I think many collectors think they will never get into this dilemma with their collections. Good information for something that is unexpected.

Fire Damaged Coins Conserved

A cherished collection is conserved after a damaging house fire.

A house fire can be especially devastating to a prized coin collection. A once pristine, cherished collection can turn into a horrible blackened mass. However, with some careful conservation work, all is not lost.

The first stage in conserving a group of coins such as these pictured is to safely remove them from what remains of their holders. Removing coins entombed in deformed coin holders is a challenge. The standard methods of removing coins from third-party grading services' holders are usually not an option. To make the task even more difficult, every coin and every holder is different. The heat of a house fire can melt the plastic that makes up the majority of quality coin holders. While still in the fire, this plastic, in the molten state, will combine with soot and other materials. After it has solidified, the conservator’s job is more difficult.

Once freed from the burnt plastic mass, the next step is to remove the small bits of adhered plastic from the surface of each of the coins as safely as possible. Different plastics react to conservation efforts in wildly different ways. Materials from the fire itself also adhere to the coins and have to be removed without damaging the surface of the coin. Coins can sometimes be left with lightly stained surfaces, often a result of the heat of the fire.

A pattern emerges as the collection is conserved. Coins in the best holders, those certified by third-party grading services such as NGC, are the best off. Coins housed in coin tubes and individual holders are often damaged by the action of the fire or necessary actions taken in the aftermath.

The conservation results on this group of coins can be described as better than expected. The classic gold coins came out especially well as did the Morgan and Peace Dollars. This collection was submitted to NCS by Liquid Bullion Coin & Collectibles of Houston, Texas. "Wow! NCS was a life saver for our client. He was afraid he had lost everything and came out with over $27,500 in Rare coins, Bullion, and Generic Gold," commented Danny Lee, Liquid Bullion's CEO.

Kovels.com the website of the world famous Terry and Ralph Kovel had a PERFECT description of  collector categories.

Here they are:

Some collectors are "decorators" who buy to fill the house.
Some are "historians" who buy to research and record.
Some are "complete set buyers" who want every collector plate.
And some are "accumulators" who buy what appeals to them.
But the collections must be sold or given away one day.
In the last few months, we have seen a collection of two million butterflies and moths valued at about $41 million donated to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
A collection of more than 500 cow figurines, paintings and other cow-related objects was sold at auction.
One item, a cabinet filled with 300 toy cows, sold for almost $6,000.
Three huge mechanical bank sales were held in 2009, and six separate auctions are needed to sell the toy collection of Donald Kaufman. The first two sales brought $7.1 million.
 Don't forget your collections are financial assets.

The question is which type of collector are you?

For me, more than half the fun is discovering an "orphan" or mystery item and finding out what is really is, or who made it, or when was it made, etc..
just something to think about as we collect our favorites..

Till next time
Sandy and Craig Watanabe

A friend had been promising that he would bring part of his Love Token collection to the Expo. What I didn't realize that a good portion of his collection consisted of bracelets. 
Not the typical engraved love token bracelet, 
but the bracelets that had all of the bells and whistles to them.
I recently purchased an estate collection, so my funds were a little tight to make another acquisition.  
Toward the end of the show, Craig and I looked over the bracelets and 
we agreed that we would purchase one bracelet, either for my collection or to eventually resell. 

The bracelet contains 3 overlay love tokens. 
Overlay love tokens are not easily found and usually combine different metals. 
With these particular tokens, the letters were cut from a gold coin then attached to a silver coin base. 
All 5 love tokens were engraved on both sides.
The bracelet and the tokens were all of original condition.
The tokens were all done at the same time being consistent in engraving and workmanship, 

Happy New Year!
The New Year always brings surprises, but little did I expect this type of surprise ...

