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This week on the CoinWeek Podcast, we talk to Russ Augustin of AU Capital Management and RARCOA about the ways the COVID-19 crisis has shed new light on the importance of internet selling for the industry’s most active dealers.

Russ cut his teeth in the industry as an analyst with an edge due to his ability to see beyond the numbers. He sees the coin market holding its own despite the disruption. Recent auction results bare this out.

It’s a fascinating chat about coins and the coin market.

Coin dealer Russ Augustin shows us a scarce Lonson $1,000 gold coin box. Boxes like this were used by banks at the end of the 19th century through the first few decades of the 20th century to store and transport gold coins from bank vaults to teller windows.

Lonson Boxes were built by the Louis F. Dow Company of St. Paul and Minneapolis for heavy-duty use and feature wooden inner shells and a stabilizer bar that allows for easy storage and gives bankers a clear look at the rim of the coins, aiding in counterfeit detection.

Russ purchased this box from a colleague who had bought it and two others from the estate of SilverTowne founder Leon Hendrickson at a June 2018 auction.

CoinWeek’s Cool Coins! returns with our third episode of 2019.

In this episode, we talk with Russ Augustin of AU Capital Management about a wonderfully struck 1652 Pine Tree Shilling.

It’s a packed episode of some of the coolest coins that we’ve seen this year and we’re sure this episode will leave you excited about your next big purchase!

The discovery of gold in North Carolina in the early 1800s set off America's first gold rush and provided a German immigrant named Christopher Bechtler the opportunity to create a successful family-owned mint that produced nearly two and a quarter million dollars worth of gold coins, including the country's first $1.00 gold coin. Shot on location in Rutherford County and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Including Prospector Lloyd Nanney of Rutherford County describes how Christopher Bechtler manufactured gold coins by hand using machines that he may have made himself.

PBS special video content.

AU Capital Management President Russ Augustin teams up with CoinWeek to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of the great gold coins of American history.

In this episode, Russ talks about the 1852-O $20 Liberty Head Type 1 Double Eagle. This is one of the finest, and perhaps the ultimate finest example of the issue, which boasts a low mintage and is rarely found in uncirculated condition. It is one of a list of sleeper "rarities" in the Type 1 Double Eagle series and a coin that serious numismatists should know about before building the next great gold coin collection.

AU Capital Management President Russ Augustin teams up with CoinWeek to discuss the fascinating Indian Peace Medal series.

In this episode, Russ shares a number of medals from his collection and discusses the important historic role these numismatic objects played in bettering relations between native tribes and the American government.

From the English administration of the American colonies to Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery and for many presidents onward, this series is steeped in history and offers intermediate and advanced collector value and rarity.

The Colosseo Collection ……

Akragas was a wealthy and powerful Greek state on the southern coast of Sicily, second only to Syracuse in importance. The city was famous for its lavish building projects, proudly displaying its wealth in the form of numerous massive temples, many of which still stand today.

The early designs of the coinage of Akragas remained consistent for nearly a century, depicting Zeus’ standing eagle on the obverse and a crab on the reverse. As their societies matured, the aristocratic rulers of Akragas and its surrounding cities became highly competitive, especially in horse races, but also in the artistic beauty of the coinage they produced, resulting in a flourishing numismatic arms race.

Around 415 BCE, a dramatic shift took place, reinvigorating all denominations of their coinage. The designs became much more intricate, and the new coins have been ranked as some of the most beautiful coinage ever produced, clearly the work of the finest Sicilian artists of the time.

By Joe Jaroch –  Posted with Permission from AUCM
Amassing a collection of ancient coins can seem like a daunting task: the U.S. Mint has existed for little more than two hundred years, but the Classical world spans a colossal twenty-one centuries. Where would a collection begin, let alone end?

That’s where we come in.

You don’t need to own a museum or be a Rockefeller to collect ancient coins. There are indeed thousands of possible collections, but we’ll cover the ones that could be most comfortably completed, including variations based on the overall price tag: some sets have individual coins that could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but there are alternate sets and subsets which are equally exciting and historical at more affordable prices.

But even though ancient coins have been collected by such noteworthy historical figures as Thomas Jefferson, Louis XIV, and Augustus Caesar himself, the field is open to all comers. We have observed that the market on these coins is less mature than that of U.S. ones, so coins of smaller mintage and greater intrinsic value are actually far less expensive today than their American counterparts. Additionally, there is such an extensive pool of variations that you could contentedly collect for decades to come and never run out of new sets to complete.

The history of Kamarina, a port city on the southern coast of Sicily, is among the most tumultuous of Ancient Greece. It was founded in 599 BCE by settlers from Syracuse and its location allowed it to grow quickly and amass substantial wealth through trade.

However, within 40 years of its founding, Syracuse began to perceive it as a threat because of its success. The city was destroyed by Syracuse in 553 BCE and then re-founded by colonists from Gela, only to be destroyed again by Syracuse and re-founded for a third time by Gela in 461 BCE.

Even with Gela’s support, Kamarina was still weak, leading it to look for stronger allies to defend against future attacks from Syracuse. It sought out the support of Leontinoi until that city was destroyed by Syracuse in 422 BCE. It finally reached some semblance of stability through the protection of Athens, but Kamarina approached this alliance cautiously while waiting to see if Athens was indeed stronger than Syracuse.

The Colosseo Collection ……

One of the few ancient traditions to survive until the modern world is the Ancient Olympics. Occurring in the same four-year cycle today as in antiquity, they mark a time when differences are put aside and the world’s attention focuses on athletic competition between nations.

The name “Olympics” originates from where they were played. Olympia was a sanctuary of ancient Greece near the city of Elis, a fertile country in the northwest of the Peloponnese. It featured temples, sporting grounds, and accommodations for the athletes. The inhabitants of Elis were responsible for organizing the games every four years. The stadium at Olympia seated no less than 45 thousand, and the publicity for the winners was immense.