When faced with the assignment to pick 10 (or more) great coins that retail for $100 or less, I have at least two big problems: First, how do I limit my list to just 10 coins? Second, and this is often the bigger problem, how do I keep myself from trying to buy all the coins I've talked about?

Before presenting my list of coins and the reasons I chose them, let me establish some ground rules. First, the coin values will be based on the May 2009 issue of Numismatic News "Coin Market." Second, the grade of the coin will be the one with a value closest to but below the $100 limit. Generally speaking, if I like a particular coin in one grade, I like it in all collectible grades. Thus, if a coin is worth $100 in Extremely Fine, I would also urge you to buy two of it in Very Fine if it's worth $50 in that grade, and so on.

If you've read any of my articles and columns over the years, then you're probably aware of my preference for certified coins, particularly coins certified by the major services. My reasons for recommending certified coins are that if you buy them you will avoid the potential problem of getting an altered or counterfeit piece, you won't have to worry about whether the coin has been cleaned or had its surface altered in some way, and your new acquisition will come in a holder that's desirable for long-term storage. In addition, the coin is likely to be accurately graded.

                                                              

Next time you're in Britain, check your change.

 

The Royal Mint admits it's made a rare error, producing coins without a date on them for the first time in centuries.

 

The mint said Monday that at least 100,000 of the year-less 20-pence coins, normally worth 33 U.S. cents at face value, slipped into circulation at the end of last year. If found, one coin would garner hundreds of times more on the collectors' market.

 

Numismatists say the last time the Royal Mint accidentally left out the year on a coin was in 1672.

 

The latest error happened when the Royal Mint issued a new design of the coin that moved the year from the back side to the one that bears the head of Queen Elizabeth II. But mint spokesman Jadon Raj said one batch that didn't add "2008" to the head's side got through quality control.

Take a close look at that shiny new 20p piece in your purse or pocket - it could be worth a lot more than you think.

A rare error at the Royal Mint means that tens of thousands of the coins produced earlier this year don't have 2009 stamped on them.

Coin experts say the lack of a date makes them worth £50 each, and potentially much more in future. 

The blunder occurred after a redesign of the 20p piece. The Mint does not know exactly how many undated coins were produced and released into circulation, but estimates range between 50,000 and 200,000.

This is the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years - the last occasion was 1672, when Charles II was on the throne.

The error has caused a great deal of excitement among coin collectors because the Royal Mint, in Llantrisant, South Wales, is normally so careful about the manufacture and release of coins into circulation.

The problem occurred after all the coins from the 1p through to the £1 were redesigned last year. The designs for the 5p and 10p had been unchanged for four decades.

There is an unwritten convention that designs should be changed at least every 40 years to keep the coinage fresh.

A extremely rare 9th Century coin which was found in a field in Wiltshire has sold for £9,300 at a London auction.

 

The Anglo-Frisian Solidus coin was discovered in a field near Salisbury.

 

The woman who found it took it to specialist auctioneers Spink, who confirmed it was extremely rare - only one other example has ever been found.

 

William MacKay of Spink said: "It's always thrilling to seethe face of the owner when you share that their coin is incredibly rare and valuable."

 

An anonymous bidder bought the coin at the auction in Bloomsbury.

 

Spink is the world's leading auctioneer of coins, stamps, medals, banknotes, bonds, share certificates and autographs, with offices in London, Singapore, New York and Dallas.

World Coin News, and just about every other numismatic publication, feasts on reporting the highest prices fetched at auctions, the fabulous increases of coin values, the frenzy to buy this or that coin for investment. Thus, coin collecting becomes associated with coin investing, eventually to the point that gaining a profit subsumes the joy of collecting, and the coin purchaser no longer cares a whit about the coin per se. In this series of occasional articles, my intention is to persuade collectors that accumulating coin as a hobby can still be fun.

In these articles I will be addressing three levels of collecting based on relative affordability: Level A for those who can spend about $100 per month, Level B for $200 per month, and Level C for $500 per month. Periodically, I'll make a comment for what might be Level AA at $50 per month or less, and Level D at $1,000 per month.

But first, a few caveats. Coin collecting at these levels will only be an enjoyment if the collector rejects the concept of investment. Rather, he or she should regard it as recreation - an "investment" in fun, like a holiday in Cancun, tickets at the stadium to watch the San Francisco Giants lose another ball game, a weekend at Disneyland, a Harley-Davidson and so forth. Affordable collecting is a hobby, for which resale for profit should be irrelevant.

The demand for gold coins has hit an all time high, the SA Gold Coin Exchange said on Friday.

 

"The rapidly growing demand for gold coins strongly suggests that the gold bull market is well set to extend itself strongly into the future," said chairman Alan Demby in a statement.

 

An increasing number of analysts and commentators were predicting strong gold price advances, Demby added.

 

He said during the course of 2008, the value of the exchange's sales of gold coins, primarily Krugerrands, was a substantial 80 percent higher than in 2007.

 

"I accept that exchange has grown its market share, but this has played no more than a minor role in our headlong revenue growth, which I am convinced emanates from a belief that gold is the ultimate hedge against the uncertainty generated by the global financial meltdown," Demby said.

 

 

He explained that SAGCE had experienced a rapidly growing demand for its gold coins in recent months.

 

“During the course of 2008, the value of SAGCE’s sale of gold coins, primarily Krugerrands, was a substantial 80% higher than in 2007. Especially popular were the gold Mandela medallions, partly because of their sentimental attraction, and partly as a result of their gold content,” Demby said.

 

He added that although SAGCE had grown its market share, this had played a minor role in the company’s headlong revenue growth, which Demby was convinced emanated from the belief that gold was the ultimate hedge against the uncertainty generated by the global financial meltdown.

Ever since the first New York City parking meter was installed, on Sept. 19, 1951, there have been those who have grumbled about it. "It's just another way of getting money out of people," the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson said that afternoon, looking on as a city dignitary dropped a borrowed dime into a meter on West 125th Street and ushered in a new era of paid parking.

There have also been those who have tried to avoid paying, inserting razor blades, metal slugs, paper clips and other materials into the slot in an attempt to trick the meter.

And finally there have been those who, whether because they were confused, curious, mischievous or cheap, have dropped foreign coins into the meters.

So numerous are the foreign coins that the city, for the past decade or so, has taken to selling them annually to the highest bidder. The latest batch — 700 pounds of foreign coins — is now on sale by the city's Department of Transportation, which is accepting bids until 11 a.m. on Wednesday.