Saturday on the northside: Coin show draws collectors, curious $6 million gold doubloon among rarities

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
by Chris Reinolds
Sunday May 29, 2005

A gold coin insured for $6 million was the star of Saturday's big coin show at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

The Whitman Coin and Collectibles Atlanta Expo featured more than 200 numismatics dealers from across the country, with coins, currency, supplies and books.   Organizers said more than 2,000 people attended the free show, which ended Saturday.   Auctions brought out some serious collectors, who paid upwards of $28,000 for a single piece of Confederate paper money.

The 1787 Brasher Doubloon, known as America's first gold coin, is owned by Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, Calif.   Peter Cabral, spokesman for Rare Coin, said the doubloon has been on tour since the company purchased it in January.   Next month it will be displayed in New York, where it was made by George Washington's neighbor Ephraim Brasher.   "It was the first gold coin that was made specifically for our country," Cabral explained. 

Coin dealers said the release several years ago of the state quarter collection and now the new nickel designs have spurred interest in the hobby. 

Whitman is a publishing company that produces books on coins and other collectibles.   This is the second year for the show, and Whitman officials said they plan to make it a biannual event in Atlanta.   Saturday's show brought out everyone from Boy Scouts working on merit badges to aficionados such as Lonnie Mimms of Roswell and his 9-year-old son, Jacob.   "We collect a little bit of everything," Mimms said.   On Saturday, he was looking for a special kind of quarter from Wisconsin that contains variations in the cornstalk design.   "They don't know how many there are . . . or how rare they really are," Mimms said.   "Sometimes the die engraver gets creative." 

Alpharetta dealer John Hamrick showcased an interesting and valuable coin from the Confederate era.   The 1861 Confederate 1-cent piece is valued at more than $100,000.   Legend has it that the coin was accidentally spent by its Northern designer in a bar, Mimms and Hamrick said.   Coin collecting, one of the oldest hobbies, was once practiced only by kings and the wealthy, according to the U.S. Mint's Web site.   That's why it's sometimes called ''the king of hobbies" and ''the hobby of kings."    "There is so much history in coins and coin collecting," said Chris Chapel, Whitman spokesman. 

Coin collecting became increasingly popular in America during the 1930s when U.S. commemorative coins became widely available.   Today, there are millions of coin collectors in the United States alone, according to the U.S. Mint.   The U.S. Mint celebrated National Military Appreciation Month this year with the ceremonial strike of a new commemorative coin, the 2005 Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar.   For more information about the mint and coin collecting, go to www.usmint.gov.