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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Friday Night Lights: A Non-American’s Guide to American Football

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Friday Night Lights is now back on Netflix and you have to watch it.

Just to be clear, that isn’t a request – it’s an order. The NBC football drama is simply one of the most affecting, thrilling American TV shows of all time. Though premiering in 2006, the show can mark its lineage all the way back to a true story from the late ‘80s. In 1990, sports journalist H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger published the non-fiction book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian Panthers high school football team in Odessa, Texas as they make a run for a Texas state championship.

The book was adapted into a Peter Berg film of the same name in 2004, starring Billy Bob Thornton. The story of the Permian Panthers was dramatically rich enough to conquer two mediums already, but when a third was announced in the form of a TV series for NBC it seemed like overkill. Did the world really need more high school football drama after a successful book and movie? It turns out that the world really did.

Friday Night Lights, the TV show, further fictionalized Bissinger’s story. Odessa, Texas becomes the fictional Dillon, Texas (though the Permian Panthers logo remains a big yellow “P”). Kyle Chandler steps into the role of a new coach, the magnanimous Eric Taylor. Shot in a cinema verite-style where blocking is optional, Friday Night Lights makes the viewer feel like they are just another Dillon citizen, desperately dreaming for a state championship. Above all else, this empathetic show never speaks down to its small town characters.

As previously stated, Friday Night Lights is a must-watch. But if you’re one of our many non-American readers (Hello, everyone! I see you out there, writing “s” in words that need “z”), the football angle may seem like a real roadblock. So let’s tear down that roadblock. American football is the most popular sport in the United States but also perhaps its most impenetrable. The rulebook is thick and its connection to American culture deep. What follows is an attempt to explain American football for non-American viewers who are hesitant to tackle the show. Hopefully this will also prove useful to existing Friday Night Lights fans who have some questions about the game.

To simplify matters, we’ve broken our football school down into three parts: The Different Levels of American Football, which explains the sport’s place in American culture and why high school football is a big deal; The Rules of American Football, which is as succinct a distillation of how the game is played as possible; and The Strategy of American Football, which examines whether Eric Taylor is even a good coach anyway.

The Different Levels of American Football

Football is a pervasive force in American society. The highest level of play in the country (and the world) is the National Football League in which 32 teams of well-paid professionals compete against one another. The NFL is the richest sports league in the world by revenue and its championship, the Super Bowl, is usually watched by roughly 100 million people per year. Football’s influence doesn’t begin and end with the NFL though. The NFL doesn’t have a minor league or development system, so those interested in watching younger athletes are able to do so by following the sport on the collegiate or high school level.

College football is a huge deal. Some major universities’ football stadiums can house upwards of 100,000 fans. Four-year universities and colleges across the country field their own football teams that compete against one another in 12-game seasons (before a postseason consisting of “Bowl Games” but that’s too complicated to get into right now). Football at the collegiate level contains hundreds of teams split up into different leagues based on size and different conferences based on geography (for the most part). There isn’t any promotion and relegation like in European football leagues but if an institution grows big enough they can secure an invite to a higher level.

Though the decision-makers of the sport like to pretend it’s an amateur exercise and the players are not paid, college football is really a multi-billion dollar business. In fact, college football’s governing body, the NCAA, was just spooked enough by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that it allowed its athletes to finally pursue “Name, Image, Likeness (NIL)” deals in which they are allowed to make money from personal sponsorships.

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Then we come to the high school level of football. Longtime viewers of American teenage dramas may have a pretty good idea of what a U.S. high school is now but here’s a primer for those who don’t. High school is the highest level of free public education in the U.S. before the more academically (and financially) strenuous college system. High school follows eighth grade (which together with seventh grade usually comprises of “middle school”) and consists of freshmen (ninth graders or 14-15-year-olds), sophomores (tenth graders or 15-16-year-olds), juniors (11th graders or 16-17-year-olds), and seniors (12 graders of 17-18-year-olds).

In some areas of the country, high school football is a bigger deal than college football or even the NFL. Though this level of the sport is played by essentially children, a high school football team may be the only competitive sports enterprise within hundreds of miles for some communities. This is particularly true in the massive U.S. state of Texas. Every region of the U.S. loves football, but passion for the sport is particularly acute in the Southeast, Midwest, and Texas. West Texas, where Friday Night Lights is set, is really high school football mad. The region is distinctly rural and far removed from the state’s three big cities – Houston, Austin, and Dallas. As such, high school football is the singular cultural force that many oil-drilling West Texas communities rally around.

High school football leagues across the country differ considerably, but like in college football, schools are generally grouped together by size and funding. Public and private high schools are able to compete in the same sports conferences as long as they have similar enrollments and budgets. Typically a high school football season consists of only 10 games (football is a physically brutal sport and as such plays far fewer games per year than other sports like baseball, basketball, or soccer). The regular season is usually followed by a bracket-style playoffs culminating in a state championship. There is no country-wide tournament, which is why “winning state” is the ultimate goal in Friday Night Lights.

The Rules of American Football

I won’t lie to you: this is going to be difficult. Explaining any sport from scratch is a tall task, let alone a sport as complicated as football. Let me attempt to do so from the ground up and please be patient. There will be some visual aids as well.

First, it’s probably helpful to know about the field that football is played on. There’s a reason why in some European markets that the sport is known as “Gridiron Football” and that’s because the field resembles a cooking utensil known as a gridiron.

