A new set of coins depicting wildlife has been minted by the National Bank of Poland. The fresh mint consists of a silver twenty zloty coin and a two zloty coin, both depicting the peregrine falcon, a bird which is slowly coming back to Poland after a prolonged absence…

Queues outside the National Bank of Poland snaked around the square yesterday, as many Poles were eager to get their hands on one of the most coveted coins to be minted in the “world animals” series presented by the Bank.

“The coin of the Peregrine Falcon was very popular, as I know all these coins were sold yesterday. The first day, and the coin was introduced into circulation on the 16th January. We didn’t expect that it will be so popular but from the other hand we are happy to see so many people interested in this coin.” (more…)

SPIEGEL ONLINE - Germany

Deep beneath London’s streets lies a treasure greater than anything that even the Bank of England possesses: Thousands of gold ingots, each weighing in at more than 12 kilograms (26 pounds). The ingots, neatly arranged on wooden pallets and stacked high to the ceiling, glow softly in the dim neon light of the vault. And every week a forklift adds new stacks of ingots to the existing inventory.

Financial services provider StreetTracks Gold Shares uses the heavily secured and guarded vaults to store unimaginable quantities of the precious metal for its customers. The vaults already contain more than 641 tons of gold, with a market value, at today’s prices, of more than $18 billion (€12 billion). Read Full Story

Two 1796 Quarter Eagles Break Million Dollar Mark in Heritage’s Second Largest Auction Ever!

Dallas, TX. Two million dollar coins were sold during the course of Thursday’s Platinum Night session by Heritage Auction Galleries, the Official Auctions of the FUN 2008 Orlando Convention. Total prices realized from Heritage’s coin auctions exceeded $50 million, and another $10 million in rare currency was auctioned in Heritage’s second largest auction ever. Results from both auctions have been posted by Heritage in their Permanent Auction Archives at HA.com. When proceeds from Final Session Auctions for coins and currency are concluded, plus Post Auction Buys from both events are combined, the total prices realized are expected to exceed $62 million. An additional $4.3 million was realized in Heritage’s Signature auction of Ancient and World Coins held at the NYINC just prior to FUN. (more…)

DAHLONEGA - It has been reported by AccessNorthGa.com that the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office has thwarted a possible conspiracy to steal gold coins from the Dahlonega Gold Museum in Dahlonega Georgia.

The article stated that an anonymous caller alerted the museum on Christmas Eve of the potential conspiracy. Based on that tip, Officials reportedly contacted one of the alleged co-conspirators, who had recently visited the museum and was researching the value of the coins.

“We put them on notice that we knew about the conspiracy and none of the coins would be stolen,” Lumpkin County Sheriff Mark McClure said. And, “We would be definitely looking to charge individuals if that did occur.”

The alleged thief, who is beleived to be from Florida, denied having any involvement in the scheme. The man was not identified by the Sheriffs office (more…)