Those who fondly remember Bowers & Merena will find this interesting.
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
The letter explains itself. I recall that the Secret Service still owes Dave Bowers a 1942 bronze experimental cent that they "borrowed" in about 1968. [Letter in NARA US Mint files.]
Maybe Fred Weinberg can identify the error coins that were taken.
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Another COOL find! Sad but cool.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
bummer for the consignor(s)
Look up the history of the '69 Lincoln DD, same wavelength.
Anyone know what the coins were?
A name on the letter above brought up an old memory.
I learned that the first Director of the ANA's Certification Service (Charles Hoskins) was a former public relations employee of the US Mint in Philly. When he moved to DC to head the service, he received his authentication training from Tom Jurcich at the Mint lab (Dept. of Technology). Whenever a new counterfeit was discovered or an unusual mint error was submitted, Hoskins would take a walk over to the lab with the coin to confirm his opinion. All this was done on the "down-low." I also learned that in the years the service was in DC, there was not one disagreement on authenticity. Additionally, the Mint lab was grateful the authentication service cut the number of coins received at Treasury for authentication to a trickle.
The only "big" error that occurred was due to inattention. That's when the 1959 1C mule was certified as genuine. That in itself is a very funny story that has been told often in authentication classes. When the coin came back for another look, it did go to the lab and it was found to be a very deceptive struck counterfeit. In Larson's book, Numismatic Forgery , Hoffman is given credit as the maker.
Just scary how governments waste their citizen's time and money. One would hope they have better things to do.........
My response would be,
"I'm sorry but I just sold those coins to a cash customer in person. I'll forward you the $20. Good luck in your quest."
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
The letter states they were a proof cent, quarter and Anthony dollar. Is the catalog on NNP?
The Bowers & Merena catalogs are not on NNP. The copyright holder has been approached, but nothing to report yet.
This is a pretty neat letter to see, but scary if I had been the owner of the pieces in question.
Error collectors are aware of the "doesn't fit in the proof holder" stance of the government in the past regarding proof errors.
To me it's kind of funny because I have owned a couple of very undersized wrong planchet proof errors that technically would fit in proof packaging but visually would be wildly out of place. Apparently they are just fine though. This is why I will only possess proof errors that are of correct (or less) diameter.
Oh no, that's part of the fun. Control of the little people, being above everyone else, etc.
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Judging from the date of the letter, it was probably the "Four Landmark Collections" sale included herein:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Lot-of-Coin-Auction-Catalog-by-Bowers-and-Merena-Coin-Collecting-Magazines-/301777601083
Edited to add: I have contacted the ebay seller and asked for descriptions of the lots.
Yes, it was the Four Landmarks Collection"
The intro reads "The Aubry and Adeline Bebee Collection, Part II highlights our sessions on March 30thand 31st, these being held in connection with the Metropolitan New York Convention. Events commence on Thursday evening, witha very nice selection of United States coins, including some interesting quantity offerings of gold, a memorable 1895 Proof set, some fantastic mint errors, commemorative issues in high grades, and other pieces of significance."
And appropriately noted photo courtesy: Cathy Dumont with assistance from Debbie Tallman.
Enjoyed numismatic conversations with Eric P. Newman, Dave Akers, Jules Reiver, David Davis, Russ Logan, John McCloskey, Kirk Gorman, W. David Perkins...
If one goes looking for trouble, one is very likely to find trouble.
Once you involve the bureaucrats, it becomes a challenge to their domain.... and, after all, they must 'appear' to be doing something. Cheers, RickO
That font brings back memories....of my former employer.
And as a bureaucrat myself, I fully agree. The industry should be very careful about asking the govt for legislation regarding fakes from China, etc. Better yet, don't get them invoked at all. I think if we all paid a little money to a PI firm, we could identify most of the fake imports and get them shut down. That's the point at which the govt should come on board.
Not Janet Yellen, It's J. Yellin different last name
Thank you.
The SBA is probably a bit late for the oil pan hoard, but maybe not.
If you care to say, what did you do at Treasury and in what building? Anything to do with coins or paper money?
This was no the first time that the government confiscated error Proof coins that got out of the mint.
Back in the late 1970s I remember going to a presentation at a local club where the presenter showed slides of a Proof Eisenhower Dollar that had been struck on a cent planchet. At the time I wondered how anything like could have been struck by mistake because the cents and and the Ike Dollars were made in differnet areas. Sure enough I read a few months later that these "errors" had been confiscated by the government.
Some of them, anyway.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
I'll have a few at my table, starting today-PNG Day
Correct.
Janet Yellen was a professor at the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley) at that time (1989).
Damn, that strike-through makes Ike look good! Like an art medal.
What was the resolution on coins returned to owner or gvm kept them.
I was with Customs, commercial operations ( i.e. Reviewing all the crap coming in from China, Japan, etc)
"Those who fondly remember Bowers & Merena will find this interesting."
I do and I do.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane...Mike
Hey weren't you kicked out of here once before for voicing "truth"? ha ha
How dare you!