CoinNews

The online auction site eBay has added yet another interesting twist to the short but intriguing story of the American Silver Eagle 25th Anniversary Set released last Thursday, October 27. Apparently, the site has chosen to place restrictions on listings of the anniversary set, leading to numerous cancellations of current auctions.

A recent visit to eBay found slightly over two dozen of the sets available which immediately indicates a change from just a few days ago. When secondary market values of the sets were recently evaluated, the site had well over a hundred listed [...]

Prices are now higher for United States Mint platinum and gold coins produced for coin collectors. The Mint raised them as a result of rising metal values.

Coin prices can get adjusted weekly based on the Mint's product pricing policy and the direction of precious metals. Those metals have been volatile, but they had managed to maintain an average which had kept coins at their same prices since October 12 -- the last of six straight weekly adjustments [...]

In an e-mail message to its customers Thursday, the United States Mint acknowledged the difficulties buyers experienced in ordering or attempting to order an American Silver Eagle 25th Anniversary Set.

The sets went on sale Thursday, October 27, and all 100,000 sold out within about 4 and 1/2 hours. The quick sellout would be less of an issue if every customer who wanted one was able to place an order.

However, as has happened in the past when tens of thousands of customers are attempting to order an extremely popular [...]

Gold futures advanced for a second straight day and to a six-week high Thursday as its appeal intensified following an unexpected interest rate cut by the European Central Bank which reignited inflation chatter.

"Gold has started to revert back into its role as a safe-haven play and this (rate cut) is not changing that," Reuters quoted Ole Hansen, senior manager at Saxo Bank. "Also it's indicating that we're going to see lower rates for longer in the future and that is obviously the main supporting factor for gold."

Gold prices jumped $35.50, or 2.1 percent, to $1,765.10 an ounce in the December futures contract on the Comex in New York. The close was gold's best since [...]

Spot dealings saw gold prices overcome the $1,750 resistance level and might offer the prospect of a try at the $1,775 wall as well. Yesterday we mentioned that silver production by global mines appears to be flowing quite freely at this juncture. Now, comes news that statistical firm GMFS (part of Thomson Reuters) is forecasting that gold mine output in the current year could touch the 2.800+ tonne mark and that such production of the yellow metal will continue to advance by some 2 to 4 percent per annum in coming years as well.

Those previous attempts (some coming from... mining firm execs, no less) to frighten investors with stories of "peak gold" may now safely be put to bed in the wake of four-digit gold prices. Such increases will add to the [...]

Collectors were clearly more focused on American Silver Eagle 25th Anniversary Sets last week as the maximum 100,000 sold out within five hours while the more 35,000 limited 2011-P Glacier National Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin registered sales of 10,680 during the several days since its release.

According to the latest sales figures from the United States Mint, the anniversary sets were easily its most popular numismatic product of the week despite their steeper $299.95 price. In contrast, the Glacier 5 Oz Silver Coin, sold for $229.95, ranked fourth. The following is a list of the top five selling United States Mint collector products [...]

Continuing an annual tradition dating back to 1973, the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in 2012 will award scholarships to Young Numismatists (YN).

The ANA last week announced that Young Numismatists can earn partial and full scholarships for the 2012 Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs. [...]

Recent news stories questioning what some dealers charge when selling gold coins reinforces what experts have advised for years: do your homework first.

Investors should become knowledgeable before purchasing precious metal bullion coins as a financial investment or economic hedge, according to officials of the Professional Numismatists Guild (www.PNGdealers.com), a nonprofit California-based organization founded in 1953 that's composed today of the country's top rare coin and bullion coin dealers who must adhere to a strict Code of Ethics in the buying and selling of numismatic merchandise [...]

Gold futures rose toward $1,730 an ounce Wednesday, advancing for the first time in four days as a weaker U.S. dollar, safe-haven buying and bargain-hunting led investors' buying motivations.

"A weak dollar is supporting commodities and risk assets ahead of the FOMC. Any surprise comments will likely be on the side of liquidity and easing, which certainly will be beneficial to gold." Reuters quoted David Meger, director of metals trading at futures broker Vision Financial Markets.

The FOMC, in fact, ended its two-day policy meeting mid-afternoon Wednesday. The committee offered a lightly improved outlook for the U.S. economy but also cut its forecasts on growth [...]