US Rations Silver Dollars as Investors Scoop Them Up

Anonymous buyer pays $30 million for rare coin collection

(NEWSER) - An anonymous buyer spent more than $30 million on a collection of about 1,000 coins that never made it to circulation, the AP reports. The rare “pattern coins,” dated from 1792 to 1942, are trial designs the US Mint rejected before producing them for circulation. Those coins generally stay in the hands of the Mint, making a collection this large very valuable. More»

Many resistant to changing small change

(NEWSER) - President Obama's plan to save $100 million a year by making pennies and nickels from cheaper material may seem like a no-brainer, but the idea of changing the country's small change isn't an easy one to swallow for some. Laundromat owners, zinc lobbyists, and the many Americans who mistakenly believe the value of the metal in their currency determines its worth are expected to rally against the proposed changes, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

No more Lincoln Memorial? What a shame

(NEWSER) - The newly designed penny continues the long tradition of ugly-looking US currency, writes William Bostwick. The front of the 2010 cent looks generally the same, but the back now has a Union shield in place of the Lincoln Memorial. That's only "the most emotionally and socially charged building in the country," Bostwick complains at Fast Company . More»

Capital honors native son with commemorative coin

(NEWSER) - Late jazz legend Duke Ellington has been chosen to appear on the District of Columbia's commemorative quarter, CNN reports. The composer and performer, a DC native who died in 1975, beat out abolitionist Frederick Douglass and surveyor and astronomer Benjamin Banneker in a vote of the capital's residents. Ellington becomes one of very few African Americans ever to appear on a US coin. More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps’ eight Olympic golds may be priceless, but they're not worth that much to a commodities trader, MarketWatch notes. This year's gold medals are made mostly of silver and coated with less than a quarter-ounce of gold, putting their value around $215. But people are, of course, willing to shell out much more for a piece of Olympic history. More»