March 23 (Bloomberg) -- A proof set of 14 coins made to commemorate the 1876 U.S. centennial sold for $548,000 today at Doyle New York. The coins, which carried a high estimate of $300,000, have a face value of $43. The coins drew the top price among 700 lots from the estate of Samuel Mills Damon, a Hawaiian banker who died in 1924. The set, along with 26 other lots, was bought by one of Damon's descendants. ``This is really something that should be in Hawaii to represent the Damon family and its legacy,'' said Joanne Fujita of Honolulu, who bid on behalf of a Damon family member

FORBES New York - Speculating on commodities is a great way to lose money. And gold prices, at a recent $551 per ounce, aren't far from a 20-year high. A contrarian could be forgiven for taking a pass on gold. Then again, gold bulls don't have to work too hard to make their case. Congress just raised the U.S. debt ceiling to $9 trillion, and earlier in March, , the Department of Commerce announced that the U.S.'s current-account deficit (the combined balances on trade in goods and services, income and transfers) reached a record $805 billion over the last year.

(Dallas, TX) – One of the numismatic profession’s most respected leaders, Todd L. Imhof, has been named a Vice President of Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas (www.HeritageAuctions.com), the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Imhof, a co-founder of Pinnacle Rarities in Lakewood, Washington, is a former Chairman of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA) and a member of the Consumer Protection Committee of the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG).

An uncirculated 1920 Australia gold sovereign from the Sydney Mint, only the fourth known and valued at A$500,000 (U.S.$372,146), is the highlight of the upcoming Kurt Jaggard Monetary Auctions sale April 11 in Sydney, Australia. The coin was last purchased in 1979 for a mere A$4,250 (U.S.$3,163). The sale takes place immediately following the Sydney Australian Numis-matic Dealers’ Association Coin Show with viewing Monday, April 10, and the auction the next day.

I don’t really want to write this column. However, even editors have to do some things they don’t like to do. My professional judgment tells me I must. By now you have had a week to digest the point and counterpoint arguments put before you in the March 28 issue by former American Numismatic Association Gov. Walter Ostromecki and ANA President William Horton.I did not seek out a column from Ostromecki because my readers basically felt enough had been done on the topic last fall.

POLITICS and coin collecting are worlds apart, and ne'r the twain should meet. If we haven't coined that adage yet, we should. Unfortunately Ohio, where "Coingate" has been unraveling on a daily basis for the past 10 months, is heading for another crossing of the two. Politics and coins will be on the grand stage at the end of March when the Buckeye State begins the liquidation of its holdings in the now-infamous Capital Coin Fund Ltd. II through a sealed-bid sale.

(Newport Beach, California) - The top two finest known sets of mint state Eisenhower dollars (1971 - 1978) will be displayed by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, June 1 - 3, 2006. "We had excellent reaction from collectors and dealers when we displayed the finest known set at the FUN show in January. It includes several spectacularly toned specimens from the so-called 'Peacock Hoard,' and they'll now be displayed in Long Beach along with amazingly high-grade coins from the number two Ike set," said Ron Guth, PCGS President.

The great achievements of South Africa should be honoured, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said before striking a gold coin commemorating his Nobel peace price at the SA Mint, in Midrand, on Tuesday. "We ought to be celebrating some of our great national achievements. We are too prone as South African to sell ourselves short," Tutu said. "We have so much about which to be proud. We ought to be a country that can show the world how to be compassionate."

1818 ½ Reale is One of the Oldest Texas Coins Known to Exist - Dallas, Texas: The history of Texas is long and storied. Alonso Alvarez de Pineda mapped the coastline of the land that would become Texas as early as 1519, and after that for many years the land was claimed at one time or another by both the Spanish and the French. 1682 saw the establishment of the first Spanish Mission, near present-day El Paso, and almost two hundred years after de Pineda’s voyage, the San Antonio de Valera Mission, whose chapel was named The Alamo was built in 1718.

An ingenious counterfeit-coin scam has been rumbled by scientists in Italy. But no one is going to jail, because the forgers lived more than 2,000 years ago. Giuseppe Giovannelli of the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and his colleagues took a close look at what seemed to be a silver coin minted in southern Italy in the third century BC. It turned out to be a lump of lead with a thin silver coating.This is not the first example of counterfeiting in the ancient world...

The discovery of the first 25-cent replacement Military Payment Certificate from Series 591 was reported on the cover of the February Bank Note Reporter. It was a stunning discovery that has the MPC collecting community buzzing. Now we should look at the discovery in a little greater depth. Ninety different Military Payment Certificates were issued in 13 series from 1946 through 1973. Replacement notes were also issued, as we would expect of modern printing processes. The trouble is that there are very few records about the number of replacements printed, much less issued.

High profits for fraudsters make forging fake euro coins a lucrative option, the European commission revealed on Tuesday. - EU officials and currency enforcers estimate that faking a €2 piece – the most common counterfeit coin – costs only €0.20. Lower enforcement levels for coinage as compared to notes – coins are checked only in banks, with varying success – make faking hard currency a growing choice for crooks.

Based on recent auction records and dealer bids, values for about 99 percent of all issues and all grades of Flowing Hair, Draped Bust and Capped Bust half dollars have been substantially raised in our recent update of this series.Our new values were then immediately overshadowed by the results of an auction of a large run of high-grade half dollars from these years by American Numismatic Rarities at the mid-March Baltimore show. About 40 different issues, ranging from Good to Very Fine for the earliest dates, and Extremely Fine to Mint State 65 for the other dates, sold at prices near our new listings, but a large number of them also sold for strong premiums over our values.

The price of gold and silver struck new multi-decade highs in Asian trading hours Thursday as investors covered positions and the U.S. dollar weakened. Spot silver was trading at $11.24 a troy ounce at 0700 GMT, its highest level in 22 years as investors continued to focus on the implications of Tuesday's partial approval of what would be the first ever silver exchange traded fund. Further driving sentiment were reports China's Shanghai Gold Exchange hopes to launch the country's first-ever spot silver trading on the bourse in July this year.

Dallas, Texas: In the parlance of numismatists, a "mule" is "a coin or note with a mismatched obverse and reverse." This may mean different types, different denominations, or even different countries. It is an exceptionally rare error, and specimens of this type are exceptionally prized by collectors. "This incredible error, which hails from Part Two of the Bellaire Collection, somehow escaped the scrutiny of Mint employees," said Greg Rohan, President of Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries. "We are uncertain how a Lincoln cent obverse die was paired with a Roosevelt dime reverse, but this coin proves that it happened."

Everybody loves a great story. Coin Collectors love a great story about coins, and there are thousands of them. What is even better to a Coin Collector is a great story, involving coins, and the story is true. This is a real-life, silver dollar story about a man and his coins. The man's name was LaVere Redfield, and his coins have become known as the Redfield Hoard.

This special 25-cent issue is the second-ever coloured circulation Canadian coin. It went into production at the Winnipeg facility on November 7, 2005 - and the first 20,000 coins minted were set aside for commemorative coin folders. ThisCoin "Creating a Future Without Breast Cancer" and other inspiring coin products will help to spread a message of hope and support, and honours the courage and determination of everyone fighting the disease or searching for a cure.

The price of gold has hit its highest level for 25 years, reaching more than $588 an ounce. - Investors believe that precious metals are a sound investment and could outperform stocks and bonds. The price of spot gold rose to $588.70 an ounce before settling later on Thursday at $587.45. Gold's performance mirrors rises by other precious metals. Silver saw its highest level in 22 years, while platinum reached an all-time high.