I suppose some of you might thing that I am rambling a bit this week.  Well maybe I am.  I just wanted to tell you about some of the things I like.  Maybe you know about them and maybe you don’t but they mean something in my life. 

Matt Drudge reports a new contract for Rush Limbaugh.  Drudge has reported that Rush has signed a $250 Million Dollar radio deal over the next eight years.  Wow, in my mind he deserves every penny of it.  I have been a Rush Limbaugh fan for years.  If you hate him and have never listened to him, then you are not alone.  If you listen to this guy for a short period of time you will be hooked.  He presents a unique view on things of importance.  He is not always right, even thought he is definitely on the right. 

I also read the “Drudge Report” at least three times every day.  This guy must set in front of a computer all day long searching the Internet for interesting news.  He then posts links on his web site to this news.  It’s all very interesting and timely.

Since I am talking about news I have to mention the FOX News Network on cable television.  It’s the only news reporting on television that I trust.  They call it “fair and balanced” and I think they are.  They have a great prime time lineup that you should check out once and a while.

Do your collect coins?  I think everyone does.  Doesn’t everyone have a coin or coins in a drawer somewhere that they have kept for some reason or the other.  I am not a big time collector and really wasn’t much of any kind of a coin collector until the new state quarters came out in 1999.  At that time I had no idea that in my life time any of these could be worth more than a quarter. 

Then one day in 1999 I was in a store and I heard a guy say that a roll of Delaware Quarters was selling for $30.  That got my attention.  So, here is what I have learned about collecting coins since then.  If I could start my life over I would be a coin dealer.  It’s a cash business and the good ones make a lot of money.  They buy coins from individuals at pennies on the dollar and sell them for a lot more then they pay for them.  Sometimes they get “burned” and don’t make a profit but what the heck their inventory is still worth face value.

In the past coin dealers were the only place the public could go to buy coins like “mint set.”  These are uncalculated sets of coins that the mint puts out   The dealers knew how to contact the mint and buy them and then re-sale them to the public at a profit.  Now anyone could buy most of these coins from the mint but the public really didn’t understand this and they didn’t know how to contact the mint anyway.

This has all changed now with the Internet.  The coin dealer still are able to get some deals from the mint that the general public can’t get.  But for the most part it’s first come first served.

The US Mint produces coins for pennies on the dollar and sells them to the dealers and the public for a big mark up.  This is big business folks.  When you buy a commemorative coin or a set of coins from the mint the mint establishes the cost to you and states how many they are going to produce.   I have been told that that the mint sometimes mints more than they say they are going to mint.  Anyway, after the mint sells all of a certain coin or set, the only way anyone can buy them is from an individual or a coin dealer.  The price then is what the market will pay.

Here is the latest deal that I have not seen in the news anywhere and you can hear this story now.  A few weeks ago the US Mint released for sell it’s new commemorative “Buffalo silver dollar.”  They had announced that the would be selling the following:

The total mintage for this Buffalo Dollars is 500,000

50,000 coin and currency sets @ $54.95

The rest of the 500,000 coins is split up in the following sets

A two coin proof and uncirculated set at $59.95

A proof coin and  an uncirculated coin

These coins went on sale June 7^th.  and by the 20^th. of the month they were sold out.  That means the mint grossed over $20 million in 13 days.

Now the fun has started because the mint has sold all the coins.  These sets have moved into the after market and look out.  Last night on Ebay the Coin and Currency sets were selling for $160 and the two coin sets for $180.  The mint hasn’t even shipped these coins yet. 

Here’s the link to the mints web page.  http://www.usmint.gov

Ray Basso

Copyright 2001
Ray Basso

Past Comments from Ray:
My BYC
Review on the Grand Barbecue book and companion video
My Grandfather and his watch 
Top Secret Rib Rub Review
The Lake
The 100,000 message to the BBQ Forum

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