PCGS Blog

Octagonal Coins Are Beautiful, Too!

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Ron GuthNo Comments

1851 $50 RE Humbert 887 (Proof)

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Not Just An Overdate – Look Closer!

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Ron GuthNo Comments

The 1851/81 Large Cent — more than an overdate, it’s an 1851 over an inverted 81!

It’s All About The Pictures!

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Ron Guth1 Comment

I love PCGS CoinFacts.  I spend a lot of time adding and editing content on the site.  While I’m doing that, I get to see many of the images that have been added to the site.  Each week, our photographer, Phil Arnold, adds hundreds (if not thousands) of images to the site.  Sometimes the pictures are of coins that come in through the office; other times, we send Phil out to photograph important collections; and sometimes, Phil “sets up shop” at major numismatic conventions because that is often where the great coins are.  The result is an accumulation of incredible images that are simply unavailable anywhere else.

Last week I was working on the Condition Census for Large Cents.  I was stunned by how many great pictures we have of these extremely rare coins.  And, the pictures are amazing in quality, color and detail.  The high resolution images leave nothing to the imagination (I like to say that the images are so big you can see the electrons circling the nuclei of the individual atoms — while that’s a stretch, it’s not far from the truth).

When you have a chance, take a tour of the amazing Proof Large Cents on PCGS CoinFacts.  Start your tour here.

Have fun!

If You Can Have Any Job in Numismatics, What Job Would It Be?

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Jaime Hernandez2 Comments

This is a hypothetical question. So hypothetically, the pay is the same, say $150,000 a year (plus benefits) for every job. And hypothetically, you do not have to relocate for the job or travel if you don’t want too.

• Is it the United States Mint Director, where you get to make important decisions on American coinage and even propose new coins?

Richard Peterson Director of U.S. Mint

• A Coin Dealer with his own T.V coin show that’s watched by tens of thousands of T.V. viewers from the comfort of their own living room.

• The President or CEO of any major coin auction house where you get to handle and sell some of the rarest and most expensive coins in the world?

• President of Littleton Coin Company where you sell coins to tens of thousands of collectors around the world.

• Or do you prefer to be a Coin Dealer who sells fewer coins but only sells high end and rare coins worth tens of thousands to over a million dollars each.

• Editor of Coin World or Numismatic News where you get to keep up and research the latest coin news.

• The ANA President who looks for better ways to educate tens of thousands of coin collectors and to promote coin collecting.

• A PCGS Grader where you get to look at tens of thousands of coins a month?

• The PCGS President where you get to travel to the largest coin shows in the world and meet  the largest coin dealers and most prominent coin collectors in the world (and much more).

• A famous Numismatic Book Writer where you get paid to research coin information and tens of thousands of collectors get to read your write ups?

It can be any job, even ones that I did not mention here. You can be specific and mention names as long as it is a job in the coin market.

 So what job would you choose?