Coins

Flip a coin: In a tough economy is it worth spending $18 to see other people's money? The American Numismatic Assn. hopes to find out this week as it stages the World's Fair of Money at the Los Angeles Convention Center. A billion dollars' worth of rare coins and big-denomination currency is on display, including part of a seldom-seen Smithsonian collection. And rare-coin dealers are offering free appraisals to amateur collectors and piggy-bank-toting visitors hoping to cash in.

The U.S. Mint said it would resume limited distribution of its 1-ounce American Eagle gold coins a week after suspending sales because investors and collectors had depleted the supply. In a memo to authorized dealers, a Mint official said the coins would be allocated "on a weekly basis until we are able to meet demand." The Mint will resume taking orders Monday.

Israeli archeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea have found nine rare silver coins believed to date to a failed Jewish rebellion against the Romans in the 2nd century. Archeological finds relating to the three-year rebellion are rare. About 2,000 coins from the rebellion are known to exist, and this is only the second time archeologists have found such coins on a dig. Of particular rarity is the largest Jewish coin ever issued, a half-ounce silver coin known as the Petra Drachma.

Coming soon on new presidential dollar coins: Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook, Old Man Eloquent and the Last of the Cocked Hats. The U.S. Mint, the maker of the nation's coins, today is unveiling the stately images of the next four presidents whose faces will appear on the front of the shiny gold-colored dollar coins next year.

The U.S. Mint is reviewing security procedures at its Denver branch, a spokesman said Wednesday, amid published reports that some potentially valuable "error" coins were found in employees' lockers and toolboxes. The error coins, which are often ones struck twice, are sometimes considered very valuable to coin collectors. "As part of an ongoing evaluation of our procedures, the U.S. Mint recently conducted a review of the Denver facility," U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said.

Collectors hovered over gleaming glass cases filled with coins and bills. Dealers rattled off mint dates and dollar values. Novices tried to distinguish rare collectibles from common currency. These coin enthusiasts gathered Friday for Coin/Expo Valley, a three-day exhibition of coins and bills from ancient civilizations through modern times that ends Sunday. The items on display in a hall at St.

As a serious collector of U.S. coins for many years, I was very happy to see the dollar coin story ("Is this any way to make a mint?," Consumer Confidential, May 18). There are too many flimflam artists feeding off the public's greed and misinformation by making great promises about fabulous value increase potential and . . . wait, was I talking about coins or the home mortgage business? Rod Heathcote Ridgecrest -- I have been a coin collector since FDR was president and a part-time coin dealer for more than 50 years.

The U.S. Commission on Fine Arts recommended Thursday that a rendering of Sacagawea with her infant son appear on new gold-colored dollar coins to be minted starting in 2000. The design is one of three finalists for the coin design chosen by the U.S. Mint after sorting through more than 90,000 comments on the Internet. All feature the Shoshone teenager who accompanied explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific Ocean in 1805. Treasury Secretary Robert E.

The British Museum said it had paid more than $630,000 for a rare, 1,200-year-old coin, believed to be the most ever paid for a piece of British money. The coin, which dates from Anglo-Saxon times, depicts King Coenwulf, who ruled parts of southern England. It was to go on display Thursday. The Coenwulf coin is one of only eight known gold coins of the mid- to late Saxon period, of which the museum now owns seven.

Call it Sen. Alan Cranston's final crusade in office. Having gained a reputation over the past two decades as a serious-minded legislator, the longtime California Democrat has befuddled and irritated his colleagues in Congress this year by devoting extraordinary energy to a pet project that is of little interest to his constituents and has nothing to do with the environment, world peace or any of the other weighty initiatives he has traditionally pursued.