Every American football field consists of 100 yards (split into two sides of 1-50 yards). At the end of each side of the field is an “endzone.” A player entering into the endzone with the football is called a “touchdown” and nets a team six points. At the back of each endzone are the goalposts – yellow tuning fork-like structures that the ball is occasionally kicked through for more points. These are akin to rugby’s goalposts but slightly differently shaped. Let’s table the whole kicking thing for now and focus strictly on the action on the field.

The goal of football is to enter into the endzone with the ball to score points and have more points at the end of the game than the other team. A football game is 60 minutes, split into four 15-minute quarters (with a lengthy halftime break after the second quarter). Eleven players take the field for each team, one side on “offense” and one side on “defense.” A coin is flipped at the beginning of each game to decide who gets to start as offense and who gets to start as defense. The team who began the game on defense will get to be the offense at the start of the second half.

The offense is charged with advancing the ball 100 yards down the field into the end zone, while the defense is tasked with stopping them by tackling the person with the football to the ground. The offense is granted four tries or “plays” to try to score. The action isn’t continuous in American football like it is in European football. After a team runs a play to attempt to advance the ball, they get a 40-second break to plot their next play. A play simply refers to the action on the field that the offense takes to get down the field. It begins with the “center” “snapping” the ball to the “quarterback” behind him and ends when the offense either scores (rare) or is foiled in some way – whether that means being tackled in bounds, stepping out of bounds, or throwing the ball out of bounds. Here is a chart of the typical football positions.

The offense’s two most reliable ways of advancing the ball downfield are either throwing it or running it. On a running play, the quarterback (Jason Street or Matt Saracen in Friday Night Lights) will receive the snap and hand it off to a running back (Smash Williams or Tim Riggins) who tries to run the ball upfield while his teammates block for him. Alternatively, the quarterback can throw the ball to an open wide receiver as long as the throw originates from behind the line of scrimmage (the area on the field where the play originated).

Four tries to reach the end zone are rarely enough opportunities for the offense. Thankfully, that’s where “first downs” come in. If the offense advances 10 yards, their “downs” or attempts to score reset back to the full four. That’s where terms like “1st and 10” or “2nd and 7” or “4th and 1” come from. The first number refers to which “down” or attempt the offense is on (1, 2, 3, or 4) while the second number refers to how many yards they need to reach to achieve another first down. Due to penalties or a player being tackled well behind the line of scrimmage (called a “sack” or a “tackle for loss”), the number of yards needed to reach a first down can exceed 10. One time in 2012, the Washington Football Team even had a “3rd and 50”, meaning they needed to move 50 yards for a first down.

If the offense fails to score or get a first down while on fourth down, possession of the ball is granted to the other team on the same spot that the offense failed. This is called a “turnover on downs.” The team that was previously on offense will bring their defensive unit into the game while the other team will bring their offensive unit. At the collegiate and professional level, players usually only play on one “side” of the ball – offense or defense. In high school, where the level of talent is more inconsistent, it’s not uncommon for several players to be on both the offensive and defensive units. This doesn’t come up much on Friday Night Lights though – for the most part the offensive players stay on offense and the defensive players stay on defense.

It is possible for the defense to force a turnover in other ways beyond just a turnover on downs. If the offense drops or “fumbles”’ the ball and the defense recovers it, it belongs to them. If the defense catches a ball thrown by the offense it is an “interception” and the offense suddenly becomes the defense and the defense suddenly becomes the offense. This situation factors prominently in Friday Night Light’s first episode.

Turnovers are awful, so the offense has a couple of tools to combat them. At any point during their drive down the field, the offense can choose to “punt” the ball. This means that if they’ve reached 4th down and are unlikely to convert a first down (if it is 4th and 10 from their own 30 yardline for instance), they can choose to have a kicking specialist called a “punter” enter the field. The punter receives the snap, tosses the ball up in the air, and punts the ball far down the field to the other team to catch and try to advance. This is a surrender from the offense but at least they’re making things a bit more difficult for the other offense by pushing the new offense further down the field. Punts rarely factor into Friday Night Lights as they aren’t particularly interesting.

Alternatively, if the offense is close to the end zone but not close enough that they’re confident they can reach it, they can attempt to kick the ball through the aforementioned goalposts for three points. A “kicker” is brought onto the field and attempts to kick the ball through the goalposts from the ground. A “holder” is allowed to hold the ball upright for the kicker but the ball must be touching the ground for the attempt to count.

Let’s delve a little further into the scoring system. We’ve mentioned that kicking the ball through the uprights is a field goal and nets three points while carrying the ball into the endzone is a touchdown and nets six points. But there are a couple other ways to score in football as well. After a touchdown is achieved, the offense is immediately granted the opportunity to score again. They must choose whether they want to kick the ball through the uprights from extremely close range (which nets one extra point) or to try to reach the end zone again from extremely close range (which nets two extra points). Additionally, if the offense is tackled in their own end zone, it nets two points for the opposing team and they receive the ball back via punt. This is called a “safety.”

To recap:

Safety: 2 points

Field Goal: 3 points

Touchdown: 6 points (+1 for a field goal attempt, +2 for a scoring attempt).

