James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren were honored Presidents showcased in a multitude of United States Mint coin products this year.

More are yet to come as the Mint is running the gamut with a stream of new releases to coincide with its 2008 Gift Catalog promotion.

Nearly a dozen coin products go on sale Monday, October 25, at 12:00 noon (ET). Four of them include a United States Mint Presidential $1 coin Historical Signature Set™ for each of the abovementioned Presidents. Any one of which, could potentially be that out of the ordinary, sought after gift for a youngster.

Each of the $19.95 priced sets feature:

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India Post Offices have begun a new service that is uniquely creative. They are selling 24 carat gold coins across the country.

The first phase of a pilot program launched on Wednesday, October 15, with gold coins sold in the popular denominations of 0.5 grams, 1 gram, 5 grams and 8 grams.

The four coins are available within 102 Post Offices in the key cities of Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu Circles. The service is expected to gradually extend based on public response, with the Department of Post directed to distribute the gold pieces to rural post offices.

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Rare and important Coin Medallion of Hadrian Augustus also headlines

Dallas, TX – A trio of exceptional coins from ancient Rome is being offered in Heritage Auction Galleries’ Signature® Auction of Ancient & World Coins to be held at the New York International Numismatic Convention, in New York City on January 4-5, 2009. The Heritage auction and the Convention will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria. Details can be found on the Heritage website, HA.com, where the auction will be posted in early December for inspection and bidding.

"Among the many magnificent ancient coins in the NYINC auction," noted Cristiano Bierrenbach, Heritage’s Director of International Sales, "are a pair of coins graded as "Fleur de Coin" – a French phrase meaning ‘absolutely perfect in every way.’ This denotes a coin that is not only technically uncirculated, but appears as fresh as the day it was minted. The earlier of the pair is a gold Roman Imperial Aureus of Lucius Verus, minted 161-169 A.D.; NGC has graded it as ‘Gem Uncirculated – F.D.C.’"

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Precious metals melted Wednesday under a barrage of broad selling across stocks and commodities. New York gold futures plunged 4.3 percent to mark a one year low while silver and platinum fell 6.2 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

The U.S. dollar trumped other world currencies supporting declining commodities.

December crude oil fell $5.43, or 7.5 percent, to close at $66.75 per barrel — its lowest level in more than 16 months, and second straight session loss. U.S. crude and gasoline supplies were reported up again, causing further demand worries and pushing oil’s fall.

December silver on Wednesday lost more than Tuesday’s gain, falling 62 cents to close at $9.46 an ounce.

January platinum fell $34.50 to end at $857.20 an ounce.

Gold for December lost $32.80 to settle at $735.20 an ounce. It has fallen in nine out of ten sessions, with Monday marking its positive day.

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Legislation honoring Native American Indian ‘Code Talkers’ with medals was signed into law Wednesday, October 15, by President Bush.

H.R. 4544, or the Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008, honors Indian soldiers who used their languages to develop codes for the U.S. military during World Wars I and II.

The act authorizes the recognition of every Code Talker with a Congressional Gold Medal for their tribe and individually with a silver medal duplicate. Bronze medal duplicates will be available to the public through the United States Mint.

The legislation identifies members of the Assiniboine, Chippewa and Oneida, Choctaw, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Hopi, Kiowa, Menominee, Mississauga, Muscogee, Sac and Fox, and Sioux tribes as potential recipients of the award.

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