Coin Blog

Following the immense success of the 50 State Quarters program, there has been a proposal for another long series of quarters with rotating reverse designs. This program will likely be known as the National Park Quarter Program.

The bill which would authorize the program was first introduced in the House of Representatives on June 4, 2008. Another version of the bill was recently introduced in the Senate.

If the bill becomes law, quarters with reverse designs to honor the National Parks of the United States, the District of Columbia, and US Territories would be issued at a rate of 5 designs per year for a duration of 11 years. The program may optionally be extended for another cycle, creating the potential for 22 years of National Park Quarters.

The first National Park Quarters would be issued starting in 2010 after the conclusion of the 50 State Quarters program and the additional year for quarters honoring D.C. and the U.S. Territories.

Part of Blog Catalog.

This month the US Mint officially unveiled the designs for the upcoming 2009 Louis Braille Coins. This is a commemorative coin issue for the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth and his contribution of the Braille system.

The unveiling took place at the 2008 National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind. US Mint Director Edmund Moy did the honors.

The United States Mint is proud to present the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar coin design. I am looking forward to presenting the design for this unprecedented coin, and I am pleased that the United States Mint is playing a role in the cause of bringing literacy to all blind and visually impaired Americans.

The reverse design of the coin is notable since it is the first US coin to include readable Braille characters. It includes the Braille letters “BRL” which is short for “Braille.” Prior US coins have featured Braille characters, but they have been too small to be considered readable. These include the Alabama State Quarter and the 1995 and 1996 Paralympic Silver Dollars.

A prototype of the Braille Commemorative Coin reverse design is included below.

There are a large number of commemorative coin proposals working their way through the US legal system.  The next few posts will examine some of these newly proposed coins.

First up, the Star Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Coin.   This coin would be issued in 2012 to commemorate the War of 1812 and the writing of the Star Spangled Banner.  The legislative Act calls for production of up to 350,000 Silver Dollar coins.  Each coin will have a weight of 26.73 grams, diameter of 1.5 inches, and composition of 90% silver and 10% copper.

Surcharges from the coin would be paid to the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission.

The design will be representative of the War of 1812, specifically the Battle of Fort McHenry, which was the basis for our National Anthem, the Star Spangled banner.

Currently the coins have been passed by the House of Representatives.  In order to become law, the Act must be passed by the Senate and signed by the president.

As readers of this blog will know, there is an ongoing shortage of 2008 Silver Eagle bullion coins.  Early in the year the US Mint actually temporarily suspended sales of the coins to authorized Purchasers.  Following the suspension, the Mint started a policy of rationing the 2008 Silver Eagles to dealers at quantities below market demand.

This caused a bit of outcry, including a widely discussed Wall Street Journal article on the topic.  Also open letters to the US Mint Director and US Secretary of the Treasury from concerned organizations and individuals.

Last week, more problems came to light which will cause the current rationing of Silver Eagles to get even tighter.

The US Mint sent a memorandum to authorized purchasers informing them that the Mint’s supplier of silver blanks used in producing Silver Eagles would be reducing their shipments by more than half.  The Mint further indicated that they would stop using silver blanks for other purposes such as collectible coins.  This is clearly becoming a very serious issue impacting precious metals investors and coin collectors.

While much attention has been given to the dramatic rise of platinum over the past few years, another metal in the platinum group has risen even more substantially, Rhodium.

From trough to peak, platinum has moved from approximately $400 per ounce to $2,000 per ounce. This represents an increase of 400%. The last leg of the move was spurred by power problems for the South American miners of the metal.

During approximately the same time period, rhodium has moved from $400 per ounce to an incredible $9,400 per ounce. On a percentage basis, that represents an increase of 2,250%!

Rhodium has mostly industrial uses such as its use to make electrical contacts. Rhodium is extremely scare with a worldwide production of only 25 tons.

There don’t seem to be any easy ways for the average individual to have invested in rhodium, except for some custom coins which can sometime be found with rhodium alloys of plating.

Another metal from the platinum group, palladium is expected to be available in coin form from the US Mint in the coming years. So far, palladium has lagged behind rhodium and platinum in price appreciation. However, given the performance of its close cousins, I probably would not be averse to picking some up once it becomes available.