CLIMATE CHANGE AND YOUR COINS
Numismatic Global Warning
Climate change has been impacting the world for decades now, and it is increasingly a ecting numismatists, who nd themselves and their coin collections at the mercy of wild res, rising shorelines, more intense hurricanes and tornadoes, and escalating heat and humidity, among other threats from Mother Nature.
Storms, winds, oods, and res are nothing new – humankind has coped with such natural disasters for millions of years. But the problems are getting worse by the year, and they’re getting worse quickly.
e overwhelming majority of credible climate scientists agree that the earthly forces behind climate change are at least in part being driven by humans and can be potentially mitigated with more sociopolitical will and environmental awareness.
Yet climate change is a controversial topic – a bizarre reality today, given that just a few decades ago political leaders on both sides of the aisle agreed that climate change and environmental protection were issues worth taking up through the passage of laws and regulations.
Many older coin collectors lectorslectors may recall a time when
Republican President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 – accomplished the same year Americans rst celebrated Earth Day. In the early 1970s, Nixon also established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and signed into law the Clean Water Act, which was further amended by Democratic President Jimmy Carter a few years later.
Republican President Ronald Reagan signed the Water Quality Act in 1987. Reagan’s vice president and eventual presidential successor, George H.W. Bush, addressed “global warming” by name many times during his presidency. He even gave a notable speech on the matter in 1988, just weeks a er NASA scientist James E. Hansen delivered groundbreaking testimony to Congress about the cause-and-e ect relationship of greenhouse gases and increasing average temperatures around the world.
Sadly, the good ol’ days of the 1970s and ‘80s – when Republicans and Democrats were working together on environmental issues and the climate was behaving more “normally” – are long behind us. Now, more than three decades later, the extreme e ects of climate change are no longer hypothetical. ey’re real, and numismatists have only one
option: to better protect their coins.
UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE
e complex science behind climate change and how it directly impacts coin collectors could ll volumes. But meteorologist Andy Johnson has studied the subject for virtually his whole life. A respected scientist with a penchant for coin collecting (he not only spent much of his youth lling coin folders with Lincoln wheat cents, but he also actively collected the 50 State Quarters and visited the Denver Mint), Johnson spent decades on the air in his hometown of Tampa, Florida, at WTVT13, a popular television station that has served as both a CBS and FOX a liate. “Many of the types of changes that I’ve witnessed in Florida can be extrapolated to the rest of the country as well,” says Johnson, a Certi ed Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) and Certi ed Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) under the approval of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) who now operates a private rm called Johnson Forensic Meteorological Consulting.
“As a child I never observed Gulf of Mexico water temperatures of 90 degrees of higher, but in the last several years they have reached 90 degrees on several occasions.” Unfortunately, hotter water in the
Gulf is only more potent fuel for hurricanes wending their way toward the shores of the United States.
And it’s not only hotter on sea surfaces – it’s hotter on the land, too. “In the wintertime, I have noticed there are not as many freezes,” Johnson notes. “ e mean number of days of temperatures 32 degrees and lower in Central Florida from 1941-1970 was four per year. e latest data indicates that the mean number of days at freezing
(32 degrees) or below has decreased to 1.3 days per
year – that’s a decrease in frequency of almost 70%.” He further adds that the last time Tampa recorded a daily record low for the month was in May 1992, “However, many monthly daily record highs have occurred in recent years. For instance, the record high temperature for February and September both occurred in 2018, while the all-time record high temperatures for April, May, and October occurred in 2017.” Of course, while the data here is speci c to a certain region of Central Florida, these gures mirror trends throughout many other parts of the United States and around the world. One of Johnson’s colleagues is presently stationed in Antarctica conducting research there. “I look forward to seeing his reports when he returns in 2020,” he adds. “Even though Antarctica and Greenland are far away, they have an important relationship to water levels here in the United States. Most of Earth’s fresh water is frozen on top of those two landmasses.” Melting ice caps have already had an impact on United States shorelines, including those in the Sunshine State. “Tide gauges at several Florida locations, including Fernandina Beach, Mayport, and Key West had increases of more than 0.3 inches per year.” Johnson notes that water seeks its own level. “Water level rise is of great concern along our many developed coastal cities.” Risks from water are of particular concern both for
lives and property, such as coin collections. “According to the National Hurricane Center, storm surge, rainfall ooding, high surf, and drowning deaths just o shore are responsible for 88% of all deaths in the U.S. from hurricanes, tropical storms, or tropical depressions from 1963 through 2012,” Johnson reports.
“Also, the force of water hitting a building is much stronger than the force of wind. We can build homes to withstand strong hurricanes, but we could never build structures that withstand the force of the storm surge.” He adds, “More people could be a ected by a six-foot storm surge today than the same six-foot storm surge 50 years ago due to the face of baseline water levels being higher today.”