This means that football scores can generate pretty much any result other than 1-0 or 1-1. Typically a “normal” scoring game will be somewhere between the 20-40 range in divisions of 7 or 3. A score of 35-28 is a pretty usual final football score.

Still confused? That’s understandable. Football is a fairly confusing sport at times. But hopefully you are a little better equipped to understand the action on the field in Friday Night Lights. The show certainly isn’t trying to present a complicated depiction of football. Armed with the basics, you should have a rough idea of what’s happening during all the football action.

If you feel like you’ve mastered the basics, feel free to move on to the final section of this piece.

The Strategy of American Football

The only constant in football is change. The rules of the sport are tweaked every single year and sometimes the sport undergoes truly massive alterations. In fact, the forward pass itself (now a staple of the game) wasn’t even legal for the first few decades of football’s existence. As such, the offensive and defensive strategies of football are in a constant state of flux.

What’s interesting to note about Friday Night Lights is how old-fashioned its depiction of football appears to be at the series’ beginning. Keep in mind that this story began with the 1988 Permian Panthers. So despite premiering and taking place in 2006, the Dillon Panthers offense looks quite antiquated at first.

The Dillon Panthers open the series as a run-first offense in a “Wing-T” formation. Running back Brian “Smash” Williams is the cornerstone of the Panthers’ strategy because back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, athletically superior running backs were usually the most dominant force in any high school offense. The Panthers plan of attack is to have a fast tailback (colloquially called a “running back” because they begin the play in the backfield and then…run) and a strong fullback in the backfield alongside the quarterback. The Panthers’ plan is to snap the ball, give it to the fast guy, have him follow the big blockers, then rinse and repeat.

Interestingly enough, the show uses the primitiveness of the Panthers’ offense to its advantage in later seasons. When some parents and Panthers boosters (literally just rich people that support a high school or college team) want to oust Coach Eric Taylor, they point to his inability to change with the times and create a sophisticated passing attack as one reason. Coach Taylor does eventually attempt to implement a “spread” offense.

Spread offenses were all the rage at the high school and collegiate level in the early aughts. The “spread” strategy refers to “spreading” three to five wide receivers on the line of scrimmage to force the defense to cover them man-to-man. Defenses are always strategizing just like offenses, and by forcing the defense to spread out and guard many receivers, it takes away a lot of their more sophisticated coverage options (like double-teaming or divvying up the field into “zones” of coverage).

In later seasons, when Coach Taylor gains access to a fast, dynamic quarterback, he incorporates a bit of the “option” into his spread offense. This is where the QB uses the spacing from the spread to scan the field, analyze certain players’ positioning on the defense, and decide to pass the ball, hand off the ball, or run the ball himself.

Based on all this, it sounds like Eric Taylor is a pretty brilliant coach, right? Well, not exactly. The internet is littered with breakdowns of Taylor’s strategy from smart football minds. Most of said articles criticize him on two big fronts. The first is his tardiness in adapting to a pass-heavy offense. The second is his absolutely abominable clock management. Since the clock counts down in American football and there is no stoppage time, managing time is a huge part of a coach’s responsibility.

Since the show naturally wants to inject some drama into its football scenes, the Dillon Panthers as coached by Eric Taylor often have next to 0 clock awareness. This breakdown even notes than in the pilot episode, the Panthers somehow only move the ball 30 yards in five minutes of gametime. That is…pretty curious.

Also, while it’s not uncommon for a head coach to specialize in either the defensive or offensive side of the ball, Eric Taylor’s is particularly offensive-focused. Defensive plays aren’t as exciting to depict on television, so Coach Taylor is rarely shown coaching up the defensive half of his team. That’s a pretty big blindspot when it comes to head coaching.

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Now that you’ve read through this full breakdown of American football, give Friday Night Lights a watch or a rewatch. Who knows – you may even be a sharper football mind than Coach Taylor at this point.

The post Friday Night Lights: A Non-American’s Guide to American Football appeared first on Den of Geek.

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davebuckleslefthand · 3 years

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Martial LAW ??? LOGISTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE..

there are not enough troops in these USA to go and attempt to implement Martial law over OUR United States.

June 30, 2013 at 4:06am and still the rumble under the table makes one think: “What if?”

EVEN IF THE RUSSIANS AND THE CHINESE AND THE ENTIRE UN MILITARY FORCE SHOWED UP...

So many of you have been fed disinformation that the Obama Cabal are waiting for us to act so they can declare Martial Law. This becomes the reason you use to permit yourself to be in bondage now. Its like a slave who thinks

“I cannot rise against the master because he is just waiting for a chance to whup my ass."

Anyone who feels that Revolting and exercising our rights to resist Tyranny, will give the Government the reason to impose "Martial Law" read this; carefully.

I am telling you unequivocally...

"That line of thinking is exactly what they want you to think!"

It's a RED HERRING"

NATIONAL MARTIAL LAW?

LOGISTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE IN A COUNTRY OUR SIZE....

"NATIONAL MARTIAL LAW"? IMPOSSIBLE TO IMPLEMENT!

Do not use that as the excuse to exercise your rights!

IF WE TAKE UP ARMS AND FIGHT AGAINST TYRANNY...

OBAMA WILL IMPOSE "MARTIAL LAW".

The "cowardly nay sayers" say. "Do not do that"; "Let them fire the first shot".

Good grief how many times have I heard these pathetic lines. Too many times.

Patriots.

Lets rationally analyze this OK ?

