Capital Treasures

BYU physics student Jeff Brown, who will graduate on Thursday, examines a coin… He says he has created four or five methods for unveiling counterfeits.

Although you may not have all the resources necessary to do this at home it will be a great resource in providing grading service companies to prove the authenticity of the coin you’re grading or insuring. Then again… you may not want to know that the coin you spent your month’s paycheck isn’t worth the plastic it’s been encapsulated in.

Crusty old gold miners in Hollywood Westerns bit into gold to see if they’d found the real thing, but biting down on a possibly rare gold coin is no way to determine if it is genuine or counterfeit. Gold is softer than teeth, so sinking incisors into the precious metal can reveal the real thing, but coins are generally harder and teeth marks damage their value.

The bite test also can deceive: Lead is even softer than gold.

One of the 2,372 Brigham Young University students graduating this week is wrapping up his senior thesis on new methods for testing coins purported to be rare finds. Jeff Brown, who is completing a bachelor’s degree in physics, used a specialized X-ray machine and an electron microscope to study about 50 coins.

“Back in the old days, people really would take a gold coin and bite it to see if it was real,” Brown said. “Now, with the added value these coins have accumulated, biting them ruins them.”

Using the X-ray spectrometer, Brown was able to plot a spectrum of materials in the coins. For example, he could determine how much silver and how much copper was in a purportedly valuable silver coin.

“We knew ahead of time which coins were counterfeit,” Brown said, “which aided in determining the counterfeit method.”

Brown said he created four or five methods for unveiling the fakes. They included using the electron microscope, which allowed him to take a close look at minute changes to mint marks.
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Make Magazine Video Podcast of a rather messy way to make a Half-dollar coin ring… at least it should provide some visual starting point and a good dialogue over making jewelry out of old coins… Watch the video and read the pdf to learn how use a hammer, dremel, and vise to make a silver ring out of a pre-1964 half dollar… cringe.

A little more patience or practice with your hammering technique and you could make the ring nice and round with smoother finish. The unintended twist is still a nice decorative touch.

Here’s a great photo walkthrough of a classic Coin Ring example.
http://homepage.mac.com/johnhuber/CoinRing/PhotoAlbum20.html

Classic Nickel Ring:
http://www.instructables.com/id/E0OSTA9D1KEP287E39/

The most valuable coin ever offered in an online-only auction will be available in the Teletrade® Premier Plus auction #2409 on August 16, 2007. It will be the first auction of the world’s largest gold coin, a 100 kilogram $1 million (Canadian) denomination coin recently produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.

“This is an exciting, two-fold event for us and the entire numismatic community,” said Ian Russell, President of Teletrade of Irvine, California, a division of Spectrum Numismatics International.

“This is the first 100 kilo coin that is available for sale to the public. It contains more than $2 million of gold bullion. It will be the most valuable coin ever offered in an online-only auction. And we’re launching TeletradeDirect®, a new service for collectors and investors who want to purchase gold, silver or platinum bullion coins.”

An example of the 100 kilo gold coin will be exhibited by the Royal Canadian Mint during the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money® convention in Milwaukee, August 8 – 12. The huge coin is over 20 inches in diameter, an inch thick and weighs a little over 220 pounds (3,215 troy ounces) of .99999 fine gold.

Click here to view this special lot

This visual technique still amazes me… The art of computer-generated mosaics of pictures made from tiled pictures is fairly new and has somewhat been overdone. Examples of the art are available in a book titled Photomosaics, a compilation of images created by computer programs written by Robert Silvers. Silvers was a MIT student and is now president of a company that makes logos and illustrations for individuals, corporations, and publications. The authors combined the NASA term “photo mosaic” to coin “photomosaic” to apply to the process and the result. The book consists of over two dozen such images. Many of the images are portraits, including renderings of the faces of Jesus Christ, George Washington, van Gogh, Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Bill Gates, Madonna, Al Gore, and Yoda. Each image is a mosaic of related images. Lincoln’s portrait consists of Civil War photos; Elvis is composed of postage stamps; Madonna is a montage of material things; Bill Gates is made of money.

