U.S. Mint Bullion Coin Sales Down Slightly From Last Month

The July 2010 U.S. Mint sales figures for bullion coins are in, and for gold they show an overall drop from last month's elevated levels. Still, Eagle sales of 175,000 oz. are up 103% from July of '09.

This month, fractional Eagles were only 2.6% of all bullion sales; last month, they accounted for almost 30%. The spike-up is due to their late debut last month; a lot of the sales reflected pent-up demand for the fractionals. That demand now satisfied, the one-ounce Eagle is back in its usual predominant position. The Buffalo continues to sell well, but well below the figures for the one-ounce Eagle.

New U.S. Commemorative Gold Coin Proposed

In the form of legislation, no less. The proposed coin, the centrepiece of H.R. 5680 United States Marshals Service 225th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act and a similar Senate bill, would feature the U.S. Marshals logo on one side and a tribute to U.S. marshals on the other. Its face value is planned to be $5, but it will contain one full troy ounce of gold. There's also a silver version planned, with face value of $1 and the silver content of an old silver dollar.

One interesting facet of this coin is its proposed date: instead of a single year, it would be dated "2014-2015."

Sales Of Gold And Silver Eagles On Track For Record

That's what a report webbed in CoinNews.net revealed, with the latest sales figures being added to the year-to-date ones, but the figures also show that collectors are paying more attention to the premium over spot. Sales of silver and gold Eagles are still hot, but the Buffaloes have been relatively disappointing.

New Royal Canadian Mint 5-Ounce Coin Out

Limited to a mintage of only 200, the new Royal Canadian Mint 5-ounce coin features a design that's been adapted from the original 1935 $500 bill.

Have a gander:

The list price is pretty steep: C$9,495.95

2010 Proof Gold Buffalo Coin On Sale

As noted by an annoucement post at Coin Update News, this year's Buffalo is going on sale several months earlier than last year's. It's initially being sold for $1,510, making for (approximately) a $300 (close to 25%) premium over melt. Last year's issue sold out in about five months with almost 50,000 sold.

The Coins Keep Getting Bigger

The record is held by the Royal Canadian Mint, which some time ago issued a Maple Leaf coin with a legal-tender value of $1 million; it contains 100 kg of gold. The Russian central bank, though, is getting in to the high end of the bullion coin market by issuing a 5 kg coin to commemorate its 150th anniversary; it carries a face value of 50,000 rubles. The largest one previously from the same source was 3 kg.

With a 53 cm (21-inch) diameter and 3 cm (1.2 inches) thickness, the monster Maple Leaf is about the size of an extra-large pizza. That 'pizza', though, would take two strong men to move it some distance: 50 kg (110 pounds) apiece. One strong-legged man could hoist it up, but he wouldn't get very far with it unless he was very strong.

Have a gander at the million-loonie coin:

Austrian Mint Overwhelmed By Demand For Philharmonic Coin

According to a Reuters report, the Austrian mint sold more Philharmonic gold coins in the last two weeks than it did in the first three months of this year:

The mint sold 243,500 ounces of gold in coins and bars in that period, compared to 205,000 ounces in the entire first three months of the year, marketing director Kerry Tattersall told Reuters in a phone interview.

'Demand is exclusively from Europe, we haven't had any orders from the United States and Asia in the last few weeks,' Tattersall said. 'That's a clear sign that there is panic buying because of concerns about Greece and the euro.'

Sales of its signature Philharmonic gold coin reached 108,000 ounces in the same period, also surpassing the 89,000 ounces in the first quarter, which Tattersall said had been an average quarter that did not live up to the previous year's.

'In the last two, three weeks, it was pretty frantic again,' he said. The mint has started working in three shifts again, minting coins and bars around the clock to keep pace with demand, he said.

The mint, which doesn't keep a lot of inventory in any case, is currently sold out and whipping up more.


Another bullion coin that's sold out is the Australian "Year Of The Tiger" 1 oz. bullion coin. That size is limited to 30,000 pieces, while other sizes have no limit. Also limited is a 10-kilogram (!) coin, whose run was 100.


Both of these stories show that the recent thirst for gold is by no means limited to futures contracts and ETFs. The buying frenzy seems confined to Europe, for the moment.

Indian Post Office Selling Gold Coins With Own Logo On The

As reported by the Economic Times, the Indian postal service is selling 24-karat gold coins with the postal service's logo on them. Sold on a test basis since October 15th 2008, sale of the coin is going national.

India Post, the government's postal department, on Friday announced sale of gold coins with its own logo at hundreds of post offices across the country.

Besides, it also announced plans to expand the network of post offices where these gold coins would be sold from 466 currently, to 700 post offices during May 2010....

The Department also announced a special one-month discount of six per cent to mark the launch of new coins with the 'India Post' logo.

Commenting on the launch, Reliance Money Infrastructure Director Vikrant Gugnani said, "We expect this move to grow the demand for gold significantly."

I point out an obvious suggestion, given the U.S. Postal Services's permanent deficits...

2009 American Eagle Mintage Almost 1.5 Million

That's the highest it's been in ten years. Ironically, the mintage was higher in 1999, when gold was in the final stages of its bear market.

Finland Mints First Gold Coin Denominated In Euros

It's been struck to commemorate 150 years of Finland having its own currency. In a 100-euro denomination, it contains 5.65 grams of gold, or about 0.1817 troy ounces. [H/T: this converter page.] The list price, according to the Finnish mint Website, is 395 euros for the proof version.


Below, in larger size than the real thing is, is its obverse and reverse. The design came from a Finnish sculptor ["Suomi" = Finland:]

Prices For First Spouse 1/2 Oz Gold Coins Jacked Up

Those coins, of which there are five kinds so far, will now be sold for $754 instead of $729 for the proof versions. Uncirculateds now go for $741 instead of $716. A higher gold price is the cause.

Numismatic Coin Expert Discusses "Value Compression" In Collectible Gold Coins

After noting the prevalence of value compression between different grades, Doug Winter attributes it to new grading procedure. Grading has become so meticulous that there's little visible-eye difference between, say, an AU-50 and AU-55. That's why the grade curve for same-kind gold coins has narrowed.


In other words, there's no speculative froth in the rare gold coin market. Speculators are most likely to seize upon specific grades, while regular collectors are less likely to. Sadly, that compression also indicates a lack of demand from passionate collectors right now; they seize upon grades too.

All in all, it's a picture of a quiet coin market - with one exception. Bullion buyers buy as close to spot as possible. Their presence in the coin markets would add to the value compression. That source of demand seems to have picked up relative to collector demand.

A Successful Coin Auction, And A Difference Between Canada And America

A very rare Canadian 1936 dot penny was auctioned off for more than $400,000 last Sunday, and the accompanying story illustrates a difference between Canada and the U.S. The most expensive U.S. coin is the 1933 $20 gold coin, which was yanked when President Roosevelt ended the gold standard domestically by ordering U.S. citizens to turn in their gold on pain of jail. The most expensive Canadian coin is the 1911 silver dollar, which was supposed to be the first Canadian silver dollar issue. The Canadian government didn't go through with it, and we Canadians didn't have a silver dollar until 1935.

A real difference. Some may be surprised to learn that Canada did not have a central bank until 1935. Nor, I add with a touch of patriotic pride, did Canada have a bank-run crisis in the early 1930s. There is such a thing as self-regulation, often administered by the words "shame on you!", even if it's about as rare as those two coins nowadays.