Beyond simply the level of wear present on a coin’s surface, there are several characteristics of how each piece is produced that influence its overall appearance and even grade. One such factor is weakness of strike. In order to fully impress the design of a coin from its cylindrical metal dies onto the planchet, or […]
Long Story
Katherine Hepburn: No Morning Glory
I belong to a family of old movie fans and book lovers. I like to think this is the result of superior intellect and elitist literary tastes, but it probably has more to do with my conscientious parents making the radical decision to shut off the telly for good when I was five. This deprivation […]
The Boxing Gloves of the Century
In 1971, I turned ten years old and discovered sports, not necessarily in that order. This was the year of both my first major league baseball game and my first college football game, and it was also the year of the Fight of the Century: Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier. The Fight of the Century was how the […]
Peter, the Mint Eagle
One of the many quirky facts associated with the early United States Mint is that the Philadelphia coining facility once had a resident Bald Eagle (aka Peter the Mint Eagle). According to the Coinage Act of 1792, also known as the Mint Act, American gold and silver coins were to be designed with an eagle […]
J. Walter Durbin and the Hard Men of the Frontier Battalion
I’m a native Texan through and through. I was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I went to school here, and now I’m raising my children here. Growing up in Texas, it’s hard not to be inundated with tales of the Old West. Westerns were a mainstay in my house growing up. I […]
Minted History
United States commemorative coins, or coins struck especially for collectors in remembrance of a historical person or event, are fascinating to discover due to the wealth of history that has surrounded their existence since the first commemorative half dollar was struck in 1892. Over the years, such coins have been struck in the United States […]
Captain Briscoe’s Story: Letters from the Crimean War
I’ve always loved history; always found the old stories and the old stuff just interesting. As a consignment director here at Heritage’s Arms & Armor department I see a lot of old items and I often hear a lot of stories. Many of the stories are only word of mouth or from the family’s oral […]
A Dearth of Change
Perhaps it is hard to imagine a time when pocket change was hard to find. Most of us tend to have an accumulation of change jingling around in our pockets, purses, or change jars. During several distinct periods in American history, however, circulating coinage was scarce enough that there was a true shortage. Although it […]
