An example of the first variety of the first U.S. gold $10 coin sold for $402,500 in Stack’s May 21-22 auction of the Minot collection, a sale that totaled about $5,939,000.

The 1795 $10, classified as Bass-Dannreuther 1 and Taraszka 1, with small eagle reverse and 13 leaves below the eagle, was graded MS-63 by Professional Coin Grading Service with Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker.

Stack’s catalogers traced the eagle’s pedigree to their May 1970 sale of the Gaston DiBello collection as well as a July 1983 auction.

The following comments were included in the catalog description of the coin: “The planchet quality is superb. … The hair details of Miss Liberty are above average, with most having minute details, and the stars are as nice as can be found on an eagle of this year. The eagle is very well struck. … This design is particularly attractive, was used only for a few years, and was inspired by an ancient onyx cameo. … To the preceding can be added superb eye appeal.”

Second-highest realization of the sale was $120,750, bid for a bronze cast of Hermon MacNeil’s approved obverse design for the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter design. It includes design elements that did not appear on the issued Standing Liberty quarter.

The cast has dimensions of about 6 by 5-5/16 inches, the design portion having a diameter of 5-1/8 inches. It weighs 358.64 grams.

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By: Deepcaster - www.deepcaster.com

That there is a Crisis in the Silver Market is clear.

Deepcaster recommends that all those who do not believe there is such a Crisis try to take delivery of Physical Silver.

Attempting to take delivery of Physical Silver will likely provide a dose of Reality Therapy. Delivery delays are common, with delays for delivery of 100 oz. Bars running 6 to 8 weeks, for example.

Consider the following:

Already the U.S. Mint has sold twice the amount of Silver Eagle coins as it did last year, and 2008 is not yet half over. The Mint is rationing the available coins to just a few dealers.

The demand for Silver Eagles is much greater than the supply. Therefore, there are delivery delays, otherwise known as shortages.

Silver coin dealers around the world have depleted or exhausted inventories.

A major mint, the Perth Mint in western Australia, and a precious metal refiner, AGR Matthey, have, for example, made some disturbing disclosures (and thanks to Jason Hommel for identifying them):

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Escala Group (ESCL.PK), a global collectibles company in stamps, coins, precious metals trading, and art and antiques, today announced that it has entered into agreements to settle the securities class action lawsuit and shareholder derivative action commenced against the Company and certain of its current and former officers and directors in May 2006.

As part of the settlement of the derivative action, the Company will recover $5.50 million from insurers on behalf of certain of the named defendants on both proceedings. The Company has also agreed to adopt certain corporate governance policies and procedures, and to pay all court-approved attorneys’ fees, up to a maximum of $925,000, together with approved expenses not to exceed $70,000. The Company’s insurer will fund $475,000 of these amounts.

The proposed settlement of the class action litigation provides for the Company to contribute an aggregate of $6 million in cash and 4 million newly issued shares of its stock (subject to increase under certain circumstances) to a settlement fund for the benefit of the class. A substantial portion of the cash contribution will be funded by insurers. If approved by the Court, all claims against the Company and its current and former officers and directors will be dismissed with prejudice and without any admission of liability or wrongdoing.

The Company’s net cash payment obligations under the proposed settlements, after taking into account recoveries, is approximately $1 million.

The agreements are subject to certain conditions, including approval by the court and by the trustees of Afinsa Bienes Tangibles, S.A. and its subsidiary Auctentia, S.A., the Company’s majority shareholders. Both companies, which are named defendants in the litigation, are in bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. and Spain. The Company understands that the trustees are seeking approval of the settlement under applicable bankruptcy laws.

Antonio Arenas, Executive Chairman, said, “We are pleased to have reached a mutually satisfactory settlement in principle with the plaintiffs and we are hopeful that the settlements will be finalized shortly. “ (more…)

By David Morgan Founder of the Silver-Investor.com website

In 2001 I was asked to write the “Ten Rules of Silver Investing” for the investing rules book published in Great Britain in 2001. The complete title of this book is The Global-Investor Book of Investing RulesInvaluable Advice from 150 Master Investors. My portion is available for free to anyone on the Internet willing to sign up here

. In this week’s article, let us examine Silver Investing Rule Number Six.

What’s yours is yours - so keep it that way.

While it is wise to keep some of your silver where you can get to it easily, it is also important to keep the bulk of your metal in a safe placeespecially as your holdings increase. However, if you establish an account with a brokerage warehouse or other public storage facility, you should make sure your holdings are kept segregated and that you can inspect them when you wish.

Anyone who has studied the Silver-Investor.com Web site knows there is far more paper silver than real silver in the world. In last week’s article, we discussed the fact that there is 100 times as much paper silver as there is actual metal. Certainly, I am not the only silver commentator pounding the table on this point, and we will look at a few more in this article.

In fact, my primary premise is that the real sustained move up in silver will not occur until the market recognizes this fact. You certainly can participate in alternative precious metals investments such as pool accounts or options, but remember, you are dealing in the paper world and should expect settlement in paper not in metal. I wish to be crystal clear: fully paid COMEX warehouse certificates held by you in your name do comprise real silver.

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