The United States Mint 2008 New Mexico Official First Day Covers went on sale Thursday, May 8. The coin cover is 47th in the series released.

The limited edition covers include two New Mexico state quarters that were minted on the first day of production.

Each quarter has the state’s "Zia sun symbol” design with one manufactured from the Mint’s facility in Denver while the other from Philadelphia. The respective mint marks of "D" and "P" are on each.

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The House debated on the legislation and finally voted yesterday to change the metallic composition of the penny and 5-cent nickel to a less expensive copper-colored steel.

Although the prices of copper, zinc and nickel metals in coins have declined in recent months, the penny and 5-cent nickel still cost more to make than what they’re worth—resulting in a reported loss of about $100 million every year, or $1 billion over a decade.

It now costs about 1.26 cents to make the penny and about 7.7 cents to make the nickel.

House bill “H.R. 5512, the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008” would seek to change those manufacturing costs by using copper-colored steal, which could cut the cost of making pennies down to about 0.7 cents each. But its recent passage in the House is no guarantee it’ll make its way to the White House for signing.

H.R. 5512 must still go through the Senate and then the President, and not everyone is happy with the current legislation.

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The debate to change the metal composition of U.S. coinage was waged on the House floor Tuesday.

With the surging prices of metals like zinc and copper, it now costs more than a penny to make a penny and about 7.7 cents to make a nickel.

A new House bill entitled "H.R. 5512, the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008" would seek to change that and it was that bill, which was in debate.

The proposed legislation would give the Treasury Secretary the power to change the composition of coins and use less expensive metals. It also would require the United States Mint to produce steel pennies within six months of the bill’s enactment.

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The United States Mint announced on Friday that Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson has authorized the issuance of a 2009 version of the 1907 ultra-high relief Augustus Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle coin.

According to the U.S. Mint, the 2009 legal tender Saint-Gaudens’ designed coin will be:

• Made of 24-karate gold,
• have an unlimited mintage for one year,
• released in only a one-ounce version,
• produced with a business-strike finish, and
• minted only in 2009

The 1907 Augustus Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful gold coins made in the history of U.S. coinage.

United States Mint Director Ed Moy has announced plans to bring back the Saint-Gaudens’ design in March of 2008. At the time he commented,

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A new poll by Harris Interactive® reflects American’s favor for the Lincoln penny, its preference for the $1 bill and the uphill battle the U.S. Mint is fighting to get new Presidential $1 coins into daily circulation.

Presidential $1 dollar coins not making it into circulation

For the latter two topics, there has been no shortage of articles within numismatic publications relaying the overwhelming realities of the near impossible task of a dollar coin competing head on with the lighter, and more convenient to use dollar bill. And while the word "many" has been used to describe those who have not yet seen the Presidential $1 coins used in circulation since their 2007 introduction, an overwhelming 75% of Harris Poll respondents say they have not seen a single dollar coin in circulation.

Given the U.S. Mint produced nearly 941 million presidential $1 coins in 2007 alone, or enough for every U.S. man, woman and child to each have three, the 75% figure highlights that while the coins may be attractive to collectors, so far they have not proven practical for use. In that regard, they lose to the paper dollar just like previous $1 coins.

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NGC has introduced a new online resource, the NGC Coin Encyclopedia. The resource includes both US and world coin designs and sports a click and drill down menu approach to finding coin information and their images. The interface also includes a quick search feature.

The detailed content was developed by the NGC Research Department. A nice aspect to the online encyclopedia is the amount of information provided for each coin and the nice bevy of large coin images.

When selecting a coin to get more information, the results page includes its obverse and reverse image. Each of these images can be enlarged with a simple click.

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The Perth Mint of Australia is offering a unique set of silver proof World War II fighter plane coins for collectors. The Perth Mint is known for their production of themed legal tender coins, but this latest series of coins directly touches the history of five different countries and their mintage limit is capped to a very low quantity of 1,500 sets.

The World War II Fighter coins are striking in appearance with their proof quality and one ounce of 99.9% silver content. The colorized coins come within a 5-coin set. Each coins pays tribute to five World War II fighter plane designs.

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A news article today recounted how China’s leading online game operator, The9 Ltd., will begin suspending the accounts of players who steal and then resell virtual coins used within the extremely popular and worldwide online game, World of Warcraft®.

With a world subscription base of over 10 million players who each pay a monthly fee, the news is positive for that particular online community. But what about the real world where coins and their holders are counterfeited and then sold?

In recent months, two of the top coin certification companies have issued consumer advisories regarding counterfeit replica coin holders used to help sell fake or counterfeit coins through online auctions such as eBay®.

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The availability of Royal Australian Mint’s silver $1 coin of the 1921 Kookaburra Penny is coming to a close on April 25, 2008. The proof collector coin is minted in 99.9% silver and its inner design is a replica of the 1921 Kookaburra Penny.

The Kookaburra Penny is noted for its square shape and the collector coin takes on that image. The obverse or heads of the coin bears the image of King George V while the reverse or tails side has the image of the ever popular Kookaburra.

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Imagine if you purchased a home, lived in it for several years and then discovered some old coins in the attic belonging to the previous owner. What would you do? Would you try to track the previous owner down and return the coins? What if that owner had passed away?

Personally, I believe the decision to find the rightful owner and return the coins would be one most coin collectors would make—even if there was no legal requirement to do so. More than anyone, coin collectors know the time, money and effort commitment, the history, and the joys and rewards of collecting.

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