Infinite Unknown

- No More Dead Presidents As Mint Stops Coin Production (ZeroHedge, Dec. 13, 2011):

In continuing efforts to save governmental money (and waste) the Washington Post is reporting that the United States Mint will cease production of Dollar coins (with each carrying a deceased President’s likenesses). More than 40% of the coins have been returned to the Fed because no one wants them. Who needs real money when 1s and 0s are all that counts nowadays?

White House cutting production of presidential dollar coins; will save taxpayers $50 million

The presidential dollar coin is falling victim to Washington’s cost cutting efforts.

The Obama administration is stopping nearly all production of the coins, which carry the likeness of every deceased President. The effort will save taxpayers $50 million a year in production and storage costs.

In 2005, Congress mandated that the United States Mint issue the coins. But the White House says more than 40 percent of the coins are returned to the Federal Reserve because nobody wants to use them.

Instead of producing 70-80 million coins per deceased president, the Mint will now only produce as many as collectors want.

The announcement is part of the White House campaign to cut back on government waste.

Tags: Global News, Government, Mint, Obama administration, Politics, U.S., U.S. Mint, White House

Wonder why the US mint has not sold a single ounce of silver so far in March? Here is a clue:

Press Releases
March 7, 2011

United States Mint Seeks Public Comment on Factors to be Considered in Research and Evaluation of Potential New Metallic Coinage Materials

WASHINGTON – The United States Mint today announced that it is requesting public comment from all interested persons on factors to be considered in conducting research for alternative metallic coinage materials for the production of all circulating coins.

These factors include, but are not limited to, the effect of new metallic coinage materials on the current suppliers of coinage materials; the acceptability of new metallic coinage materials, including physical, chemical, metallurgical and technical characteristics; metallic material, fabrication, minting, and distribution costs; metallic material availability and sources of raw metals; coinability; durability; sorting, handling, packaging and vending machines; appearance; risks to the environment and public safety; resistance to counterfeiting; commercial and public acceptance; and any other factors considered to be appropriate and in the public interest.

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Tags: Economy, Global News, Mint, Silver, U.S. Mint

The scramble for non-dilutable currencies hits a frenzy as silver just touches on a fresh 31 year high of $34.90.

To commemorate this historic event, the US Mint has halted American Eagle silver coing production, in addition to its ongoing halt of American Buffalo coins:

“because of the continued demand for American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins, 2010-dated American Eagle Silver Uncirculated Coins will not be produced. The United States Mint will resume production of American Eagle Silver Uncirculated Coins once sufficient inventories of silver bullion blanks can be acquired to meet market demand for all three American Eagle Silver Coin products.”

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/02/2011 09:45 -0500

Source: ZeroHedge

And of course Blythe Masters was right that nobody can manipulate the silver market, right?:

Added: 05.07.2010

Sure Blythe! Nobody believes that BS anymore. Game over.

It’s just a fact now that there is nothing left!

Silver is still incredibly cheap.

I would buy every silver Maple Leaf, American Eagle or Wiener Philharmoniker I could get my hands on.

Only physical gold and silver are real, everything else is an illusion.

- Exposed: The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) Scam

More on gold and silver:

Silver:

- CNBC: Total Silver Demand At 127% ! – The Case For $130 Silver

- Dollar Ready to Collapse, Silver Squeeze to Continue

- Even The Royal Canadian Mint Now Says It’s Difficult To Secure Silver

- Unprecedented: Silver Backwardation Surges To Over $1.00

- Eric Sprott on Silver: ‘THERE IS NOTHING LEFT’

- Fractal Analysis Suggests Silver to Reach $52 – $56 by May – June 2011

Continue reading »

Tags: American Buffalo, American Eagle, Economy, Mint, Shortages, Silver, U.S.

With continued reports of booming sales and tightness in the silver market, today King World News interviewed Dave Madge director of sales at the Royal Canadian Mint. When asked if the RCM is having trouble acquiring silver Madge responded, “Demand right now for silver is through the roof and it shows no signs of slowing at this point. Sourcing silver is becoming very difficult. We are competing with a great many players when it comes to purchasing silver and many of these players are bidding the price higher.”

Dave Madge of the Royal Canadian Mint continues:

“Our advantage is that we have had long-term relationships with our suppliers and that has helped us in this situation. We have been able to leverage off of those relationships to get supply, but it still remains a big challenge sourcing material. We’re looking at ways of mitigating our risk regarding supply of silver.