Even those facing more snowfall during blizzards in northern climes are really experiencing a nasty side e ect of climate change. “In a warmer atmosphere, there are more chances of larger precipitation events. Warm air is lled with highly energized water molecules and o en contains more water molecules than cooler air, which is lled with water molecules that more easily condense and become water,” he explains.
“So, the net e ect is to have more heavy precipitation events, whether the precipitation is rain or snow.” In other words, more snowfall during one winter in a particular city does not mean climate change isn’t happening – it probably rather indicates just the opposite.
HOW NUMISMATISTS ARE DEALING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE AROUND THE U.S.
A major threat to folks who live in the Midwest and Plains states are tornadoes. About 1,000 tornadoes touch down every year in a region of the
United States known as Tornado Alley, encompassing Oklahoma, Kansas, the Texas Panhandle, Nebraska, eastern South Dakota, and eastern Colorado.
One reason this part of the country experiences so many tornadoes is that it’s a large, at convergence zone for polar air masses coming down from Canada colliding against warmer air masses emanating northward from the Gulf of Mexico. Most tornadoes spin up along the frontal boundaries of those two distinct air masses, especially in the late spring and early summer.
In Tornado Alley, climate change brings an increased risk of more frequent and particularly more violent tornadoes. It’s a threat that former APMEX Director of Numismatics Michael Garofalo knows all too well. “As someone who lives in Oklahoma, we tend to always be ‘weather aware,’” says the New England transplant. “I keep my coins and numismatic treasures in several bank boxes in multiple locations. In that way, if anything happens at one bank, I’m still protected.”
He also says insurance on the assets he keeps at each bank is quite reasonable. “You sleep better at night knowing your collection is secure and insured!”
He remarks that most bank safe deposit boxes aren’t insured by the bank, but you can purchase discounted coin collection insurance as a member of the American Numismatic Association or through an insurance agent. “A rider to your homeowner’s policy protecting a coin collection that is stored in a bank vault should not be very expensive,” says Garofalo.
“Keep copies of your purchase invoices and take photographs of your more expensive coins or currency. It is an insurance policy that you might never want to use, but you can rest more comfortably knowing you have it.”
In addition to robust insurance policies, Garofalo and his family also have a tornado shelter in their home and own a hand-crank weather radio, which he says can be a “lifesaver.” He goes on to say that, “Whether you believe in climate change or not, it is important to safeguard what you own. Weather is nothing if not unpredictable and it can change in a minute. Keeping good records and having photographs of valuables is very important should the worst weather happen to you.”
As tornadoes terrorize collectors in the Midwest and Plains, numismatists closer to the Paci c are paying more attention to the res raging with greater fury in the West. And while res aren’t necessarily a form of weather, their frequency and intensity are directly related to weather patterns.
Drought conditions help create kindling ground for res, which may start with a lightning bolt, a downed electrical
wire, an unattended camp re, or a careless toss of a lit cigarette. Sometimes, and more nefariously, arson is the cause. Summer is the dry season for much of California, and res are most intense in autumn, when conditions there are at their driest. Dry vegetation fuels res and strong winds fan the ames, with the Santa Ana winds of southern California capable of carrying embers for many miles.
Unfortunately, climate change is expected to bring hotter, drier conditions to much of the
American Southwest, and researchers are already seeing the results of this.
Since the year 2000, an average of 72,400 res have blazed across 7 million acres each year – and that’s about double the number of acres set alight by wild re during the 1990s.
In California, wild re records are being eclipsed almost each year. And as more urban development converts formerly virgin forests into new densely populated communities, people are putting themselves ever more on the brink of danger.
Unfortunately, many have already lost their lives to
California’s wild res, as was the case with the devastating
Camp Fire that killed 86 people and decimated the northeastern
Sacramento Valley city of
Paradise in November 2018. Virtually all of the town’s 26,800 residents were displaced – most permanently.
Many of the people who had homes in Paradise were coin collectors, including
Joe Best. He began collecting coins when he was a child in the 1950s and ’60s, following in his dad’s numismatic footsteps. Like many collectors, he focused on building a family and career in his middle years, but his coin collection remained a constant throughout that busy time in his life. He has also passed his love of numismatics onto his son and grandson. Best has clearly experienced many joys in his life, but also many sorrows. e worst, he said came on the morning of November 8, 2018.
“I woke up to a red glow,” he describes in a blog post published in March 2019 on the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) website (https://www.pcgs.com/news/ the-day-I-lost-my-home-but-gained-a-community). “ e red glow was a re way o in the distance that we’ve seen so many times. Not a big, red ag – yet. e next thing I knew this re was not like any other re in the state of California where I have lived since I was born in 1951, it was moving extremely fast,” he writes. He heard explosions all around him as propane tanks exploded from the heat of the fast-approaching re. “We escaped with our lives along with our animals so for that right there I thank God in heaven.” He le with armfuls of irreplaceable photo albums and a few coin albums, but his main collection was le in a 1942 jeweler’s safe in the house, which soon was reduced rereducedreducedtoashesbythe re. to ashes by the re.