What is Martial Law ? It is the exercise of Government and Control by Military authorities over the civilian population of a designated territory.

"Designated Territory" get it. There is no army in the world that can impose Martial Law over all of AMERICA. The country is too big. It is logistically impossible. Some cities?

Yes...

a large area? Maybe.

They will delay Martial Law if it ever comes until they have confiscated your guns. Do you know why they want gun registration and then gun confiscation?

So that they can control large areas. Right now it is IMPOSSIBLE.

Why ?

1. 100% of the Military will not go along with Obama's illegal declaration. There will be a mutiny in the military. So about 70% will take their arms and munition and join the American Citizens... creating huge holes in the logistical supply chains for the remaining enforcers. 2. The PEOPLE will be against them so there will be limited safe havens for the enforcers and they will have to move in large convoys reducing their tactical ability to control large sections or land. 3. The most important point is that there will be return fire.

Patriots have guns. LOTS OF THEM.

Here are some consoling and awesome statistics. There were 13.7 million hunters in the United States over age 16 -- 12.7 million of whom used rifles, shotguns or handguns for hunting, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That means hunters constituted only 15.9 to 18.1 percent of the estimated 70-80 million gun owners in the U.S. in 2011 --- the latest year for which statistics are available.

In a Dec. 28 national report, USF&W said 13.7 million individuals over age 16 self-identified as hunters, and that 12.7 million used guns (shotguns, rifles and or handguns) while hunting.

Another 2.9 million hunters used antique muzzleloaders to hunt, but according to USF&W, there is overlap between this figure and other figures due to them reporting.

Around 4.5 million hunted with bows and arrows.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), meanwhile, estimates there are between 70 - 80 million American s gun owners as of the January 2011 stats; these are over a decade old.

Those 70-80 million gun owners had in their possession almost 300 million firearms, about 100 million of which were handguns.

America's Hunters: The Entire World's Largest Army.

The state of Wisconsin has over 600,000 hunters that got permits this (2o11)

Allow me to restate that number: 600,000

Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world - more men under arms than Iran; more than France and Germany combined - deployed to the woods of a single American state to keep the deer population under control.

But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania this week. Michigan's 700,000 hunters have now returned home. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it is literally the case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

And that is just FOUR states.

The total population of registered hunters in America today ranges from 23 million to 43.7 million individuals. (Based on annual data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.) As long as the American Hunter retains his right to Bear Arms, America will forever be safe from imposition of Martial Law and a Military tale over if we all stick together.

AN OBAMA FORCE STANDS LITTLE CHANCE TO BE ABLE TO IMPOSE MARTIAL LAW GIVEN THESE STATISTICS.

So cut the crap that Obama wants us to do something so he can impose Martial Law. We must not be afraid to act when the time comes.

Some additional stuff to consider:

Strategically... be prepared for the Government to shut down the internet and possible all cell service. In retaliation Patriots will knock out all Cell towers and TV Towers so the State Run Media will not be able to transmit their propaganda.The News paper printing presses will be destroyed and so in the end ham and shortwave radios that will be used by Patriots. I hope most of you guys have ham radios. The Government will have their emergency broadcast system so they will be able to communicate very effectively. Patriots will require undercover "runners"!

The Government does not have the man power to put more than 5 -6 Major Metro areas under Martial Law... and since 55% of the Law Enforcement Officers are Oath Keepers, Count on them coming over to our side.

Strategic highways into the cities are needed to truck food into most concrete jungles in the inner cities since food can only be trucked in. The Government will spend a lot of resources trying to make sure the population who is still supporting them are provisioned. When their provisions run low... they will riot against the government too demanding more resources and this will spread their resources even thinner.

UN and foreign troops may move in but they have less skills in the US countryside and while they may be effective in the cities they will not be sent out into the suburbs.

The African American troops will only venture out into the countryside on suicide missions since even if they are not loyal to Obama they will be perceived to be due to to the extensive race baiting by the cabal and as such are pretty much useless except in the urban areas. They will be kept out of the standard confrontation theater.

So who will be fighting then ?? A limited Military force with a lot of very high tech weaponry... but we are not in uniform so Patriots will be very difficult to distinguish from the population. They will be in uniform because they have to stay together and ID each other.

Coins and "barterable" items need to be stocked because paper money will become a semi useless in most areas. Understand that there will be retaliation so families need to be kept in safe haven areas. They will consider cutting of power and water supplies to Patriot Enclaves but they will have difficulty controlling the RED STATES.

The Blue State Metros areas will riot on their own because they will be in short supply of all basic requirements since all their stuff needs to be trucked in.

Its going to get hot but we will win once we get started. Martial Law or not!

The Command and Controls for Patriot zones are already in place and all that will need to happen is the "Link up"

Additional Info from @John A Brown:

The country has 4 million square miles of land, 4 million miles of paved roads, 150,000 miles of railroads, thousands of miles of navigable rivers.

What is their significance? Every bite of food, every drop of fuel . . . not to mention every single electronic communication of every kind . . . has to pass along these routes and EVERYTHING in that inventory of needs and services either originates in, or must pass through our States... the so called "Flyover Country", i.e. red states and red counties.

WE WILL STOP THEM IN THEIR TRACKS!!

Stay alert Patriots. SHARE AND KNOW THAT WE ARE ALL NOT ALONE...

