10.18.2010

Random Coin Fact of the Day (#1)

Hi all, inspired by someone else I thought it would be cool to post random coin facts on here. Here's one that many people might not know:

Since gaining independence, the U.S. has minted coins in denominations that today may seem odd. For example, the U.S. has minted half cents (1793-1857), two-cent pieces (1864-1873), three-cent pieces (1851-1889), twenty-cent pieces (1875-1878), $2.50 gold pieces (1796-1929), $3.00 gold piece (1854-1889), $4.00 gold pieces (1879-1880), $5.00 gold pieces or half eagles (1795-1929), $10.00 gold pieces or eagles (1795-1933), and $20.00 gold pieces ("double eagles") (1849-1933). Currently, the only coin denominations being minted are the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar.

If you know any interesting coin facts feel free to post a comment and share with everyone! Have a great day! :-)

10.09.2010

Lots of great coins being listed!

Hi everyone! We just purchased a large collection of some really amazing coins the other day and are currently working on listing them all in our Ebay store. We have everything from Copper Nickel Indian Heads to Three Cent Nickels (one of which is a Cameo Proof!) to Capped Bust & Seated Liberty Halves and much much more! We invite you to come check out our store and maybe you'll find something you (or a loved one) needs for your collection. Thanks & have a great weekend! :-)


Welcome to Collectorsville store

9.11.2010

Get cashback for shopping on Ebay and other online stores!

9.05.2010

Check out our newly listed items on Ebay!

Check out some of our newly listed Buy it Now's and Auctions we have on Ebay all with Free Shipping! We just listed several high grade type coins in our store: Welcome to Collectorsville. We have several types of coins including: Three Cent Nickels, Three Cent Silvers (Trimes), Two Cent Pieces, Capped Bust and Seated Liberty Dimes, Capped Bust and Seated Liberty Half Dimes, Large Cents, Half Cents, Franklin Halves, U.S. Mint Proof Sets, and much much more! Feel free to give an offer on any Buy it Now's too as we have Best Offer available on all of our Buy it Now's. Thanks and have a great Labor Day weekend!

7.07.2010

Free online tool for grading coins


If you are new to collecting or need help with grading then you will love this free tool PCGS put on their website. You can choose any coin denomination and type and see vivid color pictures of the grades. This is a great tool and I love that it is in color! I like it much better than our ANA Grading book that I used religiously when we first began. Thanks PCGS! :-)

7.05.2010

Pawn Stars

We are so hooked on this show right now! This is one of the shows we like to watch on our down time. If you haven't seen it yet, it's on the History Channel and they buy all kinds of things from coins to antiques to the truly bizarre! Check it out . . .


6.15.2010

New Main Page on Website!

Sorry for the long period in not posting. We're on vacation right now and then off to the Baltimore Coin Show to stock up on some more great inventory for our website and Ebay. In the meantime, the main page of our website is complete and is now revamped. We hope you enjoy it!



Here's the design Chelsey Scott of http://www.cscottdraw.com designed for us to put on our website. She did a great job & we love it! If you're interested in getting a custom graphic designed for you we highly recommend her. She does a variety of projects including sketches, web graphics, logos, and wedding logos. Thank you Chelsey! :-)

5.15.2010

Contest Winner!

THE CONTEST WINNER FOR THE HOME PAGE IS... (drum roll please)
 
Rose of Eclectic Garden!

Congratulations, Rose, on winning the Collectorsville home page idea contest!

Thank you so much to all who entered for your great ideas! We really appreciate all the creative ideas we received. It wasn't an easy decision!

Stay tuned to see what the home page will look like. We are working on finding a graphic designer now and are hoping to have the new home page design up and running soon!

- Collectorsville

5.09.2010

Mother’s Day Commemorative Coin has Passed House!


I just read this article and thought it sounded very interesting, especially today on Mother's Day!


"On May 5, 2010, H.R. 2421: Mother's Day Centennial Commemorative Coin Act passed in the House of Representatives. The bill would require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue commemorative silver dollars to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Mother's Day.
H.R. 2421 was first introduced on May 14, 2009 by Rep. Shelley Capito of West Virginia. A similar bill had been introduced in the Senate a week earlier on May 7, 2009 by John Rockefeller of West Virginia.
If one of these bills becomes law, up to 400,000 of the Mother's Day Silver Dollars could be minted and issued for 2014. The coins would feature a design emblematic of the 100th anniversary of President Wilson's proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. The designs would be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with the Commission of Fine Arts and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
Each coin would be minted in 90% silver and 10% copper with a diameter of 1.5 inches and weight of 26.73 grams. Both proof and uncirculated versions of the coin would be produced. The coins may be issued beginning on January 1, 2014. No coins may be minted after December 31, 2014.
The coins would be sold at a price equal to the face value of the coins, the cost of designing and issuing the coins, and a $10 surcharge. The surcharges collected from the sale of coins would be distributed one half to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and one half to the Natoinal Osteoporosis Foundation for the purpose of furthering the research funded by each organization.
In order for the coins to become a reality, one of the bills must be passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate and then signed into law by the President. One commemorative coin program has already been approved for the year 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
- from Coin Update News
Happy Mother's Day!

