If you haven’t heard the news already, the U.S. Mint announced earlier this year that they would be curtailing their overall production of US Gold Eagles in 2009 due to problem sourcing gold to mint them from.  The Mint is required to source it’s gold from American mines and because of the huge worldwide demand for gold bullion, was unable to acquire enough to meet projected needs for this year’s Gold Eagle Rounds minting.

This has two impacts on the collectible market: first, it somewhat raises the price of all other gold coins on the market as demand increases; second, it makes the 2009 US Gold Eagles an immediately collectible item because of their relative rarity.

Up to this point in 2009, US Gold Eagles have only been produced and offered in full ounce coins, very rare for the Mint to do.  They’ve been offered on a rotational basis, making them somewhat more difficult to source directly from coin dealers.  The added interest in them has meant that many shops sell out the day they receive their shipment.

Fractional coins (1/4, 1/2 ounce, etc.) will be available for a very limited time in December.  Those promise to be very hard to get and in demand as well, becoming instantly collectible.

Gold Eagle Rounds have always been popular as an investment medium for bullion purchasers who don’t buy full or sized bars.  This year, however, 2009 US Gold Eagles are instead collector’s items in themselves.  Bullion purchasers have turned to other coins, such as the Canadian Maple Leaf, instead.

Definitely interesting times, but the traditional Walking Liberty motif of the Gold Eagle Rounds is always popular and even more so now with this latest development.

Read more….

The United States Mint today said the 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin will launch on Thursday, October 29, at noon Eastern Time.

The release date is not surprising since it was tentatively announced earlier this month. What is nearly shocking is that there will be "no mintage or household order limit for this product."

A quick "Hurray!" comes to mind, before it is silenced somewhat with the prospects of the mad dash to order.

Given their lateness in release, the fact that they were suspended several times in 2008 due to "unprecedented demand" for gold coins, and their natural desirability, the pent up demand for proof 2009 Buffalo coins is enormous. The bullion versions of these coins opened Thursday, Oct. 15 to blistering sales. 71,500 were sold by the following Monday. As of Wednesday, 86,000 were gone, representing in those few days an astounding 50 percent of the entire total sold in 2008!

And the bullion versions are sold in bulk to the Mint’s several authorized dealers — not in tens of thousands of onesies or twosies orders as will occur when coin collectors buy. Even an optimist has to suspect the US Mint phone lines and Web site will again be susceptible to downtime, as happened last Thursday when nearly 30,000 Lincoln Coin and Chronicles Sets were purchased within five hours.

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Read the rest of 2009 Gold Buffalo Proof Coins (573 words)

What’s New on CoinLink ……..

Doug Winter asked the questions that everyone seems to have on their minds…Where Have All the Nice Coins Gone? An interesting topic that we are going to continue to explore in future articles.

What People are saying about Gold. Is it the right time to buy? Five articles from todays headlines with different perspectives on what you should do.

New Book: “King of Eagles” The Most Remarkable Coin Ever Produced by the U.S. Mint has been authored by Dean Albanese. The story of the 1804 Proof Gold Eagle. Any fan of rare coins or US history will love this book (and the website KingOfEaglesCoin.com).

The United States Mint announced today that it will offer for sale 2009 one-ounce American Buffalo Proof Gold Coins and one-ounce American Eagle Platinum Proof Coins. BUt they also announced that they will not be offering One-ounce American Eagle Silver Proof Coin or American Eagle Gold Proof Coins.

Doug Winter has written numerous articles about Liberty Head gold coins that he thinks are clearly undervalued or underpriced. But he has never really written one that’s focused on early United States gold coins for one simple reason: it’s hard to brand coins that trade for $10,000 and up (in most cases) as “undervalued.” That said, there are a number of issues whose price levels do not make sense given their rarity.

The ANA Offers “Fundamentals of Digital Photography” Seminar in New Hampshire, October 24–25. At this two-day seminar, you can learn the basics of numismatic photography, under the instruction of a distinguished museum curator, Douglas Mudd.