THERE ARE OVER 100 MILLION LIKE US...

BEHIND EVERY BLADE OF GRASS!

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goldeagleprice · 4 years

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Community Voice Response: July 24 Numismatic News eNewsletter

from the July 24, Numismatic News E-NewsLetter

What is your opinion on the U.S. Mint issuing colorized coins? Will you be a buyer?

Here are some answers sent from our e-newsletter readers.

Colorized coins? Sure, but what’s the premium going to cost us? I have the 50 state quarters colorized and they look pretty neat. Do I find them in circulation? Never. And that’s what will happen if they don’t make them for general circulation. But they are in the market to “make” money, are they not?

Name and Address Withheld

I like my coins without color, plus I think it is poorly designed with the net and outstretched arms. Way too busy. So the answer to the question is no.

Marshall Bilderback Seattle, Wa.

No, I won’t be a buyer of the U.S. Mint Basketball coins, colorized or not. I am still upset with the mint over the 2019 – S Enhanced Uncirculated Silver Eagle debacle. Many of these coins went to flippers and dealers. The true collectors/numismatists who have been buying mint products for 30+ years were treated unfairly by the U.S. Mint.

I was a buyer of all the baseball coins back in 2014 including the gold pieces but the mint can keep their colorized basketball coins. I’m not interested. I hope they rot in their vaults.

William M. Schuck Address Withheld

No. The mint has enough to do without adding useless coins. I do not buy anything that’s colored.

Name and Address Withheld

No, I will not be buying any of the Basketball series coins. They are overpriced, to begin with, and the subject does not interest me at all.

Tom Gugliotta Albuquerque, N.M.

As long as not all coins have varying color schemes over multiple years. I think to better distinguish various denominations, especially those that are very similar sizes, consistent color designs, emphasis on consistency!

Pete (last name and address withheld)

I think the colorized coins are awesome, they are a little overpriced but I will still buy a few. I’m a collector, but I also buy what I like!

Ronald Robinson Waukegan, Ill.

Having been an avid collector for close to 60 years with my earlier years spent rummaging through rolls of coins to fill my “blue” books, I guess I’m more of a purist when it comes to coin collecting. Based on that, no I would not purchase colorized (painted) coins.

Andy Athan Address Withheld

Colorized coins and commemoratives are not intended for circulation and should be considered medals, not coins. No one would consider spending a colorized half dollar at face. In the midst of a coin shortage, the U.S. Mint comes out with another over-priced bullion object. Will I buy one? I haven’t yet and probably never will.

Jim Riley Dubois, Ind.

The idea of colorizing coins might work to get junior coin collectors more involved. However, myself a coin collector of nearly 60 years, would not be in the market of comic coinage. That is for tv sales only.

Dave Martin Big Bear Lake, Calif.

I do not like colorized coins. I see so many things coming out of Europe and elsewhere. I don’t like any of them. The bigger question might be do YN’s like them? If YN’s approve and might buy colored coins, maybe it would be a good thing.

Tim (Last name and Address Withheld)

I love collecting coins, especially type sets, from throughout the world. I learn so much about the various countries, cultures, and geographies of the world. I refuse to buy or collect colorized “collector” coins issued by tiny islands or mini-countries because they are not indicative of the heritage of these areas as much as they are investment items. They often reveal aspects of the culture but are actually ersatz items, much like the colorful postage stamps or icons issued by these areas.

Recently, many larger countries have been issuing colorized “collector” coins, so the U.S. will have to follow suit, just as they have with their expensive gold and silver “commemorative” coins. I won’t be participating. I’m not a numismatist for the investment but for the pleasure and education it brings me.

Steve Fry Culver City, Calif.

The post Community Voice Response: July 24 Numismatic News eNewsletter appeared first on Numismatic News.

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goldeagleprice · 5 years

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U.S. Bullion: All the Elements in the Equation?

By Mark Benvenuto

The United States Mint has been playing on the world stage for decades now, when it comes to gold and silver bullion coins that is. We were not the first nation to unveil any sort of bullion coin, made specifically as a means for individuals to own a precious metal.

Collectors and investors generally agree that such a title belongs to the South African gold Krugerrand. But in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, when several other nations’ mints started producing not only gold but silver bullion coins, well, that’s when the U.S. also decided to dive in the water. All those bullion coins have certainly changed the face of the world market when it comes to trading precious metals. But our Mint has gone farther than this. So, it just might be a good time to examine all of what the Mint is offering, and see just what sort of metals are available to the savvy collector.

The silver Eagles

Shown is the American Eagle 2018 One ounce Silver Proof Coin with the Classic Lady Liberty design. . (Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.)

Starting with the United States one-ounce silver Eagles is probably a good place to begin any examination of bullion coins, both because there is an entire series to collect, and because it can be done without a big expenditure. These beauties have been issued since 1986. They can be purchased as what are called regular issues or bullion issues on the one hand, and as proofs on the other. A single regular issue can cost as little as $20 per coin.

Folks who have been collecting the silver Eagles for years will quickly point out that there are now burnished proofs, starting in 2006, and reverse proofs for some years – and will also point out the screaming rarity within the series, the 1995-W. These are all now part of this growing series, yet a collector does not have to land one of each to build something beautiful. A date run of the regular issues can be very handsome.

