Daily Archives: August 3, 2009
American Samoa Quarters Mintages Lowest in Years
2009 American Samoa Quarters enjoy the distinction of having the lowest mintages of any quarter for many, many years, new US Mint production figures released Monday reveal. Coin collectors will revel in the news, making the territories' quarter products ever more desirable.
2009 Quarter Mintage Figures
| 2009 Quarters | Denver |
Philadelphia |
Total |
| District of Columbia | 88,800,000 | 83,600,000 | 172,400,000 |
| Puerto Rico | 86,000,000 | 53,000,000 | 139,200,000 |
| Guam | 42,600,000 | 45,000,000 | 87,600,000 |
| American Samoa | 39,600,000 | 42,600,000 | 82,200,000 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2009 Total Quarter Production: 481,400,000 |
|||
Surprisingly, the figures are not as low as perhaps expected. They nearly mirror the extremely low Guam levels. 82,200,000 American Samoa quarters were produced, with 42.6 million of those struck in Philadelphia and 39.6 million at Denver.
That accounts for nearly 94 percent of the Guam production. But for the starkest contrast, it represents just 47.7 percent of the mintage totals for the District of Columbia quarter. And comparing the total against any single state quarter is laughable.
Gold, Silver and Metals: Prices and Commentary – Aug 3
Palladium UHR $20 Call Joined in US House
An earlier year Senate bill calling for .995 pure palladium one-ounce UHR $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins was joined by a House version introduced Thursday, July 30, by Rep. Dennis Rehberg [R-MT]. Both bills seek to produce "coins in palladium to provide affordable opportunities for investments in precious metals."
House Resolution 3405, the Original Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle Ultra-High Relief Bullion Coin Act of 2009, is nearly identical to the same named Senate bill, S. 758, brought forward by Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT] on April 1.
It May Take More Than a Beer
We are living in interesting times. The economy has problems and the experts cannot decide whether we are seeing a recovery or experiencing the proverbial dead cat bounce. Politics has gone berserk as the 24-hour news cycle cannot make heads or tails of the events in Washington as they watch the sausage making process of how to deal with 17-percent of the gross domestic product.
Collectors may have thought that we could withdraw into our world of numismatics and ride out this storm. The economy may be bad, but a creative collector can find other ways of enjoying the hobby. But this might now be the case.
From online forums to printed publication, there have been stories of collectors not being treated well by dealers. Stories have ranged from ignoring people at shows to dealers being rude in their own shops.