SAVING COINS FROM NATURAL DISASTERS
While some of Best’s coins were, unfortunately, destroyed, many survived and were conserved by PCGS. “ e challenge with these coins comes from how unique every situation is and the need to improvise and adapt our procedures to handle each individual case,” explains PCGS Director of Marketing Heather Boyd, who personally handled many of Best’s coins and helped oversee the e orts to save hundreds of collectible coins recovered from the Camp Fire and other res around the country via PCGS a er Restoration.”
Boyd goes on to say, “ ey all arrive in varying degrees of distress, o en involving raw and holdered coins from both PCGS and other third-party services.”
While PCGS Restoration helps conserve coins that have been impacted from a variety of natural disasters, cases like Best’s are familiar to the PCGS team. “Fire is de nitely the
number-one natural disaster for which we receive submissions,” Boyd adds. She also says that while much of California faces regular threats from wild res, the company’s headquarters in the Newport Beach area is not likely to be impacted by wild res. “Even so, we follow strict re safety code. Coins in our custody are also 100% insured.” PCGS Vice President of Operations David Rosenberg notes the most di cult part of the task is removing coins from melted holders. “While encapsulated coins fare signi cantly better than raw coins and o en experience very little ill e ects from res so long as the coins remained covered, the process of removing the dis gured slabs is time consuming and requires great care.” Rosenberg says the process of conserving a coin begins by carefully
removing the coin from its holder and then undergoes the company’s standard process of evaluating the coin for restoration, namely determining if the coin is a good candidate for restoration. “Most coins encapsulated in a PCGS holder fare extremely well and experience little to no grade change, it is undoubtedly the safest way to store your collection,” he says. “Our holders are made of an inert plastic which means, even if it melts, it does not release chemicals that negatively impact the coin.” e composition of the holder is important, as many chemicals can impart adverse e ects on coins when exposed to high heat. “ e number-one way a collector can ensure the safety of their collection is to have it graded and encapsulated by a reputable third-party grading company that has put the time and e ort into researching a holder that will stand the test of time and the environment,” remarks Rosenberg. Back in Florida, David Camire at Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS), owned by the same collectibles conglomerate as grading service NGC, sees coins a ected by a plethora of disasters, including those involving water. “People generally focus on hurricanes as a wind event, but much of the damage is a result of ooding,” explains the NCS president. “NCS can conserve coins that have been a ected by oods. e prospects for NCS’s conservation depend on the length of exposure and the type of
water – fresh water, salt water, or sewage,” he adds.
“In addition, whether the coins were raw or holdered matters, since coins in NGC holders generally fare much better than raw coins.” Camire notes that every case is di erent but, at the very least, NCS can stop further damage to the coins. Ultimately, Camire says coins and moisture shouldn’t mix. Yet, water is associated with many of the natural disasters that are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, including hurricanes, tropical storms, and greater amounts of localized seasonal rainfall and humidity.
“Collectors should be aware of potential risks based on where they live,” Camire says.
“Along the Gulf and
Atlantic coasts, hurricanes pose a risk.” Meanwhile, heat and humidity a ect large swaths of the nation. “Hobbyists need to make sure their coins are in an environment controlled for temperature and humidity.” He says attics, basements, and garages are not recommended, nor are storage facili- facili-facilities. “Even certain bank vaults may not necessarily be ideal. Collectors should ask speci c questions about the temperature range and humidity, including a er hours.”
Collectors who submit their coins to NCS or parent company NGC need not worry about their coins when they’ve arrived at the rm’s o ces for processing and evaluation. Although NGC’s headquarters are in Florida, a state many mistakenly believe is geologically at and entirely located at or just above sea level, the company’s around-the-clock climate-controlled o ces are located 25 feet above sea level and more than nine miles inland. “It is not in a ood zone or in any of Sarasota County’s hurricane evacuation zones,” Camire explains. “Nevertheless, the building is rated to withstand a major hurricane.”
PROTECTING COINS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE AND PREVENTING DAMAGE
Numismatic expert Scott Travers, COINage’s executive editor, is not only a longtime professional numismatist, but he’s also a lifelong Republican. Yet despite the common assumption that individuals aligning with conservative viewpoints generally eschew climate change matters, the popular numismatic personality admits he is worried about the increasing climate threats and the harm they can unleash. “I’m concerned about the impacts climate change may have on all of our coins,” he says. Travers, author of e Coin Collector’s Survival Manual, Revised Seventh Edition, looks at the matter from the standpoint of both preventing coins from succumbing to tragedy and resolving damages should they unfortunately occur. “Whether manmade or natural, the need to be prepared for catastrophes such as hurricanes, oods, tornadoes, and res is of supreme importance,” he says.
