February 2010

OTTAWA, ONTARIO — The countdown is on as the Royal Canadian Mint prepares to launch a unique and interactive pavilion for visitors during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. An impressive exhibit showcasing award-winning numismatic and circulation coins, world-class craftsmanship through the making of the Olympic and Paralympic medals, and the world-famous million-dollar gold coin [...]

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IRVINE, Calif. — Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, is preparing another phenomenal sale as the Official Auctioneer of the March 2010 Whitman Coin & Collectibles Baltimore Expo. This Fr. 1700 1933 $10 Silver Certificate note is one of many U.S. currency highlights in the upcoming Bowers and Merena [...]

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Official Baltimore Auction Set for March 2-6, 2010, Promises to be Spectacular  IRVINE, Calif. – Ponterio & Associates, Inc., the world and ancients auction division of Bowers and Merena Auctions, is sure to dazzle bidders once again when it brings to auction a diverse and important selection of International Banknotes as part of the Official [...]

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Precious metals tumbled this week as the dollar rallied to an 8-month high against the euro. The currency fell on worries over European fiscal problems, according to accounts, with debt management in Greece, Spain and Portugal taking center stage. When the greenback climbs, gold general falls while silver and platinum usually track immediately behind. New [...]

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2010 Lincoln One-Cent Coin Reverse DesignThe US Mint on Thursday announced the ceremonial release date for the newly redesigned 2010 Lincoln Shield Cent.

The official launch will occur on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 9:30 AM Central Time at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

The city is a popular destination for those wishing to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, as it is there where he spent most of his adult life prior to becoming the 16th President of the United States.

Along with a plethora of other Lincoln related sites, to include the museum and the historic site where he lived, Springfield is home to Lincoln’s Tomb.

The new Lincoln "Preservation of the Union" penny is emblematic of President Lincoln’s "preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country." The reverse features a union shield with a scroll draped across it bearing the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM. The 13 vertical stripes of the shield represent the states joined in one compact union to support the Federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above.

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Whack-A-Mole, The European Edition Good Morning, Gold’s price woes mounted overnight, with prices cratering some $16 further after Thursday’s near $50 freefall. Spot gold drew close to the $1047 per ounce mark, following its worst single-day rout in 16 months. Risk appetite has been placed in a deep freeze on the heels of yesterday’s poor [...]

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Gold, other metals, oil and stocks all tumbled on Thursday, reeling as the euro fell to an eight-month low against the US dollar. Worries over European countries’ debt, the pace of the economic recovery and higher than expected unemployment claims were just some of the factors cited for the greenback’s strength, and a drive toward [...]

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The numismatic landscape for US Mint 2009-dated coins has remained on the sleepy side of sales since mid-December. The attention-grabbing action surrounds the new 2010 products. 2010-dated Gold and Silver Eagles made waves in January. The eagles swaggered last month toting prolific numbers. But then sales appeared to dive into nothingness as not a single [...]

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Pennies and Copper Buried deep in the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Budget released by President Barack Obama is one page that could have far reaching consequences into American circulating coinage, and reads as if it came straight from US Mint Director Ed Moy’s Congressional testimony nearly two years ago.

Titled "Other Savings: Coinage Material – Department of the Treasury," the proposed section seeks to grant the Department of the Treasury authority to change the composition and weights of the most common circulating coins: the penny (cent), the nickel, the dime, the quarter and the half dollar.

Stating that the primary cost driver for the United States Mint is something that it has no control over, namely the price of metal, the Budget goes on to cite the fluctuating prices of the two main metals used in circulating coin composition, copper and zinc. Both have seen 100% plus increases over the last several months, which is tame compared to the swings nickel has experienced in the last few years of over 500%.

According to the 2009 Annual Report recently released by the United States Mint, the total cost of producing a cent was actually 1.62 cents, for a net loss of .62 cents on each one. The nickel, only worth five cents, actually took 6.03 cents to strike during the last fiscal year, losing the Mint 1.03 cents a piece. With these figures firmly in mind, it is easy to understand why some parties are concerned with the costs associated in making the coins.

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The United States Mint will send the Millard Fillmore Presidential $1 Coin into circulation on Feb. 18, 2010. On the same day the US Mint will ceremoniously unveil the new dollar at the Moravia Central School in Moravia, N.Y. at 10 AM ET.

Millard Fillmore Presidential Dollar Image
Millard Fillmore Presidential $1 Dollar Image – Click to Enlarge

Fillmore was born only five miles east of Moravia. He served as the 13th President of the United States from 1850-1853 after assuming the office when President Zachary Taylor passed away. These were tremulous times for the country which was already on the verge of a civil war, postponed by the Compromise of 1850. Fillmore is credited with the 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa effectively ending the isolationism of Japan.

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