| Above, a collection of "wheat" Lincoln cents. Photo by Armand Vaquer. Goodbye, penny. The last pennies (Lincoln cents) had been producted on November 12 and no more will be made. Pennies actually cost more to produce than their face value. It will be interesting to see how this will affect purchases. According to The Tennessean:
To read more, go here. |
| Above, a collection of "wheat" Lincoln cents. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
It has long been said that each penny costs more to make than its face value. People have found it to be more a nuisance than an asset.
The end of minting the Lincoln cent is the topic of an article in The Hill.
It begins with:
(NEXSTAR) — The U.S. appears poised to ditch the penny, with recent reports saying the U.S. Treasury made its final order of penny blanks in May. With no new blanks on the way, the U.S. Mint is reportedly producing the last new pennies the country may ever see.
You may feel inclined to rush out and purchase a few rolls of one-cent coins and stash them away, either to use to cover oddly-priced purchases or for a potential payout from collectors.
Generally speaking, you may not have to do either.
While a wind-down plan for the use of the penny hasn’t officially been released, it may be similar to the process followed in Canada, which parted ways with its penny in the early 2010s for the same reasons U.S. officials have expressed.
I have a tin cookie can full of pennies, so I won't be doing any buying.
To read more, go here.
| Above, silver Franklin half dollars. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
To counter inflation and our "printing press currency", many people are looking to gold and silver to protect their investment portfolios. With that in mind, eleven states are accepting those precious metals as legal tender.
Do you know which states?
The News-Star has posted an article listing them. There is one clue, these states are mostly, if not all, considered red states.
They begin with:
Louisiana may soon start accepting gold and silver as currency if proposed legislation is enacted by legislators in the Louisiana Legislature.
Eleven states currently recognize gold and silver coins as legal tender. Other states, including Louisiana, are either pursuing similar legislation or have made past attempts to do so.
To see which ones, go here.
When the Japanese yen sunk to ¥160 per dollar on Monday, it suddenly went up to ¥154. Analysts think the government intervened. But nobody's saying anything.
From The Japan Times:
After months of warnings that they might intervene in the currency market, Japan's finance authorities appeared to have finally made a move on Monday to curb the pace of the yen’s weakening against the U.S. dollar.
The Japanese currency plunged past the ¥160 mark to hit a fresh 34-year low that day, but subsequently jumped back up to the ¥154 level. As of Tuesday evening, it was near the ¥157 level.
Later Monday, Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda declined to comment on whether the government had taken action. He also refused to comment on Tuesday, but told reporters that the Finance Ministry is ready "24 hours" a day to take action.
To read more, go here.
| Above, first day of issue of the current $2.00 bill. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Some say that our currency is not worth the paper its printed on. Some say otherwise.
Then there are some currency paper bills which may be worth many times more than their face value. Such is the case with some $2.00 bills. I have several "first day of issue" $2.00 bills of the current version in use.
KTLA News has posted an article on some $2.00 bills that are worth thousands.
The reported:
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It might be time to check those $2 bills you have lying around the house because some of them could be worth thousands.
First printed in 1862, the $2 bill is difficult to find, mostly because they’re hardly used. There have been several editions of the $2 bill, with the most recent version designed in 1963, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Some versions of the $2 bill have a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, America’s first secretary of the treasury. An 1869 redesign put Thomas Jefferson on the bill, according to the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Depending on which version of the bill you’ve got, it could be worth far more than just the $2 printed on the front and back.
To read more, go here.
| Above, the National Money Show in Phoenix this year. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
One of the things that irritate coin and precious metals collectors and investors is that some states levy sales taxes on those purchases.
A handful of states have enacted exemptions. Unfortunately, my state of New Mexico is not one of them.
Do you know your state's sale tax exemption status?
That question is posed in an article from Numismatic News.
It begins with:
This past week, a new major coin show debuted in Nashville, Tenn. – the International Money Expo. The impetus to create this convention was the state’s adoption last year of a sales and use tax exemption on retail sales of precious metals, bullion, coins, and currency.
The show was well promoted within the numismatic industry. It included a dealer and early bird-only trading day on Thursday, a public convention on Friday and Saturday, and then another dealer and early bird trading day on Sunday.
The dealer trading room last Thursday (Oct. 26) was crowded and active, although many of the dealers with tables were only set up to buy and not to sell inventory. Dealer set-up in the convention hall began late Thursday, which continued to be busy.
Decent activity on the convention floor continued for much of Friday (Oct. 27). But, as is common at major shows, some dealers began to depart as the day went on. There were even more empty dealer tables on Saturday.
