No limits were imposed by the Mint as it planned to begin accepting orders for the proof 2009 one-ounce Buffalo gold coin Oct. 29.

Perhaps the Mint thinks the high price will deter an overwhelming number of orders.

It is expected that the new coin will cost about $1,360. It is not a definite price as of press time because the cost will depend on the weekly average price of gold bullion immediately prior to the commencement of sales.

If this average gold price falls into the $1,050-$1,099.99 range, issue price for the one-ounce Buffalo proof will be $1,360. If it rises above that band or falls below it, the issue price will be affected in the same direction.

Initial demand for the bullion version of the one-ounce Buffalo coin was high. Four days after the beginning of sales on Oct. 15 to the Mint’s authorized purchasers, 71,500 coins had been taken.

Comparatively, for the full week, 33,000 one-ounce American Eagles were taken, pushing the total number of Eagles sold so far in 2009 to over 1 million pieces.

In 2010, the world will see a new U.S. circulating commemorative series, America’s Beautiful National Parks quarter dollar series. The act was created in 2008 to celebrate one national site in each of the states and territories. All 55 sites must be of historic or natural significance.

One unique aspect of this law is that for the first time in U.S. numismatic history, each quarter will be accompanied by a kind of legal-tender medal, or “coin-medal.” The same quarter designs will be reproduced in five ounces of silver. These will technically be 25-cent coins, but three inches across in size. Don’t look for any vending machines capable of accepting them.

Is an increase in medal collecting coming?

These beautiful behemoths will be a combination of precious metal bullion investment and work of art. The weight and fineness will be stamped on the edge. Imagine how the Grand Canyon will look engraved upon one of these.

Collectors of U.S. coins will be in for a new treat, but world coin and medal collectors are already familiar with these palm-sized heavyweights. Nations like Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, France and Singapore have minted them since the 1980s, as coins or medals or both.

A side effect of the issuance of 5- ounce silver coins from the U..S Mint will undoubtedly be an increased interest in other 5-ounce coins and medals. The down side is that prices for older ones could rise but on the plus side, with greater interest will come more availability. Other world mints may release new monster medals and coins to accommodate demand.

Sneakers can be expensive. But a Valencia County man may have shelled out a few thousand bucks for a pair without actually knowing it.

The sneakers on his feet were getting quite shabby, so he walked into a Los Lunas shoe store recently to buy a pair.

"He bought the shoes, put them on his feet and left the old shoes behind," said Chief Roy Melnick of the Los Lunas Police Department.

But what is strange is how the man paid for his shoes—he used old coins.

"It's pretty suspicious," Melnick said. "Nobody turns in seven coins for a pair of shoes unless they're probably stolen property."

The man may have had no clue what the coins were actually worth.

Suspecting the coins might be stolen, a bank employee called police after the shore store deposited them. They included an 1882 silver dollar, a 1990 silver dollar, a 1982 FDR silver dollar, a troy ounce silver coin, along with three other unidentified coins.

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk, the Perth Mint has released the fourth rotating coin in its Orbit and Beyond series celebrating Apollo 11’s historic mission in 1969.

The 99.9 percent silver coin’s reverse features images of Apollo 11 during different phases of its mission and an image of an astronaut’s footprint on the moon. These elements, which appear on a colored representation of the universe, and the border inscription, “1969 First Man on the Moon,” orbit around a colored image of Earth.

The obverse bears the Raphael Maklouf effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, year and denomination, all of which surrounds another colored image of Earth.

The coin weighs 31.140 grams and is 38.79 mm in diameter. It has a limited mintage of 25,000 and is issued as legal tender under the authority of the Government of the Cook Islands.

If you are planning to buy Gold Bars or Gold Coins from bank, here is a deterrent. You cannot sell it back to the banks.

Now this seems to be very strange as gold is a liquid commodity and is recyclable and can be stored unlike base metals. The banks also have facility to store huge quanities of gold as they do in the case of many shrines and temple boards. Then why is that the banks cannot buy back the commodity they have sold to a client?

The answer is with RBI which has allowed only one way transaction for banks, If you want to sell the same gold, you have to find a local jeweler. It is emerging that there have been many representations from banks to have the two way transactions but RBI has so far refused to entertain it.

Whitney explains, "While the projected price of $1,500 an ounce in the not-too-distant future seems quite high, compare it to 1980, when the price of gold peaked at $850. That $850 would actually be closer to $2,500 in today's dollars! And the When you consider that U.S. coinage was tied to gold prior to 1933, and the price of gold was stable at $20.67 per ounce, the historical growth has been phenomenal, and there's every reason to believe in its potential for a continued increase in value."

What were the first coins struck with the new steam-powered coin presses in 1836?

According to the Mint Director’s report, “All of the copper coins were struck,” beginning with successful tests on March 23, 1836. This would mean the cent and apparently the half cent, although only proof half cents were struck that year. The first half dollars were coined with steam on Nov. 8, 1836.

What’s the difference between Barton’s metal and Barton’s buttons?

Both the metal and the buttons are credited to Sir John Barton, who retired as controller of the British Royal Mint in 1820. Harrington Manville, an expert on English coins, describes the metal as a copper core to which thin sheets of gold are applied, in much the fashion of our current clad coinage strip. Barton made the buttons using this gold-clad copper.

There are lots of bi-metal coins like our current clad coins, but are there any tri-metal pieces?

One suggested is the emergency money issued in Ghent, Belgium, during the German occupation of World War II. It was reportedly struck on an iron core, brass plated on one side and copper plated on the other. I’m not aware of any national currency that would fit the title.

The Hobby Protection Act of 1973 bans all copies of numismatic items unless they bear a clear indication that they are copies. How do some of the fakes like the Blake $20 gold pieces get by?

I found Tim Day’s Sept. 22 “Viewpoint” predicting doom and gloom for coin collecting to be of interest, perhaps about 10 to 15 years behind the times, but of interest.

There were three particular points he made I’d like to address here, all of which I’ve heard before.

His first statement of interest is, “When you try to sell your coins back to the dealer community, all of a sudden your treasures are now common junk.”

What did you buy as a treasure that is now common junk? If you purchased common-date nicely circulated pre-1964 Washington quarters expect to get melt for them when you resell them in today’s market. The only way you are going to get more is for a complete set including the key dates. These coins haven’t magically become rare with age.