2012 American Silver Eagle Two Coin Set Final Sales

Ending Sales were reported for the 2012 American Silver Eagle Two Coin Set

United States Mint sales of the 2012 American Silver Eagle Two Coin Set from San Francisco ended after being available for four weeks.

The Two Coin Set went on sale June 7, 2012 and was sold by the U.S. Mint through 5 PM ET on Thursday, July 5, 2012. It closed with orders totaling 251,302.

Collectors closely watched sales in the final few days to get a sense of where its mintage would end. Unlike similar releases in the past, the Mint did not establish a maximum mintage cap but instead accepted orders for four weeks with the intent to fill all valid purchases received during that period.

This was a markedly different approach from the similar 25th Anniversary Silver Eagle Set issued last year. That set had a mintage of 100,000 and sold out within hours. Some potential buyers were unable to place their orders because of ordering difficulties on the Mint’s website and telephone ordering system.

In an apparent move to insure those issues were not repeated, the U.S. Mint in this latest release opted to utilize the limited four week ordering period. With that procedure in place, many expected a sales surge on the final day. "Sales odometer" updates on the Mint’s 2012 American Silver Eagle Two Coin Set product page offered approximate sales on week-days around 3PM.

While sales were higher during the last few days, those expecting a last minute surge would be proved wrong. With a mintage of 250,738 apparent in the closing hours, collectors added just 564 units. In comparison, the first day of sales saw 85,341 ordered. Four other days during the set’s availability window had sales over 16,000, with three of them occurring toward the end.
A complete list of daily sales is shown below:

U.S. Mint Reported Sales of 2012 American Silver Eagle Two Coin Set

	Sales Total Reported By Day
June 7, 2012	Released
June 8, 2012	85,341
June 9, 2012	Weekend
June 10, 2012
June 11, 2012	115,059
June 12, 2012	121,304
June 13, 2012	125,371
June 14, 2012	128,540
June 15, 2012	131,512
June 16, 2012	Weekend
June 17, 2012
June 18, 2012	135,468
June 19, 2012	136,678
June 20, 2012	138,863
June 21, 2012	141,892
June 22, 2012	145,173
June 23, 2012	Weekend
June 24, 2012
June 25, 2012	152,047
June 26, 2012	156,569
June 27, 2012	162,581
June 28, 2012	166,836
June 29, 2012	175,588
June 30, 2012	Weekend
July 1, 2012
July 2, 2012	201,059
July 3, 2012	217,351
July 4, 2012	245,131
July 5, 2012	250,738
July 6, 2012	251,302

It should be noted that these are un-audited sales figures from the U.S. Mint. The final mintage is expected to change as cancelled or invalid orders along with customer returns lower the total. Some valid orders may also be added to the final number as mail orders sent in the final days are added. (This article will be updated with any published changes.)

The 2012 American Silver Eagle Two Coin Set contains two proof quality Silver Eagles struck at the U.S. Mint’s facility in San Francisco. One features a standard proof finish with the other showcasing a reverse proof finish.

Shipments of the Two Coin Sets from San Francisco are expected to begin on or about July 27, 2012. They will continue on a first ordered, first shipped basis through approximately mid-October.

For information, sales and mintages on other coins in the series since 1986, visit our sister site about American Silver Eagles.

Source: http://www.silvercoinstoday.com/2012-american-silver-eagle-two-coin-set-final-sales/106931/

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How the 2012 Olympic medals are made

LLANTRISANT, WALES (CNN) - The medals for this year's London Olympics are locked away at the tower of London, ready for the games to begin.

The newly-minted gold, silver and bronze discs will be entrusted to the Beefeaters, custodians of the crown jewels.

The Royal Mint may be owned by the British government, but that was no guarantee it would win the contract to make the 4,700 medals to be presented at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The mint says it beat out more than two dozen other contenders to make sure the medals have a real British connection.

"This wasn't about making money, this was about us having the right to do it," said Adam Lawrence, CEO at The Royal Mint. "Now, we are a broader licensee of the games too. So, we make quite a decent range of commemorative coins and products for the Olympic Games. And that's where we will make money on it."

So no profit from these medals, but the pride here is palatable among the workers.

"It was really nice [to win the contract], for the Royal Mint, but also for the people around who will get jobs doing this, as well," said Sian Merry, a seamstress at The Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint said its engraver is likely the only person who will touch every single London medal.

"Nice, I didn't even realize until now. I was the only person to touch every medal. Quite nice," said engraver Marie Buckley.

Before the etching, the medals have to be formed and then dipped in sulfuric acid.

There is a vat for the bronze medals and another for the silver ones, but none for gold.

Because the medals aren't really gold; they're same as the silver ones with just six grams of gold mixed in.

To put any more in there would make it far too expensive. Later in the process it will be gold plated. But in truth it is a silver medal made to look like gold.

