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| Letters to the Editor
Now Barron's says so I've been reading Coin Connoisseur since January, 1998. You've consistently reported that rare coin prices are trending upward, and that this is a terrific time to invest in quality rare coins. I've been skeptical. After all, you are a coin magazine. Then I picked up the July 19, 1999 Barron's, a Wall Street-oriented publication hardly likely to go out of its way to tout coins. A long article by Richard Karp entitled "Coinucopia!" quotes Scott Travers, a New York coin dealer. Travers says, "I have been selling $25,000 coins like you consume popcorn kernels in a movie theater." He adds, "Despite this non-inflationary environment, we are seeing the strongest coin market in the last 30 years, some $3 billion in revenues nationwide in 1998 versus about $2 billion the year before." The article sites a number of factors moving investors toward coins: discretionary income caused by the boom in the stock market (combined, I’d say, with worries about protecting those profits), attention focused on money by the new designs on bills and the Fifty States Quarters, and the Internet. Why does all of this sound familiar? Because I have been reading it in every issue of your magazine (with the possible exception of the new bills). The confirmation by Barron's has moved me over the edge. I am going to sell some of my stocks and put the money into rare coins. (I wish I'd sold some of my Internet stocks a few months ago!) The Barron's article echoes another piece of advice I find in every issue of Coin Connoiisseur: be wary of scams involving overpricing and exaggerated statements about grade; work with a reputable dealer. P.L. Some Eagles don't fly Thanks for exposing those frauds! [Family of Eagles sales of 1/10 oz US Gold Eagles]. Unfortunately, I was a victim to the whole "patriotic" scam. Now I'm $780 short (three wonderful partial payments of $260 on three orders for nine coins each) and have nothing to show for it. I recently contacted the Family of Turkeys, oops I mean Eagles, and asked if I could pay the difference on the nine coins. They said of course I could by sending an additional partial payment of $400 on each order. Allow me to do the math: $780 + $1200 = $1980 - $660 per nine coins! What a deal....$73 a coin. I then asked for a refund and I was told there were no refunds! So either I pay nearly a 100% markup or apply my partial payment to some other extravagantly overpriced item in their catalog. This seems somewhat unfair and unscrupulous. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have engaged in this wonderful experience. Do you know of any way to recoup some of my losses or at least complain about this practice? How far do you advise I take this? Any reply would we greatly welcomed. Thanks. David A. Vigil For openers, consider contacting your Better Business Bureau to register a complaint, which will help others who take the trouble to check with them. They may also be able to advise you of other recourses. And thanks you for writing and adding to the warning to our readers. -- Ed. I am constantly fielding question about Family of Eagles, because it is big here in Dallas. At the behest of one of the financial planners I work with I met with Jimmy McClintock, at that time the Vice President of FOE, and briefly with Jerry O'Steen, the President. They gave me their business cards inscribed with "Reducing the National Debt through the Sale of American Eagle Gold Coins" and the patriotic pitch on reducing the national debt. They seemed unconcerned that the debt increases by $576,000 per day. Nor did they care that selling Canadian Mint products would not contribute to their debt-reduction mission. They denied they were an MLM. In reality, they are. The product is gold coins and since they cannot produce the coins like Amway produces its own line of soap, for example, there must be a large markup to provide upline payments as well as profits. The reality is they are a money machine that deals in a product which has a residual vehicle that is coins. It is interesting to note the addition of nutritional supplements to the FOE line. Here the cost factor can be controlled and the markup can be much higher than in the bullion products since there is nothing to compare prices with. Your article was very timely...and much needed. Burnett Marus, RFC Burnett Marus wrote "What you don't know about the rare coin market can cost you," which appeared in the Winter 98/99 issue. Dispatch from St. Louis Please enter my subscription. I read the following in the St. Louis Post Dispatch: "While most Coin Connoisseur advertisers suggest it is a publication for the more affluent collector, the articles are of interest to everyone. In addition to several articles on coins and precious metals on the Internet, others about the new 50 state quarters, a gold coin rip-off by a questionable organization and how Y2K is affecting the coin market were interesting and fun. Best of all, Coin Connoisseur has a pretty good introductory offer. For $29, it's offering a one-year, four-issue subscription plus two coupons good for grading/authenticating coins by either of the two leading firms in the field. With those alone worth $29, the magazine's worth a look." I'll take the coupons; actually, they are worth $58. GV Getting Started on the Internet Thank you for your Spring issue. I used "Getting Started Is Easy" as a guide to purchasing a computer and getting online. You were right - it was easy. I wish I'd done it two or three years ago. Access to the information on the Internet is making me a smarter bullion investor. And there is another "dividend." My wife finds great recipes on the Web. RG I keep your Internet issue next to my computer, along with my software manuals. Your selection of sites has enhanced my enjoyment of my Morgan and Peace Silver Dollar collection. I got a real kick out of the glossary of coin terms you recommended in "Your Virtual Coin and Bullion Reference Library." I've been asking some of my collector buddies if they share my dislike for "exonumia." (Tokens, medals and other non-monetary coin-like objects.) SW 50 States Quarters Our 11-year old son saw Coin Connoisseur on the coffee table and was attracted by the computer on the cover. He ended up reading Alvin Hattal's article on the 50 States Quarters Program. Now my wife and I are required to empty pockets and purse of all quarters every evening so he can look for specimens for his collection. Fortunately we live in New Jersey, so he's already found some New Jersey, Delaware, and Philadelphia quarters. You can't keep him off the U.S. Mint Web site, and would you believe he comes to the dinner table with stories to tell us about the history of these states? Donald and Linda Brownell Where were the rare coins? I read your magazine because I am a rare coin collector. Your last issue had some useful articles about rare coin Web sites, but where were the beautiful graphic images of rare coins shown in past issues? It seemed there were innumerable pictures of bullion coins (including the Most Beautiful Coins of the Century, which are pretty but not rare), computers and computer screens, Fifty States Quarters, and gold bars. Please give rare coin collectors the images we expect in Coin Connoisseur. DD
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