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Coin Show - Monthly Notes for October 2020
Our 2020 show schedule has just two more coin shows this year.
It's time to be thinking about those holiday gifts for someone on your list, or perhaps yourself.
The November Greater Atlanta Coin Show will occur unless we are forced to close by state, county, local, hotel or COVID-19 officials.
As usual, dealers will showcase their wares such as coins, currency, bullion, exonumia, scripophily, semi-precious stones, jewelry and other intriguing items.
Most of our regular dealers have returned to the show, but a few remain out due to health concerns. For those spots, we will have visiting dealers and their displays to fill the bourse.
All visitors to the show are welcome whether buying, selling, trading or just looking at the many different items. Also, people can bring items to have the dealers provide free verbal appraisals.
IMPORTANT: Masks WILL BE REQUIRED to enter the show due to the continued concern about the virus situation.
Visit the next Greater Atlanta Coin Show on Sunday, November 8, 2020 in the Joe Mack Wilson ballroom to buy, sell, trade or just browse among the many items on display.
Many visitors joined the dealers at the October 2020 Greater Atlanta Coin Show to buy, sell, trade or just browse among the displays of numismatics and collectibles on the bourse.
A busy, busy show, and as always, we appreciate the visitors, the dealers, the security and the hotel's staff. Everyone contributed to make the October show an interesting and fun place to spend a few hours.
Once again, we appreciated the hotel providing additional space, which allowed for social distancing among the people at the show.
Outside, the weather provided a mostly rainy day with some weak sunshine in the afternoon. The temperatures remained warm for early October.
Due to the large amount of rain in the vicinity earlier in the week, low-lying areas experienced flooding. We hope you and yours were safe and dry.
Last year, the City of Marietta approved funds to upgrade the hotel. (The City owns the hotel and conference center; Hilton manages it.) We learned they plan to begin working on the rooms, floor by floor.
With COVID-19, the hotel is not currently busy, making this a good time to do the update construction.
Of course, at the show, people discussed current events, in particular, politics and how the election results could impact the metals markets and numismatics.
People also speculated on how long it will take to know the results of the presidential election. Time will tell.
The show saw a number of new guests who brought accumulations and inheritances to obtain free verbal appraisals. Some chose to sell, some didn't.
As usual, many of our visitors came to search for gold and silver, either as bullion or as numismatic items.
The October show remained busy throughout the day, but here are a few odd and interesting items that were seen on the bourse.
Malachite Box
"What is Malachite?
"Malachite is a green copper carbonate hydroxide mineral. It was one of the first ores used to produce copper metal. It is of minor importance today as an ore of copper because it is usually found in small quantities and can be sold for higher prices for other types of use.
"Malachite has been used as a gemstone and sculptural material for thousands of years and is still popular today. Today it is most often cut into cabochons or beads for jewelry use.
"Malachite has a green color that does not fade over time or when exposed to light. Those properties, along with its ability to be easily ground to a powder, made malachite a preferred pigment and coloring agent for thousands of years."
This first example shows a beautiful green box made from malachite.
To help understand this natural material, geology.com provided the following:
The process to make beautiful malachite items is dangerous, since the dust particles are toxic.
This finished box is perfectly safe, but whoever made it had to be careful not to breathe the toxic dust or allow it to stay on their bare skin.
We can appreciate their efforts and enjoy the beauty of the finished product.
Camper Trailer Birdhouse
This next item is interesting. Is it vintage? Or, is it vintage-like?
A quick search on the internet yields many examples of a similar, but not exactly the same, version of this Americana birdhouse.
One version, sold by Eastwind Gifts, has a different sign over the door. Theirs reads, "Home is where you hook-up."
This birdhouse's sign reads, "Home is where you park it."
The modern version also has something beside the front door - maybe intended to portray a net of some type.
This example has a more rustic roof and the rope hanger is positioned end to end across the top rather than side to side.
They both have a red bucket, a checkered tablecloth, and on the table a hot dog and a hamburger ready for a picnic.
Eastwind Gifts promotes theirs as:
"Create a comfy campground for your fly-in guests with this cozy little trailer! Comical birdhouse comes complete with all the accessories of an old-time outdoor paradise. Rope loop at top for hanging."
The same is true with this version.