5.07.2010

Enter our contest for home page ideas!


Our website is complete, but we're looking for ideas on what to put on our homepage. We decided we wanted something different and more unique than just the large picture we had on there, but we're not sure what to put in it's place.

So, we're asking for your help. What do you think should be on our home page? Are you web savvy, a web designer, or a coin collector with some great ideas? Whoever you are we'd love to hear your ideas to create a home page that will capture our viewers attention and draw them in further. 

Please send your ideas to collectorsville@gmail.com. The person with the winning idea will receive a free gift! 

Good luck & happy brainstorming! :-)

5.05.2010

Better Investment - Platinum or Gold?

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a few days. We've been keeping very busy the past few days and have put up a lot more of our inventory on our Ebay store. Next, I need to work on putting more inventory on our website



My question for you today is what do you think is a wiser investment - platinum or gold? I've heard a number of opinions on this subject lately and had been initially leaning more toward platinum. I definitely think both of them are wise to purchase and hold onto for the future, but from what I had seen and heard about platinum it looks like it definitely has the potential to go up an incredible amount in the next few years. Here are some reasons:

  • Platinum is much scarcer than gold.
    • "If you assume that the world has produced 3.6 million ounces per year for 50 years to estimate the total worldwide supply, all of the platinum in the world would fit in a cube that is 6.3 meters (about 20 feet) on a side. In other words, all of the platinum in the entire world would easily fit in the average home!" - How Stuff Works
    • In comparison, "if all the gold in the world would fit into a 20.15 meter cube, or 66 feet 1.3 inches square,  that would be the size of a small office building." - Coin Link
  • Platinum has several uses, some of which are very essential and are not possible with any other metal. Here are some of the applications platinum is used for:
    • catalytic converters - reduces the toxicity of emissions from an internal combustion engine; this use takes up over 50% of the demand for platinum)
    • jewelry
    • electronics 
    • chemical industry - catalyst
    • electrodes
    • anticancer drugs
    • oxygen sensor
    • spark plugs
    • turbine engines 
  • As China grows in its industrial demands, the demands on platinum are sure to rise as well, which should drive the price even higher.
  •  80 % of the world's platinum comes from South Africa. 
    • Political instability or strikes at the mining company could cause platinum prices to sour (as seen last August when a strike at the power company drove up platinum prices).
On the other hand, I have been reading speculations about the future use of platinum. As our world is getting more and more interested in "being green" it is unlikely car companies would stop using catalytic converters. However, as platinum prices are rising companies like GM are working on ways to make catalytic converters without platinum. If this were to happen, it is foreseeable that other companies would follow along to cut costs. It's still uncertain though if this replacement will work on gasoline engines and GM said they still have some things to work out into they make it into a commercial product. I've heard that rumors like this from car companies have been going on for the past 10 years though so this technology may still have years to go before it can be applied.



Another thing to think about is the fact that gold has been considered money for as long we can remember. Meanwhile, platinum is relatively new to us as it was only recently discovered in the 16th century by the Spanish conquistadors. For the most part, gold has stayed steady in its rise, while platinum is much more volatile and is subject to change due to demand (because of economic instability).


Initially after hearing from others about the wisdom of investing in platinum I was very excited and agreed with them that it was the precious metal to go with. However, now after researching it and giving it much thought I think the wisest thing to do would be to spread your money out amongst gold, platinum, and silver. I think we'll probably invest more in gold as I think it is more reliable. Plus, we don't know what the future will bring with new technologies replacing platinum's major use in catalytic converters. I'd be very interested though to hear anyone else's thoughts on platinum and gold. Please feel free to comment and share any thoughts you have on this.

Have a great day! :)

    5.01.2010

    New Youtube Commercial!

