The world coin collecting community will gather in Rosemont, Ill., April 26-29 for the 37th annual Chicago International Coin Fair. The event will take place at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare, a short distance from Chicago’s international airport.

“It is always a pleasure to play host to an event that truly draws people from around the globe,” said Scott Tappa, convention chairman and World Coin News pub-lisher. “The world coin col-lecting community is alive and well, and we have dealers, auction companies and collec-tors buying and selling material from just about everywhere.”

The CICF bourse will once again feature more than 100 dealers, auction houses, sup-pliers, organizations and other firms serving the world coin community. Represented in

this group are 25 different states and six countries. A current list of CICF exhibitors can be found online at www.cicfshow.com.

“While we certainly value our local cus-tomers, this is not strictly a Chicagoland

POLYGYROS, Greece (AP) – Greek police arrested a total of 44 people for illegal antiquities trafficking after they investigated the group’s moves for months, officials said March 4.

Police said they confiscated 9,200 silver and bronze coins dating from the 6th cen-tury B.C. to Byzantine times (4th to 15th century A.D.). They also confiscated 300 “small artifacts.’’

By Robert R. Van Ryzin

Enjoying what he says was his best quarter of business in the past 30 years, and hoping this trend will continue, dealer Frederick J. Bart of Executive Currency, Roseville, Mich., was upbeat about the 18th Annual Chicago Paper Money Expo March 8-11 in Rosemont., Ill.

The show at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare featured a world-class bourse, attendees from 33 states and seven countries, a Lyn Knight currency auction and meetings by various numismatic organizations, including the board of the Professional Currency Dealers Association, the Chicago Coin Club and the International Bank Note Society.

“Although there was a moderate buzz on the bourse

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CICF/Page 40

U.S. $4.99/Canada $5.99 Vol. 39, No. 4 • APRIL 2012

The first silver shekel struck in Jerusalem by Jewish forces rebelling against Roman oppression in the 1st century C.E. brought a world record price of $1,105,375 March 8 as part of Heritage Auctions’ sale of The Shoshana Collection of Ancient Coins of Judea.

The coin, one of just two specimens known, sold to an anonymous overseas collector.

Overall, the auction realized more than $7.6 million, with the whole of the Shoshana

CICF to host worldwide crowd

Notes old and new buoy CPMX

Shekel brings $1.1 million at auction

World Coin New

s • April 2012

44 arrested for antiquities traffi cking

Bill Brandimore, market analyst and collector, displays an addition to his collection of Queen Elizabeth II notes.

Dealers from six countries will have tables at CICF.

CPMX/Page 44Trafficking/Page 40

Shekel/Page 40

$1,105,375 was the price tag for this 1st century Jewish silver shekel.

48 World Coin News / April 2012

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By Chris Woltermann

It was not a fluke when, in 2009, a newly minted and briefly circulating South African coin rocketed to fame as the world’s most rapidly appreciating numismatic asset. For sound reasons, the highest graded examples of the 2008 Mandela 90th birthday R5 (5 rand) continue their unprecedented market ascent.

News of retired South African presi-dent Nelson Mandela’s recent hospital-ization (February 2012) spurred me to re-examine his birthday coin that I last discussed for World Coin News readers three years ago. What I learned will excite even the most jaded collectors and investors.

The highest graded examples of the 90th birthday R5 in early 2009 were six MS-68s. Each of three had sold for R100,000, then about US$10,000. Just months before, these coins were worth face value, about US 50 cents apiece.

Today’s finest known specimens are 12 MS-69s out of more than 140,000 pieces graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, Professional Coin Grading

Service and ANACS, the only such firms respected in South Africa. A sin-gle MS-69 was recently sold by SA Coin, a South African dealer, for R2.5 million, an astounding US$334,250 at the current exchange rate.

How does one explain this price for a coin whose mintage and release to the public was 5 million pieces? How does one account for the price when the coin is only four years old, when neither minting errors nor die variations are involved?

