disclose who the dealer is in next week's recap, so guesses are welcome. ;)

April 20 - 26 is National Coin Week in the U.S., which is sponsored by the American Numismatic Association (ANA.) The theme for this year's celebration is "Money Makes the World Go Round." The primary purpose of National Coin Week is to raise awareness in the general community about coins and coin collecting. The ANA and its affiliated local coin clubs sponsor events that are aimed at drawing in the non-collector, especially younger collectors.

As part of this year's celebration, the ANA put together the National Treasure Hunt for coins. Those who would like participate are directed to find five coins, each of which meet a specific requirement, as outlined below. When a participant has found all five coins in the treasure hunt, they should report their findings to the ANA to enter a drawing for prizes. Here's the list of coins to find in order to participate in the treasure hunt:

1. A coin with an animal.
2. The oldest coin you can find.
3. A coin from a different place (country or state.)
4. A coin from the year you were born.
5. A coin that's not a coin (token, medal, etc.)

Part of the planning for National Coin Week includes an annual contest among ANA members to determine the theme for each year's celebration. This year, the winning theme, "Money Makes the World Go Round," came with a bonus: a professionally-done song, written, produced, and performed especially for National Coin Week. The song was written and recorded by ANA member Mark Keefner and million-selling recording artist Alan O'Day (remember "Undercover Angel?") When I first heard about this song, I thought, "oh great, some sappy crap written and sung by a kid somewhere!" In fact, the song is top-10 quality music and very well executed! The music is catchy, the lyrics are clever and memorable, and the production quality is first-rate. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to embed the song in my content here, so you'll need to click through to the ANA Web page linked below, and then scroll down a little ways to find the media console. It is well worth the effort! Give it a listen and see what you think:

• "Money Makes the World Go Round" Theme Song

One of the traditions of National Coin Week, at least among long-time collectors, is to do a "coin drop" during this time. A coin drop is where you spend certain coins into circulation, hoping they will be found by someone who becomes a coin collector as a result. I always spend Wheat Cents, Buffalo Nickels, and sometimes even a Barber or Standing Liberty Quarter into circulation (if the clerk will take them! I've had both obsolete Quarter Dollar types refused before, with the clerk claiming they weren't real money!) I would like to encourage everyone who reads this to join me in "dropping" at least a few Wheat Pennies into circulation this week to help bring new collectors into the hobby. Better yet, hand out Wheat Cents and Buffalo Nickels to any kids you see, and warn them not to spend it! This works best with kids aged 8 to about 12 or so, I think. I also hand out lots of common foreign coins during National Coin Week, usually to other adults, such as coworkers, etc.

Although I love the idea of National Coin Week, I must confess that I think this year's activity, the self-guided treasure hunt, is a bit weak. I don't think it will capture the imagination of outsiders like a real treasure hunt would have, such as the activity the ANA did last year, putting State Quarters into circulation that had special ANA Coin Week stickers on them. I'd love to see activities like the local coin clubs having a day at the local mall, where they set up a table and hand out free inexpensive coins and information to kids and teens, or where they contact the local kid's clubs and send a speaker bearing low-cost numismatic gifts (such as Lincoln Memorial Penny boards and Statehood Quarter boards) to the local schools and youth organizations. The ANA has a great Boy Scout/Girl Scout outreach effort, but it could go so much further. I know these things are easier said than done, but a core mission of the ANA needs to be to remind all collectors that the only way their coins will have future buyers at the current prices is if we keep bringing new blood into our hobby. National Coin Week would be a great time for the ANA to reinforce this message among its own members and hopefully inspire more volunteerism at the local level.

Leading error coin expert and dealer Fred Weinberg saw my recent coverage of the Chinese Counterfeiting Ring, and offered some photos of his own tour of a Chinese Mint - the Chinese official government mint at Shanghai! The Chinese, who are well-known for copying and counterfeiting the goods of Western society, aren't just known in the numismatic community for their counterfeits and replicas of coins. They actually copied the entire facade of the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia for their own Shanghai Mint building!

In addition to the photos showing the Chinese copy of the old Philadelphia Mint facade, (and the explanation the Chinese gave as to why they copied the Philadelphia Mint building back in the 1920's,) Fred's photo gallery tour of the Shanghai Mint includes the original galvano for the 1983 Silver Panda and some very rarely-seen planchet strip made out of solid gold, from which the coin blanks for the 1983 Gold Pandas were punched!

Fred loaned me his entire photo album from this 1983 Shanghai Mint tour when I saw him at the Central States Numismatic Society coin show over the weekend, so I'll be adding more photos to this fascinating gallery all week. In the meantime, can you guess whether the photo shown here is the old U.S. Mint building at Philadelphia, or the Chinese replica of the building?

Chinese Mint and Related Links

• Tour the Shanghai Mint With Fred Weinberg
• Profile of Fred Weinberg
• Inside a Chinese coin Counterfeiting Mint

Photo courtesy of HABS/HAER.