    I just discovered one of the programs I use has the capability of making Movie Presentations which is perfect because lately I have been thinking about getting someone to make a Youtube commercial for us. My hope being that it would bring some more traffic to our site and increase our SEO. I was hesitant to try out anyone's services, though, as all I could find seemed very pricey. Here it turns out I had the capability of making almost the same type of commercial on my own! I finally finished it and just posted it on Youtube. Check it out and let me know what you think!

    Also, I'd be very happy to make any of these types of commercials for anyone that needs one and will do it for a reasonable price! Please e-mail if you're interested at: collectorsville@gmail.com

    For the full screen version go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V80y9VI-TQ0

    4.26.2010

    2010 Lincoln Cent Union Shield - the newest design!


    We just recently got 5 sealed boxes of the 2010 Lincoln Cent's in the mail from the mint! I've been looking forward to finally getting a box of these to keep and having some to sell. These pennies seem to be very hard to come across. We've been asking for them whenever we go to either of our banks and no one ever has them! We were a little let down one day at our bank when someone told us they could order 25 count boxes of the 2010 pennies for us only to come back a few minutes later with the bad news that they were mistaken. That was a bit of a let down. Other than the mint boxes we ordered the only other one that we actually have is one we got as a bonus with an Ebay order. That was a pleasant surprise!






    It seems there are some mixed reviews out there about this new design. Some love the new design while others think it looks kind of cheap and wonder if this is the best our nation's designer's can come up with. At first I thought they looked a little artistically challenged too, but I think the design is growing on me. The idea for the new shield cent design came from a design that was used on a pattern one cent piece in 1896 (see picture above). I think it would have been nice if they would have put a little more intricacy into the design of the 2010 penny like the 1896 coin did. I think that design is quite beautiful. You never know though, it wouldn't be the first time that the mint slightly changed the design of a coin after the first year. Regardless though,  I think it will take a little getting used to after seeing the memorial design for so long (despite the 4 different designs in 2009). I really haven't seen those designs very often in pocket change and have mostly seen those at coin shows. I wonder how long it will be until we start regularly seeing the 2010 pennies in pocket change?


    If you are interested in purchasing one of the special mint sealed boxes with a 2010 P & D roll in each please check out our website as we have 4 currently available. 


    If you're interested in learning a little more about how the mint chose this design and seeing the other designs that competed for the reverse here are a few links:


    U.S. Mint - 2010 Redesign 
    About.com - Coins 



    4.24.2010

    What's the deal with unsearched penny rolls?


    If you collect coins by now you may have come across unsearched coins. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You can find them in lots, sealed bags, sealed boxes, and in sealed or unsealed rolls. You may be wondering what are they and what does the seller of these mean by unsearched?

    Unsearched means that it has not been sorted through by the seller (and possibly others) checking for dates, mint marks, errors, grades, etc.



    It is possible to get unsearched coins a variety of ways. Here are some ways you can find unsearched coins:

    1) Ebay - they truly have something for everyone whether it be rolls, bags, lots, you name it!

    2) Banks - many people "roll hunt" through boxes of coins and after they're done take the coins to a free coin counter to get their money back for them. My fiance has done his fair share of roll hunting & actually found some nice coins!

    3) Coin Dealers / Shows - many coin dealers sell coins (pennies, nickels, etc.) in bulk and often many of them do not search through them looking for key & semi-key dates. If you buy these in bulk and do the hard work of searching their loss may be your gain!

    4) Craigslist and other types of community sites - many people try to sell their collections on sites like Craigslist and often don't know exactly what they're selling. This may be a great opportunity to get some nice coins for an amazing deal!

    5) Estate Sales, Auctions, and Flea Markets - if you have any of these types of places around you, you may just get lucky and find some unsearched rolls or lots of coins up for sale. If someone is auctioning off their property or having an estate sale and they collected or hoarded coins you might hit the jackpot and get the opportunity to buy unsearched coins for some amazing prices, especially if these coins are being sold by someone not knowledgable in numismatics.

    These are just some of numerous ways you can find unsearched coins. I'm sure there are even more ways, but these are just some that I can think of off the top of my head.


    Once you get your hands on some unsearched coins you may be wondering, "what now?" My advice would be to purchase a 2010 or 2011 Red Book, which is an essential book for collector's to use to help determine the value of their coins. Also, if you're really interested in getting serious some other great books are The Cherrypicker's Guide and the Ana Grading Standards for US Coins. The first book is good for identifying errors in coins that you may come across and would be a good book to use if you're going through unsearched coins. The second book is a great book to help you determine the grades (condition or quality) of coins you find and would be helpful for when you look up the prices of what your coins are worth.