I recently made an appointment to look at some jewelry that belonged to the wife of an elderly well traveled gentleman.
There were some very old pieces of jade, gold and silver jewelry that belonged to her mother and grandmother.
Bundled up in a plastic bag were the fashion pieces.
As I spread the fashion jewelry out, There sat in the pile was the ugliest brooch that I've seen in a very long time.
It was a beetle with either four antennae or heads. The Heads were human heads.
My first thought was a fantasy brooch from the middle east.
But when I took a closer look I realized what it was supposed to be.
It was a Beatle Beetle Pin. It may or may not have been an Officially Endorsed Beatle Pin that was manufactured as part of the Beatle Mania in the early through mid 1960's but it sure is pretty fascinating that someone would have actually thought to manufacture something that looks like this.
Goes to show again, never second guess what a customer might buy!


Aloha
Sandy and Craig too!

Latest news about tenth ounce fractional American Gold Eagles:

Tenth-Ounce Gold Eagles Sell Out

By Numismatic News

 Eager buyers snapped up the last of the 2009 tenth-ounce gold fractional American Eagles to be made available to the market by the U.S. Mint on Dec. 14.

An additional 10,000 tenth-ounce American Eagle coins went out the door, bringing the 2009 sales total to an unofficial final tally of 270,000 pieces, the same number of tenth-ounce coins as were sold in 2008 and 2006, and up by 90,000 from the 180,000 sold in 2007.

Sales of 2009 half-ounce and quarter ounce coins were running heavy as of Dec. 16 at levels considerably higher than the 2008 totals, but the Mint had not yet declared a sellout of these two gold American Eagle sizes.

So far, the 2009 half-ounce coin sales figure is 101,000 coins as compared to 50,000 sold in 2008 and 2007 and 42,000 in 2006.

For the quarter-ounce size, 100,000 coins have been sold so far, up from 58,000 in 2008, 32,000 in 2007 and 46,000 in 2006.

These 2009 gold coin sales totals have been achieved in less than two weeks from the time the first ones were offered Dec. 3.

On Dec. 15, the U.S. Mint was expected to sell some additional one-ounce gold American Eagles for the first time since Nov. 25. No sales numbers were available by press time. Some 1,193,500 have been sold so far during 2009.

Only authorized purchasers can buy the U.S. Mint’s gold bullion coins directly from the Mint. Supplies are divided among these buyers using the standard allocation process, which is the Mint’s term for rationing.

Authorized purchasers in turn sell them to their clients in the secondary market.

 After the 1800's and at the start of of the 1910's: Carved and engraved coins change in style and on the type of coins that were used as the medium to present these art pieces.

We move from the Victorian Love Tokens to the Hobo Nickels that show up sometime in the early 1910's. These miniatures of Americana Folk Art are collected and sought after by individuals who have an undertanding of the struggles of that the United States was going through.

Hobo Nickels are true Americana Art pieces! Hobo Nickel art work dates from 1913 to 1938. Hobo nickels are unique, individually hand carved nickels. The  US coin used by these folk artists was the Indian Head /Buffalo Nickel.

The Indian portrait or the obverse side of the nickel was altered and carved into portraits of clowns, women, men, other Indians, friends, loved ones, figurals and self portraits. The buffalo or the reverse side of the nickel were turned into men with backpacks or other animals such as donkeys or elephants. Like the Victorian Era Love Tokens, Hobo Nickels were inscribed with dates, names or other inscriptions.

Hobo nickels, were carved by the homeless during WWI and during the Great Depression. Hobo Nickels were traded for meals, a place to sleep, a ride, or other favors. Some were carved with images of loved ones as mementos. Each Hobo Nickel has a story behind them. These stories speak of a generation of men and women who struggled to survive, yet kept their faith in our Creator, themselves, and the American dream.

They may have been wanderers, but they worked hard for what they needed, helped each other, and honored an unwritten code of honor and respect among hoboes.

Hobo Nickels are still being carved today. Individuals who carved the Hobo Nickels have brought this area of folk art to another level. The images are contemporary and often abstract with modern imaging.

Aloha,

SandyWatanabe

We often see these symbols

These symbols are taken from bible scripture:

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1Cor13:13  King James Bible

Thought I'd pass on this article that was sent via email to us.

Counterfeiters Target Chinese Coins

I feel that it is imperative that we (you and I) check on what our family members or friends are doing with Telephone Solicitors or Telemarketers.

