The James Monroe United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin and Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Medal Set is now available for a price of $7.95.

The set was released Wednesday, August 6, and includes an uncirculated Monroe Presidential dollar coin and a bronze medal bearing the likeness of the Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse gold coin.

James Monroe dollars were the first $1 coins released in 2008, and the fifth in the Presidential series.

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2008 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Sets will be available for purchase on Thursday, August 7 at 12:00 noon ET.

The United States Mint today announced that each set is priced at $37.95, and will include this year’s four Presidential $1 Coins minted in Philadelphia with the "P" mint mark.

• James Monroe $1 coin,
• John Quincy Adams $1 coin,
• Andrew Jackson $1 coin, and the
• Martin Van Buren $1 coin

Plus, the two remaining 2008 denominated dollar coins:

• Sacagawea Golden Dollar, and an
• American Eagle uncirculated silver dollar

The Sacagawea $1 is minted in Denver with a "D" mint mark while the American Eagle Silver dollar bears the mint mark "W" indicating it was minted at West Point.

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The Perth Mint has released commemorative gold, silver and bronze coins celebrating the Australian Olympic Team’s participation at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Authorised by the Australian Olympic Committee, the suite includes a prestigious 10g coin struck from 99.99% pure gold in proof quality. The coin’s reverse depicts the Australian ‘Flags and Rings’ Olympic logo in colour surrounded by stylised representations of the Sydney Opera House and the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

The suite also includes an impressive 1oz coin struck from 99.9% pure silver in proof quality, which features the coloured ‘Flags and Rings’ logo and a stylised athlete intertwined with an image of a traditional Chinese dragon.

Housed in red presentation display cases, the coins are restricted to limited mintages reflecting the auspiciousness of the number ‘8′ in Chinese culture. No more than 2,008 pure gold coins and a maximum of 8,808 pure silver coins will be released.

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The United States Mint will begin circulating the latest Presidential $1 coin featuring Andrew Jackson on August 14, 2008.

The Mint has announced that a ceremonial introduction of the dollar coin will occur at The Hermitage, the home Jackson built and lived in near Nashville, Tennessee.

Over 15 million people have visited The Hermitage since its opening as a museum in 1889. Visitors on Aug. 14 will experience a once in a lifetime event as the seventh coin in the Presidential $1 coin program is officially released.

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A new elegant Britannia design adorns freshly minted 2008 United Kingdom silver and gold collector coins launched by The Royal Mint. The bullion proof coins bear a standing portrait of Britannia, incorporating the motifs of the lighthouse, the trident, the shield and the helmet, as waves crash in the background.

"She [Britannia] almost appears to form part of the sea that surrounds and protects the British Isles."

The new design rendered by John Bergdahl is the latest depiction of Britannia, and the seventh in the series since it was introduced in 1987. It’s featured on the reverse or tails side of the silver proof £2, £1, 50p and 20p coins as well as the gold proof £100, £50, £25 and £10 coins.

The obverse or heads side of each bullion coin bears the portrait of Her Majesty The Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS.

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Ottawa, Ontario – With the Beijing Olympic Games and Beijing Paralympic Games just around the corner, the Royal Canadian Mint is proud to issue the 2008 Lucky Loonie, the latest in its extensive Olympic themed circulation coin program.

The one-dollar coin, which features the familiar loon landing in water and the official emblem of the Canadian Olympic Team, enters into circulation today.

"Canadians from coast to coast can wish our athletes luck by keeping special coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, including the 2008 Lucky Loonie," said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.

"The Mint has provided each member of the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Teams competing in Beijing with a Lucky Loonie as their own personal good luck charm and through the launch of the coin, Canadians also have an opportunity to own a piece of the Olympic dream."

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The U.S. Mint has announced this year’s uncirculated mint sets will be available Monday, July 30, for the price of $22.95. The 2008 United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set® includes two folders of 14 coins each.

One folder contains coins minted in Philadelphia with the "P" mint mark and other folder has coins from Denver bearing the "D" mint mark.

The Mint describes uncirculated coin as:

“…struck on special presses using greater force than circulating coins, producing a sharp, intricately detailed image, and feature the satin finish introduced in 2005.”

As of last week, U.S. Mint provided figures show that 894,443 of the 2007 uncirculated sets have been sold. These will be available for purchase through the Mint until noon on July 30.

The price for the 2008 mint set is identical to last year’s set, and includes a total face value of $13.82 in change.

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The United States Mint today announced the introduction of a new coin product named the 8-8-08 Double Prosperity Set. The set includes two, uncirculated one-half ounce gold coins — the 22-karat American Eagle and the 24-karat American Buffalo.

The two-coin set is priced at $1,298.95, and will go on sale at the Mint’s online website on August 1, 2008 at noon (ET).

The prosperity set is the second offering in the United States Mint Celebration Series, which is an experimental program to explore the viability of coins "that are packaged and positioned to celebrate special gift-giving occasions and celebratory events."

The Mint’s first product in the series was launched in February to celebrate the 2008 Lunar New Year with an American Buffalo 2008 Celebration Coin.

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Ottawa, Ontario, July 16, 2008 – History and innovative design combine to produce yet another outstanding series of Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) collector coins with the introduction of fine silver rectangular coins emulating a long-lost currency of our past: New France’s playing card money.

The innovation and design creativity continues with a new crystal-embedded fine silver raindrop coin, a new Royal Effigies Series coin featuring King Edward VII, as well as gold and silver coins celebrating yet another Canadian Achievement, the world-famous IMAX film standard, among several others captivating themes.

"As the Royal Canadian Mint celebrates its centennial and as Canada celebrates other historical milestones such as the 400th anniversary of the city of Quebec, we are proud that our collector products are telling the story of Canada in fascinating new forms", said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.

"Our artisans and experts have once again succeeded in creating outstanding treasures in silver and gold which capture the imagination of coin collectors and gift givers everywhere".

The following is an overview of the new products which will be available to the public on July 23, 2008:

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The Perth Mint of Australia has launched an innovative rotating coin commemorating the first man in space. The legal-tender, 1 oz silver coin celebrates the journey of Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person to enter space and orbit Earth for 1 hour 48 minutes aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961.

The limited minted coin marks the second release in the Perth Mint’s successful Orbit and Beyond Coin Series.

Gagarin’s flight ushered in a new era of manned space exploration that the 2008 Yuri Gagarin silver proof coin memorializes in a most unique way.

The .999 fine silver coin is constructed to rotate or "orbit" around a central brass representation of a colorful earth.

Equally colorful is the outer reverse or tails design bearing a "montage of images" symbolizing Gagarin’s journey and the border inscriptions "1961 FIRST MAN IN SPACE – YURI GAGARIN."

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