Bigger than one-ounce silver bullion

Starting in 2010 the Mint went big, and started producing five-ounce silver bullion coins, with designs that are the same as the “America the Beautiful” quarter designs. They made quite a stir when they first came out, but have become something of a mainstay among collectors over the past decade. While we can tell ourselves that these are made to be just a bigger version of a silver bullion coin, most of us are also aware that these really aren’t made simply to be tradable pieces of bullion. They are basically collectibles – even the third party grading services acknowledged it when they started making big slabs for these big coins.

The gold Eagles

Shown is an American Eagle 2018 One ounce Gold Proof Coin. (Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.)

Back in 1986, the Mint produced not only silver Eagles, but also four different weights and denominations of gold Eagles. The big, one-ounce Eagles are beautiful, but have always been perceived by some collectors as too expensive for someone trying to build a full collection. In such cases, people often gravitate towards the smallest sibling in this quartet, the one-tenth-ounce piece. That has often left the quarter ounce pieces and the half-ounce pieces as the two that are coined in the smallest amounts – thus the pieces to which a savvy collector might gravitate.

Like the silver Eagles, the gold ones have been made as proofs as well as bullion strikes since their inception. There are now burnished uncirculated pieces and reverse proofs for the gold Eagles, all of which look truly amazing and all of which are marketed to us, the collector crowd. When it comes to assembling a collection, each of us will have to decide which size we’ll go for, and whether or not the proofs and such are worth the extra expense beyond the cost of the precious metal. After all, it’s hardly as if the regular issue coins are in any way ugly.

Twenty-four karat gold Buffaloes, and more

Shown is the American Buffalo 2019 Once ounce Gold Proof Coin. (Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.)

More recently, our Mint has taken gold bullion coins to new heights – or perhaps we should say, to an array of different directions. In 2008 the Mint went all in on an entirely new set of gold coins, from tenth-ounce up to one-ounce, but this time in 24-karat gold. Entitled the American Buffaloes because of the use of Mr. Fraser’s design for the Buffalo nickel, the concept might have been good, but the program quickly contracted to just the full one-ounce coins being offered each year. But that’s hardly a reason to avoid the series, as the big, one-ounce pieces are truly gorgeous.

As if all that was not enough gold for those of us who simply gravitate to it, there was also a quiet series that came out in the shadow of a much more noticeable one, the First Spouse series. These half-ounce gold coins were produced along with the Presidential Dollar series, and span from 2007 all the way to 2016, or we could say ‘from Martha Washington to Nancy Reagan.’ The series is interesting not only for the women portrayed, but also for the few coins with classic designs on them issued for presidents who were bachelors when they were in the Oval Office.

For people who might be called the gold “completists” among us, we also have the 2009 Ultra-High Relief St. Gaudens $20 pieces, as well as the Centennial gold coins of 2016, and now the high relief American Liberty coins. The smallest in this crowd is another one-tenth-ounce piece; so they are not all grossly expensive. And since all of them are quite modern, it is actually possible to get our hands on certified pieces in grades such as PF-70, a technically perfect coin.

Platinum bullion

Shown is the “Preamble to the Declaration of Independence” 2018 Platinum Proof Coin. (Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.)

Gold and silver may be the old familiars when it comes to precious metals and tradable bullion coins, but more recently several nations have decided to produce at least one high end coin in platinum, either as a commemorative or as a bullion piece. Among this illustrious grouping we have the U.S. platinum Eagles. A bit like the gold Eagles, the platinum pieces came out in four denominations and weights, although this time starting in 1997. By the year 2008 it was apparent that the smaller versions were not being sought after all that much, and from 2009 onward the only platinum Eagles produced have been the one-ounce size. These big guns are always going to be pretty expensive, especially those made as proofs. But since the market remains rather thin for the half-ounce, quarter-ounce, and tenth-ounce pieces – which have only a twelve-year run – the possibility exists of putting together these series as date runs. The tenth ounce pieces in particular are not too costly.

Palladium bullion

The most recent expansion of the overall bullion coin program in the U.S. is to palladium bullion coins, in 2017. Once again, we were not the first in the fray on this, as the Royal Canadian Mint had beaten us by over a decade. But these newest bullion coins are beautiful – reprising Adolph A. Weinman’s classic Mercury dime obverse, and there are only a couple we’ll have to get our hands on to have the entire run of them.

At this point, we can be forgiven for having to find a periodic table of the elements online or in some book to get some basic information about palladium. When nations are not making bullion coins from it, the metal tends to be used in catalytic converters, or for fuel cells, and is one of the platinum group metals, or PGM.

As to whether or not there is enough of it for a long-term bullion coinage program, well, our Canadian brethren stopped production after only a few years, and have not really gotten into the swing of an annual production for quite some time. But predicting the future is a tricky business. Perhaps palladium will take off. Then, those of us with one or two of the earliest palladium bullion coins might just have a wonderfully valuable piece or two on our hands.

Rhodium, really

There are certainly more metals in existence from which folks have made coins, but when it comes to precious metals, about the only other one anyone has yet used is rhodium. Once again we can be forgiven for having to search out what this metal is, what it is used for, and who decided to make coins out of it. It’s another of the rather rare metal elements, and it also gets used as a catalyst quite a bit. The United States Mint hasn’t plunged into these waters yet, but the nation that has done so is indeed surrounded by water – Tuvalu.