While dealer-to-dealer trading was active, there was relatively limited public attendance at this show. For most of the day Saturday, activity at dealer booths was minimal. In my mind, part of the reason for relatively light public attendance was that a high percentage of Tennessee residents do not yet realize that the state has adopted the sales and use tax exemption for precious metals, bullion, coins, and currency.
Next year, public attendance could be much larger if more promotional efforts make sure to mention the existence of the sales and use tax exemption.
Earlier this year, I attended the National Money Show in Phoenix, Arizona. Fortunately, I knew ahead of time that Arizona has a tax exemption on coins.
To read more, go here.
To see why, Cointelegraph spells it all out.
They begin with:
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have emerged as a prominent topic in the financial world. They promise elevated stability, security, efficiency, and reduced corruption. Central banks, the International Monetary Fund, the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank tell us CBDCs are a panacea waiting to cure all that ails our financial system.
Unfortunately, those claims may not match reality, because there are two characteristics of CBDCs that their proponents don’t often mention. First, they offer an eternal trail of data about how you’re spending your money. Secondly, they are subject to “programmability,” which means political leaders will have the ability to dictate whether you’re even allowed to spend your money.
To read more, go here.
From Banking Dive:
The House Financial Services Committee last week passed a bill that would stop the Federal Reserve from working on a central bank digital currency, giving the full House a chance to consider the legislation.
The bill would amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit Federal Reserve-supervised banks from issuing “a central bank digital currency, or any digital asset that is substantially similar under any other name or label, directly to an individual,” according to the text of that proposed bill, H.R. 5403.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-MN, who is also the House Majority Whip, proposed the bill, which he refers to as the “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.” It was passed by the committee Wednesday to the House floor.
To read more, go here.
The other day, I found an old ten-dollar bill tucked away in the envelope of a 1776-1976 Bicentennial Uncirculated Silver coin set that was in the strongbox I had opened by a locksmith after over 24 years.
It is a 1934 Federal Reserve Note. It is in circulated condition. It has no tears.
Here's the front:
I have no idea on the values of old currency such as this, but I did do a quick check on it.
Series of 1934 $10 Bill – Values and Pricing
Series of 1934 $10 bills with a green seal are very very common. Many 1934 $10 bills are still in circulation. Any 1934 $10 bill that isn’t in perfect condition is only worth the face value of $10. 1934 green seal ten dollar bills in perfect condition will carry a slight premium.
Ten dollar bills from 1934 with a star symbol at the end of the serial number have a good chance to be worth $60 or more. The value of 1934 $10 star notes purely depends on condition and the serial number.
1934 $10 green seals can also have a low serial number. If the serial number of your bill has six or seven leading zeros then it will certainly command a premium. Five leading zeros might command a premium.
Series of 1934 green seal $10 bills were signed by W.A. Julian as the Treasurer of The United States and by Henry Morgenthau Jr. as the Secretary of the Treasury.
Here is the reverse side:
| Above, Cuban CUC currency no longer used. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Things must be pretty bad in Cuba when their banknotes are being dispensed from ATM machines printed only on one side.
Such is the case as reported by World Nation News.
They reported:
Many Cubans lamented on social networks that the island’s ATMs began dispensing bills printed on only one side, possibly due to a lack of ink.
Photos of the “new banknotes” circulate the network and although the regime has not ruled on the matter, a teacher said in a Facebook post by the influential Edmundo Dantes that at his school he paid with bills that had a It was white on the side.
“And then out of the blue the ATMs start giving you invisible money like the achievements of the revolution,” Dantes said in his post.
On his part, Félix Yasser Castillo Pelayo, showing a 100-peso bill with a blank side, conceded that the state “robs you even at the ATM”.
To read more, go here.
| Above, the current ¥10,000 banknote. |
Japan will be issuing three new banknote designs next year. These will be the first banknote changes to Japan's currency in 20 years.
The changed banknotes will be the ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and ¥1.000 and will be issued in July 2024.
According to the Asahi Shimbun:
Three new banknotes from the Bank of Japan featuring three new faces as well as unprecedented technology to prevent counterfeiting will be issued as early as July of next year, marking the first design changes in 20 years.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki announced the approximate issuance date on June 28.
The manufacturing process of the new 10,000-yen ($69.20) banknote was shown to the media at the National Printing Bureau’s Tokyo plant in the capital’s Kita Ward on the same day.
The 10,000-yen banknotes featuring the portrait of Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931), an entrepreneur and business leader in early modern Japan known as “the father of Japanese capitalism,” were being printed.
The machine attached a 3-D hologram to the banknote, the first technology on any currency in the world, to deter counterfeiters.
To read more, go here.
Opposition to having a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) imposed on Americans is growing.
