New York platinum was the biggest precious metals mover Wednesday, while gold and silver experienced small losses.
September crude-oil gained for the second consecutive session, rising 45 cents to close at $114.98 a barrel.
Silver for September fell by 6.5 cents to close to $13.04 an ounce.
October platinum gained $17.60 to end at $1,368.90 an ounce.
December gold dropped slightly by 50 cents to close to $816.30 an ounce.
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The 2008 United States Silver Proof Set™ will be offered by the U.S. Mint Tuesday, August 26 at noon (ET). The 14 coin proof set carries the same $44.95 price tag as the 2007 sets, and no order limits are in place.
Each coin in the set bears the “S” mint mark, denoting they were manufactured at the United States Mint at San Francisco.
This year’s set includes the final five commemorative quarters to be issued in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program:
- 2008-S Silver Oklahoma Quarter
- 2008-S Silver New Mexico Quarter
- 2008-S Silver Arizona Quarter
- 2008-S Silver Alaska Quarter
- 2008-S Silver Hawaii Quarter
In addition, the proof set contains the following five $1 dollar coins:
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The Republic of Peru on Tuesday entered the legal fray between Odyssey Marine Exploration and Spain over a 17-ton booty of Colonial-era silver and gold coins discovered at a shipwreck site Odyssey code-named the "Black Swan."
That legal dispute started back in May of 2007 after Odyssey — a Florida based treasure hunting, and deep-sea exploration firm — hauled up over 500,000 silver and gold coins from a 17th-century shipwreck site found on the Atlantic sea floor.
Spain contends the treasure is a part of their country’s cultural heritage and should be returned. Odyssey has said the treasure was found in international waters, and legally retrieved.
The legal battle over the treasure is now pending in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo in Tampa, Florida.
Although not proven, the coin treasure may have come from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish 34-gun frigate that left Peru and was close to home before it was sunk by the British fleet in 1804.
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The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) reports a successful benefit auction with sales of donated ancient coins, related books, and antiquity lots netting $45,811.
The online auction was held in August and hosted on the Vauction site to raise funds for ACCG — a non-profit organization.
The auction was organized to help in anticipated legal expenses and initiatives in opposition to the State Department imposed import restrictions on ancient coins.
The original donor supported goal of 150 lots for the auction were exceeded, as were pre-auction total estimates.
ACCG reports 208 lots were offered and 1,481 bids registered. Stated highlights include:
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