We received a call and emails from a family about two weeks ago.
The referral was from fellow Christians who are financial planners and wanted to help this family. Their plea for help was well justified.

The family that contacted us discovered that their father had "Invested" a substantial amount of money through a mainland telemarketer that was calling their elderly father.
Most of the elderly are being persuaded to purchase these coins that are tied to the bullion market. Most of the seniors have little or no knowledge of the precious metals market or rare coins due to the volatility of the current economy and numismatic market.

In this particular case, the elderly father (who has dementia) was receiving calls from a mainland telemarketer at least twice a month.
He had used his credit cards to purchase a number of bullion related items over the summer.
The problem with the telemarketing company having the consumer's credit card number, is that they can auto ship products to the customers on a weekly basis,  or when they call to sell unsuspecting consumers the"hottest" gold coin deal that has come up!

Now this elderly gentleman is in jeopardy of losing his home.

The most important advice we can possibly share with our friends and family:
         "KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH"

Some pointers as you look to purchase Gold or Silver coins:

Please read the underlined portion of the following paragraph.
This will give you an idea what happened in the elderly father's case.

False Claims About Current Value

Some dishonest sellers of rare coins grade their coins accurately, but mislead consumers about the value of their coins. In other words, they overprice their coins, charging significantly more than a coin's actual value even though the coin is accurately graded.

For example, they may charge $5,000 for an accurately graded $10 Indian gold piece, which has a current retail value of only $1,750. False claims about value are becoming increasingly common in rare coin fraud. Despite statements to the contrary, there is a great deal of risk in coin investments. If you are not knowledgeable about coins, you may lose all or most of your investment.

Where To Go For Help

If you have a problem with a coin dealer, and the dealer has not resolved the problem to your satisfaction, there are a number of places you can go from help. Some dealers will resolve disputes through binding arbitration by an independent third party, usually through one of their professional organizations.

Consumer protection agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, are interested in getting your complaint information to build cases against fraudulent dealers. Although most government offices are not able to resolve individual disputes, they can usually give you sound advice about how to proceed. Most coin organizations can help you if the dealer is a member of their organization. The following list of organizations and government agencies is provided for your information.

• To help consumers secure relief for fraudulent and illegal conduct within the coin industry. For such purposes, fraud and illegal conduct shall refer to the following practices: overcharging: underpaying: overstatement of investment potential: overgrading and other misrepresentations of quality, rarity, authenticity and fair market value
  
  
• To disseminate information to consumers with regard to the prevention and identification of fraud and other illegal conduct within the industry.
  
  
• To educate consumers with respect to coin grading so they may distinguish the competent coin grading services from others with hidden agenda, conflicts of interest or compromised independence.

The local newspapers have published articles dealing with consumers
(senior citizens are generally targeted) being preyed upon by these companies.

 I believe we have an even greater problem here due to our seniors are even more trusting and unsuspecting.

We believe that individuals have a right to decide purchase gold or silver numismatic valued coins.

Customers who did purchase and are continuing or are starting to purchase coins are extremely satisfied due to they are purchasing these from reputable dealers at a fair market price.

When I spotted this bracelet in a group of vintage enameled jewelry pieces, this was one piece of jewelry I was not going to walk away from it very easily.

 What's was so great about this piece of jewelry?

The bracelet was a bit unusual since it had two dog crystal charms on it. One charm was the image of a Fox Terrier the other was a Boston Terrier.

The Boston Terrier breed originated around 1870, when Robert C. Hooper of Boston purchased a dog known as Hooper's Judge, who was of a Bull and Terrier type lineage. Judge's specific lineage is unknown, however, Hooper's Judge is either directly related to the original Bull and Terrier breeds of the 1700s and early 1800s, or Judge is the result of modern English Bulldogs being crossed into terriers created in the 1860s for show purposes, like the White English Terrier.^[3]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Terrier}

^{The information about the Boston Terrier is consistent within the time line when the Essex Charms were being handcrafted on both sides of the Atlantic. Both in Great Britain and in the US in the 1800's through early 1900's.}

Checking on the prices of these charms I found that these are priced somewhere in the price range of $250.00 each. 