We are anticipating it to become even more difficult to secure supplies in the future. This is based on what we are seeing firsthand and what our suppliers are telling us. We work closely with these banks to secure silver and they tell us there is a lot of competition.”

…..

Full article here: King World News

See also:

- Unprecedented: Silver Backwardation Surges To Over $1.00

- Eric Sprott on Silver: ‘THERE IS NOTHING LEFT’

- Fractal Analysis Suggests Silver to Reach $52 – $56 by May – June 2011

- Silver Backwardation Now ‘Unprecedented 73 Cents’

Tags: Global News, Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, Shortages, Silver

Don’t miss:

- Eric Sprott: Expect $50 Silver, Gold Possibly $2,150 by Spring

As the topic of US Mint silver sales is not new to our readers, after we first brought attention to the record January sales by the Mint, we will not dwell much on it, suffice to say that the final January tally is in.

And at 6,472,000 ounces, this is nearly 50% higher than any prior month in the Mint’s 26 years of published sales history.

Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Global News, Mint, Silver

Only physical silver and gold are real, everything else is an illusion.

Three days ago we noted that in just the first week of January, the US Mint had sold 2,221,000 ounces of silver “a number which if run-rated would be an absolutely all time monthly record,” A quick glance at the tally today, shows that something very scary is going on. In the subsequent three days, the number has surged by 50% and has hit 3,407,000 ounces of silver! In just the first 12 days of the month we have already surpassed the total monthly sales of 9 separate months of 2010.

And some additional observations on what is becoming a physical buying frenzy from CoinNews.net:

An increase in 2010 Silver Proof Eagles and record-approaching 2011 Silver Bullion Eagles are the most interesting aspects in the latest US Mint sales report.

The Proof Eagle coins have seen two weekly adjustments since they sold out in late December. The latest brings them up 3,644 to 860,000, which would seem like a natural stopping point. Collectors will have to wait until the July time frame for the 2011 Silver Proof Eagles to make their appearance, according to the US Mint.

2011 bullion eagles launched  on January 3, 2011. Silver Eagles already have last year’s January record in their sight. The coins have raced to 3,407,000 in less than two weeks after their latest weekly pick-up of 1,322,000. Until January 2009, the silver coins had never topped the 3 million mark during the first month of a year. Those record sales totaling 3,592,500 may get clobbered in mere days. The all-time monthly high of 4,260,000 which was just set in November could be the next victim. As a side note, the 3,407,000 sold this month includes 469,500 of the 2010-dated issues. The US Mint had buyers order one 2010 Silver Eagle for every five of the 2011′s.

Bullion one-ounce 2011 Gold Eagles are running, but not sprinting like their silver counterparts. US Mint sales has their tally at 42,500 for a weekly increase of 29,000. As a comparison, buyers ordered 85,000 in January 2009. Inventory of the 2010-dated coins also remains. There were 53,000 at the start of the year. US Mint Authorized Purchasers must order one old for every four of the new ones.

Mike Krieger presents the following disturbing observation on this trend: “In the first 12 days of January 3.4 million silver eagles have been sold.  I have never seen anything like this.  The amount of physical being taken off the market on this paper sell off is EXTRAORDINARY.  We must be VERY close to the end.” Whoever has adopted JPM’s legacy paper silver short position is in for some very troubling days ahead.

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2011 14:23 -0500

Source: ZeroHedge

Related information:

- The Ultimate Cost of 0% Money

- These Central Banks Are Printing Money – Prepare Yourself

- Quantitative Easing Explained

Gold:

- George Soros’ and John Paulson’s Biggest Holding Is GOLD

- China, Russia, Iran are Dumping the Dollar, Buy Gold And Silver

- Gold and Gold Mining Shares As a Percentage of Global Assets or ‘The Once In a Lifetime Ride’

Silver:

- BullionVault.com Runs Out Of Silver In Germany

- Silver: Shortage This Decade, Will Be Worth More Than Gold

- Silver Derivatives – China and JP Morgan

- Max Keiser: Want JP Morgan to Crash? Buy Silver!

- Max Keiser: Crash JP Morgan – Buy Silver!

- JPMorgan Silver Manipulation Explained (Must-See!)