Laura Sperber offers up her latest Legend Market Report – EARLY OCTOBER: We see things firming up. We were amazed at how many NEW collectors have bought from us since September 1. No, its not just the McClaren coins. They want nice coins. We have not heard anything about speculation. Most are starting sets.

Veteran rare coin dealer Paul Montgomery has created what he describes as “a new business model for professional numismatics” and has launched a new Web site (www.PaulMontgomeryonline.com) for his company, Paul Montgomery & Associates, LLC (PMA) of Katy, Texas.

Continuing with News across the web, we have a new posting of – Coin News Daily – providing short excerpts and links to other news across the web that we have found, and which you may find of interest. We also provide Daily Updates on Precious Metals in The Bullion Report, with Charts, Video Headlines and News.

You can access ALL the News Here

The United States Mint announced today that it will begin accepting orders for the one-ounce 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin at noon Eastern Time (ET) on October 29, 2009. Its price will be based on the United States Mint’s pricing structure for numismatic products containing precious metals. To view current pricing information, visit http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=goldplat.

As a result of the numismatic product portfolio analysis conducted late last year, fractional denominations of the American Buffalo Gold Proof and Uncirculated Coins, as well as the American Buffalo Four-Coin Set, are no longer offered for sale.

The obverse (heads side) and reverse (tails) designs of the American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin are based on the original 1913 Type I Buffalo nickel by James Earle Fraser. The coin’s obverse bears the profile of a Native American. Inscriptions on the obverse include LIBERTY, 2009, the initial F for Fraser and the W mint mark for the United States Mint at West Point. The coin’s reverse features the revered American Buffalo, also known as the bison. Inscriptions on the reverse are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, IN GOD WE TRUST, $50, 1OZ., and .9999 FINE GOLD.

Each 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin is presented in an elegant hardwood box with a matte finish and a faux leather inset. The coins are exhibited on a platform which can stand at an angle for display when the box is open. A custom-designed Certificate of Authenticity signed by the Director of the United States Mint is also included.

The United States Mint will accept orders for the 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin at its secure Web site http://www.usmint.gov/catalog or at the toll-free number 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). Please add $4.95 for shipping and handling. There is no mintage or household order limit for this product.

The United States Mint, created by Congress in 1792, is the Nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage. Its primary mission is to produce an adequate volume of circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The United States Mint also produces proof, uncirculated and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; and silver, gold and platinum bullion coins.

Note: To ensure that all members of the public have fair and equal access to United States Mint products, orders placed prior to the official on-sale date and time October 29, 2009, noon ET, shall not be deemed accepted by the United States Mint and will not be honored. For more information, please review the United States Mint’s Frequently Asked Questions, Answer ID #175.

Related posts:

1. United States Mint to Offer 2009 American Buffalo Proof Gold and American Eagle Platinum Proof Coins
2. United States Mint Launches 24-Karat Gold American Buffalo 2008 Celebration Coin on February 5
3. U.S. Mint Releases 24-Karat American Buffalo Gold Coins July 22

What’s New on CoinLink ……..

New Book: “King of Eagles” The Most Remarkable Coin Ever Produced by the U.S. Mint has been authored by Dean Albanese. The story of the 1804 Proof Gold Eagle. Any fan of rare coins or US history will love this book (and the website KingOfEaglesCoin.com).

The United States Mint announced today that it will offer for sale 2009 one-ounce American Buffalo Proof Gold Coins and one-ounce American Eagle Platinum Proof Coins. BUt they also announced that they will not be offering One-ounce American Eagle Silver Proof Coin or American Eagle Gold Proof Coins.

Doug Winter has written numerous articles about Liberty Head gold coins that he thinks are clearly undervalued or underpriced. But he has never really written one that’s focused on early United States gold coins for one simple reason: it’s hard to brand coins that trade for $10,000 and up (in most cases) as “undervalued.” That said, there are a number of issues whose price levels do not make sense given their rarity.

