Fred Reed’s Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness has added a third literary award to its roster. The Society of Paper Money Collectors bestowed its D.C. Wismer “Book of the Year” Award at its annual gathering in Memphis. The book had previously been named the Numismatic Literary Guild’s 2009 “Book of the Year” (the [...]

In 1964, the year before the discontinuation of silver coinage, an official audit of the vaults of the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C., uncovered an astounding three million U.S. silver dollars struck in the late 1800s at the historic Carson City Mint. Though it had produced coinage for only a little over two decades, from [...]

“There is no Santa Claus in numismatics,” Lee F. Hewitt, founder and editor of the Numismatic Scrapbook, said. The reference was to coins advertised as bargains. If a coin price seemed too good to be true, the coin had some problems.

“How much is it worth?” is by far the most frequently asked question about any odd looking coin. It is normal to think that a coin not generally seen in daily circulation must be rare and therefore very valuable. Those who seriously collect, study or deal in coins may have a somewhat different opinion. They know that not all [...]

As the sun began to set on the ramparts of Battery Marshall that cold night of February 17, 1864, Confederate soldiers and curious onlookers watched as final adjustments were made to the submarine’s torpedo barbed metal head. With the ever-tightening Union blockade, the citizens of Charleston were hopeful that the blockade could be broken by [...]

Thanks in part to efforts by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), the recently renovated National Museum of American History now has a coin and currency exhibit, titled “Stories on Money.” The new exhibit is the only one at the venerable Smithsonian dedicated entirely to numismatics. According to the full story on NGC’s website: The exhibition case [...]

The 1930′s was an era of frenetic activity surrounding the issuance of commemorative US coins. A number of very colorful characters were bent on promoting whatever cause they thought would justify yet another production run at the mint. This flurry of activity and the resultant alleged abuses would culminate in the US Congress holding hearings [...]

As the Chief Engraver of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Christopher Madden has created amazing art that you carry with you every day. For starters, there’s the back of the $10 bill, which he painstakingly engraved. Mr. Madden didn’t gain his talents overnight. In fact, his course of study for learning his craft lasted [...]

When Mike Beck prints the Abraham Lincoln intaglio card today at the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo today, he will be using (and demonstrating) a spider press that dates to the Lincoln Administration. But what’s even more amazing is the press, Number 100, is the same one he uses every day to print proofs of [...]

For the first time in history, it is possible to purchase a U.S. coin with readable Braille characters, following the unveiling in Baltimore today of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar at the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind.

The public is invited to see and purchase the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar at the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Baltimore Expo, today through this Saturday, March 28 at the Baltimore Convention Center.