I'm not quite sure what i would do if a customer wants to break up the bracelet and only purchase one of the charms.

We'll be looking for new items this weekend I'll post our latest finds. a maybe as story or two about our hunt.

Have a great weekend!

Craig and Sandy Watanabe

I received this in my email today and thought I'd pass this on to you.

We were looking at level 3s the 5s did not arrive in time for the class.

From what we are seeing in the islands we will need to be diligent when we check our coins.

A well known author  of coin guide books commented at how good the counterfeits are becoming.

The problem  here is that as time goes on the Chinese are improving their craft in shorter periods of time.

******************************************************************

Lots of Chinese Fakes Out There

By F. Michael Fazzari, Numismatic News October 12, 2009

As mentioned in our E-News Letter:
If you were able to see the Julie and Julia movie
 that is still playing in the movie theaters.



You might have noticed Julie's necklace.


Really neat NY Transit Authority Token!
Craig spotted the token early in the movie.

1) Cause he's a coin person
2) Cause he is from NY.

Me, because I like tokens and vintage jewelry.



By the way, the film was based on a blog by Julie Powell
and her year of cooking through Julia Child's cookbook.

If you enjoy good food and love a great story, see this movie.

Bloggers celebrate!
 This is a movie that speaks of the merits of an online journal.

Till next time!
Sandy and Craig Watanabe

photo credits:


New York Transit Museum Store Online

Sony Columbia Pictures

Did you ever consider the possibility that our hobby of collecting things, whether it be coins and currency, jewelry, furniture, paintings and etchings are really a "Green" sort of past time.

Getting back to the Hilo Show, we saw many different and interesting types of collectibles

Vintage camera, medicinal bottles, Advertising.


Years ago, old furniture would have been thought of as outdated and thrown out or given away.

Or even old bottles, now sought after in old abandoned garbage dumps in DT Honolulu, old church, school and town sites.


I personally really like this bottle with the spiral design!

I also remember when a family moved out of the old neighborhood,
we would find a ton of old dishes, linen, appliances, even photos that were
left on the side of the road for rubbish pick up.
This is before "Dumpster Diving" and garage sales became a popular pastime!
China tableware with vintage floral designs.
Makes me want to go to High Tea somewhere.



Last but not least, did you have one of these in your home?




I was tempted to purchase the Chinese kissing figures!
Vintage Kokeshi Dolls are neat collectibles too!
I have a small miniature collection of these vintage wooden folk-art dolls from Japan. Most of mine have little top knots carved on their heads.



Or vintage paper ephemera, postcards, letters and more.





Some of the old postcards range in price from $5.00 and up.

Think Green and Enjoy your collections!
Sandy and Craig Watanabe

October Show Highlights

Sunday October 4, 2009
The Big Island Coin Club held their
2nd Annual Antique and Coin Show at the Auntie Sally's Luau Hale.

A few Highlights from the show:








On a side note: We ate at:

Jade Palace Chinese Restaurant

Kamuela, HI 96743
808-887-1788

One restaurant we would recommend to dine at if you are in the area.
Last visit, someone from Honolulu who traveled with us said when she had a craving for Chinese food she wanted to go back to Jade Palace.
The family that owns Jade Palace is friendly and will suggest specials for the day.
Only local grown produce is used preparing the entrees.




One special dinner dish was shrimp that was aqua-cultured at the Energy Lab in Kona.

(More later about the Big Island Show).

News About Eagles

By David C. Harper October 06, 2009

We will be at the The Good Life Senior's Fair Expo this weekend.

 Friday, September 25, 2009 through Sunday September 27, 2009.
Admission is free.
At the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall (across from the Arena)
We will be under our company name of: Captain Cook Coin Company. Booth 415

Come and visit us if you have any questions about your coins, or if you are in the market to purchase or liquidate your coins.
We hope to see you this weekend!

Have a great day!
Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Love Tokens
I was reading one of the few books published on Love Tokens.
And I was reminded that Love Tokens were given not only as an exchange between loved ones, but these engraved coins were used for significant dates.
Births, deaths, weddings and even a few divorce dates show up on coins during the 1800's.
With the need to reuse and recycle. Love Tokens are the perfect jewelry piece to be used in a special bracelet.