This tiny, Pacific island nation recently marketed their one-ounce rhodium dragon coin to the world, which really means to the collector market. The jury is still out as to whether or not this will become a desired collectible, or something of a one-hit-wonder (the same situation, really, as our palladium Eagles). But for those of us collecting not only beautiful coins, but exotic, precious metals as well, this might be an interesting step to take to expand a collection, even though we have to move away from the artistry of our own Mint. As to the price? Well, that’s probably more a matter of finding one, as opposed to some commodity price for catalyst metals.

Beyond this?

If expanding a collection to palladium and rhodium coins was a bit of a stretch for us, think of what else might still be in store. There are a few more exotic elements on that periodic table that could still be used for some form of coinage, although it is anybody’s guess as to whether or not they will be collectible, or just commodities to trade on world markets. Tungsten comes to mind as one possibility. Ruthenium might be another, both based on availability and current prices. But even if your collecting interests and budget stopped right where we started, at the silver Eagles, it’s safe to say there is an amazing wealth of possibilities when it comes to United States bullion coins.

This article was originally printed in Coins Magazine. >> Subscribe today.

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goldeagleprice · 6 years

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Coin Finds: If you want it, you can find it

Based on the long-running “Coin Finds” column in Coins Magazine, which will continue to appear in print, this online version will give additional exposure to the thrill of the hunt.

Submit your own discoveries via email to David C. Harper at [email protected].

I’ve been a collector, off and on, for probably 30 years now, starting at a pretty young age. My grandpa originally got me interested in coins, and over the years I’ve gone down different paths as far as what I collected. I’ve always made sure to check my change, though. In recent years, it has seemed much more difficult to find anything, especially the older silver coins, but yesterday while grabbing lunch in downtown Cedar Rapids, I discovered a 1948-S dime in my change! So I guess there are still finds to be had!

Mark S via email.

I’m a long-time collector for 50-plus years, and I still buy rolls and pick up change in parking lots to keep looking for gems. I bought two rolls of cents last hunt and found one wheat cent, 1957-D, and a 1998 Wide AM variety cent in AU condition. Then I went to Walmart and found two coins in the Coinstar reject slot, a 2001 Canadian quarter and a 2009 South Korean coin about the same size. All in one week. I’ll keep looking. They are still out there. Even free ones!

Gene K. Southern Minnesota

Here is an unusual one:

An elderly friend of mine told me he had “some old coins” from the U.S. Mint and asked if I would look at them and maybe sell them for him. I said sure, and the next day he handed me two small, heavy cardboard packages, both from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one from 1961 and the other from 1962. He had been sitting on them for 57 and 56 years without opening them! I opened the 1961 package carefully, and stuffed inside were 25 Proof sets of the usual penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half. All 25 were in sealed brown envelopes. Ditto for the 1962 carton, 25 more.

Initial selling price back in the day was $2.10, so he paid $52.50 twice to get two boxes that have been untouched for over half a century.

I checked with four Indiana dealers, and the best price I was offered is $14.50 per set, for all 50 sets. I’m a bit disappointed, as my two-year-old Blue Book says $18, but then again, $725 is not a bad return for two boxes that sat in a drawer for 57 and 56 years! Deal struck, and now my friend has a check for $725.

Steve B. Fishers, Ind.

I’ve only been a serious coin collector for maybe one or two years now. I collect for the historic value, and investment, and just the fun of finding coins of interest or value. So to make a long story short, I called my bank looking for Kennedy halves and Eisenhower dollars. The manager at my bank told me to go to another branch, as they had a couple of Eisenhowers. Went over and, to my amazement, they handed me two rolls of uncirculated Eisenhower dollars! What a find! All were Bicentennial dollars, too! Just goes to show you, if you want it, you can find it.

Jim B. Tonawanda, N.Y.

P.S. My daughter shares the same interest in coin collecting as I do, probably because I give her doubles of what I have collected, but she has a very nice collection herself.

I very much enjoy your magazine, especially the “Coin Finds” section. I haven’t had as much luck or success in finding hard-to-find items as some of the other readers have, but I’m still searching.

My youngest son, who has no real interest in the hobby, has brought me coins on occasions. On one such occasion, he called me from his job and asked if coins are counterfeited. I told him if there is some value to the coin, some people will try.

He proceeded to describe a quarter he had come across at work. I asked a few questions and told him to swap it out and bring it to me if he could. A few hours later, he showed it to me.

It turned out to be a 2005 Minnesota state silver proof quarter. This was a big surprise. It had been circulated for some time, by the scratches and blemishes on it, but still had some mint proof luster to it.

On another occasion, a couple of weeks later, my son brought home six Teddy Roosevelt presidential dollar coins he received at work. They were bright, new, shiny coins that looked as though they just came out of the package. I don’t know how or why these coins were in circulation, but it’s pleasing that I was able to acquire them.

Good luck and happy hunting to all.

Joe S. via email

I’ve enjoyed “Coin Finds” in this magazine for a while. I want to write about one of the most unusual finds I’ve ever made.

One morning in August of 2017, I decided to go to the store for some items. As I walked to the Coinstar machine, I could see some coins in the reject tray. I got everything out, which included (as I somewhat remember) two dimes, three pennies, and four foreign coins.

