Another uninspiring week of numbers appear in the latest US Mint sales report as collectors wait for more 2010-dated offerings. There are a few highlights worth discussing, both good and bad.
The first batch of 2010 Kennedy Half Dollars numbers have been released. The 50c bags and rolls were launched on January 29. A total of 7,559 of the two-roll sets and 1,237 of the 200-coin bags were sold by January 31. Each product has respective prices of $32.95 and $130.95, and may be ordered directly from the United States Mint Web site.
First Spouse Coins took a big step back for a second week. 240 of the 24-karat gold coins were listed as purchased in the prior report. The latest weekly gains stand at a NEGATIVE 188. Two of the 2009 First Spouse Gold Coins were the major culprits. The Margaret Taylor Gold proof and uncirculated options were adjusted downward by 59 and 235, respectively. Usually such a change indicates a sizable return or accounting corrections. [click to continue…]
While gold and silver prices have been gyrating dramatically during the past few months, one collecting area that has remained solid surrounds Proof and Mint sets, with steadily increasing demand for 2008-S Proof sets providing some buyers with easy profits.
On a weekly basis, prices for a specific set can ebb and flow based on demand from major wholesalers putting together quantities for promotions. Once the orders are filled ...
Full Article: 2008 Proof sets popular - Coin Values
Last spring, while researching recent-date Canadian 5-cent pieces for a study still in progress, I decided to also check for centralized doubled dies. Centralized doubled dies are of the sort that have become the standard on U.S. coins since the single-squeeze hubbing process replaced the old multiple hubbing process in the late 1980s.
It seemed to me that since Canada switched over to the single-squeeze hubbing process (known in Canada as restrain hubbing) in the late 1970s that they too may be producing centralized doubled dies that ...
Full Article: Canada 2006 5 Cents All Have Doubled Dies - Numismaster
Silver coins, while certainly not the main focus of the United States Mint 2009 Annual Report, did figure prominently in many of the sales results shown within its pages.
Almost without a doubt, the insatiable appetite for precious metals displayed by investors last year created the biggest impact on US Mint operations. With demand for the American Eagle Silver Bullion coins at record levels for the 2009 calendar year, other product lines were adversely affected.
According to the Mint's sales report, an amazing 28,766,500 one ounce silver Eagles were sold last year, smashing the previous annual record created just the year before by over ...
Full Article: US Mint 2009 Annual Report: Silver Coins Sales - SilverCoinsToday.com
Mint production continues to slide. The figures for January, while up from zero in December, show that only 218,410,000 coins were struck.
The bulk of the mintage was in dollar coins that the public doesn’t want or need and new one-cent coins that the public does not need but collectors are anxious to find because they have a new reverse design ...
Full Article: 'Generation Billions' meets downsized mintages - Buzz with Dave Harper
Czech collector Marek Satka has built a 1.3m long model of Titanic made of 25,500 old Czech 10-heller, 20-heller and 50-heller coins.
His work on the Titanic lasted 16 months. Satka, aged 28, first collected the coins when they were still valid. Being of little value, people often wanted to get rid ...
Full Article: Coin collector constructs Titanic model - Prague Daily Monitor