The ANA Offers “Fundamentals of Digital Photography” Seminar in New Hampshire, October 24–25. At this two-day seminar, you can learn the basics of numismatic photography, under the instruction of a distinguished museum curator, Douglas Mudd.

Laura Sperber offers up her latest Legend Market Report – EARLY OCTOBER: We see things firming up. We were amazed at how many NEW collectors have bought from us since September 1. No, its not just the McClaren coins. They want nice coins. We have not heard anything about speculation. Most are starting sets.

Veteran rare coin dealer Paul Montgomery has created what he describes as “a new business model for professional numismatics” and has launched a new Web site (www.PaulMontgomeryonline.com) for his company, Paul Montgomery & Associates, LLC (PMA) of Katy, Texas.

Continuing with News across the web, we have a new posting of – Coin News Daily – providing short excerpts and links to other news across the web that we have found, and which you may find of interest. We also provide Daily Updates on Precious Metals in The Bullion Report, with Charts, Video Headlines and News.

You can access ALL the News Here

Four numismatic news or coin blog articles are referenced on CoinNews every Tuesday and Thursday. These articles are not authored by us, but we recommend coin collectors read them for their unusual or interesting content. Here are today’s coin articles:

U.S. Attorney’s Office Files Civil Forfeiture Complaint in Case of 10 Double Eagle Gold Pieces
Department of Justice | PRNewswire

The Office of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against 10 1933 Double Eagle gold pieces, consistent with U.S. District Court Judge Legrome D. Davis’ order dated July 28, 2009. The pieces were surrendered to the U.S. Mint by the descendants of Israel Switt. In addition to forfeiture of the 1933 Double Eagles, the government asks the court to declare that, with the exception of a single 1933 Double Eagle monetized and auctioned for more than $7.5 million in 2002, all other 1933 Double Eagles are the lawful property of the United States government …

Go to story »   

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Read the rest of Coin News: 1933 Double Eagles, Treasure Hunt, Criswell & Confederate Money, Gobrecht Dollars (306 words)

This is an American Gold Eagle Investing Guide for the world’s most popular and traded gold coin for reasons of investing. There are 4 different sizes this coin is available in, the 1/10 oz, the ¼ oz, the ½ oz and the 1 oz. the face values are respectively $5, $10, $25, $50.

This coin is minted and backed by the U.S. government for weight and gold content. This is a 22 karat gold coin that is 0.9167% pure gold. The rest of it is silver and copper to make the coin more durable. This has been the norm with gold coins for over 350 years.

For gold investing purposes, the one ounce coin is the investor’s choice. This coin has a diameter of 32.70 mm and a thickness of 2.87 mm. The gross weight of the coin is 1.0909 troy ounce or 33.930 grams.

As an American Gold Eagle Investing Guide the U. S. Mint has made two different versions of this coin. From its inception in 1986 till 1991 the date on this coin was in roman numerals. From 1992 till the present day the date has been minted in Arabic numbers.

This is the American version of legal tender bullion gold coins. This coin can be purchased openly on the gold market. The U.S. mint does offer this coin as proofs. This can be either for coin collectors or for gold investing. The minting of a proof is slightly different than the standard American Gold Eagle Coin that most investors possess

When looking at the American Gold Eagle, investors guide will always include a portion about this great coin.

Read more….

Heritage Auction Galleries
Sept. 14, 2009
Written by John Dale

It’s as good a day to have a song stuck in my head, and this time, it’s “The Virginia Company” from the turn-off-your-mental-fact-checker-and-enjoy-the-ride Disney film Pocahontas. The Jamestown expedition never found any gold, either in the film or reality, but while eastern Virginia was not the promised land of gold, there was gold in the southeastern United States, most of it found in western North Carolina and northern Georgia, in areas corresponding with the southern part of the Piedmont region.

