The story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition has special significance to all of us in Portland and Vancouver. On March 20th, the mint released the latest Native American $1 One Dollar Coin, commonly known as the “Sacagawea,” honoring Lewis and Clark’s journey through the Northwest Quadrant. The Corps of Discovery as it was known… Read more »
At Liberty Coin & Currency, we deal in rare coins and bullion, but we also buy gold, silver, jewelry and antiques. Every day, people come in with questions about how the process works and how to turn their valuables into cold, hard cash. We’ve put together a list of answers to some of the questions… Read more »
Each year around St. Patrick’s Day, people start thinking about rainbows and the pots of gold coins that lie at the end of them. Well, some of us would like to believe so. But where did this Irish legend start? There are actually at least two competing theories. The Emerald Isle is dotted with large… Read more »
In the mid-19th century, the area that is now Portland, Oregon, wasn’t much more than an endless stand of ancient evergreens rising around the banks of the Willamette River. One day in 1843 or 1844, while traveling from Fort Vancouver to Oregon City by canoe, a pioneer from Tennessee and a lawyer from Boston stopped… Read more »
Upon reading a newspaper account of his demise, Mark Twain wrote to the New York Journal, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Much the same could be said about last year’s reports of the “end of the gold era,” which seem to have been way off the mark in light of the recent… Read more »
With the start of the Winter Olympics, the whole world has turned its eyes toward Sochi, Russia — and everyone is dreaming of gold. Here are some details about the tradition of awarding medals in Olympic history, as well as the lowdown on the gold, silver and bronze medals at this year’s Olympic Games in… Read more »
Diamonds have long been the world’s most precious gemstones, admired universally for their strength and beauty. And while the stone in your engagement ring or diamond necklace may be millions of years old, the odds are that it was recovered fairly recently from the depths of the earth in an African diamond mine. Since diamonds… Read more »
The United States Mint recently announced that the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will be commemorated with the release of a brand-new silver dollar. In a 1963 civil rights speech, President John F. Kennedy asked for legislation that would give all Americans the right to be served in… Read more »
If you visit the Australian town of Dunolly today, you’ll probably run into more than a few modern-day prospectors hoping to strike it rich with their metal detectors. There’s a good reason gold seekers still descend upon the town. Just ten miles away lies the site of the discovery of the largest solid gold nugget… Read more »
These days, it doesn’t matter much whether the $20 bill you’ve got in your wallet was printed in Washington, DC, or Fort Worth, Texas. However, in the early days of the United States, it was pretty important to know which bank issued your money — if you wanted to actually buy something. Up until the… Read more »
