Arizona Quarter Launch at State Capitol among First Places for Public to Get New Quarters

The State Capitol Senate Lawn in Phoenix will be the site of the Arizona Quarter Launch on Monday, June 2, 2008, at 10 a.m. (Arizona Time). United States Mint Director Ed Moy will join Governor Janet Napolitano in hosting the festivities. The public and news media are invited to this free event which celebrates the 48th commemorative quarter-dollar in the popular 50 State Quarters® Program.

The Arizona quarter goes into circulation nationwide the same day. After the ceremony, the public may exchange their bills for $10 rolls of shiny, new Arizona quarters at the event. Each child under 18 attending the launch will receive a free Arizona quarter.

On the eve of the launch, the public and news media are invited to a free Coin Collectors Forum in the Carnegie Center from 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Arizona Time) on Sunday, June 1, 2008 hosted by United States Mint Director Ed Moy. The forum will provide an opportunity for the public to let United States Mint officials know what citizens would like to see on U.S. coinage in the future.

Arizona was the 48th state to be admitted into the Union on February 14, 1912. The 50 State Quarters® Program honors the states in the ordered they joined the Union. (more…)

The 27th Annual MidAmerica Coin Expo will move to a new site this year, the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. The expo is slated for July 10-13.

Schaumburg, Ill., is a suburb of Chicago. It is just over 10 miles from O’Hare Airport and adjacent to the I-90 freeway.

“The Renaissance Schaumburg has been open for not quite two years and is in my estimation the finest hotel on the entire numismatic convention circuit,” said Kevin Foley, who has been general chairman of the event since its inception.

“The attached convention center is a first-rate, state-of-the art facility offering a level of amenities typically absent from similar facilities elsewhere. The Renaissance offers complimentary parking for both hotel guests and event attendees, a cost that was close to $20 at our previous home in Rosemont,” he said.

The expo will have more than 150 booths featuring a wide range of dealers from 23 states offering different numismatic specialty items.

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Realtor Kim Ogilvie closed a deal  this past week with an interesting twist; a golden one to be exact.

The buyer of a $1 million downtown Sarasota residence came to the closing  with a briefcase filled with $400,000 worth of South African Krugerrands. That is about 444 of the gold coins or 37 pounds based on a spot price of $900 per oz..

“This was a first,” Ogilvie stated, adding: “It really shows you the depth to which buyers will go to use their resources to acquire properties they think are well-priced. I represented the seller and were happy to complete the transaction in whatever form they wished to use.”

However just in case a foreign coin dealer was present to inspect the coins, They were genuine.

KRUGERRANDS
Krugerrands, first minted in 1967, were not allowed into the United States during the 1970s and ’80s to protest the South African policy of apartheid, although the ones already here continued to be traded as bullion. When political reforms came to South Africa in the early 1990s, the ban was lifted.

The Krugerrand was the first gold bullion coin to contain one troy ounce and became a world standard for the unit weight of a gold coin.

Developed later were the Canadian Maple Leaf, Chinese Panda, American Gold Eagle and Vienna Philharmonic.

The coin was named after Paul Kruger, the last president of the old South African Republic whose face adorns the coin.

Gold futures climbed above $920 an ounce Tuesday to tally a gain of more than 6% during a four-session winning streak as a decline in the U.S. dollar and rising oil prices enhanced the metal’s appeal as an investment hedge.

“Capital seeking shelter from monetary debasement will continue to deviate to preservation assets such as gold and silver,” said Peter Spina, an analyst at GoldSeek.com.

Gold prices closed at their strongest level in a month.

“As oil nears $130, the historical relative value of gold to oil is now again at extreme lows,” said Spina, in emailed comments. “This measurement, among with others, places the true value of gold much higher than we are seeing it presently trade at.”

And with today’s very weak U.S. dollar and continual prospects of additional expansion of the money supply, “gold becomes even that more attractive at this present time,” he said.

Gold for June delivery climbed as high as $923 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a level not seen since April 22. It closed up $14.40, or 1.6%, at $920.20.

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