Along with privacy issues, having dollars replaced by a digital currency can put people's life and retirement saving in jeopardy with a push of a button.
One congressman has introduced a bill to block CBDCs.
Money Metals Exchange reported:
In recent days, sound money champion Congressman Alex Mooney (R-WV) introduced H.R. 3712, the Digital Dollar Pilot Prevention Act – legislation that would block the Fed from unilaterally pursuing any form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) scheme.
"Congress cannot give an inch when it comes to CBDCs. CBDCs would threaten the liberties of law-abiding Americans and are being used by authoritarian countries right now to crack down on dissent," said Rep. Mooney.
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) is now running for U.S. Senate
H.R. 3712 is the latest in a growing backlash to central planners' designs to further centralize government control of currencies, including creating a greater ability to track all financial transactions, disallowing certain types of purchases, and even outright "turning off" a targeted individual's access to money.
Rep. Mooney's bill defines "central bank digital currency" as "a form of digital money or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the Federal Reserve."
People should contact their representative and urge them to support Mooney's bill.
To read more, go here.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he opposes central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
According to Reuters:
May 24 (Reuters) - Florida Republican Governor and U.S. presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis on Wednesday pledged to support people's right to trade in digital assets like Bitcoin and said he opposes establishing a central bank digital currency.
This is a plus, in my opinion. Any candidate who supports CBDCs is not worth anyone's consideration.
| Above, a 1945 Walking Liberty half dollar. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
With more states (about ten of them) passing laws allowing gold and silver to be used as legal tender, the question arises, "What exactly is legal tender?"
Numismatic News has posted an article on the history of U.S. legal tender that starts from the days of the founding of the country to present time.
It begins with:
The issue of what is legal tender in the U.S. has confronted America right from 1776 to today. Over the centuries, what was considered legal tender in the U.S. has changed.
In order to look at this history, it is necessary to define what is meant by legal tender. Most definitions refer to a form of money recognized by laws or courts as a means to settle public or private debt.
When the U.S. declared independence in 1776, there did not exist any circulating U.S. coins. The Continental Congress and the various colonies/states issued their own scrip, many of which referred to their redeemability for “Spanish milled dollars or the value thereof in gold or silver.”
When the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1789, there were still not yet any circulating U.S. coins. But a significant provision in Article One, Section 10 reads, “No state shall ... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”
To read more, go here.
| Above, the Lincoln print hanging in my bedroom Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Last night, I was watching the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln (2012) starring Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.
Afterwards, I was looking at the framed Abraham Lincoln painting print I have hanging in my bedroom and wondered who painted it. I bought it at a garage sale years ago and thought it may have been hung in a schoolroom somewhere. It is 10.5 x 13" in size. My Internet search yielded no answers as to the identity of the artist, but I did find that the portrait was based on a photograph taken on February 9, 1864 by photographer Anthony Berger.
| Above, the Lincoln photograph by Anthony Berger. |
Berger took a number of photographs of President Lincoln on that day. Two of them were used for the five dollar bill. The one on the current five dollar bill is the same pose as the print in my bedroom.
| Above, the current five dollar bill with the Berger Lincoln image. |
| Above, a 1953 Silver Certificate five dollar bill with an Anthony Berger-based Lincoln portrait. |
I did find a webpage, that details the photographic history of the February 9, 1864 photographic session with Berger, February 9, 1864: Lincoln’s Magical Photographic Session with Anthony Berger. It is an interesting read and I highly recommend it.
You can add the state of Maine as another state seriously considering making gold and silver legal tender.
I've noticed that in news articles of states making (or considering) gold and silver legal tender, Republicans are in favor and Democrats are opposed. Wonder why?
Of course, as The Federalist blog wrote:
Fascist governments hate untraceable gold, silver and crypto coins.
1908 Hungary Gold 100 Korona
In 1918, at the end of world War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and vanished. The Empire's paper money became worthless. But the Empire's gold coins hold their value to this very day.
To read more, go here.
| Above, 2023 Britannia coins. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
We're in a new week and the spot markets for gold and silver are now open.
The greenback is showing some weakness as the week begins, which is making gold and silver rise a bit.
From Kitco News:
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are a bit higher in early U.S. trading Monday. A weaker U.S. dollar index and a dip in U.S. Treasury yields are supportive for the metals market bulls today. However, the metals market bulls are pensive amid general marketplace sentiment that Federal Reserve monetary policy is likely to remain tight in the coming months, despite notions the U.S. and/or global economy could slip into recession. June gold was last up $4.20 at $1,994.90 and May silver was up $0.067 at $25.13.
To read more, go here.
