LONDON — Britain’s Royal Mint is celebrating Freddie Mercury with a new coin design that marks 40 years since his iconic Live Aid concert performance. The coin features an image of the Queen frontman, head thrown back and holding the microphone stand mid-performance. A musical stave that runs around the edge of the coin represents his four-octave vocal range. … Read more
A coin minted by Jewish rebels just before the destruction of the Second Temple – an event Jesus predicted in the Gospels – has been unearthed in Jerusalem. The 2,000-year-old artifact was found at the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, located in the Old City and just a stone’s throw away from the Temple Mount. The discovery was announced by the … Read more
All in all, it was hiding behind just another brick in the wall. A collection of rare gold coins nearly lost to history after its owner passed away has fetched nearly $4 million at auction. The gilded stash had been amassed over a lifetime by numismatist Paul Narce, who lived in Castillonnès, France, until his … Read more
Forget killer asteroids and nuclear annihilation — Earth’s ultimate fate may hinge on a cosmic coin toss. Astronomers have revealed that our Milky Way galaxy has a 50/50 chance of colliding with its massive neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, sometime in the next 10 billion years — an intergalactic smash-up that could fling our solar system … Read more
John Lennon is being honored in a specially minted British coin collection to mark the year the Beatles great and peace advocate would have turned 85, the Royal Mint said Friday. The coin, which will go on sale on Monday, features a portrait of Lennon that is based on a famous image taken by music industry … Read more
Kudos to the shrewd keeper of this collecting family’s purse strings. A rare collection of gold coins dating back over a century has been appraised at a staggering $2 million — which is about $1.9 million more than the family who owns the set anticipated. The lineup of 51 Liberty Head and Indian Head gold … Read more
A unique item that is worth thousands was recently found at the bottom of a toffee tin. Wotton Auction Rooms, an auction house based in Gloucestershire, England, recently came across an old coin when evaluating items brought in from a private vendor. Auctioneer Joseph Trinder said the coin is a continental dollar measuring 38 mm across and is made … Read more
The animal rights group PETA wants to replace Punxsutawney Phil, the beloved groundhog that is used to forecast weather during the annual Groundhog Day celebration in Pennsylvania, with a gold coin, the group said this week. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote an open letter on Monday to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club in Pennsylvania, … Read more
Heads or tails? Choose wisely — the chances aren’t as equal as you think they are. Scientists have discovered that there’s a natural bias that occurs when flipping a coin, according to a pre-print study published on arXiv. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam were hoping to get an answer to the question: “If you … Read more
An eight-year-old boy has unearthed an extremely rare silver coin while playing in a sandbox, dating to about 1,800 years before he was born. The young boy, who was identified only by his first name, Bjarne, was playing in a sandbox at his primary school in Germany when he made the incredible discovery. He rushed … Read more