And don’t forget to do this (!!!):

- James G. Rickards of Omnis Inc.: Get Your Gold Out Of The Banking System

Tags: Economy, Global News, Mike Krieger, Mint, Silver, U.S.

US Mint suspended sales of its popular American Eagle 1oz bullion coins after demand from retail investors stripped its vaults bare.

Sales of the coins are expected to resume in early December.

Investors have been snapping up American Eagle coins, as well as Krugerrands from South Africa and Canada’s Maple Leaf coins as a hedge against inflation and the falling dollar.

Today 1oz American eagles were selling for $1,232.84 each, up $17.24. The coins have a face value of $50 but are sold by dealers at a premium to the price of gold.

Gold futures hit another record today of $1,188.60 per ounce for February delivery.

The US Mint said that it had depleted its current inventory of 1oz American Eagles after selling 124,000 ounces so far this month, up from 115,000 ounces sold in both September and October.

Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Gold, Mint, U.S., U.S. Mint

The rush by retail investors into bullion coins is creating shortages as mints across the world struggle to meet the surge in demand, dealers and mint officials say.

The scarcity is lifting coin premiums to as much as 5 per cent above the spot gold price, a level reached briefly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, when coin shortages also surfaced.

Spot gold in London on Wednesday traded at $972 an ounce, below last week’s peak of $1,004.5.

“There is demand for double or triple what the US mint is able to produce,” said Michael Kramer, president of MTB in New York, one of the four US gold dealers authorised to purchase bullion coins directly from the government’s mint.

The US Mint has sold 193,500 ounces of its popular American Eagle gold coin in the first seven weeks of this year, the same amount it shipped during the whole of 2007 and about the same as in the first six months of last year.

Continue reading »

Tags: Economy, Financial Crisis, Gold, Mint, U.S. Mint

FEARS of the unknown long-term effects from the global financial crisis have sparked a new gold rush.

With retail and wholesale clients around the world stocking up on the precious metal, the Perth Mint has been forced to suspend orders.

As the World Gold Council reported that the dollar demand for gold reached a quarterly record of $US32 billion ($50.73 billion) in the third quarter, industry insiders said the race to secure physical gold had reached an intensity that had never been witnessed before.

Perth Mint sales and marketing director Ron Currie said the unprecedented demand had forced the Mint to cease orders until January, with staff working seven days a week, 24-hour days, over three shifts to meet orders.

He said Europe was leading the demand, with Russia, Ukraine, Middle East and US all buying — making up 80 per cent of its sales. One European client purchased 30,000 ounces for $33 million.

“We have never seen this before and are working right at capacity. And we are seeing it from clients in the shop buying one ounce, right up to 30,000 ounces from overseas clients,” Mr Currie said.

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Tags: Australia, Economy, Financial Crisis, Gold, Mint, Shortages

Investors have rushed to buy gold bars and bought exchange traded funds, worth US$2.8 billion – the biggest inflow on record.

Good as gold: investor demand for gold remains high Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND

The onset of a global recession and falling stock markets have triggered a stampede for gold – the traditional safe haven during times of uncertainty.

According to the World Gold Council, exchange traded funds are the main beneficiary of the flight to safety. ETFs experienced their strongest quarterly inflow during the third quarter since SPDR®Gold Shares – the first gold ETFs – were launched in November 2004.

But the Council added that bullion dealers around the world reported an unprecedented surge in demand for coins and small bars. It said that there had been reports outright shortages of gold and high premiums over the gold spot price. The US Mint temporarily suspended sales of American Buffalo gold 1 ounce coins after its stocks were depleted, while UK, German and Austrian coin dealers have also reported an enormous increase in demand during the third quarter, it added.

The average gold price edged down slightly between June and September, to $870.88/oz, from $896.11/oz in the previous three months. Gold traded as high as $986/oz on July 15, the day after the US Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank announced plans for a joint bail-out of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but fell sharply later in the quarter to a low of $740.75/oz on September 11. This proved short lived, however. By the end of the quarter, the gold price had rebounded to $884.50/oz.

Yesterday, gold was trading at $729.20 an ounce after hitting intraday low of $718.20 — its lowest level since September 2007.

Continue reading »

Tags: Australia, Economy, Financial Crisis, Germany, Gold, Mint, U.K., U.S. Mint