The Happy Coin Blog

We recently purchased Proof Trade Dollars from 1879 and 1882, graded by NGC and PCGS respectively. There has already been a lot of interest with these coins and we would like to take a moment to shed some light on why exactly proof trade dollars are so interesting! The Trade Dollar has one of the most unusual backstories in U.S. coins. First struck in 1873 under the Coinage Act of 1873 and designed by William Barber, it was never meant to be used in American pockets. Instead, it was created to c …

3 Recommended Coins For Every Coin Collector’s CabinetBelow is a list of some of the coins that we recommend to collectors wishing to add some numismatic gravitas to their coin collection. These coins are visually appealing, often absolute or conditional rarities and, as such, casual collectors to advanced numismatists covet these coins. They are issues that have an easily identifiable historical price trajectory. While the coin market is speculative and past history is no guarantee of the futur …

Coin Collecting 101: Coin Collecting Themes & Coin Collector TypesCoin collecting is long term hobby that sometimes starts out as fun project and then slowly turns into a serious yet rewarding investment. It is considered one of the oldest hobbies and was practiced by kings; thus is often referred to as ‘King of Hobbies.’ There are many different types of numismatists out there with different preferences, goals and budgets. Some prefer collecting coins from a particular country while others pref …