Letters to the Editor (April 30, 2019)

Trio of Mnuchin signatures

On March 28, I turned in my recyclables and received from the recycling center three $1 bills, 2017 with Mnuchin signatures.

They are crisp, very uncirculated, and are of consecutive numbers.

Mitch Rudoff
Address withheld

UNC premium 2019-W cent?

You know what would be the bomb? If they [the U.S. Mint] made a 2019-W uncirculated cent and randomly released it to circulation. The hunt would be on!

Name and address withheld

Editor’s Note: According the U.S. Mint website, new in 2019 is a premium proof Lincoln cent: “The 2019 proof set is accompanied by a special edition 2019 Lincoln penny with a proof finish struck at the West Point Mint with a “W” mint mark. This special coin is packaged separately in clear United States Mint plastic wrap. This is the first of three sets to be released in 2019 that will include a special edition penny as a thank you to our loyal customers.”

Too many ads

I have been a long subscriber to Numismatic News, but my days as a subscriber may be numbered. The April 2, 2019, edition came today, and I was very disappointed with the content.

The issue is 104 pages long and has 46 pages of ads and 7 pages of articles. Seriously? I subscribe to Numismatic News for the articles, not to be bombarded by ads.

The subscription cost for Numismatic News is $29.99 for 40 issues. That is a great bargain at only 75 cents per issue! I get it…ads need to be sold to keep subscription costs down. But there needs to be a balance between the number of ads and the subscription cost. Currently, that balance is way off!

I can’t speak for other subscribers, but I would be willing to pay $50/year for my subscription and have less ads and more content. Please…reduce the ads and raise the price of subscription. Why don’t you submit a poll asking if people would pay more for their subscription for less ads and more content and see what people say?

Scott McElmeel
Edmond, Okla.

Put Teddy on the U.S. dime

In 2020, the Roosevelt dime will be 75 years old. I believe it is time to retire it and replace it with another Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt. By doing so, all circulating United States coins – the Lincoln penny, the Jefferson nickel, the Washington quarter, along with the Theodore Roosevelt dime – would coincide with the Mount Rushmore Memorial. You can’t get more patriotic than that.

Robert J. Karpowich
Drifton, Pa.

No imagination left at Mint

The 1996-W dime was a flop. The 2017-P mintmarked cent was as well.The 10 million “W” quarters? There is no imagination left at the U.S. Mint. What could they have done with it instead? Ya know the “Rocket Ship” Set with the empty slot for a quarter? Hmmmm....

Or maybe an all “W” set, say in MS, PF, RVPF?

Nope, “Ain’t gonna do it.”

This now only leaves the lowly Jefferson quarter sans a “W.”

I can only guess how the Mint will ruin its debut.

Steve McGowan
Algonac, Mich.

Make Lincoln cents easier for youth to collect

In my coin club, the young collectors are more interested in collecting coins that are available without high prices. This includes Jefferson nickels, state quarters, and Roosevelt dimes.

When I ask some of them about collecting Lincoln cents (which most collectors start with), they respond that they could never afford about six that are somewhat expensive in even low grades.

My answer to this is to pressure the maker of coin book cents into making a date book that does list one place for each date of cents. They would not list the “D” and “S” mintmarks that includes the rare dates, and the ’55 doubled die and ’22 plain.

This way, the most expensive Lincoln cent would be the 1922-D. It probably could be purchased for about $15 in G or VG.

One more thing of interest to me is the collection of [film director] Penny Marshall. I read 20 or more years ago she was a collector of rare coins. She had an 1885 proof Trade dollar among other rare coins. Where are they?

Jack Denton
Denver, Colo.

Raw coins not appealing

In the “Letters” section of the April 16 issue is a letter from a collector bemoaning slabbed coins. He would rather hold his coins in his hand than have certified and graded coins. On the very next page is an article about another collector who thought he had a rare and valuable 1943-P copper Lincoln cent, until a grading service determined that it was counterfeit.

As long as there are very good counterfeit coins out there, and as long as people are willing to buy coins from either total strangers or from people who are otherwise honest but who know less then they claim to know, you may as well take your coin buying dollars to the local casino and put everything on red on the roulette wheel, because either way you are taking a big gamble.

I would never buy a raw coin because I don’t want to get stuck with something that is not what it is represented to be.

Peter Glassman
Schaumburg, Ill.

Surcharges are donations

The surcharges on the commemorative coins that we buy from the U.S. Mint should be seen as donations, and this should be remembered when it is time to sell.

Daniel M. Bubalo Jr.
Brainerd, Minn.

Malvini encourages reader

Michael Turrini’s article in the April 16 edition about Matthew Malvini encourages me for the future of our great hobby. Thanks, Michael, for letting us know about this fine young coin collector.

Tom Fauth
Elizabeth, Colo.