The photomosaic software begins with a scanned image of what is to be recreated in the mosaic format. Which means that the final pictures are not really computer-created art; they are computer-replicated art wherein the replication is an approximation of the original, the interesting part being that the approximation uses hundreds of subject-related images. The software divides the original image into tiled regions and assigns properties to each region with respect to color, brilliance, shape, and so on. Then the software searches its database of contributing images, images that are candidates to become tiles in the final product. The characteristics of each database image are compared to those of each tiled region in the original picture. This process is processor intensive; the images are not of equal dimensions, they overlap, and the matching algorithm has to pan the candidate tile images around looking for a good match. The software needs high-power hardware and lots of storage for the typically 2000 images that the programs analyze to compose a single mosaic.

Creating a mosaic is an iterative process involving the computer’s output and manual refinement and tuning of the image by a person. The hand and eye of the artist are not made obsolete by the software; human interaction is a necessary part of the process.

Robert Silvers runs a website/company called Runaway Technology that creates fine art and is a creative service for this technique. You could purchase their services or hire them for some production work; however, there are quite a few programs available for the home market that can take your images and analyze them to create your own photomosaic photo.

ezMosaic has a several versions that output to larger formats if needed and the Andrea Mosaic bundle has one that is “free” – both of these software packages come prepacked with a huge library of images to pull from… although it would be more fun to use your own library of personal and family photos.

New York City’s Department of Transportation this week sold off 500 pounds of foreign coins it collected from city parking meters. For the last ten years the NYC Department of Transportation has been have a public coin auction of the foreign coins people place in parking meters. The price range is now almost $4.00 a pound for 500 pounds…

The buyer, Jim Corliss, outbid four others for the lot. He has made a hobby of buying foreign coins. Jim Corliss a collector from Massachusetts won the bid last year and won again this year. He found an 1835 British Shilling once worth only $5.00. Most of the coins are Greek Drachmas, French Francs, and Canadian Quarters.

There are quite a few people on eBay selling unsearched bags from the Bundesbank in Germany… could be the next trend!? I’ve picked a few in the past – Greek, Turkey, French, Canada, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Prague, Ukraine and then some…

NPR Has a great interview with him here.

Here is the news story as told by the CW 11 in New York City:

There have been at least a few takers for the massive new Royal Canadian Mint
gold coin: “The Royal Canadian Mint has sold five of its $1-million gold collector coins, and at least four of them are headed where the money is – to the West Coast.

‘But as the mint and the dealers disclosed, a million bucks is just the face value of the 100-kilogram, 99.999-per-cent-pure gold coins. “The mint sold them for at least $2.3 million apiece based on market values…

“But J & M Jewellery Ltd. of Vancouver confirmed it did purchase one – after paying the mint $175,000 down – but has already sold it to a wealthy buyer who remains anonymous.

“An official with A-Mark Precious Metals Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., confirmed his firm bought three of the coins, but he would not discuss their fate.”
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1. Hold and view the coin correctly. This is a common mistake, one made even by seasoned numismatists. Always hold the coin by its edges, between your index finger and thumb. I use the middle finger on my right hand as a safety net should the coin slip out of my grip. Next, and equally important, is to rock the coin back and forth while at the same time turning it in a circular motion that gives the coin a full 45-degree angle. In combination with superior lighting conditions, this technique will enable you to see hairlines and light cleaning that might otherwise go unnoticed.

2. Choose your lighting carefully. Some may disagree, but I say avoid fluorescent light altogether. I prefer a standard desktop or table mounted lamp with a 100-watt bulb, though others on our grading team use a 75-watt bulb. Do not try to save money by purchasing inexpensive bulbs… I’ve found they give off a more yellow light. Less than 75-watts is not adequate unless you are using a special high intensity lamp. Looking at a coin with a halogen light is, to me, like staring into the sun. Generally, keep 12″ to 16″ between the light source and the coin you’re grading. Look at proof coins twice. Once from a distance of 12″ to 16″, and again from 20″ to 22″ to see hairlines with greater ease. Most important, when you find a light source that works for you and delivers a “true” look at the coin, stick with it.

