Читать книгу Coin Collecting For Dummies - Neil S. Berman - Страница 26

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, collectors went nuts for BU rolls — those original bank-wrapped rolls of Brilliant Uncirculated coins (such as those shown in Figure 2-2). Collectors tried to obtain rolls of as many dates, denominations, and mintmarks as they could. Certain issues, such as the 1950-D nickel, were promoted as being rare, and prices shot up. One day, the public woke up and realized that coins with mintages in the millions weren’t rare and would never be rare. Today, the BU 1950-D nickel roll remains cheaper than it was 35 years ago, and new collectors can’t understand why BU penny rolls from the 1950s are so inexpensive. Like all good fads, the BU Roll craze created lots of new collectors.

FIGURE 2-2: BU rolls.

A mintmark is a tiny letter (or letters) indicating where the coin was minted. The U.S. Mint is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and currently has facilities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (P or no letter); Denver, Colorado (D); San Francisco, California (S); West Point, New York (W); and Fort Knox, Kentucky (where U.S. gold bullion is stored but no coins are minted). In the past, coins were minted in Dahlonega, Georgia (D); Carson City, Nevada (CC); New Orleans, Louisiana (O); and Charlotte, North Carolina (C). Notice that two mints — Dahlonega and Denver — use the same letter. These mints made coins during different time periods, however, so it’s easy to tell them apart.