By David Ganz for Numismaster

Weighing in on the new reverse design for the Sacagawea dollar mandated by Congress, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee viewed more than a dozen designs June 18 before selecting a female Indian planting maize (corn) in a field. The design is intended for use on the 2009 dollar coin, which is the first that will host a Native American theme.

Each year thereafter a different Native American design will appear.

The design on the obverse is not necessarily the old Sacagawea design. It is to be chosen by the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, after consultation with the Commission of Fine Arts and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

There are two requirements: it must ” contain the so-called “Sacagawea design” and ” the inscription “Liberty.”

Despite recent difficulties with edge-lettering, the law requires that the inscription of the year of minting and issuance of the coin and the inscriptions “E Pluribus Unum” and “In God We Trust” are required to be edge-incused into the coin. The CCAC formally recommended the date movement, too.

There is a specific requirement that the edge-incusing of the inscriptions be done in a manner that preserves the distinctive edge of the coin so that the denomination of the coin is readily discernible, including by individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

There is an additional consultation requirement: designs selected for the reverse shall be chosen by the Treasury Secretary after consultation with the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Congressional Native American Caucus of the House of Representatives, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Congress of American Indians. They must further be reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

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Three new DVDs filled with thousands of listings and prices for coins and paper money have been released by Krause Publications.

They are the official DVDs of 2009 U.S. Coin Digest, 7th Edition, $9.95; 2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 36th Edition, $44.95; and Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern Issues, 1961-Present, 14th Edition, $44.95.

Each disc contains the exact pages from the same-named print publication in PDF form. They can be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader, which allows for a full search function and the ability to enlarge images and text 400 percent.

2009 U.S. Coin Digest, 7th Edition features 1,800 color photos and complete listings for U.S. Mint issues, commemoratives, bullion coins, sets and rolls, Colonial and early coinage, Territorial gold and coins of Hawaii, Philippines and Puerto Rico.

2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 36th Edition features 50,000 actual-size illustrations and 1 million updated price listings. All of the information contained in the 2,208-page book is on the DVD.

Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern Issues, 1961-Present, 14th Edition contains 40,000 updated price listings and 12,000 images. Three grades of condition are listed. All of the information in the 1,088 book is on the DVD.

“We have received tremendous response from collectors who like the convenience of having all of the information contained in the books in a small, portable and searchable disk,” said Krause Publications Numismatics Publisher Dean Listle. “It’s easy to access at the office or on the road.”

The DVDs may be ordered at www.fwmagazines.com.

By Patrick A. Heller for Numismaster 

On Dec. 6, 2007, the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, Inc., (GATA) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with both the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury. GATA sought information about possible gold swaps that the U.S. government may have handled and any related information about policies for such swaps.

In mid-April, the Federal Reserve responded, releasing part or all of hundreds of pages of worthless information, but also claiming that it was withholding all or part of the information of about 400 pages of documents. The status of the withheld documents is currently under appeal.

From the Federal Reserve response, it has already been established that there is substantial discussion in the federal government about gold swaps, at least theoretically if not in actual practice. This contradicts the previous position of the Fed and Treasury that gold swaps were never even discussed.

On June 18, the Treasury Department sent its response to GATA. The Treasury denied having any documents for five of the eight categories of the FOIA request. It stated that it was withholding a single document covering two categories because it referred to procedures for gold swaps that “may take place in the future.” It released a single one-page e-mail for the other category. The May 11, 2007, document released was a notice to various Treasury officials that weekly reporting of reserves data was changing slightly to conform to the template specified by the International Monetary Fund. This document emphasized that the reported data did not change.

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