The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to demonstrate its skill and craftsmanship with a new selection of precious metal collector coins celebrating symbols of Canadian heritage ranging from prehistory to heraldry. These new collector products include a $300 platinum coin featuring the giant prehistoric ground sloth, a $300 gold New Brunswick Coat of Arms coin and extra-thick “Piedfort” pure gold and silver Maple Leaf coins.

“The Royal Canadian Mint values the role its collector coins play in showcasing Canada’s vast heritage through precious and unforgettable works of art and craftsmanship,” said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.

“Collectors from Canada and around the world will find that the Mint’s newest collector coins honour the tradition of celebrating Canada’s defining features through keepsakes of uncompromising quality”.

The following are descriptions of the products now available to collectors and gift givers worldwide.

2010 $10 1/5-OZ PURE GOLD AND 2010 $5 1-OZ PURE SILVER PIEDFORT COINS – MAPLE LEAF

The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to celebrate its expertise and artistry in the field of precious metal refining and manufacturing with a pair of pure gold and silver “Piedfort” coins whose exceptional thickness distinguishes them from ordinary coins and makes them spectacular gifts or collectibles for those with an eye for the exclusive.

Both the $10 1/5 oz. 99.999% pure gold coin -the Mint’s first gold Piedfort, and the 1 oz. 99.99% pure silver coin -only the second of these coins the Mint has produced in silver, feature the iconic maple leaf, long symbolic of the Mint’s leadership of the world bullion industry. Only 3,000 1/5 oz. coins of 99.999% pure gold and 9,000 silver one-ounce coins of 99.99% purity are being made available in this exciting release.

The entire mintage of 99.999% pure gold coins Piedfort coin is offered as part of a set including the 99.99% pure silver Piedfort coin, retailing at $679.95 CAD. Another 6,000 individual silver Piedfort coins are being offered at $79.95 CAD each.

2010 $300 PLATINUM COIN — GROUND SLOTH

The fourth issue in the Mint’s exclusive Prehistoric Animals Collection of 9995 fine platinum coins features the gigantic Jefferson’s Ground Sloth, so called after the third President of the United States of America donated, in 1797, the first fossil specimens found in North America to Philadelphia’s American Philosophical Society. The tradition of showcasing the fascinating animals which roamed ancient Canada continues on this precious Mint coin containing a full ounce of pure platinum. Like the rare bones of the creature it immortalizes, this platinum coin has been made in very low quantities, with a worldwide mintage of only 200 examples. Designed by Alberta artist Kerri Burnett, this coin retails for $2,999.95 CAD.

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The National Inflation Association is pleased to announce the release of its first ever update to its unbiased reviews of the major online sellers of gold and silver bullion. NIA’s ‘Gold and Silver Seller Reviews’ feature was originally launched on January 14th and has become widely recognized in the industry as the premiere spot for precious metals investors to become educated about how online gold and silver coin and bullion dealers are rated in the categories of pricing, selection, shipping/processing, customer experience, and overall.

The online gold and silver seller industry is one of the most rapidly growing in the world today. NIA is dedicated to ensuring that Americans get the most real money for their fiat money when making the most important investment decision of their lives. NIA believes it’s important for Americans to receive their precious metals in a timely manner, as hyperinflation in the U.S. can literally break out overnight due to an unforeseen event taking place in one of our creditor nations.

NIA decided to award Gainesville Coins with our “NIA 2010 Best Bullion Award“.

Gainesville Coins is the highest rated company in our review with prices for precious metals that are the lowest out of all the companies in our review. Gainesville Coins had already earned a perfect 5 stars in all categories in our original review, but they have somehow managed to improve their site by adding precious metal spot prices as well as new “Deals of the Week”, “Featured”, “New Arrivals”, and “Top Sellers” features. NIA members who make a purchase on Gainesville Coins can now receive an automatic $5 discount on their order by applying the following coupon code in their shopping cart: ‘NIAUS’ (NIA does NOT earn any kind of a referral fee).

NIA has added three new companies to its review: Austin Rare Coins, Monarch Precious Metals, and Northwest Territorial Mint. NIA has also updated the reviews of previously reviewed companies. NIA’s next update to its review will be released later this summer. NIA plans to soon implement a new feature that will allow its members to submit new companies for NIA to review. NIA members will also be able to submit complaints about companies that should be avoided.

Today, April 22nd, marks the 40th anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement Earth Day. The movements founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda.

In the 40 years since the first Earth Day, the environmental movement  continues to generate fierce debate  as to the effects, motivations and possible outcomes of existing / proposed environmental laws and theories. Hot button issues such as Global Warming, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Recycling, Resource Allocation and Environmental Justice seem to pull us farther apart rather then bringing us closer together.

But whatever side of the current debate you find yourself on, I think the vast majority of people would agree that given a choice, it is preferable to have clean water to drink, clean air to breath and safe food to eat. So what does this have to do with Numismatics?

All that raw materials used to make our gold and silver coins and bullion products has to be mined, refined and manufactured. Unfortunately, the mining process in many parts of the world is a dirty business. Toxic chemicals and substances like cyanide and mercury are often used to extract the precious metals during the refining process, and much of this is done in less than ideal and controlled environments (no pun intended)

We can across a Precious Metals refiner that has taken a different path, Ohio Precious Metals (OPM).  Founded over 35 years ago OPM operates a state of the art 178,000 square foot facility is located in Appalachian Ohio. As a leading recycled precious metals refiner, OPM extracts the metals from jewelry, photographic equipment, electronics, secondary refining and collecting sources in North America.

Once the precious metals are recovered, OPM uses the metals to produce the highest quality gold and silver products including 1, 10 AND 100 oz Silver .9995 fine Bars and 1 oz, 1 Kilo (32.18 oz) and 400 oz Gold .9999 fine bars.

These “recycled” Green bullion products generate a significantly lower environmental impact than similar products manufactured from “virgin ore” and may offer the environmentally conscious investor an alternative product to purchase.

Bob Higgins from Certified Assets recently stated that his company has added the OPM Gold and Silver Bars to their inventory as a “green” alternative and that “….interest has been very high” in these precious metals bars. OPM has a stellar reputation with a superior product that fills a critical role in the industrial and investor marketplace. We are happy to be doing business with them.” (more…)