Experts at the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatists (SPPN) meeting settle four decades of uncertainty
A panel of leading numismatists determined the questionable 1853 United States Assay Office of Gold $20 proof, prooflike, and similar coins to be forgeries produced from transfer dies.
The panel’s discussion was the main program at the annual meeting of the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatists held in Baltimore, Maryland Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 as part of the American Numismatic Association’s World Fair of Money.
The Transfer Die Forgeries first appeared during the late 1950’s, "discovered" by Paul Franklin through a bank teller in Arizona. Franklin and John J. Ford Jr. sold hundreds of these pieces throughout the 1960’s as genuine pieces struck in San Francisco by the U.S. Assay Office in 1853.
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The United States Mint’s online product pages no longer offer or display 2008 American Eagle platinum coins. All platinum coins to include individual and sets within the uncirculated and proof categories are gone. No message is currently in place to indicate why or whether they will return.
The hope is that the Mint has pulled the products in order to downward adjust prices to make them more inline with current platinum prices.
In recent weeks, the price of platinum has plunged dramatically in the wake of concerns and data regarding car production and sales figures. Platinum is used in vehicle catalytic converters and that purpose accounts for some 50% of the world’s demand for the metal.
At its worst on Monday, Aug. 4, U.S. Mint American Eagle platinum proof coins had premiums between 59%-79%. Premiums around the 30% range have been more the norm for such coins, and reflective of what they were when the Mint first released this year’s proof batch in May of 2008.
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U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy treated the press to a golden experience today by providing a glimpse inside the United States Mint at San Francisco to behold the new gold, two-coin 8-8-08 Double Prosperity Set.
The set includes two gorgeous uncirculated one-half ounce gold coins — the 22-karat American Eagle and the 24-karat American Buffalo. Both are packaged within an "elegant hardwood box."
“The 8-8-08 Double Prosperity Set presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for coin collectors and the general public," said Directory Moy.
"The date 8-8-08 (August 8, 2008) occurs only once every 100 years. To mark this occasion, this is also the first time the United States Mint has paired two gold coins in custom-designed packaging, making this set a unique product for the Asian-American community.”
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