Mark DiOrio had been to Philadelphia’s Independence Mall before, but had never gone on a tour of Independence Hall. So, after dropping off family members at Philadelphia International Airport recently, the Bridgewater, Somerset County, man stopped on his way home to take the tour.

“I just got done reading 1776,” (by David McCullough), said DiOrio, 45. “I figured I’d stop off and put it in perspective. I was never in this building before. It’s a first time for me.”

This year marks the first time in many years that construction is not impeding the view along Independence Mall. Visitors can see from Independence Hall north to the National Constitution Center, along with the U.S. Mint and Liberty Bell Center.

NEW YORK - An ornate gold medal depicting an eagle, commissioned by George Washington and later presented to the Marquis de Lafayette, is to be sold at auction later this year.

Sotheby’s auction house made the announcement Thursday, on the 250th anniversary of Lafayette’s birth. The gold and enamel medal — showing an eagle surrounded by a laurel wreath — was designed as a symbol of the ideals of the Revolutionary War. It is estimated to bring up to $10 million at the Dec. 11 sale.

After Washington’s death, the medal was presented to Lafayette by Washington’s family; it was consigned to the auction by Lafayette’s great-great granddaughter, Baronne Meunier du Houssoy, of France.

“This medal is a treasure from the age of heroes; one of those magical artifacts that burns through time and transports us to a moment that changed the world forever,” David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby’s, said in a statement. “Not only is it a precious and unique work of art, but a link between two men who, against the most improbable odds, managed to change the course of history.”

CHEYENNE — It will take the super-fast presses at the U.S. Mint just 10 weeks to produce all of the roughly 500 million Wyoming quarters that will ever be produced.But it took more than two years and hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes work to get the quarter ready for the minting process.

Roughly 3,200 Wyoming residents contributed by submitting design ideas. A committee appointed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal honed the concept, while the governor made the final choice.

The process yielded a design that has been described as “clean,” “simple” and “elegant”by some and unfortunate by those who think the bucking horse and rider image does not accurately represent the state.

By World Coin News

The British Royal Mint launched an open competition in August 2005 to find new designs for the reverse side of six of the United Kingdom’s circulating coins - from the one penny to the fifty pence.

Just over 4,000 designs were received from 526 designers the highest response to any public competition to redesign the United Kingdom coinage, including that organized at the time of decimalisation.