3. Use a quality magnifier, sparingly. Use a glass only when you really need it, unless your vision requires continual magnification to avoid eyestrain. I have three glasses, a Bausch & Lomb 5x slide, a 16x loupe and a Zeiss 24/12. I only pick up a glass if I see something that warrants closer inspection or if it’s a frequently counterfeited or altered coin type. Continual use of a glass can cause one to micro-grade, focusing on minute imperfections that could lead to consistent under-grading. Microscopes are great for authenticating or confirming hidden defects, but I can’t imagine grading with one.
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This is a commercial for the series on SkyOne in the UK called The Big Idea which pits inventors and entrepreneurs against one another for a chance to have their invention or business idea realized, and to win £100,000.

Yeah, it’s for a commercial with clever editing but it’s still a pretty impressive feat to see that many coins (British 1 pound coins) getting lined up and then knocked down after every edit, cut and retake – A patient director, steady hands, nerves of steel and no sneezing…

UK pounds are a bit thicker than even the largest (circulated) American coin, 3.15 mm vs 2.15 mm (Kennedy Half Dollar), but I still imagine it would be difficult to make them stand up like that. If anyone would like to donate several thousand silver Morgans (~3.1mm) for us to line them up and give it a try drop us a line…

[youtube BDrQmElQZ4c]

The Atlantic Ocean has given up 17 tons of colonial-era coins in what could be the richest shipwreck treasure ever. One coin expert estimated the value at $500 million or about $1,000 a coin. But what affect will years of sea water have on the silver and gold coins recovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa?

“Sea water is very corrosive and thus very destructive to silver coins,” said Dave Harper, editor of Numismatic News. The value of the silver coins will rest on both their original condition as raised from the bottom of the sea and the ability of the conservation process to turn the coins into pleasing looking collectibles.”

As for the gold coins, Harper said gold survives better under water so the conservation process should be easier and the collector values higher. But collectors need to remember that this is sea-salvaged coinage, said Thomas Michael, coin market analyst for Krause Publications.

“Think of sea-salvaged coins as treasure because that is their first marketable promotional vein,” Michael said. “Because of the effects of salt water on metal, most all sea-salvaged silver coins are in a pitted state after being recovered and cleaned. Gold coins fair better in the sea, but cleaning often hairlines them, reducing their value in the traditional numismatic market.”

But as examples of sunken treasure, the coins will likely hold a strong appeal as historical artifacts, he said. “My standard line for sea-salvage coins is, ‘There will always be more,’” said George Cuhaj, coin and paper money market analyst for Krause Publications. Advances in technology that allow for small objects to be found in deep seas or even under the sea floor will increase the number of “lost” coins found, he said.

What does that do to the market?
“There has always been a separation between coins not lost or buried and sea-salvage or buried material,” Cuhaj said, “especially on the silver and base metals that corrode easier.” Depending on the marketing effort and the premium, the find “could be good, or it could hurt the hobby,” he said. The treasure find was announced May 18. Citing security reasons, Odyssey Exploration has not given details on the specifics of the coins recovered or the location of the find.

The coins – mostly silver pieces – could fetch several hundred to several thousand dollars each, with some possibly commanding much more. Value is determined by rarity, condition, and the story behind them. Other experts said the condition and value of the coins could vary so much that the price estimate was little more than an educated guess.

“It’s absolutely impossible to accurately determine the value without knowing the contents and the condition of the retrieved coins,” said Donn Pearlman, a rare-coin expert and spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild. “It’s like trying to appraise a house or a car over the phone.”

2007 RCC Coin Show
June 23-24, 2007

Kerr Scott Building
North Carolina State Fairgrounds

This thing gets bigger and bigger each time I attend… I remember the first year I went and was asking around for a higher grade Connecticut Tercentenary Half Dollar. At the time, one of the “dealers” I asked about this coin looked at me like I was talking gibberish… “no half dollar with a tree like that… only on the state quarter.” I had to dig out Redbook and explain what I was looking for… I eventually went on to a (real) coin dealer that knew what I was talking about.

I guess it’s an easy way to differentiate between a true coin dealer/collector vs someone looking to dump some coins at the local show. Seems like a missed opportunity for both a sale and new information if you can’t take a few moments to look something up or inquire more information from the customer. Thankfully there are quite a few decent dealers up and running now as well as a few old, knowledgable curmudgeons that still show up each time.

[ Directions to NC State Fairgrounds ]

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