    If you don't think you're quite ready to get that serious and aren't ready to invest in a book there are many websites dedicated to helping you determine prices and grades. Some of our favorites are:

    PCGS Price Guide
    Numismedia Price Guide
    Coinsite Error Coin Price Guide
    PCGS Photograde

    The internet is a powerful tool and you can find out just about anything you need to know about a coin you are curious about. There are even forums dedicated to coin collecting with many knowledgeable people happy to give you advice on any questions you may have.

    Before you start searching through your coins I suggest you take a little look through a price guide first just to get an idea of the dates of high dollar coins you should keep a look out for. Otherwise you might pass up on something that is worth a lot of money! Whichever avenue you choose to buy your unsearched coins I wish you the best of luck! I'm sure that even if you don't get the coin find of the century you will have a lot of fun searching for coins and that it will be an educational experience as well. If you have any children or grandchildren this could be a great hobby to share with them and may get them interested in collecting or history.

    If you'd like to start out by searching through rolls we have some on our website for some great prices. Feel free to check them out and drop us a line if you'd like to make an offer on any. :-) Have fun & happy searching!











    4.22.2010

    The solution to your cursor moving while typing on a laptop!

    This might seem a little off topic for this blog, but for quite a while now I've been experiencing an annoying occurrence while typing on any one of our 3 laptops. Sometimes when I would write a whole e-mail to someone the cursor would all of a sudden highlight the whole conversation and then delete everything. Other times while quickly typing something important I would find my cursor had moved to another line in the paragraph and totally messed up what I was typing. 

    My fiance, on the other hand, had not experienced this problem at all and I started to think I was either going crazy or that I was doing something wrong while typing. The only difference between our typing is that I type and he hunts and pecks  (quickly though, I must add). ;-) Today this moving cursor problem really got the best of me and irritated me more than usual. So, finally after all this time (I don't know what kept me from doing this all along) I did a Google search on it. 

    Aha! Phew, I'm not the only one out there experiencing this problem! I found tons of forums with people trying to find the solution to this problem. It turns out the problem occurs when you are typing and inadvertently brush over the mouse touch pad. I hadn't realized I had been so close to it and done this, but now it made sense! The only problem now . . . finding a solution that will fix this! I found people with all types of solutions ranging from disabling the touchpad in between typing to using a USB mouse and disabling the touch pad permanently to changing the sensitivity setting of the mouse. I definitely didn't want to have to turn the touch pad on and off between typing as that would be extremely inconvenient plus I couldn't find out how to do that option anyway. Also, I didn't really want to have to get a USB mouse as that wouldn't fit on the laptop desk that I have. 

    After several more searches on Google for more solutions to this problem I came across a program called TouchFreeze that automatically disables the touch pad for you whenever you type so the cursor can't jump around or click on anything. The specs says that it is for Windows NT, 2000, and XP, but I have Windows 7 and it works fine with this system. After typing this post I can successfully say that I've had no problems with typing or having my cursor move around. Thank you so much, TouchFreeze! You're a lifesaver!

    If you're having this problem and want to download this program you can get it here: http://code.google.com/p/touchfreeze/downloads/list 

    Enjoy! 

    4.17.2010

    Selling on Ebay - get more bang for your buck with 123Show!

    Want to keep your Ebay listing fees down to a minimum?

    Q: Do you have things you want to sell on Ebay, but want to do it for a minimal amount without racking up tons of listing fees?

    A: I sure do, but I have a lot of pictures I want to show of the items I'm selling. The first picture's free, but after that they really start adding up and even more so if I want to add zoom, etc.!

    Well no problem, I'm going to tell you about an application I came across that I've been using for all my listings that really keeps my picture fees down!


    How to create listings with many pictures for less! 

     

    In my Ebay adventures I came across a great application called 123Show. It gives you the capability to embed a template with pictures in it into your listings. You can still upload the one free picture that Ebay gives you so that a picture will show up in Search Results, but beyond that you won't need to upload any more pictures on Ebay!

    To start you will need to log in to Ebay and go to the Applications tab. If you don't have an Applications tab you can get there by going to this url: http://applications.ebay.com/selling?EAppsHome

    Once at the Applications Center do a search for 123Show. When you find 123Show click on it and take a look at the features and plans they provide. There's a free plan with 250 MB of space you can try out if you'd like to test it out first. I personally use the 10 GB plan as I list 300-400+ items per month and need to be able to store a lot of pictures. Depending on your sales you may need more or less space.

    Once you choose which plan you want to subscribe to, click Confirm Subscription on the bottom.

