Precious Metal & Rare Coin Market News

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        

Or rather, “There’s millions in it!” (Doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it?) This is a story about the 1858-D $1 Gold coin.  It turns out that “Thar’s gold in them thar hills!” is a Hollywood western invention, by way of Mark Twain. But let’s rewind. In 1829, the Georgia Gold Rush started. Thousands of miners flocked to the area—and Dahlonega, Georgia, quickly became a gold-rush boom town. But then in 1848, gold was ... >> Read More        

If there is one classic Mexican coin that serious U.S. numismatic collectors covet, it's the Pillar dollar. The 8 Reale, also known as "piece of eight," is an iconic silver coin which was struck at the Mexico City Mint between 1732 and 1772. Mexican Pillar dollars were minted across South America under Spanish colonial rule. These coins circulated widely in colonial America and were even legal tender in the U.S. until the Coinage Act of ... >> Read More        

It was the 1850s and the U.S. Mint had a problem. The “large cent,” which was simply a penny, was becoming too expensive to manufacture. The coin was nearly the size of a half dollar and consisted entirely of copper. They needed an alternative. Officials began working on solutions to the prohibitive cost. Some suggested an annular design. This style of coin has a hole punched in the center. This feature would dramatically reduce the ... >> Read More        

NEW ORLEANS, LA, August 15, 2019 - - Blanchard and Company, the nation's leading tangible asset firm, today affirms numismatic history was made with this week's public auction of the Joan Zieg Steinbrenner coin set, which includes some of the finest gold type coins ever assembled. Over a 25-year period, Blanchard advised Mrs. Steinbrenner and through its deep numismatic connections sourced for her a historic collection of U.S. gold coins. Mrs. Steinbrenner is remembered for ... >> Read More        

Born in 1734 near Reading Pennsylvania, Daniel Boone had all the ingredients for a happy life. “All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse and a good wife," Boone said. Yet, the father of 10 children with his wife Rebecca, had a taste for adventure and wanted to explore the American frontier. Boone, along with 30 woodsman blazed a 200-mile trail through rugged wilderness and into the area that became Kentucky ... >> Read More        

It was one of the boldest campaigns in history: the conquering of the mighty Inca Empire. And who led it? An illiterate man born in poverty, the illegitimate son of a soldier and a servant. What drove him and his men was an insatiable desire for gold. The Incas called gold “the tears wept by the sun,” and they used it for ornamentation. The golden temple of Coricancha, for example, was filled with gold, with ... >> Read More        

The United States expanded its reach in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. For $15 million the U.S. acquired 828,000 square miles from France. The additional land doubled the size of the country. Soon after, President Thomas Jefferson took the initiative to find out what awaited in that great wilderness. There were stories of mammoths, and towering salt mountains. Jefferson tapped his private secretary Meriwether Lewis to mount an expedition into the region. Lewis solicited help ... >> Read More        

What an embarrassment.   Americans used to use foreign money because we didn’t have our own. In early America, we had no official coinage, and so we used a variety of foreign coins, including Spanish dollars. In the 1780s, many prominent Americans began calling for the creation of a national mint. After the Constitution was ratified (giving Congress the power to coin money), Congress began reviewing the country’s monetary system and coinage and deciding what ... >> Read More