NEW BOOK: U.S. MINT COIN BAG GUIDE

The February 12, 2023, issue of The E-Sylum, published by Wayne Homren, included an article on COLLECTING AND CATALOGING U.S. MINT BAGS. In his comments following the article, Wayne wrote, This is the fun and challenge of collecting numismatic ephemera. These artifacts served a purpose in their time, and most were later discarded after their useful life. The few that remain are interesting souvenirs and collectibles. Who will be the David Lange of mint bags? It would be interesting to catalog these and learn more about what exists.

I agreed that it would be interesting to catalog these and learn more about what exists. And so I began. I wrote AN ESSAY ON COIN BAGS that was published the following week on February 19. Again, editor Homren had comments. As I noted last week, coin bags are interesting souvenirs and collectibles, and a project to photograph and catalog them would be welcome.

Wayne had just told me that I needed to gather photographs so I began to harvest what I could find on the Internet. A week into the project I realized that my list of bags and file of pictures needed to be integrated into a book format.

 

I discovered that eBay had hundreds of listings for Mint bags but most of the photos were, in my opinion, not good enough to illustrate a book. A recent Heritage sale had about fifty excellent images I could use. In addition, I set my camera on a tripod and began to photograph items from my collection.

I knew I could not list and harvest photos of all Mint bags. My efforts would be incomplete and would only include what I had seen. My goal was to publish what I could and encourage others to report what they have to fill in the blanks.

 

In 2004 I worked for Minneapolis Gold and Silver in the dealer-to-dealer bullion trading business. The company bought 90% silver coins from various local sources. The coins came in used canvas bags and were repackaged in new canvas bags imprinted with the name of our major client. I was allowed to rummage through the used bags to form a modest collection. I was generally looking for Mint and Federal Reserve bags. I avoided blank bags, bank bags, coin dealer bags and lead shot bags.

I attempted to avoid duplication and occasionally upgraded condition. I never bought or sold a bag. I collected for the joy of collecting without any commercial influence.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
COLLECTING AND CATALOGING U.S. MINT BAGS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n07a30.html)
AN ESSAY ON COIN BAGS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n08a14.html)

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