The United States Mint just announced the design selections for the 2014 Presidential Dollars, which will feature the 29th to 32nd presidents of the United States: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Back in 2007, the presidential dollar program began with a directive from Congress to the U.S. Mint to release…

Gold prices are still near historic highs — and that’s why it’s a great time to sell your gold. But first you’ll have to figure out how much your gold is worth. West Seattle Coins and Bellevue Rare Coins help people with fair and accurate gold evaluations every day. Evaluating gold is a fairly simple…

People all over the world resolve arguments and make decisions using the time-honored tradition of flipping a coin, but did you ever wonder how the practice started? It turns out that there’s not a whole lot of information out there about the origins of the coin flip, but here’s what we know: Where it all…

There’s a lot going on in the world of rare coins, gemstones and precious metals. Here’s a roundup of some of the biggest news that we’ve been following the past few months: Brazilian gold ingot sells for nearly $200,000 As we mentioned in a previous post, the 2013 Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Sports Collectibles…

Over the last few hundred years, the United States Mint has produced many coins with striking, unforgettable designs. Collectors the world over treasure these coins and swap stories about the rarest of them, including the 1804 Draped Bust Silver Dollar, the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, and the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel (perhaps the only coin…

Gold has been admired and desired by humankind since the dawn of recorded history — from gilded Egyptian funeral masks and golden scepters of forgotten empires to pieces of eight treasured by pirates and bricks of bullion stacked in Fort Knox. Have you ever held a gold coin or gold jewelry in your hand and…

There’s been a lot of talk about inflation recently, and what investors can do to protect themselves should the United States enter an inflationary period. Throughout history, investing in gold and precious metals has provided a great hedge against inflation, because when inflation pushes the dollar lower, gold typically increases in price. While inflation does…

The word “bullion” may conjure up images of pirates pillaging treasure chests or the military patrolling the golden bunkers of Fort Knox — but bullion isn’t just for the criminal class and the government. In fact, buying bullion is a great way to diversify your portfolio and (often) realize a great rate of return. How…

If you want to see the treasures of the famed Ship of Gold, you’ll need to book your ticket for Southern California later this month. The 2013 Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Sports Collectibles Expo features a display of more than $10 million worth of gold that was recovered from the ship as well as…

Selling your gold, silver, jewelry or other valuables can be a nerve-racking process. How do you know what your valuables are really worth? How can you be sure that you’re not getting ripped off? And if you’re in the market to buy gold bullion, silver bullion or vintage jewelry, how can you know whether you’re…

Gold prices are climbing again, which is why it is a great time to sell the gold jewelry, collectable gold coins or gold bullion you’ve accumulated over the years. If you’ve decided to sell your gold and want to get the most for it, you need to understand how the gold evaluation process works. Get…

It’s the dream of every treasure hunter who’s ever scoured the local beach with a metal detector: the big score. And Odyssey Marine Exploration has pulled in its biggest haul yet — and reportedly the largest precious metal recovery in history — from the bottom of the North Atlantic. The Florida-based marine salvage company recovered…

Imagine this: you open up one of those old boxes sitting in your basement or attic and find a small leather bag. Inside the bag are some old coins, so you sit down and begin to sift through them. Most likely, you’ll have a handful of historical curiosities, which might be worth a few dollars….

The doors to the Bellevue store opened and in walked a family — mother, father and three children — absolutely covered in dirt. “Even their car was dusty,” says Adam Richey of West Seattle Coins and Bellevue Rare Coins. “They walked in with these filthy paint buckets in their hands, all of them giddy and…

It’s true that gold gets all the glory, but its precious metal cousin silver also deserves your love. Silver’s a fascinating metal with a long history of use in royal artifacts, religious rites and wealthy homes. And right now, the silver market is hot, with prices rising to some of their highest levels since the…