The United States Mint announced today that it will begin accepting orders for the one-ounce 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin at noon Eastern Time (ET) on October 29, 2009. Its price will be based on the United States Mint’s pricing structure for numismatic products containing precious metals. To view current pricing information, visit http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=goldplat.

As a result of the numismatic product portfolio analysis conducted late last year, fractional denominations of the American Buffalo Gold Proof and Uncirculated Coins, as well as the American Buffalo Four-Coin Set, are no longer offered for sale.

The obverse (heads side) and reverse (tails) designs of the American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin are based on the original 1913 Type I Buffalo nickel by James Earle Fraser. The coin’s obverse bears the profile of a Native American. Inscriptions on the obverse include LIBERTY, 2009, the initial F for Fraser and the W mint mark for the United States Mint at West Point. The coin’s reverse features the revered American Buffalo, also known as the bison. Inscriptions on the reverse are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, IN GOD WE TRUST, $50, 1OZ., and .9999 FINE GOLD.

Each 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin is presented in an elegant hardwood box with a matte finish and a faux leather inset. The coins are exhibited on a platform which can stand at an angle for display when the box is open. A custom-designed Certificate of Authenticity signed by the Director of the United States Mint is also included.

The United States Mint will accept orders for the 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin at its secure Web site http://www.usmint.gov/catalog or at the toll-free number 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). Please add $4.95 for shipping and handling. There is no mintage or household order limit for this product.
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Former television news anchor and Congressman Jay Johnson has died from an apparent heart attack at his home in suburban Washington, DC.

Johnson served one term as a U.S. Congressman, representing the 8th Congressional District in Wisconsin beginning in 1996. Following that, Johnson worked as Director of the U.S. Mint in 2000-2001, and recently worked at Jay Johnson Coins and Consulting and was one of the Spokespersons for GoldLine International.

Johnson, 66, had a 32-year journalism career that included work as news anchor at WFRV-TV from 1980 to 1986 and WLUK-TV from 1987 until his election to Congress in 1996.

“He was a good guy and he was kind to everybody. He was always a gentleman in every sense of the word,” said Mary Smits Larsen, who was Johnson’s co-anchor at WFRV.

A Democrat, Johnson ran twice for Congress, beating former state Rep. David Prosser of Appleton in 1996 and losing to former state Rep. Mark Green of Hobart in 1998.

After he left Congress, Johnson became the director of the U.S. Mint in 2000, appointed by President Bill Clinton. He held for about one year. His most recent position was with Jay Johnson Coins and Consulting where he developed a major wholesale coin sales program for a national bank. Johnson worked as a consultant and returned to the airwaves, this time, promoting gold as a Spokesperson for GoldLine International.

As unique as the world’s top athletes and their awe-inspiring performances, every medal won at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be a one-of-a-kind work of art. The medals, revealed today, each feature a different crop of larger contemporary Aboriginal artworks and are undulating rather than flat – both firsts in Games history.

An all-Canadian achievement, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games athlete medals are the product of the Royal Canadian Mint’s close collaboration with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and metal supplier Teck Resources Limited. Thirty-four Mint engineers, engravers, die technicians, machinists and production experts have combined forces to create an unforgettable series of athlete medals.

The radically undulating face of the medals, evoking the iconic sea and mountains of the Vancouver- Whistler landscape, is the boldest evidence of ground-breaking creative and technical achievement writing a new chapter in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games medals. As powerful tributes to the performances of the Olympic and Paralympic Games athletes who will receive them, the athlete medals establish several milestones:

• at 500 to 576 grams each, they are among the heaviest in Games history;

• with totally unique designs, no two medals are alike; and

• laser etching was used to flawlessly reproduce the unique, West Coast First Nations designs on the undulating surface of the medals.

From its Ottawa facility, the Mint produced all 615 gold, silver and bronze medals for Olympic Winter Games athletes, as well as the 399 athlete medals for Paralympic Winter Games competition. It took one year of planning, innovation and prototype development to finally bring the ambitious design of the athlete medals to life and proceed with the production phase. Thirty steps, representing 2,817 (402 days) hours of precision manufacturing, were taken to produce the medals. This complex process required:
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