The South African public’s rever-ence for Mandela made his new coin coveted even before its release. Then, upon release, most examples moved from the banking system’s distribution network to persons intent on holding them for their symbolic association. Some few coins circulated, though only fleetingly, in stark contrast to pre-release planning.

Failure of the birthday R5 to circu-late coincided with the abrupt rise of an updated numismatic consciousness among South Africans. Almost no soon-er had it taken hold among the collect-ing elite than it permeated the general

Mandela R5 continues record run

www.worldcoinnews.net / April 2012 49

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public. Its core was a new appreciation of modern coinage.South African collectors had formerly focused exclusively

on “old” coins and/or those modern issues commonly des-ignated as non-circulating legal tender. Quite suddenly, it seemed, South Africans began to wonder about the rarity of modern business strikes exhibiting the highest quality imagin-able. Might they be much rarer, and thus extremely desirable as collectibles, than anyone suspected?

Answering this question required resort to expert graders to serve as arbiters of coin quality. Some farsighted South Africans started to submit their country’s modern business strikes to the big three American grading services. Such sub-missions grew with exponential rapidity, and South Africans soon became as enthusiastic about professional grading as are Americans.

The question about the rarity of the best South African business strikes has been answered. They’re extraordinarily rare. The relative numbers of the birthday R5’s business and proof strikes are illustrative.

As noted earlier, of the 5 million business strikes, more than 140,000 have been graded, resulting in a mere 12 MS-69s and no MS-70s. Only 5,000 of the gorgeous proofs were struck, and approximately 80 percent of them have already been graded. There are 58 PF-70s and 1,964 PF-69s.

Recent selling prices, as per SA Coin, reflect the rela-tive rarities. The prices are R2.5 million for a MS-69 versus R125,000 for a PF-70, a ratio of 20 to one.

Additional submissions of uncirculated birthday R5s may well leave the market momentum of heretofore graded coins intact. The coins with the most obvious potential for the high-est grades probably have already been submitted. Then, too, the longer that coins remain unencapsulated by a grading ser-

MS-69 examples of Nelson Mandela’s 2008 90th birthday coin are probably the 21st century’s most valuable meant-for-circulation issues. (Images courtesy SA Coin.)

Woltermann/Page 50

50 World Coin News / April 2012

vice, the more susceptible they are to mishandling and envi-ronmental damage. Furthermore, if the American experience with vastly increased numbers of graded Morgan dollars is indicative, a growing population of birthday R5s will actually enhance the market by drawing in new collectors.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, factors other than rar-ity also lie behind the phenomenon of the birthday R5.

There is the coin’s importance as a component of the six-coin set of Mandela R5s. Collectors seek to assemble sets consisting of the business and proof strikes of the 1994 presidential inauguration coin, the 2000 presidential coin, and the 2008 birthday issue. The birthday proof may be the set’s sleeper. Its mintage is far less than those of the two other proofs.

All of South Africa’s Mandela business strikes benefit from their status as true, meant-for-circulation coins. They stand in sharp contrast to the ostensibly Mandela-related trin-kets marketed as medallions or non-circulating legal tender by foreign mints and unscrupulous promoters having no connec-tion to Mandela other than a determination to capitalize on his name while duping collectors.

The allure of all South African Mandela R5s as real coins extends beyond South Africa’s borders to foreign collectors and investors. I’ve heard that the coins are traded even in Dubai, but I can’t verify that. Interest is certainly picking up elsewhere, especially Australia, but also Europe and North America. The birthday R5’s stunning market run will not end soon.

All three Mandela coins will, unless foolish politicians get in the way, continue to draw pricing strength from South Africa’s prudent practice of not taxing the profits from rare coin transactions. This is a tremendous boon to the domestic market with positive effects rippling globally beyond it.

Collectors everywhere, and investors too, I believe, should be grateful for the role of South Africa’s Mandela coins in our numismatic universe. As business strikes, they provide irrefutable evidence that real coins – coins minted to serve as money – remain the foundation of our passion.

The beautiful proofs have a much lower mintage but are comparatively common in the highest grades. (Image courtesy SA Coin.)

Woltermann/from Page 49