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Silver Coins of Chinese Outlaws: Lin Chong

In their days, they were hunted down rather than celebrated. How times have changed. Recently, the People’s Bank of China released a number of colorful silver coins to commemorate the Outlaws of the Marsh from the Chinese classic Water Margin. Somewhat like Robin Hood, the story follows the trails and trials of many heroic characters that rebelled against the corrupted government in those times. Here’s a look at some of the Lin Chong silver coin.

Truly larger than life, Lin Chong stands at 6 foot 4 inches, powerful and righteous. Initially, Lin Chong was a military instructor who trained 800,000 Imperial guards so he was known “Instructor Lin.” Yet, his other nickname, ”Panther Head,” is definitely more evocative. On the obverse, Lin Chong is seen with his trusted Eight Foot Long Snake Spear, which he uses to carry a Chinese water gourd. Judging from his determined and forward stance, he must be on his way to Liangshan. On top of him are the words “10 Yuan” and below him, “Panther Head Lin Chong,” written in Chinese. On the reverse, there’s the state emblem with the words “People’s Republic of China” at the top and the year “2009″ at the bottom.

How did a respected military instructor become an outlaw? It happened when the lecherous Gao Yanei lusted after Lin Chong’s beautiful wife. Despite failing twice to take advantage of her, he enlisted the help of his foster father Marshal Gao Qiu to frame and banish Lin Chong. Eventually, Lin Chong was tattooed on his face and sent to Cangzhou. After a series of events, Lin Chong had no choice but to join the Outlaws of the Marsh at Liangshan. Among the 108 Liangshan heroes, he’s ranked 6th in the illustrous realm of 36 Heavenly Spirits.

The next time, we will look at more of these fabulous silver coins. Meanwhile, you may sell silver and get instant cash for silver. Just get in touch with this silver buyer now!

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Library Post – What is Sterling Silver?

You’ve heard the term “Sterling Silver”, typically when referring to fine dining flatware, serving pieces or quality jewelry, but what exactly is sterling silver?

Sterling silver is an alloy (a combination of metals) containing 92.5% of pure silver and 7.5% of other metals.  Typically the other metal selected for the alloy is copper.  Fine silver as compared to sterling silver is 99.9% pure silver and considered too soft for large pieces and implements. Sterling silver as it is stronger is the preferred metal for silver jewelry, flatware, and quality silver serving pieces and decorative items.

In recent years, alloys other than copper have appeared being used with silver.  Some of these alloys are being made from zinc, platinum, germanium and include other elements such as silicon or boron. These new alloys have appeared in an effort to find a combination that inhibits tarnish which is the bane of any sterling silver owner. Copper however, continues even to this day, in being the preferred alloy for sterling silver manufacture.

The term sterling silver originated in northern Germany in the 12th century. At this time, the term sterling received its meaning from possibly several sources:  (1) the purity level of 92.5% pure silver, (2) possibly from the term of sterling in regards the common name of coins of the time, or (3) from sterling meaning sturdy, firm, or immovable. Regardless of how the term sterling has come to us through the years, today the term sterling silver simply denotes quality and that a 92.5% purity of silver has been used in a creation of the product.

All sterling silver will tarnish over time when exposed to the air through a simple oxidation process. Sterling silver is still considered the best precious metal for decorative and quality serving products such as coffee sets, decorative bowls, elegant dining flatware, serving pieces, and pitchers.

If you have silver pieces in your cabinet that no longer hold their decorative charm, appear dated, are unusable due to breakage, or sterling silver jewelry that you no longer cherish, now’s the time to consider contacting Cash for Silver for a free appraisal of the silver value. We make it easy to turn your quality silver pieces into cash! Find out how to send your silver to us and get a free quote. We’ll even return your pieces to you at no charge securely if you decide that you have chosen not to sell.

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The Binion Silver Coins

To coin collectors, a coin becomes more than a coin when there’s a story attached to it. In the case of the Binion Hoard, the elements of sex, drugs, deceit, murder, and court drama add much color to the collection of more than 100,000 silver coins.

Born in 1943, Ted Binion was the son of Benny Binion, founder of the famous Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. After his father was convicted of tax evasion, Ted became the casino manager. Living the high life, Ted loved wild parties, hanging out with celebrities, taking drugs, and chasing beautiful women. Licking it all up, Ted was arrested for drug trafficking in 1986 and his liaison with the mob came to the attention of the Nevada Gaming Commission. Eventually, the Commission revoked his gaming license in 1998, forcing him to sell his shares of the casino to his sister. Also, he was not allowed to go into the Horseshoe anymore.

By that time, Ted had amassed some 100,000 silver dollars in an underground secret vault beneath the family casino. Since the price of silver was not so good at that time, Ted didn’t want to sell his silver. Instead, he planned to move them to another place before his sister took over the Horseshoe. Sometime in 1998, Ted made the acquaintance of Rick Tabish and commissioned him to build an underground vault in his Pahrump ranch where the silver dollars would be stored. In the beginning of July 1998, Tabish transported all the Binion silver to the new vault.

