I’ve written about several kinds of problems one can encounter in the world of coin collecting. By no means have I covered every one of them out there! Today’s article will focus on several more scams that are easy to run into.
There is at least one national advertiser out there who wants you to become confused about just who they are. They have a name very similar to the web address of our national mints, where our coins are made. The U.S. Mint is found online at GovMint.com. It is an official agency of the United States, and although they make many mistakes in fulfilling orders, they are trustworthy. Make sure any website you visit with a similar name is actually the official U.S. Mint.
As a general rule, coins for sale in general interest magazines and newspapers are overpriced. Imagine the overhead involved for a company to run ads in a national publication. No wonder their product is overpriced! They have to cover those costs in one way or another.
There are late night commercials that advertise their coins are made of silver from the 9/11 World Trade Center attack. Yes, there were coins and bullion recovered from the WTC, but the supply wasn’t infinite. I’d be very dubious of any TV ad claiming to offer coins of this silver, ten years after the attack.
Many times, there is a small ad in newspapers and magazines offering you two or three “classic” coins for very little money, often times for the “shipping” costs. If you respond to this ad, you will get your coins. However, they will then begin to send you coins regularly for your approval, and these are priced about triple the retail cost. This is in a fun way to get coins, but they are no bargain!
Painted coins are offered occasionally, especially in the Sunday newspapers. Painting adds nothing to the value of the coin. The coin will be worth only the value of the metal beneath the paint. If it’s an American silver eagle, it will be worth the price of an ounce of silver. If it’s an ordinary state quarter, you can spend it on a 25c item. Collect these if you like, but be aware of this aspect of these.
Coin shows on TV, the few times that I have watched them, usually have inflated prices, especially modern coins (state quarters, silver and gold eagles, etc.) At best, I have seen a few offerings of older coins (Morgan dollars, Franklin halves) that were only “slightly” overpriced. These best offerings can often be beat with diligent searching.
Now, for the nastiest trick of all. There are many commercials and ads for “replica” coins, like buffalo nickels or the St. Gauden’s $20 gold piece. These may be “layered” in .999 pure gold, or may have “11 mils” of gold or silver. These coins are made of the same worthless base metal that our current coins are made of, and are thinly layered with these precious metals. Since gold and silver are so malleable, they can be stretched really, really thin. Because there is so little precious metal content, these coins are worth a tiny fraction of the high prices presented in the ads. Watch out for “layered” and “mils” in a coin description!
The Brown County Coin Club meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the Austin Avenue Church of Christ. Meetings provide a great opportunity to learn all about coin collecting. There’s probably at least one club member who shares an interest with you and would guide you in the basics. Get involved in coin collecting!
The Brown County Coin Club hopes to see you at the next meeting on September 13, at 7:15pm. Call Bill Cooper at 325-642-2128 or Bob Turner at 325-217-4129 for more information.
