Crisis of Confidence

Crisis of Confidence

Rampant fraud appears to be afoot in the collectibles market.  But first, some important background information: Collectors Universe (CU) is the parent company of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) as well as Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA).  The latter...
MS67BN Lincolns

MS67BN Lincolns

One of the Unicorns (extreme rarities) in the Lincoln Cent series (especially for toned Lincoln collectors) are those coins graded PCGS MS67BN. This is an extremely rare grade / color-class combination. Just to emphasize how rare — from the founding of PCGS in...
Lincoln Eye-Appeal 2

Lincoln Eye-Appeal 2

Over the past five years of my searching, I knew that it had been very difficult finding high grade RB and BN color class Circulation Strike Wheatbacked Lincoln Cents.  Since the BN color class is where color tends to show up the most strongly, clearly I was very...
The Penny Car

The Penny Car

A few months ago, I stumbled across some really cool photos of a striking antique car (a 1949 Cadillac) completely covered with pennies.  What follows is the background story that I discovered. In early 1999, a Fort Wayne, Indiana couple by the name of Larry and...
Ode to Saint-Gaudens

Ode to Saint-Gaudens

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt challenged his friend Augustus Saint-Gaudens to redesign the entire line of American coinage from the Cent to the Double Eagle to new and more artistic standards.  However, due to an 1890 law that governed coinage designs, the...