Coin News Daily December 9, 2008

By CoinLink on Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Filed Under: Coin News Daily

50 State Quarters® Program Concludes as the Most Successful Coin Initiative in U.S. History
US Mint
Program Nets Nearly $3 Billion from Increased Quarter Demand over Decade WASHINGTON – The United States Mint is wrapping up the 50 State Quarters® Program, the national phenomenon that sent Americans searching through their change for the latest quarter to add to their collections. It is estimated that 147 million Americans have been collecting the coins in the 10-year 50 State Quarters Program, which has honored each state in the order it ratified the U.S. Constitution or was admitted into the Union.
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Coins weathering storm
By Mark Ferguson for COIN VALUES
The coin market has been and remains to a degree one of the brightest areas of the current economy, which is experiencing great difficulty. The most active area of the coin and bullion market is the precious metals segment. Heavy demand for the bullion coins has created a two-tier price level for precious metals. For example, at this writing the spot price of silver on the exchanges is a little below $10 per ounce. However, if a customer wants to purchase American Eagle silver coins for their bullion content, the cost can be expected to be about double the spot price or more.
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Treasury Notes Mark Debut in 1861
By R.W. Julian, Numismatic News
Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861; at his request President Buchanan had called a special session of the Senate to meet on March 4 to deal with the political crisis. Not only had several Southern states seceded but Lincoln’s inaugural address asking them to return under reasonable conditions was met with silence from south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
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NGC Announces Coin Photography Initiative as Major Step Against Counterfeit and Altered Holders
Numismatic Guaranty Corporation
NGC is announcing a significant security initiative targeted at eliminating counterfeit and altered NGC holders. NGC now captures digital photographs of every coin that it certifies. These images are then stored in an internet-accessible database. By maintaining a secure and proprietary database of coin images, prospective buyers will be able to verify the authenticity of an NGC-certified coin prior to purchase. In the event that a counterfeit or otherwise illegitimate holder is discovered, NGC can immediately be alerted. Combined with other security features of NGC certification, this photography initiative offers the most robust protection against counterfeit and tampered holders available.
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Gold Rallies Following Sharp Drop in South African Gold Production
Market Oracle
After falling sharply last week, gold rallied yesterday on the back of a weaker dollar, higher oil (Light Sweet Crude Oil Future – Combined – JAN09 is up more than 6% yesterday after falling an incredible 25% last week) and commodity prices and the Obama fiscal stimulus package.The economic recession will get significantly worse before it starts to improve, US President-elect Barack Obama said in an interview at the weekend. “We’ve got to provide a blood infusion right now, make sure that the patient is stabilized,” he said, adding that the budget deficit, by some estimates more than $1 trillion, would have to be put on the back burner “for now.”
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WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS MORGAN’S $100 GOLD COIN SKETCH
E-Sylum
In the coin world, it is almost the Holy Grail: a $100 gold U.S. coin. A forgotten sketch that potentially could have graced the face of what would have been the highest denominated American gold coin, had it come to fruition, was recently discovered at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington. No such $100 coin was actually produced by the government. The drawing is the only documentation that exists.
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