Whether vintage or vintage-like, this is a fun Americana birdhouse.
America the Beautiful River of No Return Quarter Coin
What makes this 2019 quarter coin special?
But first, what does the coin's reverse portray?
The US Mint described the coin: "The reverse (tails) design of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness quarter depicts a piloted drift boat on the rushing river encompassed by the trees and rock formations of the wilderness."
Inscriptions are “RIVER OF NO RETURN,” “WILDERNESS,” “IDAHO,” “2019,” and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
The Forestry Service provided an explanation of the area:
"The Frank Church-River of No Return is a wilderness of steep, rugged mountains, deep canyons, and wild, whitewater rivers. The Salmon River Mountains, located south of the Main Salmon and west of the Middle Fork, are the most massive range, and dominate the Wilderness.
"North of the Main Salmon River are the Clearwater Mountains, east of the Middle Fork are the Bighorn Crags. The Salmon River Canyon is one of the deepest gorges in North America, deeper even than the famous Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona.
"But in contrast to the Grand Canyon, the Salmon River Canyon is not noted for sheer walls and towering heights, but instead for the variety of landscapes visible from the river; wooded ridges rising to the sky, huge eroded monuments and bluffs and slides, picturesque castles and towers, and solitary crags.
"The United States Congress designated the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in 1980 and it now encompasses a total of 2,366,757 acres. Administration of the wilderness is accomplished by two Forest Service Regions (Northern and Intermountain), and four National Forests, the Salmon Challis, Payette, Nez Perce, and Bitterroot.
"It is the largest contiguous wilderness in the Lower 48 and the second largest unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System in the Lower 48 (second in size only to California’s Death Valley Wilderness)."
The River of No Return quarter was the fifth of the America the Beautiful quarter coins produced in 2019.
The US Mint began a program in 2019, coinciding with the 227th anniversary of the Mint, to encourage coin collecting by producing the first ever circulating coin struck by the West Point Mint.
For each of the five different America the Beautiful quarters of 2019, the West Point Mint struck 2 million of the coins for regular circulation.
The US Mint distributed these coins by including them with the circulating quarters struck at Philadelphia and Denver.
For this particular coin, the US Mint produced 251.6 M at Denver and 223.4 M at Philadelphia for a total of 475.0 M of the River of No Return quarter coins struck at the "regular" mint locations.
This particular coin, with its "W" mint mark, is one of the two million produced at West Point.
It will be interesting to watch the values for the 2019-W quarters over the next few years to see if collectors are intrigued by the US Mint's circulating West Point quarter coins.
Johnson Matthey .9999 100-ounce Gold Bar
Saved for last, this 100-ounce gold bar demonstrates the beauty of the yellow metal even when it's not polished to a proof-like shine.
This bar denotes "Johnson Matthey" with a purity of .9999.
Research into "Johnson Matthey" finds the company began in London in 1817. Today, they have roughly 10,000 employees and operate in over 30 countries.
The company has three divisions specializing in environmental technologies, fine chemicals and catalysts, and precious metals.
"Depending on the type of bar, investors may purchase some new, while others come in lightly circulated condition. All bars lend themselves well to storage as a long-term investment but are also highly liquid when investors wish to sell."
The company's recently released silver bars, not gold bars.
That makes this particular 100-ounce gold bar from the 1980s or perhaps even earlier.
But, just look at it. It may be worn slightly, but this bar never intended to have the proof-like shine. It's just as good today as it was when first formed.
A gold showpiece...
From the JM Bullion web site: "The Johnson Matthey brand has a sterling reputation among investors, who put a premium on the valuable gold, silver, and platinum bullion bars the company produces. The mint has set itself apart in the global marketplace with the high quality of its bullion bars as well as its long history of excellence. While the company stopped minting their own bars in the 1980s, they continue to refine gold and silver in the United States and Canada.
"Investors will notice that Johnson Matthey products fetch slightly higher prices than similar products in their weight class. This is largely due to the historic prestige of the Johnson Matthey brand, which has existed for 200 years. Investors can count on JM bars to offer the highest purity levels and overall quality.
"The premium value of the older Johnson Matthey products also stems from their scarcity. As mentioned before, the company stopped minting bars from the eighties until recently, which has enhanced their scarcity and collectability.