Next week, April 16 - 22 to be exact, is National Coin Week.
What is National Coin Week?
Coin World explains:
As I write this, the American Numismatic Association is preparing for this year’s National Coin Week, an annual celebration of collecting all things numismatic.
The 2023 edition is the 100th annual event for the ANA. The April 16 through 22 celebration’s theme is “Our Money, Our Heritage, Our America.”
As ANA President Ralph Ross writes in the April issue of the ANA journal The Numismatist, “I have a soft spot in my heart for NCW and see it as an opportunity to go all out with numismatics.” He adds that the coins in the United States Mint’s American Women quarter dollar program “reflect this year’s NCW theme perfectly.”
In its promotion of National Coin Week, the ANA notes, “Every coin, every piece of paper money in your pocket, wallet, or purse has a story to tell about history, and the stories will be celebrated during the 100th annual National Coin Week. ...”
The ANA adds, “This year’s event features free live educational webinars focused on the theme ‘Our Money, Our Heritage, Our America.’ ”
To read more, go here.
| Above, these silver dollars are worth more today than when they were minted. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Those of us who have been putting our money into precious metals (gold, silver, platinum) are seeing that our investments (and trust) in them are justified. Fiat currencies is taking a beating*.
While gold and silver are rising in value, the stock market, U.S. dollar, U.S.crude oil and bonds shrank.
BullionVault reported:
GOLD and SILVER BULLION leapt in price Tuesday, hitting 13-month and 12-month highs respectively against a falling Dollar after new US data said the world's largest economy is seeing a steep drop in the number of new job openings.
Gold broke through $2000 per Troy ounce for the 4th time in 3 years while the silver price came within 7 cents of $25, a 7-year high when reached during the first-wave Covid Crisis of 2020.
With Friday set to bring non-farm payrolls data for March, today's US data said that US factory orders fell more sharply than expected in February while the number of job vacancies across the economy sank by well over 600,000 for the 2nd month running, marking the 5th worst decline on the 2-decade 'Jolts' series and badly worse than the 163,000 drop predicted by consensus forecasts.
New York's stock markets fell 0.3% on the news and US crude oil retreated $2 from $81.50 per barrel, a 3-month high reached after the Opec+ cartel of oil producer nations cut output in a bid to "stabilize" prices.
The Dollar gold price meantime hit $2020 per Troy ounce, extending last month's 6.4% gain with a further $40 rise already in April as bond yields sank and betting that the Federal Reserve will raise its key overnight interest rate once again at its next meeting in May fell hard.
Silver bullion rose faster, jumping 3.9% inside 90 minutes to come within 7 cents of $25 per ounce, the highest price since mid-April 2022.
To read more, go here.
*Why fiat currencies are worthless, here's a great example.
Preparing for the possibility of hyperinflation is something nobody really thinks about or, if they do, wants to.
Given the topsy-turvy times we are in with bank collapses, inflation, war and moronic leadership in Washington, preparing for hyperinflation just may be forced upon us.
What is hyperinflation?
According to Survival Sullivan:
For those unfamiliar, hyperinflation is simply a period of extremely high, accelerating inflation. Inflation is nothing but an overall increase in the cost of goods and services.
Hence, hyperinflation is inflation that is going really high, really fast. Hyperinflation is also a common (though not guaranteed) sign of a true economic depression.
Survival Sullivan has an article listing the 14 things one should buy before hyperinflation hits.
They begin it with:
Out of all of the many disasters that you might prepare for, one of the least thrilling but most likely and certainly most devastating is a financial disaster.
Hyperinflation is one word that most financially-savvy people are familiar with, and also one that can make you shiver with the dread suggestion of it.
You might have plenty of money stashed in your piggy bank or in your checking account, but when a dollar suddenly buys only a dime’s worth and less all the time, you will be in the middle of a real economic collapse.
Having the right goods and other material preps on hand ahead of time can lessen the severity of hyperinflation, and this article will tell you what they are.
The first item on their list is:
1. Precious Metals
One of the very best hedges against inflation, and a universally valuable asset. Precious metals have, can, and will continue to serve as genuine currencies in most societies the world over. Our fiat paper currency might be suitable only for use as kindling or toilet paper during a period of pronounced hyperinflation, but precious metals will remain meaningfully valuable.
The trick, of course, is investing in precious metals well ahead of time because you probably won’t even be able to buy them during a period of hyperinflation at any cost.
That, and making sure you have small enough denominations or quantities to make trade for equivalent quantities of needed goods straightforward.
To see what the other 13 items are, go here.
I would add a 15th item: guns and plenty of ammunition. If such a calamity should happen, defending one's self and family against marauding gangs is in order.