Staff Picks
Each of the 5 of us (Dan, Greg, Liz, Clark & Bob) who work at our shop has a specific area of responsibility that entails different interactions with the coins, products and customers that give us our reason for being here. We also each have our own unique interests that draw our attention to particular pieces. Below you will find what each of us has found most striking or curious in the past week.
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Dan Lewis: Owner, Diplomate of Numismatics Cook Is - Seeds of Love with Swarovski Ruby Proof Silver Coin & Unique Display Box
 "Truly a unique legal tender five dollar coin issued by authority of the Government of the Cook Islands. When the wood display box is opened, the reflection of the coin in the mirror image creates the other half of the coin and a perfect Swarovski element heart! Comes as shown in its original mint packaging with a Certificate of Authenticity. Total mintage on this coin was limited to 2,500 pieces worldwide. Ingenious!"
Price: $124.99
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Greg Capps:
Shop Numismatist
Cuzco Hoard of Potosi Bolivia 8 Reales Charles IIII 1804 P.J. NGC-AU58
 "Naturally, my pick is an 1804 Silver Dollar. Well, sort of. It was minted in 1804 and it is made of silver. In fact, at 8 bits, it traded on par with our American Dollar until the mid 19th century. What more could you ask for?
Well, as if the above wasn't reason enough to fall in love with this NGC graded coin, it also hails from the famed Cusco Hoard. Cuzco (now spelled Cusco) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. The city was founded around the 12th century in what is now Peru and is about 110 kilometers south of the fortress city at Machu Picchu. Like other ancient cities Cusco was built based on the alignment of buildings with astronomical events such as the winter and summer solstice. According to tradition the city was conceived as a puma incorporating a nearby hill as its head and the main temple of the capital as its stomach. The tail of the puma is formed where the Tullumayo and Huatanay rivers join. Cusco's layout was meant to replicate a puma constellation, which the Inca said was formed not of stars but the dark spaces between the stars."
Price: $499.99
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Clark Chapin:
Numismatic Photographer Great Britain - Young Victoria 1848 Model Crown - Very Fine!
 "I've tended to draw a collector's line at the reign of Queen Victoria - at least in terms of British non-colonial copper, but this piece in splendid in terms of design, elemental composition & condition. If you have a weakness for British or 19th century coins and medals then I think you're as likely as me to be captivated by this historic medal."
Price: $74.99
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Bob Manis:
Customer Service
50th Anniversary of Word War II
 "This is a celebration of the Greatest Generation. Those American who saw and served in WWII showed what we can do with courage & purpose. I have the utmost respect for this generation. We should honor them by keeping America strong & free."
Price: $549.99
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Liz Duncan:
Shipping
Mongolia - Ural Owl Strix uralensis - Proof Silver Crown with Swarovski Eyes
 "I don't much like things that stare back at me but this Owl coin from Mongolia gave me nice surprise when I first saw it looking back at me."
Price: $149.99
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Greetings!
I'd like to thank Greg Capps, our inveterate shop numismatist, for putting in more than just his two cents here at the store and in any number of other matters. Greg has also begun submitting his numismatic musings in article form for our blog, facebook page and, now, in our weekly newsletter. We're all pleased with both his level of knowledge and the obvious care and dedication he applies to the many tasks associated with our trade and this wonderful area of study and collecting. His article this week is the first in a series he hopes you will enjoy and look forward to.  |
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Counterstamp With Ties To The Gold Rush??