About two months later, Ted’s girlfriend Sandy Murphy called 911 and reported that he had stopped breathing. Ted Binion had died in his Las Vegas house. It was originally believed that he committed suicide by overdosing on a cocktail of Xanax, Valium, and heroin. However, the drama was just unfolding. A few days after Ted died, Rick Tabish was arrested for looting Binion’s silver coins at the Pahrump ranch. Along with the vault combination, the police found a passionate love letter written by Sandy Murphy, in Tabish’s briefcase. A few months later, Murphy and Tabish were tried for the murder of Ted Binion in a sensational case which gripped America. On May 19, 2000, Tabish received a sentence of 25 years in prison while Murphy got 22 years. However, the decision was overturned a few years due to a court room error. In the retrial in 2004, Tabish and Murphy were acquitted of the heaviest charges because there was insufficient medical proof linking them to the death of Ted Binion.

In 2001, the silver coins from the Binion Hoard were sold to Spectrum Numismatic International for more than USD 3 million. Dating from 1878 through 1935, a ”Binion Collection” silver coin can cost less than USD 50 or more than USD 10,000. Looking back, Ted Binion was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he could get favorable instant cash for silver, he would have sold his silver coins and probably, escaped his fate. Don’t wait. Now is a good time to sell silver. If you are looking for a silver buyer who will pay good money for silver, look no further.

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Silver Coins in Swedish Garden

On a quiet day in September 2007, a Swedish gardener dug up a remarkable Viking treasure while he was cultivating vegetables in his garden on the island of Gotland. A province of Sweden, Gotland is the largest of the Baltic islands. Treasure troves were common news in Gotland. During the Viking Age, Gotland was used as a central trading post because of its strategic location between Eastern and Western Europe. There had been up to 800 finds of silver coins reported on the island, mostly Arabic, on the Russian rivers.

In total, the Viking treasure discovered by the gardener comprised of 69 silver coins estimated to be about a thousand years old. Other than some rare primitive Viking currency, there were also what would be currently Irish, German, English, Iraqi and, Uzbekistani currency. Since there had been an earlier Viking treasure of almost the same composition in England, these silver coins illustrated the Vikings’ ambitions to extend their influence beyond Europe. It was believed that the Vikings ventured along the Russian rivers to trade with the Middle Easterners to a large degree. This explained the part of the Middle Eastern coins.

In the days when the Vikings roamed across Europe, sometimes, they would be offered some sort of “tribute money”, known as danegeld, by some of the weakers rulers so that their lands would not be attacked. The Anglo-Saxon coins could either be danegeld or spoils. Back in those days, the King of England was Ethelred II who ruled from 978 to 1016 AD. Supposedly, he paid a great deal of danegeld to the Vikings and a good number of the silver coins in the garden horde bore his image. More interestingly, there were extremely rare silver coins created for Olof Skötkonung who was known to be the first Swedish king to commission the minting of coins. Since the Vikings received so much danegeld from Ethelred II, the first Viking coins were quite the same as those Anglo-Saxon coins. There were also the coins of Sihtric who was the Viking ruler of Dublin.

Another interesting thing about these silver coins was the proof of “pecking”. In those days, it was hard to tell whether a coin was made of real silver or lead. To check the authenticity of the coin, it would be “pecked”. As such, it would was rather common to find knife marks on a coin from that time. 

Do you know why the Vikings buried the silver coins in the ground? One theory suggested that there were too much coins going through Gotland so the Vikings cached them in the ground for later use. Another theory speculated that the Vikings buried the silver coins as spiritual deposits for a richer life after death. Well? Don’t you go bury your silver now. Be smarter the Vikings! Sell silver and receive cash for silver. Don’t worry. Your silver will not be “pecked” as you will receive the best rate for silver by a silver buyer.

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Junk Silver Isn’t Junk

When you look at a junk yard, what do you see? Do you see a place of trash and useless things? Or do you see a place filled with memories and intriguing stories of people and times past? This depends on your perspective. You may not want to haul the items in a junk yard back to your home, but perhaps you can see that they do have some value and that they symbolize valuable people and places.

When people refer to junk silver, they really do not mean that this is silver that should be trashed. Instead, what they mean is that junk silver coins are silver coins that fall in range from shabby to decent condition. For the most part, the value of junk silver is directly tied to the amount of actual silver that the coins contain.

Junk silver kind of gives silver coins a bad name. In comparison to silver coins that are considered collectible, junk silver coins are in much rougher shape. These coins have been handled more, used as currency and were not made to be simply admired. So junk silver coins are the worker bees of the silver coin world, but that is okay.

Junk silver coins are not at all worthless. In fact, there are even some bags of junk silver coins that are actually sought after. For example, bags of silver coins issued by the United States that filled with coins minted before 1965 are rather hard to find.

The most valuable junk silver coins are the ones that have the highest amount of silver content, of course. But of course, unless you are an expert, you really cannot look at a silver coin and figure out its value.

What you can do is contact a silver buyer and consult them about the value of your junk silver coins. If you are ready to sell silver, then this is good step to take. In fact, you can do this without driving anywhere spending a lot of time in a store. When you contact an online silver buyer, they will send you a pre-paid envelope that you can use to mail in your silver coins. Then you can wait for them to send you cash for silver in exchange for your silver coins.

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