And a bronze medal is mostly copper and tin, which is mined by Rio Tinto in Utah and Mongolia.

"It's a hell of a series of milestones you've got to meet to get the materials here in time and then make the medals in time," said Andrew Harding with Rio Tinto. "You can't be late, because the athlete is not going to stand there and wait for you."

You might also have noticed that the London medals are big - very big. Compare these to the ones presented in Athens in 2004.

"We effectively went for the biggest medal that we could, that we could manufacture," said Gavin Elliot with The Royal Mint.

Once the medals are struck, they have the goddess Nike on one side and the River Thames and a bit of 2012 branding on the other.

Copyright 2012 CNN. All rights reserved.

Joseph E. Boling Awarded Honorary Doctorate of Numismatics

Longtime Summer Seminar instructor Joseph E. Boling was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Numismatics from the American Numismatic Association’s Florence Schook School of Numismatics on Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Boling is the eight recipient of this honor – a fact sure to please Boling, as he is an avid collector of items containing the number 8, including purchasing the eighth official medal set struck for the World’s Fair of Money^SM every year.

Boling has taught at 14 consecutive Summer Seminars.

“Only Joe knows, without looking it up, exactly how many students he has taught in his Military Payment Certificate, Exhibit Judging and Detection of Counterfeit World Paper Money classes. He is, after all, a numbers guy – and, we might add, a very dedicated and effective instructor,” said ANA Executive Director Jeff Shevlin.

The ANA’s current Chief Judge, Boling is also a former member of the ANA Board of Governors, the 2005 recipient of the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award for Distinguished Service and an ANA member for 37 years. He is a former president of the International Bank Note Society and former secretary of the Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association.

Boling is a retired Army colonel, with a dual concentration MBA.

Upon receiving the award, Boling said, “I am terribly honored to receive this. I called (Summer Seminar Project Manager Susan McMillan) to recommend someone for the award who wasn’t here his week. But I’m happy to be his replacement.”

The American Numismatic Association is a congressionally chartered nonprofit educational organization dedicated to encouraging people to study and collect money and related items. The ANA helps its 27,000 members and the public discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of education and outreach programs, as well as its museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars. For more information, call 719-632-2646 or go to www.money.org.

Source: http://www.coinweek.com/coin-clubs/joseph-e-boling-awarded-honorary-doctorate-of-numismatics/

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Rhode Island hand surgeon admits guilt in NY rare-coin case with twist

NEW YORK — A prominent coin collector thought he had some valuable, ancient pieces with a problem: They shouldn't have been taken out of Italy.

The coins turned out to be fakes, but they led to very real trouble for the collector, noted Rhode Island hand surgeon Dr. Arnold-Peter Weiss. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal charges in a case that set the numismatic world abuzz.

It also added to a string of court cases and disputes over collecting and trading in objects that Italy and other countries consider looted pieces of their cultural patrimony.

An orthopedics professor at Brown University's Alpert Medical School and author of a hand-surgery textbook, Weiss is no less accomplished in the coin world.

A collector and investor for 35 years, he's been on leadership boards of the American Numismatic Society and the Rhode Island School of Design's art museum, according to his biography on Brown's website. The coin society said no one was available to comment Tuesday on Weiss' history with the organization; a RISD spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call.

Weiss was arrested in January amid a coin auction at the posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel, planning to sell what was listed as a silver tetradrachm, a Greek coin from the fourth century B.C., according to a criminal complaint. Weiss expected it to net about $350,000, according to the complaint.

Under Italian law, antiquities found there after 1909 can't be removed from the country. But Weiss said in a secretly recorded conversation: "I know this is a fresh coin. This was dug up a few years ago," according to the complaint.

Modern metal detectors have turned up long-buried coins, often obvious because of the way they have been cleaned, among other signs, Weiss told a Manhattan court Monday.

He acknowledged that he knew what to look for, was aware of Italy's antiquities rules and believed that two other coins that he had in his possession at the auction had been found after the 1909 deadline. All three coins were described as having been found in Sicily.

The other two coins were similarly ancient decadrachms, worth about $1.2 million apiece _ or so Weiss thought at the time.

"I believed that the coin was authentic" in each instance, he said.

But after his arrest, an expert examined them and found they "were, in fact, forgeries _ exquisite, extraordinary forgeries, but forgeries nonetheless," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos said.

Still, Weiss was criminally implicated because he believed what he had were illegally obtained coins.

Under his plea deal, Weiss must forfeit his interest in 23 coins seized from him when he was arrested, perform 70 hours of community service and write an article about the problem of trading in unprovenanced coins _ those of uncertain origin _ and "the continuing threat of this practice to the archaeological record." He also must try to get it published in the numismatic society's magazine or a similar venue.

The article "will raise needed awareness about unprovenanced coins and will promote responsible collecting among numismatists," district attorney's office spokeswoman Joan Vollero said.

