Past Presidents Score Big In 'Gold' Sets

Peter Rexford
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

For the next full year and then some, there's little doubt we'll get our fill of presidential politics, debates and the election. As it is now, speculation is sure to run rampant. That's certainly true for the pending president-to-be but also for a few that came before — the speculation part that is.

You see, not long ago, the U.S. Mint began to augment the Presidential Golden Dollars they have been producing with a set called Coin & Chronicles. It consists of a folder with presidential information, a silver medal and vintage postage stamp featuring the particular president, and a reverse proof strike of the golden dollar. It's that reverse proof coin that's creating all the speculation.

You see, a "proof" coin used to be one that was highly polished overall to a mirror finish. New proof coins often have a frosted portion — such as the portrait — that makes the image pop out of the shiny background. It's a nice effect. In the Presidential Golden Dollar series, the "reverse proof" has the portrait of the president shiny and the background frosted. It looks even more impressive.
Updated: Fri Sep 25, 2015

For the next full year and then some, there's little doubt we'll get our fill of presidential politics, debates and the election. As it is now, speculation is sure to run rampant. That's certainly true for the pending president-to-be but also for a few that came before — the speculation part that is.

You see, not long ago, the U.S. Mint began to augment the Presidential Golden Dollars they have been producing with a set called Coin & Chronicles. It consists of a folder with presidential information, a silver medal and vintage postage stamp featuring the particular president, and a reverse proof strike of the golden dollar. It's that reverse proof coin that's creating all the speculation.

You see, a "proof" coin used to be one that was highly polished overall to a mirror finish. New proof coins often have a frosted portion — such as the portrait — that makes the image pop out of the shiny background. It's a nice effect. In the Presidential Golden Dollar series, the "reverse proof" has the portrait of the president shiny and the background frosted. It looks even more impressive.

Here's the kicker ... the reverse proof coin is available only in the Coin & Chronicles set. And, those sets have been severely limited in number. For the Eisenhower and Truman coins issued earlier this year, only around 17,000 sets were available. In the collecting world that is a very small number. Naturally, collector/speculators swooped in and bought them en masse sending the value soaring.

Just this month, the John Kennedy set was released with his reverse proof. To satisfy collector demand, the Mint increased the number of sets to 50,000 and put a household limit on them of two. The demand was still there. In just the first day of sales, over 45,000 of them were sold.

Naturally, secondary markets for the coin sets are plentiful and prices are following. While some people are hoping to make a quick buck, others are hoping for bigger returns in the long haul — let's say by Election Day of the then-president in 2020. In the meantime, it'll be interesting to see how the upcoming Lyndon Johnson reverse proof coin fares. Stay tuned.

Almost as speculative as the next president is the question of who will or should replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill. It originally was supposed to be who would replace Jackson on the $20 but that bill already has been updated with a fair amount of anti-counterfeiting devices. The $10 hasn't.

So, even though Hamilton was the first secretary of the treasury and deserves to be on a bill more than most, the question now is, if he is to be replaced, who will it be? Because there are no women on paper money, it's been decided the choices will be female. To date, legendary Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt are the top contenders. Either would be a refreshing and overdue variation.

Alternately, when it comes to dramatic changes on currency, some in Great Britain clearly lead the field. In the Brixton area near London, a shopkeeper's consortium has issued paper notes in denominations of one, five, 10 and 20 pounds. Known as Brixton Pound notes, the intent is to trade in the local area among a large number of shops. The ultimate goal is to boost the local economy.

The latest figure to grace one of the notes is David Bowie in his classic "Aladdin Sane" image from the 1970s complete with full makeup including lipstick and a colored metallic lightening bolt on his face. Another features reggae icon Bob Marley.

The end result of the notes may be far more profitable than the Brixton folks originally planned. After all, a lot of people will exchange their British pounds for the Brixton pound notes just for the novelty of owning them. And, if they are never redeemed but instead collected, it will be a sure boost to the local economy.

Editor's Note: A JPEG visual of one of the David Bowie Brixton notes has been sent with this column.