The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V22 2019 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 22, Number 17, April 28, 2019, Article 28

LOOSE CHANGE: APRIL 28, 2019

Here are some additional items I came across in the media this week that may be of interest. -Editor

Golino on the 2019-W Quarters

Lou Golino published an article in CoinWeek April 25, 2019 about the new 2019-W quarter treasure hunt. See the complete article online for more. Vic Mason's comments in The E-Sylum are mentioned. -Editor

2019-W Lowell Quarter obverse But this month, in conjunction with the U.S. Mint’s 227th anniversary and this year’s celebration of the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) 96th annual National Coin Week, the Mint is for the first-time issuing quarters struck at the West Point Mint that carry a “W” mintmark. Quarters were issued by this mint from 1977 to 1979 but with no mintmarks.

What’s more, the coins are only available in circulation and the mintage of each 2019 quarter design with a “W” mintmark is limited to two million coins–about 1% of the anticipated total mintage of all 2019 quarters. While that might not seem rare or even scarce, in the context of modern circulation coins it is a low mintage and one that is comparable to some of the better-date Washington quarters.

The Mint undertook this initiative to stimulate greater interest in numismatics by encouraging people to look for “W” quarters in change. West Point mint-marked quarters were randomly mixed in at the Mint to bags of quarters from the Philadelphia and Denver Mints and then sent to the Federal Reserve, where they are being distributed to banks located in or near major cities around the country. This plan fulfills a promise made last October by Mint Director David Ryder at the Third Annual United States Mint Forum to put some rare coins into circulation.

To read the complete article, see:
The Coin Analyst: 2019-W Quarters Boost Modern Coin Collecting, But Will It Last? (https://coinweek.com/modern-coins/the-coin-analyst-2019-w-quarters-boost-modern-coin-collecting-but-will-it-last/)

The Mint's Legal Authorities

Here's another Lou Golino piece, this time on Coin Update (April 22, 2019). It looks at the legal authority (or lack thereof) of the Mint's issuance of the Mayflower Quadricentennial commemorative coins. Here's an excerpt. Be sure to read the complete article online. -Editor

1920-MS68-toned-Pilgrim-half-dollar
1920 MS-68 toned Pilgrim half dollar.

In 2020, the U.S. Mint will issue a $10 gold coin and accompanying silver medal to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing in 1620. This program was not authorized by congressional legislation and is being issued using the Mint’s existing legal authority to strike bullion gold coins and silver medals at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. It should prove to be a popular program if buyers embrace the designs, especially since over 10 million Americans can trace their heritage to the Mayflower.

In recent years, sales of U.S. Mint commemorative coins slumped sharply, except primarily for the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame 75th anniversary program, and to a lesser degree, this year’s Apollo 11 50th anniversary coins. With only two programs allowed by law per year, most collectors want to see coins about topics of broader, national interest such as major historic events and anniversaries rather than service groups the Lions Club or Boys Town.

In 2016 and 2017 — during the 114th and 115th Congresses — bills were introduced to issue a commemorative coin program for the Mayflower anniversary, but those bills failed to garner enough support to move forward and died at the end of their respective Congresses.

To read the complete article, see:
Mayflower Quadricentenary Numismatic Program: Does it matter that it is not a congressionally mandated commemorative? (http://news.coinupdate.com/mayflower-quadricentenary-numismatic-program-does-it-matter-that-it-is-not-a-congressionally-mandated-commemorative/)

Stolen Carnegie Library Book Recovered From Netherlands

For bibliophiles following the story of the rare book thefts from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, another of the stolen works has been recovered from the Netherlands. Here's an excerpt from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Len Augsburger also forwarded a link to a New York Times article. Both stories make interesting reading. -Editor

Geneva Bible The recovered book is a variation of the Geneva Bible and is commonly called a “Breeches Bible.” That’s because this edition’s Genesis chapter says that when Adam and Eve realized they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves in breeches. Pilgrims who sailed aboard the Mayflower carried a Geneva Bible during their voyage to Massachusetts in 1620.

The director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in Leiden, Netherlands, assisted FBI agents who are part of an art crime team and based in Philadelphia, the FBI said in a news release Wednesday.

To read the complete articles, see:
Geneva Bible stolen from Carnegie Library traced to pilgrim museum in Netherlands (https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2019/04/24/Geneva-Bible-stolen-from-Carnegie-Library-traced-to-pilgrim-museum-in-Netherlands/stories/201904240143)
400-Year-Old Bible Stolen From Pittsburgh Library Is Recovered in the Netherlands (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/us/geneva-bible.html)

To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
CARNEGIE LIBRARY RARE BOOK THEFT DEVELOPMENTS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n26a24.html)

Guth E-Sylum ad01 German Coins



Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V22 2019 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2012 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin