American Coin and Currency Live Podcast: Numismatic Talk Part 1

Numismatic Talk is your weekly deep dive into the past, present, and future of coin collecting, from top picks to shipwreck treasures. We break down market trends, explore the forces shaping prices, and share insider insights on how American Coin and Currency is engaging with the industry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Okay, everybody, we're here today.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

What's happening?

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Hi, guys. How's it going, John? Uh, we're here for another episode of American Coin and Currency Newsmatic Talk covering past, present, and future in the industry and how we're getting involved. How are you today, John? I'm doing well. How are you doing? Uh great. You know, these uh streams are getting better. We're on different platforms today. I think we're on five platforms and using seven accounts. So we're yeah, we're across X, three accounts on X, Instagram, uh, LinkedIn, Facebook, and uh YouTube. So yeah, we're we're covering all our bases today, and uh yeah, it's exciting to have you and and exciting to be here.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

So uh yeah, I just wanted to thank everyone too. In the last week, since last time we did this, last Thursday, I've had I don't even know how many conversations with people who have reached out, um either just getting questions answered or uh a few people opened up accounts, which was great, looking to build uh a portfolio of coins. So yeah, I really appreciate that. And we're like I always say we're here to assist in any way that we can. So you know, I'll I always make time and uh educating educating people about this industry to me is is paramount. So just thank thank you everyone for for uh reaching out and please do so again in the future.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, 100%. It's uh it's a good way to capture an audience that may not understand the industry and how to get into uh numismatic um you know collecting and you know get having those safeguards and you know someone with your expertise is gonna be really helpful for those who are getting in the industry. So um it's a good platform for people to really take on you know a lot of information from experts, and then also um, you know, we're gonna be able to bring other experts in here and give their take.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah, that's gonna be exciting. Well, we're gonna bring bring in some guests that are gonna have a different perspective and different advice on uh on what what to do and what not to do in this industry and in this business. So that's gonna I can I'm really looking forward to that. And uh, you know, we've discussed, we would talk during the week, obviously, and um I'm always looking forward to these because there's just so much for us to talk about, right? And um last week we were kind of just scratching the surface on some educational aspects of of investing and collecting uh numismatics and precious metals, and so I was thinking what would be really a good talking point or talking points this week. And um, you know, when when people get into and we're gonna for those that only deal in precious metals or purchase precious metals, we're gonna have discussions about that as well, only precious metals-based discussions. Um but with the with numismatic coins, there's so many different areas in this that I want to just take a couple weeks, but we'll be going back and forth for those of you that don't purchase numismatics, only purchase you know, precious metals. Uh, but with that being said, there's uh there's so many different avenues that you can go down when you get involved with uh with investing in numismatic coins. And by that, what I mean is there's some people out there and dealers too. There's dealers that only deal in Morgan silver dollars, there's dealers that only deal in buffalo nickels, there's dealers that only deal in you know really uh finite uh avenues of coins. So with that being said, um something that's near and dear to my heart, uh, and I think I've mentioned this before in the past, when people do get involved, you know, everyone seems to find something that that pulls on them that they really like collecting and investing in. Uh whether it be Morgan's, whether it be you know double eagle gold double eagles. Um what I wanted to talk about this week was uh there's something that's it they're known as private and territorial gold pieces, gold coins. And the history of it is just is absolutely fascinating. It's really the the history of our country. And by that what I mean is so back in the early 1800s, uh obviously they were they were minting gold coins, the Philadelphia mint was the main one, and you also had I'm not sure the exact date, but you had on the east coast the Lonega Mint and the Charlotte Mint, both of which were destroyed in the civil in the Civil War. Um the first gold rush in the United States was actually uh in the Carolinas. Okay, I realized that. So there was a um at that time, uh the United and I'm talking like 1820s, 1830s, the United States mint they didn't have small denominational gold. It was it was larger pieces. Uh in fact the the $20 gold piece didn't even come out till 1849. So what we were using at that time were was really other countries' coins or our own commerce. And it took decades and and decades for the the United States mint to kind of catch up. So this gold rush took place Carolinas, Georgia, and there was a uh there was uh uh what what was created was you had private mints because a lack of US uh specie, specie is basically uh it's coins, not not paper currency. Uh and because of the lack they of of that species, um some entrepreneurial uh gentlemen created their own mints in essence. And they were at they were their own assayers, they they minted the coins. One of the one of the first, and I have one here to show you, is a uh a Beckler, it's called Augustus Beckler, that was from the uh East Coast, and he was one of the first that actually created a private mint and struck his own coins, uh different areas. So when you get one of these coins, if anyone ever sees one or gets one, you'll see it'll either say Carolina gold on there, because I I believe at this time there was no North or South Carolina, it was just um it was just Carolinas, uh, or it'll say Georgia gold. So he started minting these coins. Uh not many of these are still around, so they're very, very, very highly collectible. Um Andrew Jackson gets in office, and uh and he's a big proponent for a push westward, right? And then you had the Monroe Doctrine after, which before my brain is I think it was before, um, which was basically uh asking the citizens, we need to we need to settle the west, we need to push westward. So uh we push west, we go out to California. There's already people there, you know, obviously, but we we really start building it up. At that time, San Francisco wasn't even San Francisco, it was actually named Yurba Buena, and it didn't change to San Francisco until uh 1847. So think about think about that. The all these people are moving out west, um they need to transact commerce, and really the only way to pay, most people used Spanish coins, Spanish pieces of eight were kind of the standard uh for payment at that time, among some other foreign coins. Uh a very limited amount of United States min coins actually made it all the way out west. And if you think about it for a second, you'll realize it's not like today. You know, back then in the 1830s, 1840s, you either had to transport though that those coins, gold and silver, all the way across the United States, which was still a dangerous route, uh, because you would be attacked most likely, uh, either by bandits, by uh indigenous. Well, you know, it was uh uh it was not uh an easy crossing. Or you could take a ship and go all the way around South America up to California coast, or the third option was they would actually go to where uh the Panama Canal is, which is known as the Isthmus of Panama, and they would cross that stretch of land using uh using donkeys and other pack animals, of course with armed guards, to to the uh Caribbean and then from the Caribbean up to the East Coast. Either way, the shortest the shortest the shortest route was roughly 30 to 30 days, so a lot of time. What happened was uh as most people do realize uh we had a huge gold rush in California, right? So in 1848 at Sutter's Mill, uh gold was discovered, and by 1849, it was a full-blown gold rush. So people from all around the world were s were flocking into California to strike it rich. Uh there was still no mint in California. So people were using gold, gold flakes, gold nuggets, gold as as a medium of exchange. And uh that was fraught with all kinds of of uh uh problems, right? Because certain gold, depend on where you get it, the purity is different. That's that's why you need an assayer. Uh so I love this story too, Dustin. Uh, there was an account of uh saloons in the in the old west in this area around Sutter's Mill, they would actually hire bartenders with huge hands. I have pretty big hands, so guys like with my size hands, you know, they would take a pinch, and a pinch would buy you know a few shots or whatever it would be, but because you have bigger fingers or they'd wet their fingers on their brow, you know, okay a little more gold out of that, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um this was a problem, and people felt that either they were you know overpaying or they were being taken advantage of.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So the model that that uh that Augustus Speckler and uh there's another house, Templeton, Templeton Reed was actually the my understanding the first private mint in the United States. They knew about these mints, so people that actually left the East Coast, went to the West Coast to seek their fortunes, they took that knowledge uh and they went there and they started other private mints. So, excuse me, it was a very, very lucrative uh business model for the people that had the the knowledge and the means to open up private mints. What they would do is they would they would basically purchase the raw gold from the public at it at a discount. Uh from what I've read, it's up to 40% off of what the going rate was at that time. And they would then melt this gold down, purify it, and create coins out of it. Um these coins were uh known as California fractionals. I love California fractionals, and we'll get into that a little bit more. But um excuse me.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Yeah, I wanted to add because I'm actually from that part of California, and Sutter, Sutter is very familiar in the name. I'm not sure exactly where location-wise, but I lived in kind of the east of Sacramento area.

unknown 15:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Mark Twain was pretty prominent. He's actually from my area. A lot of the stories are like Tom Sawyer and whatnot, but um gold was pretty prominent in that town. There's like in that general area, whereas like literally, you know, boom and bust, like everything was gold surrounding the minting, the mining, the everything. It's still to this day, but um, you know, significantly dropped at that point. But um, it's interesting that you're bringing up like Sutter and like these like I guess encampments and whatnot. Like um, like what was like the first mint? Because you mentioned like San Francisco is like that the San Francisco mint you're mentioning.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Well, Philadelphia was the first.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

That was the first mint. Um exact year, uh, I'm not sure. I know that is you know, $1794, one of the most valuable coins ever struck at the Philly Mint. And that one recently sold for over $10 million.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

So yeah, the night $1794, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, for an ounce of silver. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

So yeah, that that's really cool. I I was wondering if they still try to mine gold over there, if they still pan, or I I don't know if anyone pans, but if they still yeah, but it's very uh when I at a young age we we panned gold and uh used dredgers, yeah, dredging in the in the creek beds.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

And um people still find gold just loose in the the ground. Um I've seen it when I was a child, like someone pulled out like a several ounce piece of gold, and um there's there's a giant piece of gold at like a uh vineyard, and it has a display. Um yeah, it's pretty prevalent, you know. It's I would say it's at least more accessible than I've seen in anywhere. Um just because the ground is very um, you know, it has that dark, you know, looking, you know, uh creek bed. You know, so we're just like, yeah. That's part of our actual history where I live in California. A lot of it is dredging and learning how to pan gold. And yeah, it's pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

That's very, yeah, that's that's I mean, that literally changed the course of the United States. If if that gold had not been found at that time, I'm sure it would have been found at some point. But that put the United States on the world stage. We were we were at a big deficit at that time uh for gold reserves in the United States, European countries had us beat by far. And it's kind of interesting that uh prior to the you know 1830s, uh Russia had a big foothold in California. You know, California, Oregon, that they were big in the fur trade. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Luckily they didn't find the gold.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

You know, looking for gold.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Trying to buy California from us or that territory. Yeah. Yeah. So um so think about it. Put yourself, I always like to try to put myself in at that time and and think about how it would be. Uh you're trying to do you're trying to live your life, you're trying to buy things, you're trying to, you know, barter, well, not barter, but you had to barter or pay for things. Uh the if there was actually a premium, people hoarded US coins at that time, and there was up to a 20% premium for US struck coins because there was such a a lack of them out there. Uh, even when the private mints came about, uh, there was still just a woefully small amount of U.S. minted coins in that in that territory, in that area. So these there were a lot of them were jewelers, from what I've read. Uh, some were actually they were they worked at uh maybe the mint up in Philly. They knew how this worked, they went out to California. California fractionals. So a California gold fractional it what they did is a fraction of a dollar. I'll show you one here. This is actually a um a 50 cent piece. Okay. Beautiful coin. I don't know if you can see that too well. My camera has to kind of catch up. But this piece here, it's um 1873 Loun Round Liberty. So what what they did, and there was a uh there was many, many uh private jewelers, private mints that started creating these because the margins were huge. I mean, think about it. If you did a hundred thousand dollars worth of business, that's thirty to forty thousand dollars you made in the eighteen forties, eighteen fifties. Wow. You were a wealthy, wild, wealthy man at that time, if you did that. So what they did was because most people didn't they didn't even have uh in 1849 they had just struck the $20, but most people, even in the 1850s, did not carry around a $20 gold piece, a $10, or a $5. I mean, that was a $5 gold piece might have been a month's salary for somebody. So those were mostly used by banks, by institutions, by wealthy people. Um, so there was a there was a real need for smaller denominational uh gold payments, uh gold specie. So they created uh a dollar, a 50 cent, and a 25 cent fractional gold pieces, and they were either uh round or octagonal, and either had a Liberty or an Indian head on them. And so there's all these different variations, and uh a few years ago, uh more than a few decades ago, some people in the industry they cataloged uh the last names are Brillio and Green. So we go by what's called a BG book, which catalogs every single fractional that was created. So I don't know if you can see on there, it says BG uh 1012. That that's the identifier. That's the BG number. So it goes all the way from BG100 all the way up to BG, I believe it's in the 1500. Hundreds. I've actually had a customer who had every BG number, which was pretty incredible. It took them many, many years to create it. Anyways, so they create these coins and they create them up until the 1870s, 1880s. Prior to that, they were made illegal. Once the San Francisco mint had been created, they pretty much outlawed the private minting of coins. Excuse me. So why am I bringing this up? Why even talk about it? In this world of collecting and investing in rarities, story is everything. And rarity is everything. This piece in particular, um this is this is a mid-state 67 proof like. Now, when I see that, my mind is blown. And it's be how did this survive to this day? I mean, this is 1873, and it's three grades away from perfect. This is a small little coin. And you have to think, Dustin, back then, people used to keep their coins in a money bag or money pouch or somewhere safe. So they all clank together, they would give they would get bent, they would get marred, they would get scratched. It's exceptional to find one in that condition. And of course, this is an anomaly. I mean, there are some others out there like this, but the reason why this is so spectacular is because there's truly a finite amount of these. There's um the historical significance of these is immense. And really, they're just freaking cool. Like they're really cool. Um, so there's a huge, there's I don't want to say huge, but there is a robust market of people that collect these types of pieces. My experience, when you start learning about this industry and about, and I don't care if it's comic books, I don't care if it's sports memory or if it's fine wine or coins, you find things that are really niche and that are extremely low populations, and those are the pieces that will re will show returns. Uh, people will always collect these kinds of things, especially people. I have customers in California who absolutely love California gold pieces. Like they want to own them, they want to collect them. Um it's extraordinary to me that the the ingenuity of just humans and what we can create and come up with when needed. So these coins were created in California, as well as other larger coins, which we can get into at another time. I kind of want to focus on the California fractionals a little bit. Um so collecting these is something that's rewarding because when you get a coin like this, it to me it's very it's fun to look them up. I love history, I love learning. And when I get a coin like this, I can look it up, I could see what was happening in 1873, what was going on in California at that time. Um, it's a each piece is a historical lesson, and to me, that adds value to the to the coins above and beyond its its intrinsic value that it already has built in. Um I suggest, and I I you know, not it, it's not for everyone. You know, like I said, everyone kind of veers eventually towards things that they like. I love private and territorial gold pieces because it's a reflection of what was happening in our country at that time, and what wild changes were happening in the country at that time. From 1848 onwards, the United States was fast-tracked, and that was because of gold, and that was because of private minters creating gold pieces that then were used for commerce not only in California and that territory, but other areas of the country and in other countries. Um, it kind of showcased what the United States was doing at that time pre uh pre-uh San Francisco Mint. And it's just a it's it's a piece that that is um not only for California, not only was happening in California, but when you dig a little deeper, Dustin, you'll see that this was going on all throughout the country. So I know I jumped from the Carolinas out to Sutter's Mill, California, but there was a lot going on in between, too. And by that, what I mean is around that same time frame, roughly, you had a group, which everyone knows now, which are the Mormons, they kind of were pushed out uh of the area that they were, because they were more towards like Ohio, the Northeast. Um they were they they moved out to uh would eventually Salt Lake City, Utah area. Right. Um they had their own, you know, a Mormon, you know, they created their own mint, they created their own coins, but a Mormon gold piece is you're not gonna touch one for under six, you know, a hundred thousand dollars. They're they're just extraordinary pieces. And in fact, if any come up for sale, the Mormon, the Mormon um museum in Salt Lake City will most likely purchase it from you to put it in the museum. So you had that going on in over there. You had uh uh I'm sorry, uh Colorado gold. Like um this here is one of my favorite pieces, actually. Uh Clark Gruber was the name of the company. Clark and Gruber. So they created uh some denominational gold. Again, these are not US mint, these are private mint coins, but they have all the hallmarks of a U.S. minted coin. I mean, the the designs are gorgeous. Uh you wouldn't you couldn't tell the difference if the US mints struck this or or in this case Clark and Gruber. So Clark Gruber was uh was um around Colorado area, Colorado gold. So gold was being found you know different places all over the country. Alaska, of course, there's coins that come from Alaska that were private mint. And excuse me, uh these coins. So I'll give you, I'll share something with you. I got this coin, I don't know, a few years back. I bought it back from a customer who had bought it years prior. And um, I kind of forgot about it. It's in this is from my private collection. Uh but last time when I went to go look and just see the price of it, I was shocked how much they've gone up in value. And that's really, I mean, yeah, we do get we do get rewarded in collecting and investing in coins by the physical coins themselves, by looking at them. You know, I I pull out my coins quite often and look at them. And even though I've looked at them and stared at them a million times, it still gives me a certain level of joy and satisfaction. And I'm not alone in that. A lot of collectors feel the same way, they like to look at them. So the appreciation in these coins, an appreciation I mean monetarily, is pretty astounding. And I don't see why that would slow down anytime soon, being that um more and more people are getting into this space, more and more money is pouring into this space, and more and more people are looking for the best of the best. You know, I don't know about you, but when I invest in something, when I buy something, I want to get a return on it. Yeah. Of course. So to me, this is like a win-win-win-win. I get something that's historical, I get something that that uh intrigues me, uh that I can do some research on. And above and beyond all that, there's a good chance I'm also gonna get a return. Now, obviously, returns are not promised. I'm not saying anything like that, promising a return, but just based off in my personal experience with my private and territorial mint pieces, the returns I've seen is pretty astounding. And so I just don't see that slowing down. Uh, up until very recently, we actually we we pitched ourselves, we we what's the right word for it? Um we would say that you know we specialized in private and territorial gold. That's what American coins did for several years. So we're we're pretty well versed in this. Of course, we deal in all kinds of coins, but uh the private and territorial coins um are fascinating, and I think that anyone who would get involved in these would absolutely love them. Now, let me let me say that um obviously when you start getting into gold, the dollar figures go up as far as price. Um, you still can get great satisfaction out of collecting silver coins, and there's some silver coins, like I said earlier, with that $17.94 that are worth much more than gold. Um, but when you start getting into this arena, I just want to kind of put it out there that you know you you're gonna be looking to spend anywhere from a couple thousand dollars up to twenty-thirty thousand dollars a coin. Um but you know, a lot of times, like anything, you get what you pay for, and so there's so much that we can go into with private and territorial gold pieces. The history is phenomenal. And one of my favorite resources that I want to share with everyone, this is available on on uh Amazon. This is by uh Donald Kagan. Anyone in the coin industry knows Kagan. Kagan Rare Coins is one of the oldest and most reputable uh rare coin and numismatic dealers in the uh in the world. Absolutely fascinating book. It goes through the every single private mentor, the whole history, what was going on at that time, the government's uh reactions, what they needed to do to fix the problems with having currency that could be used instead of using either dust or or other countries' uh you know specie. I recommend that book to anyone who really wants to learn more about these types of coins, or anyone that uh, of course, was looking to put money into it, you'll enjoy the read. If you like history, um that that's a great read about what the Westward expansion and how gold played a direct role in turning the United States. I mean, it wasn't really that long between 1848 and World War I, right? Where we stepped onto the world stage. A huge transformation had taken place in those decades, and that was a direct result of that gold rush at Sutter's Mill.

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Yeah, that's interesting because um mentioning about you know where kind of like the direction the United States kind of moved towards once the discovery of gold and how that really impacted like infrastructure and and you know building out west rather than just focusing on the Carolinas and and the East Coast, which is you know our first landing when it came to the United States, most of the infrastructure and um was created on the you know the first 13 colonies. Um like um yeah, it's interesting to hear like the different like um yeah, the fractionalization or the the different uh territories and creating specific uh coinage in those areas. Um I guess what what are some of your like favorite pieces per se, maybe from specific areas, if it's like from Alaska or Philadelphia or California. Um and then um what are some like maybe low-hanging fruit, like accessibility for you know people getting into the space and like maybe something that's uh more tangible? Because maybe some of these like territorial pieces are not as accessible, you know, financially or or just not having the knowledge of accessing them. Is there like a specific coin that you would recommend?

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Sure. So um yeah, Templeton Reed, as I said earlier, that was the first, it was Georgia 1830, was when they struck their first uh first coins. Of course, those are wildly expensive, right? But accessibility into this into this space, yes, there are there are uh California fractionals that are of a couple hundred bucks, a few hundred dollars. So that's a great starting point. And I'm talking as low as like five hundred dollars, sometimes even a little less. That's a great entry point because you can you can start getting involved at a at a level of uh and then start understanding um where to go from there with that collection. Uh the rare pieces, they of course they don't come up for sale too often, but they do. They you know they do come up in auction, private sales, and we have access to all of that. Uh so if anyone we we actually do um we are representatives for uh wealthy individuals that want to uh be anonymous when when there's auctions that take place. Um so excuse me. I would recommend if you do have interest in this, reach out to me and I can send you some information, it'd just be literature to start, uh, to kind of give you a broader understanding of what's out there and what's available. And yes, there are um there's actually uh Australian, I'm sorry, Australian, Alaskan uh gold coins. Uh they're commonly known as pinches, Alaskan pinch, it's a small gold coin. And there's um uh Yukon gold. So anywhere that gold was struck, there were people that followed and became uh private mentors because I'm sure the like I said earlier, the percent, the margins were huge and there's a lot of money to be made. So I would recommend you reach out and let me let me get you out some some basic information, some literature, and see if it's for you. If it pulls at you, if it's something you want to learn more about, then that just makes it more fun and exciting to collect and invest in these kinds of pieces. Um, so that's what I would recommend. So the short answer is yeah, there are some lower, there is some lower hanging fruit as far as entry points with California fractionals. And then they go up all the way over $100,000. For I mean, this is a 20th of an ounce of gold. Maybe maybe a little less, but I'm gonna say it's a um the no, I'm sorry, the dollars are 20th. This is a 40th of an ounce of gold. But this piece in particular, uh off the top of my head, I'd say, I mean, this isn't crazy. This is probably like a $2,500 piece, but it's a mid-state 67 proof-like. So a proof-like is just like how it sounds. Can you see the designation on there? The PL, both NGC and uh PCGS, they both grade coins with uh proof-like. There's so there's proof-like, there's um deep mirror proof-like, DMPL, and then there's uh DPL, deep proof-like. So three different variations that that a coin might grade at, I should say a fractional in this case, might grade at. And really what that means is just just how it sounds. It looks like a proof, kind of like a proof. So proof-like. It's not a proof, they didn't make proofs in these coins, they just struck them for use. Um, but this the in my guess would be the way that this got this kind of finish on it, was it might have been struck, might have been the first coin struck after the dies were polished. Um so typically in today's world, when proofs are made, a proof has that luxurious look to it because the dies are honed, they're they're polished, and then they're struck multiple times to give the coin that look. So in this case, this was probably um the first coin struck after the die had just been polished. Because the dies wear out. They need to keep them up to up to uh up to speed as far as their appearance, so that the the coin has its has its fields and has its uh appearance, uh, so you can actually see what's on it. That would be my best guess for how that that was created. So um there's not a lot of them, as you could, as you could imagine. But even that, at let's say $2,500, that's that's a pretty low entry point for something that's extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary. That it's only three grades away from perfect, and it's proof-lake. Um and again, you can actually, for someone that does have the means, and there are people that have done it, because like I said, we had a client who did it, collect every single BG number from BG 101 all the way up to BG, I think it's like 1500 something. Um, that's a lot of variations of coins. Uh every once in a while they still find one that that's not cataloged. Um, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen. And um one other thing, real quick, when you get into when you get into like these kinds of coins, like the California fractionals, um uh the BG book, which is also available online, uh it's expensive. It's the they didn't make many of those BG books, the Burillo and Green, the one that catalogs California fractionals. The book alone is a few hundred dollars, but um, in that book, there's a rarity scale. So rarity one to rarity eight. Rarity one being the most common, rarity eight. So you'll hear like a uh what's the R number? Is it an R7, R7 plus, R7 minus, R, you know, that's the rarity scale. A rarity eight would be unique. There's only one known. Uh, and a rarity one would be there's off the top of my head, I think there's like a hundred and fifty to five hundred or something in that area. Still super duper low populations in comparison with today's mintages. Um, so again, I would recommend reaching out to me or someone at our team here at American Coin. And uh you can do that by email, you need coins at Gmail. Uh Dustin always has all the contact information below, or give us a call and and we can get the ball rolling as far as uh discovery of information for you.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Yeah, I mean if you want to come check us out, uh I'll show you guys our website. Um and then you guys can get a hold of us. Um here we go here. Yeah, PCGS right here. Um, yeah. So we can check us out at coinandcurrency.net. Um you can check us out on eBay. Um we have really good positive feedback. We have quite a bit of number of items available um from PMG to uh PC PGS PCGS and um as well as NGC products. So uh we're an A member lifetime, so you can check us out under um any credentials you want to look up. I've been a member on eBay since 2020, so we do have good credibility. We're available also on Facebook, we're live on five platforms today, so you can be everywhere. Um at the same time, we're gonna be expanding as well, so I'll put around two or three more platforms next week. Um, but we'll just keep pushing. But um, yeah, we're always available here locally. Um West Palm Beach area. If you guys are in the area, feel free to stop by. Um you can always join us um at the physical uh location, getting a hold of John. Um show you guys his number. Um just pull this up real quick so you guys can hear what the number is, but it's um 561. I'm gonna get your number right now. Yeah, 561-310-8341 calls directly. Um you can get a hold of us and you know set up any meetings if you want to uh look over any products that we have uh at our location. Um and uh yeah, we're gonna be here every week uh at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursdays. Um we do our live stream. So um yeah, it's always good to be connected with our um our uh our people here. Yeah, we've got some what do you got going on here, John?

SPEAKER_00 44:11

That's the uh B who is interested in finding one online. I highly recommend it if you're gonna go to like we've said earlier, Dustin, uh an educated client, a smart client is a good client. I always recommend knowing what you're getting into, having the resources. I'll always do that for our customers. For anyone who's listening, getting involved. I want you to be educated. I want you to know what you're going into. I don't want anyone to be blind with their purchases. Um, so this is a great resource to have. And um, again, you might be able to find one on eBay or on Amazon. Use one even, pick one up if you want to go down this road. And uh I one thing I can promise you or anyone else who wants to go get involved with this is that you will have uh the best time collecting these coins. If you if you like history in particular, United States history, and if you want to get granular, if you like California history or gold rush history or westward expansion history, or you name it, history of the United States, these coins are a direct link to our past. So I promise you that you'll enjoy the the experience of the education, knowledge, and collection of these types of assets.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Yeah, it's uh it's really in-depth uh to have that information, especially for anyone that's you know um maybe not of knowledge of especially in specific um coins, and and they may come across it and they don't know, you know, maybe the history or the or the value, and you know, they might overlook it at a yard sale, or you know, and it's good to have that knowledge and and you know, having John here give us uh good advice, um, you know, and and it's um you know warranted advice. It's not you know un that we gotta educate those who who are not you know as familiar, and it's good that you know experts are are able to give that advice without you know too much concern and and having you know a lot of confidence in understanding the the industry. So it's good that you're you're here for the customers, John.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Yeah, um we're we we're all in this together, right? I mean we we're excuse me, we're looking to I'm looking to really build people and I I know I repeat myself when I'm saying this, but I I'm looking to build world-class collections based off your budget. Okay, so I want you to have something that is gonna showcase your your likes in history. Um and we can whether it's California fractionals, whether it's Morgan's, whether it's you know, five dollar gold pieces, whether it's shipwreck coins, whether it's I mean, you name it, we can help facilitate that for you. But first is really I I want to be able to speak with you and I want to be able to educate so that informed decisions are made. Uh there's a finite amount of these pieces going around, and if you have the means to do so, why not be one of the people that own this? You know, uh if you really want to talk about exclusivity, umning something like that, like the uh like the uh Clark and Gruber that I showed you earlier. I mean, there's there's maybe a hundred people on the planet, maybe a few more, that own this out of eight billion people. To me, that's I th I find that fascinating that I can be in this exclusive group of people that that own this. Plus, I love it. I love the history of it, I love all of it. Um, one thing I did want to bring up because I see we're almost at its time here. Wow, that goes quick, huh? That hour. As I mentioned in the beginning, I I get a I I've received many calls, I've received many emails and even texts from people who are listening who have found us online. Thank everyone. I I really do thank everyone who's who's reached out to us. Um question I get a lot with a lot of different coins are errors. So I'm finding a lot of people are reaching out. They have uh a modern quarter or a penny and it has some kind of error. And there are listen, there's value in error coins. Absolutely, that they sell that they're worth more than face value if there's an error. But so something I've noticed in definitely the last year, let's say, is you go online and you see these crazy prices. Like this coin is worth you know ten million dollars or five million dollars, and it's a 1882 uh quarter of some kind because it has a little error. Listen, guys, everyone, that's just click. It's not real. Don't get excited when you see that. You you it's it's you're probably not gonna have that exact coin, and even that exact coin isn't worth that kind of money. So it's just something I wanted to bring up because I I get a lot of people that are really excited when they call or they reach out because they think that they're gonna retire with the coin that they just found in their change.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

Yeah. Yeah, don't be excited. I w I wanted to add, um, you know, a lot I get a lot of these comments and our messages, and the biggest takeaway I want to say for anyone is always check the last sold and make sure that actual market value is based on the sales rather than someone just putting a post. So don't be confused when someone puts on you know ten million dollars or you know, even $100,000 for a penny or something. You know, obviously those errors do have value, but it is not that significant sometimes. Do research, of course, but base it on sales and previous uh buyers. So that way you're not confused on asking you know professionals and and getting into our messages and assuming that you have a fortune, you know. So yeah. Yeah. Actually, I was gonna ask you. So we're getting we're getting into the subject I was actually wanting to ask you was the the error coins. Um I know in my past, my I had actually family worked at I I believe a mint in California um that had struck, you know, double eagles and like you know, these error mints. Um are these are these things you are seeking or have come across or even own in your own personal collection?

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Sure. I have I have errors in my personal, and we've sold plenty of errors in the past. Uh the if you find an error in change, it's fun. It's fun to look through it, it's fun to find them, but really at the end of the day, it's really just a variety. Um, in most cases, in what I've seen, 98% of the time, uh it's gonna cost you more to get that coin graded than it's worth. So I always advise if you really think that you have something special, of course, reach out to me. I'll let you know as well. But if you don't want to heed my advice, just go get it graded. You can submit uh if you don't want to submit with us, because we're authorized dealers of PCGS and NGC, you could open an account yourself. You go on their website, they do charge an annual fee, which that turns a lot of people off. I I I believe it's a very nominal fee and it's worth every penny because you get all the resources that NGC and PCGS offers, which is vast. And anyone looking to get involved doing what we do and and collecting and investing in these in these coins, I highly suggest using NGC and PCGS as tools. Well, if you're not going to grade with them, at least use that use their resources because I don't think people realize how much they have, how much information, the resources on their websites, it's it's really incredible the amount that's on there that can be used for educational purposes and to make informed decisions.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

Yeah, that's good to have uh yeah, there's a lot of information about um errors. You know, I've I've run into a lot of things, but I I I'm more prominently understanding of like gold like double eagles and stuff like that, which has always been mentioned in my past, um, which is really fascinating to see. Um have you seen any like you know, 1800 like yeah, gold eagles or or silver, you know, or eagles or um that were errors or double stamped or I've seen I've seen uh strike throughs.

SPEAKER_00 52:53

Yeah, I've seen a couple little double uh uh shot, you know, the double die on the obverse, sometimes on the reverse. It's it's not too common on those coins. Um not really sure why it seems to be a little more common nowadays. You see a lot more errors. Uh and that that's kind of because nowadays it's all it's all uh automated. You know, oh yeah. But then they you know with the coins I showed you guys, they were they were struck, you know, using a steam press in some cases, some cases of a cork, um, I'm sorry, a screw press was what was used, but it was done manually for the most part. And then if you go back further to like when Spanish coins are being struck in the New World, they were done with a hammer.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Right, yeah, traditional.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

Yeah, real real old school. Yeah, but with the errors, again, it's fun. The odds of you finding something that, and I I don't want to dissuade anyone, but the odds of you finding something that are is gonna be worth, you know, just you go buy a car with it is is slim to none, but hey, it absolutely happens, and that's why I would never tell someone not to do it. Um I've spent years, I mean, I've spent years, I don't know how many hours I've spent looking through just pennies alone, because I love finding all the different varieties and then cataloging those different varieties. And there's books for that. You know, there's a something called a cherry picker's guide, which again, I don't I don't have one here, but again, you can find those on like eBay, Amazon, that book, and uh that they give you all the different varieties, whether it be for pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters. Uh it's a good resource. Um, but yeah, that clickbait that I see out there every day. I see these people uh, you know, hey, this coin is worth a million dollars and it's really worth a quarter.

SPEAKER_02 54:43

Um yeah, I'm sure they're really excited to hear if there's significant value, and then just yeah, I mean that that's part of the the industry. It's gotta be, you know, or any any skill set or any um you know uh collecting or you know, you have to uh identify specific and yet and be uh I guess an expert in specific fields, because there's just so many moving parts, there's so many types of coins, if it's you know overseas, if it's US coins, um and yeah, it it's you know it you could have a good knowledge base around you know um overall, but for me, I you know, I I uh I I'm into collecting you know different things as well, and you know, to identify specific ones, you kind of have to be you know set your target, you know, to the specific, you know, if it's cards or coins or you know, dollar, you know, paper money. Um yeah, because then you're just gonna get lost in like what you're looking for. But overall, you know, most things are identifiable. You can identify a gold coin, specific, you know, you can identify a gold eagle for the most part. Maybe the Sakawea might be a little bit less identifiable because the older ones are mostly like you know, regular coins, like dollar coins, but then they might see the gold one looks identical.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

Um but you could tell one is gold and one is just uh right you know, clad. And uh there are some rare sagajuias. There's a 2000, there's a mule, it's called not many of them uh have been found, but they're still found. Yeah, it's basically yeah, yeah. Those are looking for them. Ah, me too. I've never found one.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

No, yeah. My mom would be at the casino and she get when the the the dealer would break down the the draw, it would be 50 cent pieces or sack of juillas. So we'd always have 50 cent pieces. We'll just go through, you know, hey, we've got silver, boom, pop that out. If it's gold, we we literally go to the bank to get the sack of jiuas just to find the gold sack of jiu. Yeah, so uh we were on the look in the early 2000s for the sack of Juyas.

SPEAKER_00 57:02

Absolutely. Then they had the the ones that were in the Cheerios boxes. I don't know if you remember that.

SPEAKER_02 57:07

Uh yeah, yeah, they come with the box, yeah. I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

Those are those are valuable. So really okay. Yeah, yeah. If you can get if you can, if you have I've seen them graded and they have the provenance that that that it was from a Cheerios box. That makes sense. And they uh yeah, they sell for for a nice chunk of change. So there's all kinds of different avenues you can go down with with collecting and investing in coins, and that's what's exciting is that there's something literally for everybody and everyone's budget. And so I I'm a huge proponent, and again, I I can't stress enough getting involved with this, you know, use the resources at hand. Don't don't don't be uh don't feel any certain way about asking questions. Uh there's nothing wrong with asking questions because if you're gonna spend money, you want to make sure that you're making informed decisions and you're gonna get what you're hoping to get and what you're paying for. And so use the resources at your hand. Use use us, use PCGS, use NGC, go to the A's website. Here in Florida, we have fun. It's Florida United Numismatists. We're a lifetime member of that. Um there's resources out there for you to use, and if you really want to become a CoinGeek like me, you can even subscribe to Coin Week, and you get a weekly magazine and a monthly magazine. And that just tells everything that's going on in this industry, releases. It's a great, it's a it's a great resource to have. So all the resources are are at hand to make informed decisions, especially when we get into more price, you know, pricier products, pricier coins. Uh that that's my best advice is to use the resources at hand. They're there for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 59:03

For sure. Yeah, you gotta you gotta stay informed. And like you mentioned earlier, is that you know, an informed customer is a good customer.

SPEAKER_01 59:11

I agree.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

So a few things before we take off here. I want to just ask you, maybe it's a loaded question, but um, you know, what keeps you up at night? What keeps you burning? What's that burning passion? You're like, I I need to get this coin. Like, what is what is your what are you seeking right now for like that top coin, like in your mind? Top coin.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

You know, right now I'm really trying to I'm trying to find a because I'm in I'm in Florida, I'm in Jupiter, Florida, and there's actually a shipwreck that's literally 40 yards off the beach. You can see the blue. You know, um, I am trying to find, and I have been for a long time, a uh a doubloon from that. I've never seen one. Uh uh I know they exist, but a one-ounce gold escudo from the Archangel San Miguel. That would be I have one from the 1715 fleet, I have one from uh the Atosha. Um, I don't have one from the wreck that's literally right off my beach. Um, that's something that's been keeping me up for a long time, and eventually I'll get it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

Alright, if anybody's out there, definitely get a hold of John. Yeah, call John. He is looking for it right now. So yeah. Alright, let's uh let's get into the questions. We have some questions from some people here. Uh I'll start with Robert Morris. Uh, for a new investor with rather limited assets, ads they better off are they better off buying gold and or silver bullion as opposed to price prohibitions on rare and obscure coins?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:57

Um yeah, so with limited that's that's a great question, and thanks for sending. I I would say if you have limited assets, uh I would right now stick with buying raw gold. Just buy gold or silver. Everyone has their preferences. Mine is raw gold in that situation. Uh, there's a case to be made for numismatics, which we've been talking about today. I think that's a different arena, but if you just have you know a limited amount and you want to have something in your hand, that rainy day, liquid uh fun, so to speak, um gold or or silver, just raw rounds, you know, little bars, something like that. That's what I would stick with. Again, limited assets, that's that's all uh, you know, that could be a thousand dollars, that could be a hundred thousand dollars. It's all relative to the individual. But uh that would be my advice. Thank you, Robbie, for sending that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

Good question, Robert. Um, I think we have Michael. I'm not sure this is a question. A rare bicentennial quarter that I've never seen. I have one, it's really shiny, and you'd look zoom in on it, and you got a blue background.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:11

Sounds like it was heated.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:13

Okay. Yeah. Okay, well, don't don't burn your quarters unless you're trying to get the silver content, I guess. Um that's interesting. I don't know if that was a question, more of an observation. So uh yeah, it sounds like it got burned. So all right. Um, how can I get my coins graded?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

Um it's a fairly basic question, but uh we could you could go on to uh you could go to ngccoin.com or you go to pcgs.com and as mentioned earlier, you could uh you could sign up. I think it's like a hundred bucks, and you get a certain amount of submissions for that $100. So it's not like you're just spending the money and you don't get anything for it. You get access to increased resources and you get two or three submissions for the year for that, or you can send the coin to us. So, what happens a lot of times, Dustin, uh, something that I hear from people that are new to this, well, how do I get my coin to you? You know, what am I gonna do? I don't know you, and that's why in this in this industry, being part of uh the A, Lifetime Member of Fund, Authorized Dealers, PCJ, you know, there's certain uh we we have all of the uh hallmarks in place so that we're trusted. Um, if you can't find your dealer, like I said before on the A's website, I maybe wouldn't send them a coin. That's just me. But listen, every single day, tens of millions of dollars worth of coins are being shipped all from here, there, me, you, back to this dealer, that dealer, this grader. There's never any issues. Never any issues. So you could you could send if you wanted to submit, mail us, reach out to me, give you all the information. But basically, all it is is you you send the coin, United States Postal Service with uh signature confirmation so that you can track the package and track who signed for it. Comes to us, we tell you, you know, we we uh let you know we have receipt of your package and then of the coin. We then submit it, we then send you the uh the submission forms as well. Uh so you can contact NGC because anyone can call NGC with uh information and and and find out what's happening with their with the coin. Um and depending on what the coin is, uh it could be as few as 10 days up to you know 60, 70 days to get the coin back. But it's a really easy process.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:46

Okay, well, that's a that's a informative answer, that's for sure. So hopefully that answered your question uh as well as for Michael and Robert. Appreciate you guys. That's all we have for today. Um, yeah, get a hold of us here in West Beach or West Palm Beach as well. Um, I guess we'd share the number. Uh 561-310-8341. That's a direct line, John. Uh, is there another number we should share for people?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

Yeah, we have our our toll-free number, which is 888-707-1781.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:24

1781. Let's see if I can share this on the screen here. Uh up there. Yeah, 888 707 1781. Get a hold of us as well. Um, and yeah, we're on eBay as well, and Facebook, Instagram, um, and on X. So you can find us pretty much everywhere. Um, and we're gonna be contacting some people to for guests. So we're gonna hopefully got some guests for us this next week, as well as some new content. As well. Um, and we're gonna be sharing a lot of these shorts on various platforms. So excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:07

Absolutely, and thank you, Dustin, as always. And if anyone has any suggestions on on a on a topic, anything you'd like us to discuss, please put it in the comments. And uh I'm happy to happy to discuss it as best as we can.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

Yeah, feel free to reach out. Our our DMs are open. Uh, you can contact us on Facebook, Instagram, X, wherever you find us, YouTube, you can leave a comment. Uh, we're always here to help you guys and definitely answer some questions. So all right. Well we're here to help. We really are here to help. Here to help for sure. And uh, you know, an informed customer is a good customer. So I want to make sure that you guys have the right info. Um, so yeah, we're here every week, Thursday, 1 p.m. Eastern. And uh this American Coin Currency or for New Maz Newman Newman is that I keep for New York. I know I know the name. I'm just letting you run out of it. New Masmatic Talk is our uh uh name that we changed the name recently, my bad. Um so yeah, we're here every week, and we'll see you guys on the next one. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

Thank you all. Till next time.