    After a few minutes you should be able to use your 123Show account. You can get to it very easily from My Ebay and clicking on Applications.

    Now you're ready to make your first template!

    First go to 123Show and then browse through all of the available templates you can choose from. There's a little something for everyone here. You can choose from Single Image, Thumbnail, Color Swatch, 360 Spin, Slide Show, Zoom, Hotspot, Magnifier, eCatalogs, and Alt Views.

    I personally like "Zoom, Slideshow" the best, but you might find one that better suits your needs. Once you find one that you can't live without you can add it to your favorites to find it more easily in the future. After you've done that click "Choose" at the bottom of the template. Next, you'll want to add pictures to your template. Click on the picture of the computer monitor on the upper right hand side and choose whatever pictures you want to upload to this template.


    Once you're done uploading pictures you also have the option to add text, stickers, borders, etc. to your template. These options can be found on the left toolbar. I usually skip this step unless I have an item I want to draw particular attention to.

    After you're sure you are complete with your template click "Next Step" on the bottom right. If everything looks perfect to you, click "Publish Me." You now have two options. You can either copy and paste the html that has been provided and manually insert it into your listing under the "Html" tab next to "Description" or you can click on the "Ebay" button below the html and choose which listing(s) you'd like to add this template to. I always use the first option just because I like to have the power to decide where I place the template in my listings. You can try out both options and then decide which option works for you the best.

    Congratulations! You have created your first 123Show template and are well on your way to saving lots of $$$, but at the same time creating more customized listings that will be sure to grab your buyer's attention!

    Good luck and let me know how things go! :-)

    While you're here check out our online store!

    4.15.2010

    What makes the 1909 S VDB so special?

    A controversial history


    Have you ever looked at price guides for coins and came across one particular coin called a 1909 S VDB that was worth just $750 in low condition and up to $5000 and more in very high conditions? Did you scratch your head and wonder to yourself, "Why is this one coin worth so much more than the others and what in the world is a VDB?" Well, the answer to that questions lies in both history and the number that was minted.

    The answers to your questions 

    Unsearched Roll - 1909 VDB S?

    Let's start out by taking a trip back in time to the year 1909. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to commemorate Lincoln's centennial (100 year anniversary of Lincoln's birth). Roosevelt came across Victor David Brenner, a sculptor and numismatist who recently produced a medal and plaque of Lincoln in 1907. Brenner suggested the idea of putting Lincoln's face on a cent as the Indian Head penny had been used for half a century and it seemed the appropriate coin to use. Roosevelt liked this idea and so plans ensued for the redesign of the one cent. On August 2, 1909 the Lincoln cent was released into circulation. People went crazy over this new coin and quickly scooped up every single available one.

    All was not well in paradise, however, as in the background many people were upset about the prominent initials of Brenner (V.D.B.) on the reverse of the coin. Some said that since Brenner had been paid for to make this design and he was basically a hired workman no recognition was needed. Others said that the letters were too prominent and that most people didn't know what the initials meant and thought it had some sort of secret meaning. Soon complaints and demands were made to the Mint demanding that the initials be taken off any future mints of this coin.

    In addition, other did not like the new cent as they believed the wheat stalks on the reverse did not represent this species of grain in real life. Others even included comments that Southerners did not like Lincoln in the first place and that the use of his face on the cent was unfortunate. However, it has been said that black citizens eagerly snatched up these souvenirs of the "Great Emancipator."

    The Mint soon made plans to continue production of the Lincoln cent but with the V.D.B. initials removed. By this time Roosevelt had completed his term as president and was succeeded by William Howard Taft who did not have interest in the matters of coins.

    The 1909 V.D.B. cent minted in Philadelphia (27,995,000 were minted) remained plentiful for a long time as hobby dealers did not make a big deal of their rarity and focused rather on the 1909 S V.D.B. minted in San Francisco (only 484,000 of these were minted). This coin quickly was considered scarce and later was considered rare. These coins with a small "S" mint mark below the 1909 date and with the initials V.D.B. on the reverse created a treasure-seeking mentality in many people's minds and the urge to search through pocket change to find this rare treasure. As the years have gone by thousands of these have been taken out circulation, but there are still so many collectors out there that need this coin to fill their collections or albums 1909 S V.D.B. hole.

    Perhaps now you also, after knowing the intriguing story of the 1909 S V.D.B., will start searching in your pocket change or in that old jar of wheat pennies you've been saving since you were a kid. You never know when you might get lucky and find the true King of the Lincoln cents!

    Our online store