Precious metals were battered as gold fell for five straight days and below the $1,000 mark it had just surged over last Friday. For the numbers, the London gold fixing fell 3.7 percent, silver lost 7.5 percent and platinum dropped 2.5 percent. The Dow lost 4.1 percent, the S&P declined 4.5 percent and the Nasdaq fell 4.4 percent. European stocks ended lower as well.
New York crude-oil for April delivery closed Friday to $44.76 a barrel, falling 46 cents, or 1 percent. However, oil surged 12 percent on the week.
AAA said the average price for unleaded gasoline on Saturday settled to $1.903 a gallon compared to $1.843 a month ago and $3.164 one year back.
London silver ended at $13.21 an ounce, tumbling $1.07 since last Friday’s close.
London gold closed to $952.00 an ounce, falling $37.00 for the week.
London platinum settled to $1059.00 an ounce, declining $27.00 on the week. Read the rest of this entry »
(New Orleans, Louisiana) – The unique 1844 proof gold Eagle, on display for three months at the Louisiana State Museum – Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans, helped attract a record of nearly 20,000 visitors during that time as part of the museum’s re-opening.
The coin was displayed through the courtesy of its anonymous Florida owner with the help of Louisiana dealers Paul Hollis of Mandeville and Chuck Bloomfield of Baton Rouge who arranged for the homecoming exhibition.
Prior to returning the one-of-a-kind coin to the collector who paid $1.5 million for it in 2006, Hollis took the gold piece to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in Baton Rouge on February 17. Read the rest of this entry »
Congress ends the month with a flurry of rekindled coin legislation, as a new set of bills reintroduces the Five-Star Generals Commemorative Coin Act.
Companion House and Senate bills, H.R. 1177 and S. 455, seek gold, silver and clad coins to honor five-star Generals and the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) for its service in educating the nation’s military leaders since its founding in 1881.
50-cent clad, $1 silver and $5 gold coins would portray Five-Star Generals George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Henry "Hap" Arnold, and Omar Bradley — each alumni of the CGSC.
If the act sounds familiar, it is. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas introduced a bill (S. 3456) with the same name on Sept. 9, 2008. Many bills fail to make it through a congressional session for one reason or another. These are automatically cleared from the books and must be reintroduced or die. Read the rest of this entry »
Gold fell Thursday for the fourth straight day and closed near $940 an ounce. Silver tumbled, stocks stumbled and oil rallied. For the numbers, New York silver, gold and platinum futures lost 6.7 percent, 2.5 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
The Dow fell 1.2 percent, the S&P declined 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq lost 2.4 percent.
April crude-oil surged for the second day, climbing $2.72, or 6.4 percent, to close at $45.22 a barrel. AAA said the average price for regular unleaded gasoline fell nine-tenths of a cent to $1.882 a gallon.
March silver plummeted 92.5 cents to close to $12.95 an ounce.
April platinum fell $7.00 to $1,052.10 an ounce
Gold for April delivery declined $23.70 to end at $942.50 an ounce. Read the rest of this entry »
Rep. John Larson has reintroduced legislation in H.R. 1195 calling for $5 gold and $1 silver coins to commemorate the life and legacy of Mark Twain.
Mark Twain was the pen name for Samuel Clemens, whose many works are still mostly in print after nearly a century past his death in 1910. Clemens is one of the best known Americans in the world with over 6,500 editions of his books translated into 75 languages.
2010 marks the 175th anniversary of Mark Twain’s birth and the 125th anniversary of the publication of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is also the target year for the gold and silver coins to honor Twain. Read the rest of this entry »
Four numismatic articles are referenced on CoinNews every Tuesday and Thursday. These articles are not authored by us, but we recommend collectors read them for their unusual or interesting content. Here are today’s articles:
By Susan Headley, About.com Guide to Coins since 2006
The new 2009 pennies still aren’t circulating anywhere, judging by the research I conducted yesterday. I called 21 banks around the country Tuesday afternoon, talking mostly to supervisory tellers and assistant bank managers (whoever handles the currency and coinage inventory), in an effort to discover whether any of them have seen the new Log Cabin pennies yet.
Go to story »
Read the rest of this entry »
US Mint sales of 1/2 oz uncirculated 2008-W American Eagles gold coins surged from the last report, rising an impressive 104.5 percent. The coin was the final remaining 2008-dated gold eagle from the Mint until it sold out Wednesday.
49,788 Ultra High Relief Gold coins have been sold. Sales increased 3.7 percent since the prior report, but the pace has slowed somewhat. 1,789 were purchased by collectors compared to the previous 2,579.
Lincoln Silver Dollars jumped again. Proof versions went up to 159,634 while the uncirculated option hit 75,614. The US Mint first offered the commemoratives on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Here are the latest US Mint sales figures for the recently sold out American Eagle and the currently sold Ultra-High Relief and Lincoln Commemorative coins:
Read the rest of this entry »
(Fallbrook, California) – The Board of Directors of the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) is praising the American Numismatic Association for making significant progress in resolving the association’s cash problems, and urging ANA members to carefully consider the qualifications of candidates running in this year’s elections.
"The ANA Board, Executive Director Larry Shepherd and his staff have made bold and often tough decisions to improve the association’s financial situation. The changes may not make everyone happy, but that sometimes happens when management must confront the kinds of problems the new leadership inherited when they took office in 2007," said Gary Adkins, PNG President.
"If a candidate can not read a balance sheet or can’t be bothered to learn how, that person should certainly not be elected to the ANA Board no matter how much he or she knows about numismatics. It’s that crucial given the financial problems facing the association," Adkins emphasized. Read the rest of this entry »
Gold on Wednesday ended lower for the third straight day. New York gold futures dropped 0.3 percent and silver fell 0.9 percent. Platinum gained 1.0 percent while oil surged 6.4 percent.
Stocks were on the losing end as well, with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq falling 1.1 percent, 1.0 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
April crude-oil smashed forward, rising $2.54 to close at $42.50 a barrel. AAA said the average price for regular unleaded gasoline fell nearly a cent to $1.891 a gallon.
March silver declined 12 cents to close to $13.875 an ounce.
April platinum climbed $10.40 to $1,059.10 an ounce
Gold for April delivery dropped $3.30 to end at $966.20 an ounce. Read the rest of this entry »
The United States Mint on Wednesday sent e-mail updates to customers who purchased a 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold (UHR) coin. The e-mail expands on the Mint’s shipment notice recently placed on its online store, and includes additional information such as return details.
The Mint has been under considerable heat from customers wondering when their coins will be shipped. The problem was compounded when the Mint sent out several notices with differing delivery dates. And of course, is worsened by a long delay between ordering and receiving.
To add to the Mint’s woes, apparently some orders may have been shipped ahead of others. If reality, and the Mint has not verified the possibility, production problems with UHR companion books may account for the disparity.
Here is the Mint e-mail in its entirety: Read the rest of this entry »
