WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission met at the Library of Congress here Monday to discuss plans for celebrating an important and impending anniversary, just a week before Presidents Day and a day after President Lincoln’s 197 th birthday. Foot-deep snow did delay this meeting of historical significance. It offered a perceptible mixture of excitement and gravitas, underscoring the opportunity before the commission and the desire to do the events leading up to the 200 th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in 1809 justice.

The Reserve Bank (New Zealand) says new 50, 20 and 10 cent coins will be introduced on 31 July 2006 -- and that there will be a transition period when both old and new coins will be legal tender. In what stands to be a potential nightmare for coin-operated vending machine operators, the new coins will be both smaller and lighter than the ones they replace, while the five cent coin is set for the chop.

Monday, Feb. 20 is what's called "Presidents' Day". Originally it was for honoring George Washington but then we wanted to honor Abraham Lincoln, too, and their birthdays were both in February so we combined them. Presidents’ Day has changed again because now it's for honoring all the presidents we've ever had. I'm not so sure about that.Considering how much faith we have in the democratic way we elect our leaders, it's disappointing to look at some of the leaders we've elected. Even the word we use to describe them as public officials is kind of disparaging.

ARTICLE - Celtic to Decimalisation, by Ken Elks. - Roman coins circulated in Britain from Celtic times, even before the conquest by the emperor Claudius in A.D.43. Following the occupation normal Roman coins were then used for some 250 years before Britain had its own mint. However, the Romans issued many coins with reference to Britain, including gold coins of Claudius showing a triumphal arch inscribed DE BRITANN, commemorating the conquest. The initial phase of the conquest established a frontier from roughly the Severn Estuary to the Wash. The Britons were mostly allowed to retain their rulers, serving as client-kings of the Romans.

Dallas, Texas: "This is the only known die pairing of this truly memorable Dahlonega gold dollar," said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auction Galleries, "made even more remarkable when one considers that the '58-D is one of the four or five rarest dates from this mint in high grades." "From a production of just 3,477 pieces, presently there are about 50 Mint State examples certified by both services combined." This is the finest-known example of this rare issue."

Pictorial The gold, at center,silver, at right, and bronze medals of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic games are seen in Turin,Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006. The design of the medals is inspired by the shapes of historical Italian coins and rings, and the hole at the center of the medals represents the open space of a piazza, an Italian square.

THE VALUE of €500 notes in circulation has soared to €185 billion in the four years since the euro was introduced as the high-denomination bill becomes the banknote of choice for international criminals. Strong demand for the €500 note led the European Central Bank almost to double the value of the bills that it printed to €95 billion last year, from €51.8 billion in 2004. No new €500 notes had been printed in the previous two years. After the addition of 294 million new €500 notes in the past two years, the denomination now accounts for the most value in circulation of any euro note.

UBS is a wealth management company providing services on a worldwide basis. This very large, successful firm was previously known as the Union Bank of Switzerland. It issues a beautiful bilingual stock certificate – one certificate throughout the world regardless of where issued. With obvious Swiss heritage, the certificate displays an image of their legendary hero, William Tell.

Dale Friend Collection of Mint State Liberty Nickels To Be Sold in March - ANR’s offering of the New York Connoisseur Collection, slated for March 14-15 in Baltimore, will include the finest PCGS Registry Set of Liberty Nickels ever formed. With an average grade over MS-66, the superb collection formed by Dale Friend focuses on superb visual appeal in addition to technical merits. Of the 33 dates in the collection, two-thirds are finest or tied for finest certified by PCGS and none were graded lower than MS-65.

Strong bidding on high-priced lots helped Ira and Larry Goldberg realize $10.5 million at the firm’s Pre-Long Beach Auction. Held Feb. 5-8, the sale featured an 1879 Stella, graded Proof-65 Deep Cameo by Professional Coin Grading Service, that fetched $241,500. Also making noise was an 1877 pattern $50 half union, graded Proof-64 by Numismatic Guaranty Corp., that brought in $230,000.“The surprise of the sale,” said Ira Goldberg, “was the strength of expensive key coins. Interest was keen on coins worth over $50,000. Both Stellas, the half union, the Schoolgirl pattern dollar, and early Seated half dollars all brought six figures.”

Composition of the dime, quarter dollar and half dollar once a hotly debated issue - The composition of our dime, quarter dollar and half dollar are taken for granted today but at one time the composition of these coins was a hotly contested issue. In the years between 1960 and 1964, the rising coinage output at the Mint had increased that agency's silver usage from 42 million ounces in 1960 to 144 million ounces in 1964, and it seemed that if nothing were done the Mint's annual consumption of the precious metal would hit 300 million ounces in the near future.