It’s normal to find foreign coins at the Coinstar machine, as it is calibrated to reject such coins. What was unusual, however, were the dates of these examples. They include (from most recent to earliest): 1979 Australian 10 cents (the size of a U.S. quarter), 1958 Mexican 5 Contavos (I like the brown color of it), 1950 German 1 Pfennig (the smallest of the group), and 1923 Canadian 5 cents (with King George V on the obverse).

This was definitely among my oddest coin finds, but still very exciting.

James via email

I first wrote to Coins Magazine back in December of 2016 regarding Wheat back pennies and was pleasantly surprised that my letter, and finds were printed in the August 2017 edition. Since that letter, I have a new find to share with you. I call it “The Mother of All Finds…….EVER.” Well, at least it was to me. Here’s the back story:

My eldest son is not at all a coin collector, but rather the grandson and son of coin collectors. He has listened to me for countless hours ramble on about every aspect of coins and collecting coins for as long as I can remember, much of the time with two minutes of enthusiasm (then his eyes become glossed over from information overload). Hey, I understand that. I was the same way with my Dad years ago. However, something happened to him recently that made him change his outlook on his Grandfather’s and father’s passion. You can say HE STRUCK GOLD.

My son works for a house flipper and recently came across a small metal bank tucked away in the back of an old dresser in a house they were prepping for rehab. He took it to his boss and asked what he wanted to do with it. The boss said keep it and get back to work. So, he did just that. At the end of his work day, he decided to smash open his rehab find as clearly there were coins inside. How many, what kind, and what condition remained to be seen.

He called me two weeks after his discovery to tell me the story and what he found inside. As he began to describe each coin, it soon became clear to me that, condition notwithstanding, his find was not your average, everyday piggy bank variety. In fact, it was exemplary. Here is what was inside:

• Three each Walking Liberty Half Dollars dated: 1935, 1944 and 1947 • Nine each Mercury Head Dimes dated: 1920, 1926, 1936 (two), 1939 (two), 1940, 1942 and 1945 •Four Buffalo Head Nickels dated: 1934, 1937, and two unreadable dates • Two Mexican Cinco Centavos dated: 1968 and 1969 • Nine Washington Quarters dated: 1936, 1942 (two), 1943 (two), 1944, 1949, 1954 and 1957 • Three Roosevelt Dimes dated: 1946, 1954, and 1957 • One Standing Liberty Quarter dated: unknown – worn off • Six Jefferson Nickels dated: 1940, 1944 (two), 1947, 1948 and 1949 • One Canadian Penny dated: 1981 • Twenty Lincoln Head Pennies dated: 1959, 1962, 1964 (two), 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 (four), 1969 (two), 1970 (two), 1971, 1980, 1983, 1984 and 1990 • Thirty-six Wheat Back Pennies dated: 1910, 1920, 1928, 1930, 1935, 1937, 1939 (three), 1940, 1941, 1942 (three), 1943, 1944 (four), 1945 (three), 1946 (two), 1947 (three), 1949, 1950 (two), 1951, 1952, 1953 (two), 1955 and 1957

And last but not least, the gem of the bunch: one Gold Liberty Head $5 piece dated: 1882

Few of these coins, all which were gifted to me by my son, have any higher grade than an EF, and most not even that. But the 1882 Gold Liberty Head has the highest grade of them all, with an estimate of AU-56-MS-61, in my humble opinion.

So is there a moral to this story? I’d say so. Involve your kids or grandkids at an early age by planting the seeds of knowledge and appreciation for the things you love most. Their eyes may soon gloss over, but I assure you, your passion means more to them than even THEY realize.

Happy hunting, everyone!

M.D. Elgin, Illinois

Editor’s Note: Upon reading a recent blog post by my colleague and Numismatic News and World Coin News Editor Dave Harper, I thought it was a perfect fit for this space and a story many of you would enjoy.

I am eating too many lunches at McDonald’s these days.

I have become addicted to speed eating since we moved our office from Iola, Wis., to Stevens Point.

The franchise is handy. It is fast.

I get back to the office so I can work during the remaining portion of lunch hour.

How long I can keep this up is a good question, but it has been going long enough that I can now claim a circulation find in change.

Recently, I ordered three cheeseburgers off the Dollar Menu.

The bill came to $3.17.

I tendered a $20 bill.

The change came back in the form of three $5s and a $1 bill.

The 83 cents was made up of two quarters, three dimes and three cents.

I knew I had something as soon as I looked in my palm.

There was the unmistakable look of silver to one of the dimes.

My rational brain immediately kicked in.

“It can’t be. You haven’t gotten a silver dime in years.”

But it was silver. The unmistakable white color was obscured a bit by some light dirt or dried grease.

The dime will win no prizes for beauty or top grade, but the date is 1963.

Flipping it over, the mintmark to the left of the base of the torch was “D” for Denver.

Beyond the satisfaction of getting a silver coin was a sense of nostalgia for having to flip the coin over to see a mintmark on the reverse.

It is kind of fun to be successful in circulation finds mode.

I will report on the rest of the coins.

The other two dimes were 2006-P and 2008-P.

The three cents are a 1977-D, 1983-D and a 2013-D, reflecting the dominance of Denver coins here.

Two quarters are a very worn 1973-D and a 2014-P Arches America the Beautiful quarter.

Now I can hold my head up among the readers of Numismatic News who continue to scan their change and search bank rolls.

This article was originally printed in Coins Magazine. >> Subscribe today.

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