The twin gold rushes in the southeastern United States were the first in the still-young nation’s territory, beginning at least two decades before the much more famous discovery of gold in the then-California Territory. In fact, a number of the earliest California miners to arrive from outside the territory came from the gold fields of Georgia and North Carolina. The start of the private coinage associated with gold fields (commonly called “Territorial gold” collecting, though this term is less inclusive than “private gold issues” collecting) is also a Southeastern native, as Christopher Bechtler (or C. Bechtler, as his name appeared on the coins) opened his private mint in Rutherford County in western North Carolina in the early 1830s.

His gold dollars, such as the Kagin-1 30-grain piece coming up in our October 2009 Dallas Signature Auction, date from a period between 1831 and 1834. It’s well worth noting, as the cataloger does, that Mr. Bechtler’s gold dollars, which proudly state they are made from Carolina gold, were first struck a full 18 years before Congress, reacting to the news of California gold, authorized the gold dollar as an official U.S. coinage denomination.

The Bechtler coinages span across two decades, from 1831 to 1852, and the Bechtler mint was a family operation, with Christopher Bechtler’s son August, and a nephew also named Christopher, producing coins in $1, $2-1/2 and $5. They eventually struck both Carolina and Georgia gold, even after the opening of official U.S. Mints in Charlotte, North Carolina and Dahlonega, Georgia in 1838.

The Mulkin Collection, an upcoming featured collection for our October 2009 Dallas Signature Auction, contains the Kagin-1 C. Bechtler gold dollar as well as a whole host of other private gold and U.S. Mint issues. Keep watching the previews to see what’s been added to this exciting coin auction event… cataloging the Mulkin Collection alone has been quite the adventure!

(Postscript: I spend much of my time thinking about coins, but this past week, they weren’t much on my mind. I’ve been taking a vacation, visiting family and friends in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. Northern Indiana is where I grew up, in a fairly small town called Logansport surrounded by farms and fields. It used to have a railroad-themed fair each summer. They called it the Iron Horse Festival. Then most of the trains left town, and one year the Iron Horse disappeared from the Iron Horse Festival. Eventually, the festival left, and so did I.

Anymore, the trains pass through Logansport more often than I do, except in my memories. One weekend summer night, I was nodding off as I stared out the window of my mother’s minivan, watching passing headlights land on the tall corn along one side of the highway. The last song I remember on the radio, Jo Dee Messina was singing “Heads Carolina, Tails California.” That sounds just about right, doesn’t it?)

Only in America would there be cash in a cereal box as a prize. This is the case for the now famous 2000-P Sacagawea Cheerios Dollar. To a surprised coin collector, not only are these coins free with the purchase of a box of cheerios but they are unique and collector’s items.

Absent from all other Sacagawea dollars that were minted, the Cheerios version has diagonal lines that are absent on the other versions of the coin. This became a certified coin as the Cheerios pattern on June 20, 2005 by NGC.

For those that are into coin collecting, this particular coin is still available for purchase at a reasonable price. Like all U.S. Mint errors, this coin will do nothing but grow in value as time marches on. The total number of these special coins is unknown but a good estimate is 5,500.

The most unfortunate thing about this coin is that most Americans did not take interest in using it. Unlike the Canada dollar coin, that was used because the Canadian government stopped issuing their dollar bill. The American Government keep printing the one Dollar so using the coin never caught on. Mostly by force of habit, Americans did not use this dollar coin or any other in modern times. Because of this most were likely just tossed somewhere and forgotten about.

In a vain attempt to force the American public to use this new coin, the U.S. Post Office would give change out of their machines of this coin, but it still never caught on.

So if you have some of these particular coins, look for the 2000-P Sacagawea Cheerios Dollar in your collection. Most that have one do not know it.

Read more….

