Welcome back to Something About Coins! New platinum coins will launch tomorrow, and premium values for older coins look good. Sales for other 2010 coins and sets seem to be doing fine for this time of year according to the Mint's sales report. Newly designed coins come out every year, so the Mint is looking for new coin artists to provide some variety. Those topics and a few more are discussed in the articles linked in today's blog. Enjoy!
Platinum Eagle Proof Values Robust, CoinNews.net
The United States Mint will launch the 2010 American Platinum Eagle Proof Coin on Thursday, August 12, 2010. The release will mark the first Platinum Eagles available from the U.S. Mint since last year's proof was issued on December 3, 2009. Collectors wasted no time in obtaining those strikes as the entire 8,000 mintage was sold in just over a week. Several factors undoubtedly played into the fast sell-out and will also likely affect sales of this year's 2010 proof platinum issue — as well as their later values ... Click for coin article
US Mint Sales: Silver Eagles Top 22M, Quarters Cooled, CoinCollectingNews.org
U.S. Mint collector coins went through a bit of a summer sales dip following the week after the new Yosemite quarter was released. The next big coin launch will occur on Thursday when the Mint issues the 2010 proof Platinum Eagle, but not much was on collectors' radars between August 2 and August 8. Bullion Silver Eagles, the 2010 Proof Set, and the 2010 Mint set put up solid unit gains, but there were few other products making huge movements. Authorized purchasers pulled another 592,000 American Silver Eagles ... Click for coin article
United States Mint Announces New Artistic Infusion Program Artists, USMint.gov
The United States Mint today announced that seven new artists have been selected to participate in the Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) as Associate Designers. The AIP began in 2003 to help enrich and invigorate the design of U.S. coins and medals. A call for artists was issued August 28, 2009, seeking up to 10 associate designers to supplement the current pool of artists under contract in the AIP. Applications were accepted on a rolling basis with three deadlines. The United States Mint received ... Click for coin article
Coin Monday: To Be Continued?, HeritageAuctions.blogspot.com
(As you will read below, which I will let JDB explain in more detail, the Heritage blog is going to be taking a sabbatical. It is only fitting that John be the one to sign off, for the time being at least, as he's held down the majority of the writing for the better part of the last year. For that, and for his continuing good work and insight in all the aspects of his work, he has my thanks, as do those of you who have read this blog over the last two years. Best, Noah.) This will be the last time you see me in this space for a while ... Click for coin article
Why the US keeps minting coins people hate and won't use, BBC.co.uk
In hidden vaults across the country, the US government is building a stockpile of $1 coins. The hoard has topped $1.1bn - imagine a stack of coins reaching almost seven times higher than the International Space Station - and the piles have grown so large the US Federal Reserve is running out of storage space. Americans won't use the coins, preferring $1 notes. But the US keeps minting them anyway, and the Fed estimates it already has enough $1 coins to last the next 10 years. And at the current rate, the inventory will grow to ... Click for coin article
Three-cent victim of size, metal bias, NumismaticNews.net
For many years there has been an obvious bias among collectors in favor of coins made of precious metals and coins of large diameter. The winners of this set of preferences have been coins like Morgan dollars, Walking Liberty halves and American Eagles. In the case of the silver American Eagle, it copied the basic size of the Morgan dollar and swiped the design of the Walker. To be technically correct, it should be noted that the Morgan dollar is ... Click for coin article
USA Coin Album: Favorite Numismatic Anomalies, Part I, NGCcoin.com
This month David W. Lange reviews numismatic anomalies, items of trivia observed over a lifetime of collecting and studying US coinage. Though the US Mint has strived to maintain absolute consistency in its coinage over the past century, there still have been a number of odd or irregular coins issued in that time. I'm not speaking of popular varieties such as repunched mintmarks and doubled dies; instead, I want to address more significant variations that required a conscious decision on the part of one or more persons to affect. Longtime ... Click for coin article
Thanks for reading!