Multiple counterstamps on an 1851 large cent has raised some questions. By Greg Capps A recently discovered 1851 large cent bearing multiple counterstamps has raised some questions regarding its origin. The obverse is stamped GREGG multiple times radiating from the coin's center-point while the reverse carries the marks NY / NORRIS / GREGG. To even the casual numismatist, hearing the word 'Norris' coupled with 'Gregg' conjures up images of a mid-19th century west coast manufacturer of gold coins.  | | 1851 large cent with GREGG & NORRIS N.Y. Counterstamp |
The history of NGN (Norris, Gregg & Norris) includes the firm becoming one of the first minters of private gold coinage in California. Prior to that, city directories of the day show Thomas H. Norris, Charles Gregg, and Hiram A. Norris as being in the plumbing and pipe-fitting trade at 62 Gold St. (irony anyone??) Brooklyn, NY. It should be noted that travel records dated 1849 show H.A. Norris leaving New York for California. It can be assumed this was in fact the same H.A. Norris of the Norris, Gregg & Norris firm. The first stop in California appears to have been Benicia City, a naval station near the San Francisco bay. By 1850 the minting operation had been moved into Stockton. The coins themselves were well received and when assayed were found to contain 1% more gold than a Philadelphia minted half eagle. For this reason, they all but disappeared from circulation by 1851.
1851: the date of our enigmatic large cent that started this journey. One problem I encountered during my research was that of a seemingly anachronistic inconsistency. How could a host coin dated 1851 still bear 'NY' when the assumed issuers had been in California for two years? Well, it should be pointed out that many going west to find prosperity in the Gold Rush saw this as a temporary opportunity. Companies back east often remained open for business while their principal owners took off seeking fortune. This fact seems to be backed up by an 1851 magazine ad for the New York based Norris, Gregg & Norris Plumbing Company. The stamp itself is from a prepared punch; similar to that which a pipe-fitting company might have on hand for stamping its trademark into metal during the everyday course of business. Could this counterstamped large cent we have before us be the product of mischievous workers who were left behind to tend the shop, or was it produced in the same California mint that struck the gold coins of America's famous Gold Rush? Perhaps a fellow counterstamp enthusiast will email this writer at greg@blackmountaincoins.com to share his or her thoughts and opinions
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We've just posted these 10 wonderful medals struck by the Franklin Mint in 1973 of 0.825oz pure silver and honoring some of the most influential Native American tribes. The original set featured 40 separate commemoratives. Very few complete sets now remain, but the individual medals are finding their way into the secondary market. We're glad to have had these arrive and are sure that they will prove meaningful to our many collectors of Native American and U.S. Historical Commemoratives. If you consider yourself to share these interests then you may also enjoy seeing our more extensive collection of Native American Coins & Medals.
 The tribes represented in this Franklin Mint Collection are: Other items in our more extensive collection also honor:
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The Pacific's 22 countries and territories are strung out across 29 million square kilometers of ocean. They contain some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, and are inhabited by cultures that have lived in an often difficult and fragile environment for millennia - longer than Germanic or Slavic peoples have lived in Europe, or Anglo-Saxons in Britain. But now, at the dawn of the 21st century, many of these nations are struggling with the possible abbreviation of their histories and the loss of their homelands due to the effects of sea level rise. Kiribati has moved forward with contingency plans for evacuation while the Solomon Islands has announced the salination of their freshwater resources and the ocean's breaching of one of their islands into two. These Polynesian nations that have lived on the edge of the world appear poised to vanish.  For those of us familiar with their contributions to world numismatics over the course of the last century we can state that any loss to these peoples is lamentable. We can also note that it has often been through their out-sized proportion of issuances of noncirculating legal tender that so many of these nations' economies have been supplemented. We bring these to you now for both your curiosity and as a tribute to all those who live amidst the tides.
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USA - 50th Anniversary of World War II - (9) Piece Proof Set - 1991 - .999 Fine Silver - Mint Box - Great set of World War II medallic art. Each one of these nine pieces was struck to a proof finish from one ounce of .999 fine silver and measures 38.6 millimeters in diameter. The set depicts the following themes: Pearl Harbor, B-25 Mitchell Medium Bomber, B-29 Superfortress Heavy Bomber, North American P-51 Mustang Fighter, Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64), Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) "Mighty Mo", the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, a depiction of the Raising of the Flag at Iwo Jima and V-E Day, May 7, 1945 and V-J Day September 2nd, 1945. Great set for the World War II enthusiast!
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