The Austrian Mint in Vienna has issued the last silver 10 euro commemorative in the six-coin series Great Abbeys of Austria. It is dedicated to the Benedictine Abbey of Seckau — a jewel of Romanesque architecture — in the province of northern Styria.

Seckau did not begin its existence as a Benedictine foundation. It was founded in 1140 as an abbey of Augustinian canons regular at St. Marein-Feistritz by a nobleman called Adalram von Waldeck – apparently as a penitential act for the death of his cousin. The place proved unsuitable, and in 1142 the abbey was moved to near-by Seckau. A year later Pope Innocent II placed the new foundation directly under papal protection. It was to be a double monastery with nuns (canonesses) from Salzburg forming a separate but adjoining convent. In 1150 they began to build the splendid Romanesque church which we still see today. In 1259 a fire destroyed much of the wooden ceiling and it was replaced with Gothic stone vaulting instead.

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New York precious metals futures fell Wednesday along with oil and stocks. While gold declined just 50 cents in its fifth straight day of losses, silver and platinum plunged by 8 percent and 6.6 percent respectively. The Dow suffered its second-biggest point drop in history, falling as much as 780 points earlier in the afternoon.

Government reports released Wednesday cast an economic picture of falling producer prices, and dreary retail sales that disappointed investors across the board.

November crude-oil tumbled $4.09, or 5.2 percent, to close at $74.54 per barrel. Oil is at its lowest point in more than a year, and down 49 percent since its high of $147 in July.

December silver fell 88 cents to close at $10.18 an ounce.

January platinum plunged $68.40 to end at $975.20 an ounce.

Gold for December lost 50 cents to settle at $839 an ounce.

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President Bush signed into law a bill directing the Treasury to mint 350,000 silver dollars in 2012 "emblematic of the courage, pride, sacrifice, sense of duty, and history of the U.S. Infantry." A surcharge of $10 per coin will help the National Infantry Foundation establish an endowment to support the maintenance of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center.

The U.S. Army infantry was established on June 14, 1775, when the Continental Congress ordered the formation of ten companies of riflemen. It is the oldest and largest branch of the Army. As many as 80 percent of all the servicemen and women who have died serving their country were part of the Infantry.

Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland [R-GA] introduced H.R. 3229, the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center Commemorative Coin Act, on July of 2007. Westmoreland said,

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