This week has seen more sideways trading as the markets continue to seek a clear and definitive direction. While some are claiming the worst is over, others like Bloomberg.com report that more than 300 banks could still fail across the nation, further affecting small businesses and consumers, the real drivers of the economy. This mixed review has left many precious metals investors highly concerned about the validity of the positive reports and leery of the potential backlash of over confidence in the stock markets.

APMEX’s “The Great American Coin Giveaway” is in full swing. In fact, APMEX shipped out free coins like Silver American Eagles, 1/10 oz Gold American Eagles and 1 oz Silver APMEX rounds to the lucky winners this week. There will be more awards in the coming weeks, but you need to register to have the opportunity to win. Register for APMEX’s Great American Coin Giveaway here. Congratulations to the WINNERS from the Great American Coin Give Away! You can view winners on the contest winners page!

Gold:
Spot Gold prices opened this week at $947.50. The high during the week was on Monday, August 17th at $947.70, while the low for the week was also on Monday, August 17th at $930.00. Gold ended the week up $6.70 at $954.20. This week 1 oz. Random Year Gold Krugerrands, 1 oz. Random Year Gold American Eagles and 1/10 oz. Random Year Gold American Eagles were in very high demand.

Silver:
Spot Silver prices opened this week at $14.73 and set its high for the week on Monday, August 17th, while the low for silver was occurred on Wednesday, August 19th, at $13.49. Silver ended the week down $0.50 at $14.23 This week 2009 1 oz. Silver Maple Leafs, 1 oz. Brilliant Uncirculated Silver American Eagles, and 1 oz. APMEX .999 Fine Silver Rounds sold in very strong quantities.

Platinum:
Spot Platinum prices opened this week at $1265.00, and ended the week down slightly at $1261.00. 1 oz. Pamp Suisse Platinum Bars, 2009 – 1 oz. Platinum Canadian Maple Leafs and 1 oz. Brilliant Uncirculated Platinum American Eagles continue to enjoy investors attentions.

Palladium:
Spot Palladium prices opened this week at $276.00, and ended the week with a gain of $10.25 at $286.25. Popular products this week were 1 oz. .999 Fine Pamp Suisse Palladium Bars, 1 oz. .999 Fine Credit Suisse Palladium Bars, and Kilo .999 Fine Pamp Suisse Palladium Bars.

Numismatics
Though it is a fixture on all American coins and currency now, IN GOD WE TRUST did not appear on American coinage until 1864 when it graced the Two-Cent Piece. This was due in large part to the strong religious beliefs of the time during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Mint Salmon P. Chase took it upon himself to affix some type of motto with the word “GOD” onto all coins. He was successful in doing so in 1865 when Congress, and the Mint Director allowed the motto to be placed on all silver and gold coins. Between the years of 1864 and 1909 it appeared on some coins while it did not appear on others. A few coins that it did appear on were the Shield Nickel , the $20, $10 and $5 Liberty Gold Coins, the Morgan Silver Dollar, the Barber Half Dollar, and the Barber Quarter Dollar. It appeared on the new Lincoln Cent in 1909 and has remained there ever since. In 1916 it became a permanent fixture on the dime and the quarter. The Jefferson Nickel, first minted in 1938, also bore that inscription. In 1956 IN GOD WE TRUST was declared the national motto of the United States. The motto first appeared on paper currency in 1957 with the one dollar silver certificate. Though it has met with some controversy, most Americans approve of the motto on United States money.

APMEX has now obtained the 2009 Denver Mint Professional Years Lincoln Cent. They are available as a single coin, as a roll, or as a 50 roll box ($25 Face Value). Next week, on August 26th, the Mint will release the 4 newly-designed 2009 Lincoln Cents in their original copper composition, just as they were released in 1909. These coins will be packaged as a four coin proof set. Their original composition was 95% copper, 3% zinc, and 2% tin alloy. Thomas Jurkowsky, Director of the U.S. Mint’s Office of Public Affairs, has stated that the sets are unlimited. The Mint has not yet disclosed a price.