I took about 9 months to find our initials on these love tokens. I also added vintage charms to I really liked that are in the same theme.
The result is a bracelet that is one of a kind!
My most favorite charm is not the most expensive one on the bracelet.
It is a round Mustard Seed Charm.

²⁰He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 NIV

There is one particular area of coin collecting that I really like.
The area is coins of the Bible. I used these coins in Sunday School to illustrate the Scripture of the Widow's Mite.
The Scripture:



What surprised me when I first saw the Widow's Mites, that they were crude in their make and very, very small.

 A bronze Mite, also known as a Lepton (meaning small), minted by Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judaea, 103 - 76 B.C.


Pictured here is a Lepton with the Star of Eight Rays

A constant reminder that we be wholeheartedly devoted to God, rather than concerned with pleasing men. The widow had total trust in God that He would provide her with all of her needs. 


We are offering a web special on these coins for a limited time.

at  www.alohamemorabilia.com

Aloha!
Sandy and Craig Watanabe

On the second day of the class, we were asked to identify the 4 counterfeit out of 5 silver dollars that were presented to the class. Counterfeits were identified through weight and specific diagnostics. The dollars that were presented were Level 4 Counterfeits on the One through Five levels of counterfeits. While taking our final test, I kept thinking that the wrong person was in the class again, and Craig should be sitting here not me!

A prominent individual in the Coin area stopped in to view the counterfeits. This person has written a number of books in identifying and grading specific coins. He and an associate reviewed the 5 silver dollars and he commented that these coins could be passed off all day on the floor with possibly little detection! It was very alarming that an authority in the industry could even make a comment like this one. The next person to stop in was a friend, also a dealer who views literally thousands of coins a week. He had brought another dealer to view the counterfeits and both couldn't agree on which was the genuine coin! Ok, so who identified the one genuine coin? It was dealers who handle many of these particular dates of silver dollars in the business. Most of the class attendees were incorrect in their final choice of the genuine dollar.

So what did we learn from class?

Level 5 Counterfeits that did not arrive in time for our class will be a concern for the dealers. The dealers who were able to identify the counterfeits vs the genuine agreed that when the next level of counterfeits appear on the market they need to be informed on what exactly to look for. The dealers also agree that this is a sleeping giant of a problem that will have a trickle down effect in the market. 

The best advice that was given by Coin World and the dealers who had the knowledge and experience to identify counterfeits:

PURCHASE FROM REPUTABLE DEALERS

BUY OFFICIALLY GRADED COINS FROM THE GRADING SERVICES (the only problem is that there are counterfeit slabbed coins now coming out of China.)

So the advice that should be well taken: Buy from a reputable dealer with  years of experience. The more coins the dealer handles the more experienced the dealer will be to spot counterfeits.

If the coin seems to be too good a deal, think twice and check the merchandise it may just be a counterfeit!

Aloha

Sandy Watanabe (for Craig too!)

Our discussion a month or two before the summer show:


All photos from ANA.org


Are we taking a class? What class will we register for?

Craig asked me if there was any particular class that I was interested in.
Although I was interested in: An Introduction to Ancient Greek and Roman Coinage
August 4-5, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
We both agreed that with the number of counterfeit coins that were starting to show up in the islands that the class:
Facing the Chinese Counterfeiting Threat
August 4, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. -August 5, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. would be a higher priority informational class than the class on the ancients.



Day One: Craig walked me to class a like a parent accompanying their child on their first day of school.
On display were various dies and samples of counterfeits that Coin World had been collecting while researching this critical problem facing the industry.

I'm thankful that an acquaintance from another dealer was also attending the class.
(At least there was one familiar face in class Whew!)

