Gold jumped 3.3 percent, capping the biggest weekly gain since July 2006, as the dollar’s decline to a record against the euro and climbing energy costs sparked demand for the metal as a hedge against inflation.

The price of gold has surged 29 percent this year, and the dollar is down 10 percent to the lowest ever against a basket of six currencies, including the euro and the yen. Crude oil closed above $98 a barrel, and heating oil climbed to a record.

“With the dollar hitting all-time lows, it proves supportive for gold,” said William O’Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. “The basic uptrend in gold is going to continue.”

Gold futures for December delivery gained $26.10 to $824.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal surged 4.8 percent this week, the most since the week ended July 14, 2006. The percentage gain today was the biggest for a most-active contract since Feb. 21.

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Since the introduction of the Notes Registry at the end of August, interest has been growing. We currently have more than 200 sets that have been created by our users. Now, PMG has released a Colonial and Continental Currency category with numerous sets for the collectors of these unusual notes. These sets were created using the Friedberg arrangement from “Paper Money of the United States – 18th Edition.”

Beginning with Colonial Currency and continued with Continental Currency, which was issued in 11 series by the Continental Congress to finance the Revolutionary War, these early notes established our country’s financial separation from England.

The Colonial notes show how we adapted the denominations of our heritage (Spanish Milled dollars, British Shillings and Pence) but by printing our own money we were attempting to distinguish ourselves from these countries while still keeping trade active.

These notes are collectible for a number of reasons including their rarity, the unique designs and the historical signatures that adorn many of the notes as they were often hand-numbered and hand-signed.

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The Museum of American Finance is currently preparing its new home in the former headquarters of the Bank of New York at 48 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. The Museum will occupy 30,000 sq. ft. of space in the building, including the majestic grand mezzanine banking hall, which will be utilized as exhibition space, and two additional floors featuring a state-of-the-art financial education center, auditorium, and research facility.

The Museum plans to open on Wall Street in January 2008 (with administrative offices moving in the fall of 2007). In conjunction with the announcement of the move, was an official name change from the “Museum of American Financial History” to the “Museum of American Finance.”

The Museum’s exhibitions will use the collections to tell the stories of American finance and by doing so help inspire people to take control of their own financial lives. The permanent collection contains more than 10,000 documents and artifacts and is constantly growing.

The Museum holds one of the largest collections of 18th century financial documents as well as many of the papers relating to the Supreme Court Case Gibbons - v - Ogden, the decision which established free competition for interstate commerce. The Museum collects stock and bond certificates from the Gilded Age, including companies such as U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, and the New York Central Railroad.

Collection highlights include the oldest known photograph of Wall Street, a U.S. Treasury Bond issued to George Washington with the first known use of the dollar sign, a 1791 letter from Alexander Hamilton to the Bank of New York urging the bank to continue purchasing Treasury Bonds from the first bond issue, a stock ticker from 1867, a ticker tape from the morning of October 29, 1929, and the archives and order books from the American Bank Note Company.

Photos used with permission and courtesy of CoinWorks

The 1930 Proof Australian copper penny, the world’s “most valuable” copper coin, will appear alongside a range of Australia’s rare coins at the Dollars & Dumps Exhibition display Tuesday November 27th- Friday November 30th at a historic ANZ bank branch in Collins Street in Melbourne, Australia.

One of just six of its kind, the Proof 1930 Penny, was created as a work of art not intended as currency, exhibition coordinator Belinda Downie said.

“The original intention of striking a proof coin was to go in government vaults to preserve for history,” said Ms Downie, managing director of Melbourne-based coin dealer Coinworks.

“A lot of the mints would send their proof coins overseas, almost like a showpiece … not advertising as such, but to brag……For decades, Australia’s Proof 1930 Penny has always been the world’s most expensive copper coin.”

The private owner of the coin to be exhibited has been approached to sell, but declined, Ms Downie said. All six Proof 1930 Pennies that were created are worth between $1 million and $1.2 million.

One is held by the British Museum, a second by the Museum of Victoria, and a third by the Art Gallery of South Australia, according to the Coinworks website. The others are held by private collectors. (more…)