Coins DIG

Following the success of the April Hong Kong Coin Auction, which saw Baldwin’s auction department and Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co. Ltd weather the ‘economic tsunami’ by achieving exceptional results, (the majority of lots selling at over 10 times their lower estimate) this Hong Kong offering looks set to do much the same with a well rounded catalogue of Coins, Banknotes, Orders and Decorations.

A Dresden real estate investor and his partner have raised €7 million ( @$9.8 Million US) worth of gold, silver and other artifacts from a sunken pirate ship off the coast of Borneo, daily Bild reported Wednesday.

The pirate ship Forbes sank off the coast of Borneo in 1806. Dresden resident Martin Wenzel and his partner Klaus Keppler spent €3 million of their own money over the past two years trawling the tropical waters for loot from the Forbes and other vessels, the newspaper reported.

The market is beginning to anticipate the upcoming World's Fair of Money hosted Aug. 5-9 by the American Numismatic Association in Los Angeles. There is further strength in precious metals with gold trading over $950 an ounce, which I believe is a five-week high. Silver is up 4 percent and platinum 2.5 percent from last week's writing.

Economists and business leaders joke that Mama instant noodles can be as reliable a gauge as any for economic trends - when times are bad, people cut back spending in favour of a classic, cheap Thai comfort food.

The Treasury Department, however, prefers a different proxy for consumer confidence. Officials say data on coin use show an increase in 10-baht coins in the market, signifying that people are breaking into their piggy banks and small savings in search of money for everyday spending.

Coin exchanges for banknotes have nearly doubled in recent months, with 7-8 million coins returned to the Treasury Department per month compared with 3-4 million in more ordinary economic times.

The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands has been alerted to the existence of a collection of nine metallic pieces depicting various UK places and which purport to be coins issued by this Administration.

The obverse of these apparently Bi-Metallic pieces carries an effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the wording South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the date 2008.

It is easy to get started collecting these authentic artifacts of history. They are surprisingly inexpensive and you don’t have to worry about being sold a fake if you follow a few simple steps. The best investment at first would be $15.00 to $25.00 for a good general reference on ancient or Roman coins. There are three titles that represent excellent value for the price you will pay for them. These are: Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins by Zander H. Klawans, The Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins by David Van Meter, and Ancient Coin Collecting by Wayne G. Sayles.

British treasure hunters continue to strike it rich. The latest significant find consists of an extremely rare ninth century Anglo-Frisian gold solidus.

It was brought into Spink earlier this year by a lady who uncovered it in a field near Salisbury, England, in March. Once the earth had been dusted from the coin's face, she knew she had scored something special. On June 25 it was sold by Spink for a tidy £9,300.

The US state quarters are being released into circulation in several batches, with the earliest states to join the Union being released first. Each year – over a 10-year period – 5 US state quarters are minted and released.

These are commemorative quarters, one representing each state with a design on the tail to signify a distinct feature of the particular state.

Available now from the Perth Mint are two coins that are ready to slug it out against each other, like the figures they represent. The Transformers Silver Proof Collector Coins, one featuring the heroic Autobots leader Optimus Prime and the other depicting the evil Deceptacon leader Megatron, were minted with the approval of Hasbro and Dreamworks.