Mint Offers Peek at Next Dollar Coins

Coming soon on new presidential dollar coins - Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook, Old Man Eloquent and the Last of the Cocked Hats. The U.S. Mint, the maker of the nation's coins, unveiled yesterday the stately images of the next four presidents whose faces will appear on the front of the shiny gold-colored dollar coins next year. James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren will be the new additions to the presidential dollar coin series that started with George Washington in February. The presidential dollar series is modeled on the Mint's popular 50-state quarter program, which lured millions of Americans into becoming coin collectors. More than 800 million presidential coins were put into circulation in 2007, the Mint said. Those first four coins carried the images of Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Monroe, the nation's fifth president who was nicknamed the Last of the Cocked Hats - a reference to the hat worn by soldiers of the American revolution - will be the first of the 2008 presidential coins. The Monroe dollar coin will come out Feb. 14.


Adams, the country's sixth president was nicknamed Old Man Eloquent because of his long speeches. The Adams coin will be put into circulation May 15.




The dollar coin bearing the likeness of Old Hickory, the moniker for seventh president Andrew Jackson because of his leadership in the War of 1812, will be rolled out Aug. 14.




The Van Buren dollar coin, honoring the eighth president, will come out Nov. 13. One of Van Buren's nicknames was Old Kinderhook, a reference to his hometown in New York.



Like the quarters, the dollar coins will feature changing designs - four new presidents each year in the order they served in office. The president's faces are on the front of the coins, while the backs feature the Statue of Liberty. Some of the lettering, including "In God We Trust," was moved to the edge of the coins. For more information, check out the original article here. It is easy to use iTaggit to organize collections of coins as well as value your collectibles. Just add them into our “What's My Item Worth” collection, or try out our new Live Assist feature for instant help.

Possible Largest Historical Shipwreck Coin Recovery

There have been multiple ship wreck discoveries in 2007 that have yielded large amounts of buried treasure, so to speak, but the code-named “Black Swan” is one of the most impressive. Odyssey Marine Exploration, the world's leader in deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, has recovered 500,000 silver coins, which weigh more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and countless other artifacts. If the results of the conservation and documentation are consistent with speculation, this recovery will constitute the largest collection of coins ever excavated from a historical shipwreck site.
“Our research suggests that there were a number of Colonial period shipwrecks that were lost in the area where this site is located, so we are being very cautious about speculating as to the possible identity of the shipwreck,” said John Morris, Odyssey Co-founder and CEO. “Nevertheless, we have treated this site with kid gloves and the archaeological work done by our team out there is unsurpassed. We are thoroughly documenting and recording the site, which we believe will have immense historical significance.” Although your personal coin collecting might not produce 17 tons worth of material, it is still prudent to manage your collections for future purposes. Good luck finding buried treasure of your own!

One Hundred Million Pennies For Your Thoughts

As the old saying goes “A penny saved is a penny earned,” but the children of New York City took their coin collecting to a whole new level. Hundreds of thousands of city students representing more than 800 public schools in the area spent their weeks between October 22 and Thanksgiving collecting pennies door to door. The outcome is being displayed in Rockefeller Center near the famous Christmas tree.”The Penny Harvest Field” was designed by architect James Polshek and is approximately 30 feet by 165 feet, or roughly as long as a city block. The value of their collection is estimated at around $1 million, or 100 million pennies plus a few other coins that might have slipped in. The exhibit is the outcome of the 17^th annual Penny Harvest hosted by the nonprofit organization Common Cents. Their national education program is designed to teach children about their contributions to society, and after the first of the year, the money will be donated to charitable organizations of the children's choice.

Last Five State Quarter Designs Released

According to an Associated Press report yesterday, the U.S. Mint has released the last five designs for the state quarter collection. The Mint's 50 State Quarters Program releases quarters in order of each state's admittance to the country, starting with Delaware's quarter in 1999. The effort kicked off a coin collecting craze unlike anything ever seen before in the coin world. Based on a 2005 survey, Mint officials estimate 147 million people have gotten involved in collecting the quarters with their constantly changing designs. "The American people have made the 50 state quarters the most successful coins in United States history," said Mint Director Ed Moy.
The next one to be put into circulation in late January honors Oklahoma, which entered the union on Jan. 6, 1912. It will feature the state bird, the scissortail flycatcher, and the state wildflower, the Indian blanket. That will be followed by a Zia sun symbol for New Mexico, which entered the union on Jan. 6, 1912. Arizona, admitted on Feb. 14, 1912, will be represented by the Grand Canyon and a saguaro cactus. Alaska's coin will feature a grizzly bear wading in a stream with a salmon in its mouth while the Hawaii coin depicts King Kamehameha. Alaska and Hawaii were the last states to join the union in 1959.
Through the first eight years of the program, the Mint produced 31.2 billion quarters. Moy said about 20 billion of those quarters were due to the popularity of the changing designs which attracted collectors in record numbers.
The quarters are scheduled to revert back to their pre-1999 designs after next year. George Washington will remain on the "heads" side of the coin, but the "tails" side where the state designs had been placed will once again feature an American eagle.
Collectors who are missing some states should not lose heart since the coins already produced should remain in circulation for about 30 years. Be sure to manage your collection of state quarters using iTaggit. Also check out who has extra quarters you might be missing.

Rare American Coin Collection Sold For $30 Million

According to an article from the Associated Press, an anonymous buyer has paid more than $30 million for a collection of rare U.S. Prototype coins, some from the 1700s, that never went into circulation, according to Laura Sperber, a partner in Legend Numismatics, who brokered the deal. The collection consists of around 1,000 coins that collectors refer to as pattern coins. They all have trial designs on them that never went into production because the U.S. Mint chose others. Gathering such a large collection of pattern coins is difficult because so few were created in the first place, and they were usually supposed to stay in the possession of the Mint, since they were, after all, the rejects. It took the seller about ten years to assemble the coin collection, which spans the period from 1792 to 1942. Highlights of the collection include test designs for the first pennies made in 1792 and six coins from 1872 that are often referred to as “Amazonian” patterns because the female figure portraying liberty is much stronger and regal looking than in earlier versions.

Until 1909, when Abraham Lincoln's face was immortalized on the penny, presidents weren't allowed on coins because, at the time, putting the nation's leader on a coin seemed too similar to the practice of kings being displayed on European coins. “To put an individual on coinage was considered very unrepublican because the people have the power in a republic,” said Douglas A. Mudd, Curator of the American Numismatic Association Money Museum. That wasn't considered the best example for a country less than a decade removed from the Revolutionary War. For more information, check out the original article.
Perhaps the new buyer, who preferred to be referred to as Mr. Simpson for security reasons, will post his new collection to iTaggit and let us help him organize his valuable pieces. 'Til then, be sure to post your coin collection to our gallery, and if you need help with appraisal estimates, enter them into our “What's My Item Worth” collection.

Coins Are A Common Language

If you collect coins, I found this great blog called World Coin News. Jolan is from Bilbao, Vizcaya, Spain and writes “the aim of this blog is to inform about the releases of New World Coin Types. I will post information about legal tender coins only.” As I scrolled through several of his posts, I noticed the striking differences between countries' chosen images on their new coins. Some have animals, others have figures of royalty or of great importance, and still others simply have the monetary value on them. Click here to check out Jolan's blog and let iTaggit help you organize your coins to share with the world.