Public Also Invited to New Mexico Coin Forum on Eve of Launch in Albuquerque

The Land of Enchantment’s new commemorative quarter-dollar will soon enchant the entire nation, when the New Mexico quarter is ceremonially launched into circulation on Monday, April 7th in the Capitol Rotunda in Santa Fe. United States Mint Director Ed Moy will join Governor Bill Richardson in handing out shiny New Mexico quarters to children under 18 who attend the launch. This event is free to the public.

The New Mexico quarter goes into circulation nationwide the same day. After the ceremony, the public may exchange their bills for $10 rolls of New Mexico quarters at the event. The State Capitol Building is the first place in the nation where citizens can be sure of obtaining the new quarters on the first day of circulation.

On the eve of the launch, the public and news media also are invited to a free Coin Collectors Forum from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. (MT) at the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico in Albuquerque, hosted by United States Mint Director Ed Moy. The forum on April 6, 2008, will provide an opportunity for the public to let United States Mint officials know what they’d like to see on U.S. coinage in the future.

The New Mexico quarter is the 47th coin of the United States Mint’s popular 50 State Quarters® Program, because New Mexico was the 47th state to be accepted into the Union in 1912. The coin bears the image of a Zia sun symbol over a topographical outline of the State with the inscription “Land of Enchantment.” The coin also bears the inscriptions “New Mexico” and “1912.” (more…)

No more penny for your thoughts. It’s 1.7 cents. And start thinking more of the nickel, because it’s worth a dime.

Those are the U.S. Treasury costs of minting the penny and nickel, thanks to metal prices shooting up by as much as 450 percent since 2003. With congressional lawmakers trying to right the lopsided ledger of making money, the pennies in your purse may soon be made of steel but treated to retain the copper color.

“Never before in our nation’s history has the government spent more money to mint and issue a coin than the coin’s legal tender value,” Edmund Moy, director of the United States Mint, wrote in testimony submitted at Tuesday’s hearing before the House Financial Services Committee’s panel on monetary policy. “With each new penny and nickel we issue, we also increase the national debt by almost as much as the coin is worth, and these losses are rapidly mounting.”

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Blank Monroe Dollar has Edge Lettering

A “Faceless” Monroe Presidential Dollar has been found by coin collector Garrett Reich of Michigan. This extremely rare error type, of which only one previous specimen has ever been confirmed, is a Presidential Dollar that didn’t get struck by the coin dies, leaving it without any obverse or reverse designs. Reich’s coin is a blank planchet with a very important difference from nearly other blank Presidential Dollar coins: it has Presidential Dollar edge lettering on it! Garrett found the coin in a bank box of 1,000 coins wrapped up into 40 rolls on February 13, 2008, the day before the coins officially went on sale at most banks. (Some banks are known to distribute the coins ahead of the official release date.)

Monroe Faceless Dollar is NGC Certified

Reich’s Faceless Monroe Dollar specimen has been certified by NGC as genuine, with the label reading “2008P (James Monroe) $1 / Edge Lettered Planchet / Mint Error” along with the verification number on the insert. According to Reich’s wife, Erika, the grading service messed up the label the first time around, apparently not recognizing that the particular president was a certain, known fact in this case.

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Coin collectors can rest easy. President Bush on Friday signed into law a bill that will continue the minting of $1 Sacagawea coins in 2008, but only for numismatic purposes. No more will be produced for general circulation until next year.

The legislation whizzed through Congress this week, as lawmakers scrambled to correct an error in a law enacted last year that calls for circulating new Sacagawea coins starting in January 2009 that will feature a regularly changing reverse celebrating different Native American themes.

In drafting that law, the sponsors forgot to allow continued production of the existing coin in 2008, however. That meant that “many of the standard U.S. Mint products the coin-collecting public is expecting to order and receive this year, such as annual proof and uncirculated sets, will not include a 2008 Sacagawea dollar,” warned Rep. Gwen Moore , D-Wis., in explaining the need for the new bill. Read Full Article

Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Gold Coin

WASHINGTON- She was instrumental in refurbishing the White House following its destruction during the War of 1812. The people of France-with whom she and her husband were popular-called her la belle Americaine. A mere visit from her to Madame Lafayette saved the imprisoned woman from the guillotine.

The Nation celebrates the life and work of this woman-Elizabeth Monroe-with the United States Mint’s release of a 24-karat gold coin on February 28 at noon (ET). The Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Gold Coin will be available in 1/2-ounce proof and uncirculated versions offered at $619.95 and $599.95, respectively. Mintage is set at 40,000 across both product options. Customer demand will determine the ratio of proof to uncirculated coins produced.

Orders for the Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Gold Coin will be limited to one per product option per household for the first week of sales. The United States Mint will reevaluate this limit following the initial sales period and either extend, adjust or eliminate it.

Bronze medals bearing the likeness of the coin also will be available for $3.50. There is no mintage or order limit for this option.

The obverse of the Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Gold Coin bears a portrait designed by Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Joel Iskowitz and executed by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart. Inscriptions on the coin are “Elizabeth Monroe” and “1817-1825,” the years she served as First Spouse. Additional inscriptions on the obverse of the coin are “In God We Trust,” “Liberty” and “2008.”

The coin’s reverse features a portrait of Elizabeth Monroe at a reception marking the 1818 reopening of the White House after it had been burned during the War of 1812. Inscriptions are “United States of America,” “E Pluribus Unum,” “$10,” “1/2 oz.” and “.9999 Fine Gold.” The reverse of the Elizabeth Monroe First Spouse Gold Coin was designed by Artistic Infusion Program Associate Designer Donna Weaver and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Charles Vickers. (more…)