The Perth Mint of Australia has minted silver and gold commemorative coins celebrating the World Youth Day 2008, the largest youth event in the world organised by the Catholic Church and held in Sydney from July 15-20, 2008.

Hundreds of thousands of participants will celebrate at the event along with his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who will be visiting Australia for the first time.

To commemorate the XXIII World Youth Day, the Mint created a set of limited edition one ounce silver and gold coins depicting the Pope. The coins are now available for sale and two have already been given in a ceremony to Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney.

Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Mint opened orders for the always eagerly awaited American Eagle Gold Proof Coins. 2008 marks the twenty-second year for the collector series of four 22-karat coins.

Each of the four sized collector gold proof coins bear the "W" mintmark to indicate they were minted at West Point – the facility responsible for the entire family of American Eagle proof and uncirculated coins in gold, silver, and platinum.

Coin designs, sculptors and themes

The coin bears the distinctive designs of Augustus Saint-Gaudens‘ rendition of Liberty, recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful designs, and sculptor Miley Busiek’s equally majestic golden eagle scene meant to symbolize family tradition and unity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gold skidded nearly 2% lower today after sizzling to a new high just yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold initially remained steady through morning trading after coming off yesterday’s intraday record of $992 an ounce.

At around 11 a.m. Eastern, gold started a downward sprint as profit-taking took hold. In the end, New York gold for April traded through a spread of over $30 and finally rested at $966.30 an ounce, losing $17.90.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dallas, TX. The entire, renowned Thomas M. Flynn Collection of U.S. and Canadian Currency, including more than 1,000 large size notes encompassing nearly every Friedberg number from one through 1225, will be offered with no reserves by Heritage Auction Galleries.

The collection will be offered as part of the official auction of the Central States Numismatic Society convention April 16 through April 18 in Rosemont, Illinois at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 555 North River Road, a stone’s throw from O’Hare International Airport.

Tom Flynn has been a familiar face to nearly everyone in the currency field for more than four decades. He started collecting United States currency in the mid-1960’s and expanded his collecting focus to include Canadian currency a few years later.

Unlike most collectors of his day, who were content to collect by seal type or signature combination, Tom’s horizons were much wider, as he soon decided his goal would be to own an example of every United States note issued by Friedberg number and every Canadian note issued by Charlton number. While no collection can ever be complete, Tom pursued his dream with passion for more than four decades, with truly marvelous results.

Comprising over one thousand notes encompassing nearly every Friedberg number from 1 through 1225, Tom’s large size note holdings include a plethora of rarities. A listing of highlights would be far too numerous to mention, however, the range of notes is spectacular, from a high grade $100 Watermelon pedigreed to the collection of Amon Carter, Jr., to a $50 National Gold Bank Note, which, by coincidence, was obtained directly from Amon over thirty years ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

The First to be Assembled with the Common Reverses. To be Offered by Heritage Auction Galleries at the Baltimore ANA

Dallas, TX. The Ed Price Collection, an incomparable variety collection of early Dimes and Quarter Eagles, valued over $4 million, will be auctioned by Heritage Auction Galleries at their Official Auction of the Baltimore ANA, July 30-Aug. 2, 2008.

Only one complete collection of draped bust dimes by variety had previously been assembled (Allen F. Lovejoy’s, sold in 1990), and only one complete collection of early quarter eagles (1796-1807) by variety had previously been assembled (by Harry Bass – now on display at ANA Museum).

Heritage is proud to present the Ed Price Collection, a complete collection by variety of both the early dimes and quarter eagles, featuring the common reverse dies, such as has never before been assembled.

Read the rest of this entry »

The British Royal Mint is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the decimal £1 coin with two special and spectacular 14-coin proof collector sets. The rare commemorative 22-carat gold proof set and the .925 sterling silver proof collection each bear reverse designs that have been used on pound coins during the last twenty-five years.

Both sets of coins look exceptional. One thing, however … Do not get too excited about the gold proof set. The coins are already extremely rare. With the Mint only producing 150 sets worldwide, few will ever see them in person.

For an added contrast to the silver proof coins, the Royal Mint added 24-karat gold plating to each coin’s designs, making them "pop" with extra detail.

Read the rest of this entry »

The bimetallic Golden Eagle commemorative coin is now available from the Federal Mint Swissmint. The Golden Eagle coin is the second of four commemoratives released within the 4-year "Swiss National Park" commemorative series.

The design of the new coin portrays an eagle with wings spread, claws extended and body powerfully positioned to land. While the design by scientific illustrator Niklaus Heeb is majestic, the bimetallic composition of the coin is also intriguing.

The outer ring of the coin is made of aluminum-bronze and the inner core from copper-nickel. The eagles wings spreads through both outer ring and inner core, highlighting its landing approach.

The Mints selection of the golden eagle design is aptly understood by reading their description of the bird of prey.

Read the rest of this entry »

The 2008 First Spouse gold coins and bronze medal honoring Elizabeth Monroe are now on sale by the United States Mint. The Monroe gold coins are the first for 2008 and fifth in the First Spouse Gold Coin Series – a series that started off blazing hot.

The first three spousal coins were on fire and sold out within hours of their release. Secondary markets through eBay and the likes could not hold enough of the coins and their resell values were through the roof.

Read the rest of this entry »

Platinum took third chair this week with silver and gold making record-breaking strides. The weakening U.S. dollar made its presence felt, pushing investors toward commodities.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for April made $978.50 and inched closer to $1,000 an ounce. The London Fix Monday through Friday gold was up $24 or 2.5% and closed to $972 Friday.

Silver also made headlines in approaching $20 an ounce. It was up a very impressive $1.56 for the five day week on the London Fix and closed at $19.62 an ounce.

“Investment demand for gold and the rest of the precious metals looks set to remain strong in the coming sessions as investors look to offset rising oil prices and continued dollar weakness,” TheBullionDesk.com analyst James Moore said in a research note.

Read the rest of this entry »