Weiss and his lawyers declined to comment after court.

Italy has aggressively campaigned in the last decade to get back ancient Roman, Greek and Etruscan artifacts the government says were looted or stolen. Institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles have agreed to return various items.

There have been some criminal prosecutions, including a Rome trial of a former Getty assistant curator. It ended in 2010 with a judge saying the statute of limitations had expired.

In April, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced that a Renaissance painting and a Roman sculpture from about the first century were being returned to Italy after turning up at auction houses in New York.

Other countries, including Turkey and Greece, also have taken action in recent years to reclaim antiquities.

Coin Auctions: Proof-69 Ultra High Relief $20 Saint brings $2.7 MIllion at Stacks Bowers Auction

The finest-graded specimen of America’s “most beautiful coin,” the MCMVII (1907) Proof Ultra High Relief double eagle graded Proof-69 by PCGS, crossed the auction block on the evening of Friday, June 29, 2012, and with the fall of the hammer a record price of $2,760,000 had been won at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Auction of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Expo in Baltimore, Md. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is a subsidiary of Spectrum Group International, Inc. (SPGZ.PK) (“SGI”).

The coin, minted in 1907, has the date expressed in Roman numerals as MCMVII. It is one of about 20 coins with Ultra High Relief or sculptured detail. The story goes back to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 when he employed Augustus Saint-Gaudens, America’s most famous sculptor, to redesign the coinage. The artist, working in his studio in Cornish, N.H. (now a National Historic Site), began with the $20 gold double eagle, the largest denomination gold coin.



For the obverse he created a bold image of Miss Liberty in the figure of Victory, striding forward holding a torch and palm branch with the U.S. Capitol in the distance. For the reverse, an eagle in flight was sculpted. In early 1907 about 20 coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint and given to the president and dignitaries. Later in the year the same design was modified to lower relief and 12,367 were struck.

Today, several of the MCMVII Ultra High Relief coins are in museums including one on display at the Smithsonian, and time and again surveys among numismatists have rated this as America’s most beautiful coin design. Only rarely is one available at auction. The coin auctioned today opened at $2,125,000 and the room enjoyed excited bidding competition. This coin is considered one of the great icons of American numismatics, the example is the finest graded specimen known.

Steve Contursi, president of Rare Coin Wholesalers from Irvine, Calif., purchased the coin via phone participation. He is in 50/50 percent partnership on the coin with Don Kagin, president and owner of Kagin’s Inc. Contursi and Kagin are no strangers to purchasing the finest, rarest and most valuable coins in the world. Seven years ago they partnered on the unique 1787 Brasher Doubloon, America’s first gold coin, which was sold December 2012 for $7.4 million.




“This coin now ranks as No. 7 in the top 10 prices realized at auction,” said Chris Napolitano, president of Stack’s Bowers Galleries. “The all-time record for a coin sold at auction is $7.59 million when we partnered with Sotheby’s to sell the only 1933-dated $20 Saint-Gaudens double eagle ever to be auctioned.”

“We are extremely excited about owning this finest graded specimen of one of America’s most desirable coins,” stated the new owners. “It combines all the elements of rarity, desirability, artistic design and historical importance. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to emulate the beautiful high relief of the ancient Greek coiners by bringing in the world renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and he achieved just that.”

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Source: http://www.coinweek.com/auctions-news/coin-auctions-proof-69-ultra-high-relief-20-saint-brings-2-7-million-at-stacks-bowers-auction/

Marines Medals, 2012-W Gold Eagle, $1 Coin Sets End US Mint June Releases

Next week is the last week of June, and the United States Mint will end it with product launches that include a collector Gold Eagle, two four-coin dollar sets and two bronze medals for the Montford Point Marines.

Starting on Tuesday, June 26, the U.S. Mint will release two different 2012 Presidential $1 Four-Coin Sets, at $9.95 each. The sets contain the four 2012 Presidential $1 coins in circulating quality. The originating city is the difference, as one of the offerings is from Philadelphia and the other is from Denver. The packaging will allow easy access to the coins so collectors can move them into coin albums.

Once available, collectors may order either set, plus any of the Presidential $1 Coin products on the U.S. Mint website page here.

Thursday, June 28 is when the U.S. Mint will release the 2012-W Uncirculated American Gold Eagle, but the price for the one ounce, 22-karat gold coin is not set until the day before its launch.
When the coin goes on sale, purchased it from the U.S. Mint via its online product page.

Also on Thursday, the Montford Point Marines Bronze Medals in 1.5- and 3-inch sizes go on sale. These medals recognize their personal sacrifice and service to their country during World War II. The Montford Point Marines were the first black Americans to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps after President Franklin Roosevelt issued an Executive Order establishing the Fair Employment Practices Commission in June 1941.