“Of course, simple survival is the principal priority,” he reiterates, “but beyond safeguarding your person, anyone who collects rare coins or has gold or silver bullion as a form of ‘insurance’ should give careful consideration to how those coins or bullion would be safeguarded or accessed in an emergency – and how he or she would be protected against serious nancial loss in the event these assets were lost, damaged, or destroyed.”
In the context of potentially more frequent and intense natural disasters, the rst matter one needs to consider is insurance, which due to numerous devastating hurricanes, res, and oods, is o en more di cult than ever to obtain these days. “In obtaining insurance, you should be absolutely certain that your policy does not exclude
coverage for oods or other natural disasters,” Travers notes. “As a matter of course, many home insurance policies contain exclusions for natural disasters. In New York City, for example, some of the largest insurance companies routinely exclude coverage for earthquakes, and you have to speci cally request that coverage and pay extra to obtain it – perhaps a couple of hundred dollars per year on an average policy or $25 to $50 on a smaller policy.”
In the face of the insurance industry’s drastic responses to an increasing number of expensive disasters, Travers tells those who have inclusive “all-risk” policies to be extra watchful for substantial premium increases upon policy renewal or reinsurance. “Customers holding such insurance could well encounter higher premiums because the reinsurers would either raise their fees substantially or decline to accept the risk altogether.”
And don’t expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to kick in the funds to replace your coin collection. As numismatic expert, author, New
Jersey elected o cial, and attorney David L. Ganz warns, federal insurance plans are covering less today, and those whose coin collections are damaged or destroyed by
re or ooding episodes will generally not see a dime for such damages, even oods that originate due to hurricanes or other media-headlining disasters.
“For major collections, I recommend choosing Lloyd’s of London,” Ganz, a former president of the American Numismatic Association
(ANA) suggests, referring to the British-based company accustomed to insuring major rarities and other novelties. “It’s the kind of place where you go to get legs insured,” he explains. “For more modest collections of perhaps $2,500 or so, it’s possible to get those insured by home insurance companies.” e ANA can also help put collectors in touch with insurance agencies that cover coin collections.
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
ere’s little scienti c evidence to suggest that these climate issues are suddenly going to get better. Looking back through the climatologic almanacs, one can see that tides are rising more quickly; hurricanes are becoming more intense; wild res are getting more frequent and brutal; ooding events are more common; and new hot-weather records are quickly outpacing a dwindling number of new cold-weather records both in the United States and around the globe.
It’s no longer a matter of if the climate is changing (it is), it’s more about what we, as a numismatic community, can and will do both individually and collectively to cope with the increasingly rapid climate changes. Collectors who live in areas at increased risk of oods, res, tornadoes, or other natural disasters need to reexamine not just their coin storage and protection methods but also their insurance policies. ose who don’t have re or ood coverage should be extra judicious in choosing a plan that provides protection from these and other excluded disasters – the sooner, the better.
Now is also the opportunity to beef up the immediate protection of coin collections. at could mean buying new, inert holders and albums with fewer harmful chemicals that, when heated or exposed to moisture, may pose increased risks to coins. Perhaps it’s time to submit raw coins for encapsulation by reputable third-party coin certi cation rms so they are encased within safe, secure holders.
And whether threatened by a ood, re, or hurricane, a coin collection stands a better chance of survival when it’s protected by a top-quality vault.
If seeking insurance for their collections, collectors
may have to buy a vault, and it will likely need to be approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) or abide by other guidelines set forth by the insurance agency. Vaults and safes are typically classi ed by their overall strength and re rating. Internal temperature tolerance is just as important as external temperature resistance. A vault that withstands outer temperatures of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit but keeps the internal temperature below 500 degrees won’t adequately protect coin slabs that could melt at 350 or 400 degrees. However, a vault rated 125 UL will keep the internal temperature below 125 degrees – much safer temperatures for coins and holders contained within. And the more protection o ered by the vault, the better insurance coverage one could receive and for lower premiums, too. inking beyond the box, or vault, there is the issue of addressing climate change itself. Yes, reducing carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases may help set our world on the path to mitigating the sweeping climate changes we’re experiencing today. But even if it’s too late or now infeasible for humans to turn back the clock on the climate changes we’re experiencing now or will soon see, there is still the opportunity to respond to these natural threats through better storm preparedness, more e cient ood management systems, more e ective re prevention and response e orts, and an increased ability to accurately predict tornadoes and protect people from these terrifyingly spontaneous weather events. Climate change may be a new reality, but it need not take the joy out of coin collecting. By accepting the situation and adapting to the new and increasing risks we face from natural disasters of all kinds, numismatists can continue enjoying the hobby they love while preparing for – and hopefully preventing – the worst. And that’s something everyone can get behind.