Counterfeit coins improve by leaps and bounds:
For the first session, we learned about the history of the Chinese Counterfeiters and the study of Level One and Level Two Counterfeit coins.
Easily recognizable, even a novice collector can recognize the obvious flaws in these early counterfeits.
The trouble is that the Chinese Counterfeiter's work ethic in improving and perfecting their product, makes the newer counterfeits harder to detect.
I shared with Craig, that improving the product so it's the best that a manufacturer can provide to their customer in a very Asian mindset. What came to my mind is the car industry in Japan post World War II to the present lead by the Japanese in an industry that was once held by the USA.
We learned that dealers still can still count on their "gut " feeling about a coin, but now there is a necessity to weigh, measure and to check the diagnostics of a specific coin. The dealers just through their handling a volume of coins and their knowledge of key dates gives them the tools that most "collectors" possibly may not have. The information that was shared in class about the "average" collector is that there are only few that attend and educational class like this one or is a member to an organization like the ANA and/or is even a subscriber to informational print media (such as Coin World).
This sets up these "collectors" to be consumers of worthless counterfeit coins.
The pipeline selling these counterfeits in the USA seem to target the weekend flea markets and Ebay. The fakes are mixed in to a lot of genuine coins, so it "looks" like a treasure are found at a flea markets. Some of these counterfeits are marked on the cardboard flips that they are copies/replicas, others are not. There is no marking as specified by US law that replicas are to be marked on the coin with the word REPLICA or COPY. The Chinese Government allows coins predating 1949 not to have these key words added to the counterfeit.
Even more troubling bid boards for coin collectors in coin shops have allowed these counterfeit coins to be sold. The problem is that when and if these coins are removed from the cardboard flips by the purchaser, these fakes maybe thought of as genuine by the second or third owner down the line.

Webster Dictionary:

Main Entry:  counterfeit   !ka2nt-ur-+fit

More on counterfeit coins...later

Aloha
Sandy and Craig Watanabe


All photos from ANA.org

We attended the ANA Summer Show in downtown Los Angeles. This year's convention site received a mixed review by the dealers. Some of the dealers felt that the convention would not attract as many general attendees.

Families visiting the show would pay a $12.00 parking fee and admission for adults who were not members of the ANA.

In these troubling economic times, some of the ANA membership felt this was an inappropriate time to start charging admissions to the general public. Other members were of the opinion that charging admissions would qualify the serious buyers and collectors from those who were not.

I attended a major wholesale gift trade show about 30 years ago in this exact area.  The DT (downtown) area has undergone an urban renewal for the entire area.

I have to confess that when Craig mentioned that the show was being held in the DT area I was a bit apprehensive about this particular show.

Getting back to downtown LA. The hotels were varied in pricing and the hotel that we stayed at was running a special to attract visitors.

The Biltmore Hotel that was constructed in the 1920's. The architecture of the hotel is of the Art Deco period.

The Biltmore is fascinating in an elegant and historical sense. Even the workout room is reminisence of the period.

Photos from various Academy Award Ceremonies line the walls of the hotel.

The bygone era of the silver screen and it's stars are evident in these photos.

Craig and I spent a good amount of time perusing over  these photos trying to guess the names of our favorite leading actors and actresses.

From the Hotel Site:

Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles

The premier choice for celebrities, presidents and dignitaries for over 85 years, the Millennium Biltmore Hotel offers historic grandeur and modern luxury in the heart of exciting downtown Los Angeles. Find yourself steps away from major attractions like the Staples Center and NOKIA Theater, Music Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dodger Stadium and the Museum of Contemporary Art, and just a short drive from Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the beach cities.

Experience distinctive service and classic European style in one of our 683 guest rooms and suites, with amenities such as a Roman-style indoor swimming pool and health club. Our Executive and Club Level floors feature premium services for today's discerning traveler. Our exquisite function space includes five magnificent ballrooms, including the legendary Biltmore Bowl which hosted eight Academy Award Ceremonies in the 1930s and ‘ 40s. Located a short ride away from Los Angeles International, Burbank and Long Beach airports, the Biltmore is an ideal location for social events, weddings and meetings.

Aloha!

This is the first of our online journals for this site.
If you have followed my blogs on my other site, Mahalo for being patient with my busyness during the last two years.
Craig and I will be writing about our finds and a little about what we're up to.
Hope you pull up a chair and "Talk Story" with us.

Mahalo!
Sandy and Craig Watanabe

Aloha Memorabilia Company

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