COLUMBUS — A year ago, Tom Noe was a high-level Taft appointee and a go-to Republican fund-raiser who vacationed in palatial waterfront homes and was a regular at the exclusive Inverness Club. But a special audit released yesterday alleges that part of his lavish and charitable lifestyle was a mirage, bankrolled with money from the $50 million he controlled in two rare-coin investment funds for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.Without the conversion of the state’s money with the help of “phantom” coin deals, auditors said Mr. Noe did not have the cash to afford his lofty status in the community.

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson's resignation may help new Fed chief Ben Bernanke win support at the central bank for a numerical inflation goal. Ferguson, who quit yesterday effective April 28 after eight years on the Fed's Board of Governors, opposes an inflation target, partly because it may limit the central bank's flexibility. Bernanke's support for such a move has been a hallmark of his work as an economist.

A young doctor died a sudden death in Sweden lately. He quickly succumbed to cancer. The circumstances of his death are still enshrouded in mystery. He is said to have found a treasure-trove several months prior to his demise. One of the coins was engraved with an ancient rune meaning “need.” The doctor did not believe his friends who had repeatedly warned him that the coin with the rune was in fact a curse against a finder.

Extraordinary million pound collection of ancient gold coins comes to the market with Bonhams - A stunning hoard of gold coins, the Clarendon Collection - mainly English Hammered and Milled Coins covering the spectrum of the Kings and Queens of England - will be sold by Glendinings the coin division of Bonhams on March 28 and October 17. These fine coins have been collected over the last 30 years and in the majority of cases were bought from named coin collections such as Lockett, Norweb and Beresford-Jones. They vary in price from £10 to £10,000 plus and are a mix of fine to extremely fine in quality.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio has arranged to sell a number of rare U.S. coins and $10,000 bills on behalf of the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for at least $7.5 million, bringing a $1 million profit, according to state Atty. Gen. Jim Petro. He added that he is confident the BWC will recoup its original investment of $50 million in rare coins, currency, and other collectibles.The original investment in the coins and currency to be sold was about $6.5 million from 2002 to 2005.

The stage is set for selection of the Coin of the Year after a first round of balloting resulted in 10 finalists. The current contest, sponsored by World Coin News, is for coins released in 2004. Unlike recent years, no countries won more than once in individual categories.The United States $1 commemorative marking the 125th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s electric light invention (KM-362) was named Most Historically Significant coin. Alderney’s £50 silver kilo coin of the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion (KM-40), was named Best Contemporary Event coin.

A 100-lot mail-bid sale estimated at $7 million of mostly slabbed, high-grade Mint State coins from the Capital Coin Fund formerly administered by Tom Noe will be auctioned off next month. William King, of Development Specialists Inc., is overseeing liquidation of the coin fund assets. “The word we’ve been getting is that this is a good time in the coin market,” he said. “We expect the items in this sale to be very well received.”The complete list of coins is available to view online at www.frostbrowntodd.com/coins

Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman go back in time to study the currency of different periods in American history in their new book 100 Greatest American Currency Notes. Published by Whitman, the coffee-table-sized book is 224 pages long and includes full-color photographs and stories for every note covered by the authors. 100 Greatest American Currency Notes provides a guided tour of the paper money of Colonial America, the Continental Congress, the early states, the Confederacy, old banks and private issuers.

CHINA has such a huge stash of other countries' money that it could, in theory, hand out bonuses equaling half a year's wages to all 770 million of its famously low-paid workers. The country will soon release statistics showing it has passed Japan as the biggest holder of foreign currency the world has ever seen. Its reserves already exceed $800 billion and are on track to reach $1 trillion by the end of the year, up from just under $4 billion in 1989. But China, it turns out, has held a similar position before.

Collectors can trace development of cent compositions with nine coins - One of the great benefits of collecting U.S. coins is that you, the collector, can decide what to collect, with only your interest, patience and budget limiting your hobby choices. Some collectors spend decades and tens of thousands of dollars building a focused, specialized collection, such as die varieties of Capped Bust half dollars. Such a collection could easily contain hundreds of pieces, especially if encompassing die states and die stages in addition to the varieties.

As we close in on nearly four years of a bull market that has carried values continually higher across virtually all U.S. coin series and grade ranges, buyers and sellers are facing fundamental market changes that often require tough decisions. Of course, the biggest question overhanging the market is: How long will this bull run last? The answer is: If we stick with it long enough, we'll find out - it's an unknown. The future of this market is a very serious subject for buyers and sellers. Not only for collectors, in deciding whether to sell a lifelong collection, or whether to continue buying at these levels, but it is a serious question for dealers, as well.

Reasons, explanations and wild guesses buzz around like flies on roadkill. For economist and layman alike, ultimate answers for gold’s resurgence stay stubbornly out of reach. However, true to their calling, analysts, asset managers and brokers all advance their wisdom, and having digested their smorgasbord of opinion, readers remain just as confused, but quite entertained and otherwise educated, nonetheless.