Precious Metal & Rare Coin Market News

In 1851, a U.S. postage stamp cost 3 cents. America was growing fast at this time and the California Gold Rush prompted the development of new U.S. gold coins. The Mint Act of February 21, 1853 authorized a $3 gold coin. The $3 gold coin matched up with an existing 3 cent silver piece, which was already heralded as a convenient coin for Americans to buy stamps. Numismatics widely assume that the $3 gold piece ... >> Read More        

It was October of 1781. US forces had recently defeated the British in Yorktown. The win was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. Though it would be nearly two more years until the US claimed victory, many were beginning to see how the war would end bringing a close to more than 8 years of bloody battle. Ben Franklin was in Paris when he learned the news of the US victory in Yorktown. Thrilled ... >> Read More        

It's commonly know that gold is a great hedge against inflation and a proven portfolio diversifier. What isn't commonly known is that investments in U.S. rare coins do an even better job at growing your long-term investment returns. In fact, the investment return on U.S. rare coins over the last 40 years is higher than other assets and TWICE THAT OF GOLD, according to an independent study by Raymond E. Lombra, Ph.D., entitled The Investment ... >> Read More        

In the wild days of the California gold rush (1848-1855) the supply of gold surged in the US. This influx reinvigorated Congress’s interest in producing a gold coin dollar. Originally, the idea to issue a one-dollar gold coin came from Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. For a long time, government officials, and the US public, advocated for such a coin. Their argument was that issuing a one-dollar gold coin would be convenient in ... >> Read More        

Well … almost. Here, see what we mean: Matricide. Fratricide. Filicide. The slaughter of an entire Roman province of 80,000. Who would do such things? Sounds like a villain out of Game of Thrones, right? Unfortunately, these acts are all too real. They were committed by King Mithridates IV, ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. Mithridates was loved by his people as their savior from Rome’s oppression. Rome, on the other hand, hated him as ... >> Read More        

The siren song of gold called from California to every corner of the country. Across the nation, men (and a much smaller number of women) sold their possessions, borrowed money, and spent their savings to get themselves to the Promised Land. The journey, however, was perilous. Prospective gold miners, called ’49ers for the year (1849) that the Gold Rush started, traveled overland across mountain ranges, sailed to Panama, and sailed around Cape Horn – all ... >> Read More        

Over 270 million Morgan silver dollars met their fate in the melting pot under the provisions of the Pittman Act of 1918.   The U.S. government ordered this dramatic move to save Great Britain from a banking collapse and may have also helped the Allies win the war. How did this great silver meltdown come to pass? Back then, international trade was conducted in gold. Allies were buying steel, food and supplies to maintain their ... >> Read More        

When President Theodore Roosevelt set his mind on something, nothing would hold him back. And one thing he wanted was to improve America’s image in the world. As part of that mission, he decided to send a fleet of battleships around the world to show how powerful our navy was. However, there was one problem: “I think the state of our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness,” President Roosevelt wrote to the Secretary of the ... >> Read More        

The men had just had two days of calm seas. But it wasn’t to last … A strange swell appeared in the sea, silent and unsettling. The sea birds vanished. The swell grew; cargo rolled in the holds; and for the 1,000 men sailing the 11 ships of Spain’s Treasure Fleet, the night passed uneasily. In the morning, the sun never seemed to rise. By noon, visibility was so poor that the convoy of ships ... >> Read More        

Many people are surprised to learn that the origins of US currency aren’t found in our country. They’re found in the Netherlands. Upon arriving in the New World, the Dutch established the colony of New Amsterdam which is known today as New York. Here, immigrants traded Lion “Daalders,” a coin first minted in Holland in 1575. By 1617 the coin was popular wherever commerce was thriving; America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Orient ... >> Read More