The larger bronze medal is $44.95 and the smaller one is $7.95. Once released, order the medals through this U.S. Mint online product page.

Each new product will be available from the United States Mint on their respective release date beginning at 12:00 noon ET. For collectors who prefer to order by phone, the U.S. Mint’s toll-free phone line is 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).

Below is a table that lists the above numismatic releases and the schedule for other upcoming products.

June, July and August US Mint Numismatic Product Releases

Release Date	U.S. Mint 2012 Numismatic Product	Product Price
6/26/2012	2012 Presidential Four-Coin Dollar Sets (P)	$9.95
6/26/2012	2012 Presidential Four-Coin Dollar Sets (D)	$9.95
6/28/2012	2012-W Uncirculated Gold Eagle	TBD
6/28/2012	The Montford Point Marines 3" Bronze Medal	$44.95
6/28/2012	The Montford Point Marines 1.5" Bronze Medal	$7.95
7/09/2012	Chaco Culture National Park 5 Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin	$204.95
8/02/2012	2012-W Uncirculated American Silver Eagle	TBD
8/13/2012	Acadia National Park 5 Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin	$204.95
8/16/2012	Benjamin Harrison Presidential Dollar Rolls, Philadelphia	$32.95
8/16/2012	Benjamin Harrison Presidential Dollar Rolls, Denver	$32.95
8/16/2012	Harrison Presidential $1 100-coin Bags, Philadelphia	$111.95
8/16/2012	Harrison Presidential $1 100-coin Bags, Denver	$111.95
8/16/2012	Harrison Presidential $1 250-coin Boxes, Philadelphia	$275.95
8/16/2012	Harrison Presidential $1 250-coin Boxes, Denver	$275.95
8/16/2012	Harrison Presidential $1 500-coin Boxes, Philadelphia	$550.95
8/16/2012	Harrison Presidential $1 500-coin Boxes, Denver	$550.95
8/27/2012	Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Quarter Two-Roll Sets	$32.95
8/27/2012	Hawaii Volcanoes Quarter Bags, Philadelphia	$34.95
8/27/2012	Hawaii Volcanoes Quarter Bags, Denver	$34.95
TBD	Alice Paul First Spouse Gold Proof	TBD
TBD	Alice Paul First Spouse Gold Uncirculated	TBD

Source: http://www.coinnews.net/2012/06/22/marines-medals-2012-w-gold-eagle-1-coin-sets-end-us-mint-june-releases/

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Numismatist’s Roman Coin Collection to be Sold to Benefit British Museum - The Kenneth Day Collection expected to raise £30,000

Roman coins collected by numismatist the late Ken Day are to be sold in a specialist London auction on Tuesday July 3 and the proceeds donated to the British Museum.

Auctioneers Morton & Eden will divide the coins between two sales and expect the collection to raise a total of around £30,000. The proceeds of both sales will be added to the acquisition fund set up to enable the museum to purchase coins of significance to Britain as well as to increase the accessibility of the national collection using new digital technology.

Kenneth Edwin Day, who lived in Thames Ditton, was a leading figure in the Kingston Numismatic Society, a longstanding member of the Royal Numismatic Society, and a constant attender at the RNS London lecture programme. He was also a strong supporter of the British Museum’s Department of Coins and Medals and was a regular visitor to the museum for many years, where he was always keen to share his knowledge of Roman coins and his new acquisitions with curators.


A spokesman for the British Museum said: “Ken decided some years ago that he would leave his collection to the BM, and we are delighted to have added some of his coins to the national collection for public benefit. It is a fitting testimony to his generosity and to a lifetime’s passion for Roman coins.

“Ken had a passion for sharing numismatic knowledge and would certainly have embraced the museum’s use of new digital media to make its collections more accessible to the general public. Ken’s generosity will ensure a continuing public legacy for his important contribution to numismatics in Britain.”

A wide-ranging collection covering the period from the Roman Republic through to early Byzantine coins of the 6^th century AD, the Kenneth Day Collection also contains a number of rare examples. Among them is a denarius which shows on the reverse a triumphal arch inscribed DE BRITANN. This coin commemorates Claudius’s invasion of Britain in AD 43 and is estimated at £400-500.
A gold aureus of Marcus Aurelius depicting the emperor as Caesar (AD 139-161) with Mars the God of War on the reverse is among the most valuable single coins with an estimate of £800-1,000.
Part 1 of the collection will be sold on the first of a two-day auction of Ancient, Islamic, British and World Coins and Medals, held in association with Sotheby’s, on Tuesday and Wednesday July 3-4. It will be on public view at 45 Maddox Street W1 on Thursday June 28, Friday June 29 and Monday July 2 from 10am-4.30pm or by previous arrangement. Part 2 will be sold in the autumn.

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Source: http://www.coinweek.com/auctions-news/numismatists-collection-to-be-sold-to-benefit-british-museum/