January 2008
D.C. & TERRITORIAL QUARTERS APPROVED
We hope your new year is off to a great start! 2007 came to a
close with important developments for collectors of modern U.S. coins
included in an omnibus appropriations bill enacted by Congress and
signed into law by President Bush.
The final five coins in the U.S. commemorative state quarters program
are scheduled to be released during 2008 (Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii, in that order), but one provision in the
appropriations bill calls for
six more commemorative quarters during 2009. Bills authorizing
these six quarters had
been proposed - and failed - in Congress for several years.
The new quarters will honor the District of Columbia and five U.S.
territories: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam,
American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands. Designs will be chosen by the Treasury
Secretary following a process similar to that used for each
state quarter, and the coins will be issued at approximately equal
intervals during 2009.
Previously enacted legislation calls for four commemorative reverse
designs on the 2009 Lincoln cent, in honor of the 200th anniversary of
President Abraham Lincoln's birth, as well as four more Presidential
dollars. As a result, the U.S. will strike 18 different coins for
possible release into circulation during 2009: four one cent
coins, one nickel, one dime, six quarters, one half dollar and five
dollars. Uncirculated coin sets (a.k.a. "Mint Sets") issued by
the U.S. Mint, which include coins struck at both its Philadelphia and
Denver facilities, are therefore expected to included 36 coins next
year.
"IN GOD WE TRUST" TO BE MOVED ON
PRESIDENTIAL DOLLARS
The same appropriations bill also requires that the motto "In God We
Trust"
appear on the obverse or reverse side of Presidential Dollars. This
provision is to be implemented "as soon
as practical" which is likely to be coins issued during 2009. The
Presidential $1 Coin
Act of 2005, which brought about the series, specified that the motto,
the coin's date and
mintmark, and the phrase "E Pluribus Unum" be inscribed on the edge,
to leave room for larger portraits. The date, mintmark and E Pluribus
Unum are to remain on the edge.
With release of the first four coins in the series during 2007, rumors
abounded that In God We Trust was not on the coin, and an uproar about
supposedly "godless" dollars ensued. A relatively small number of
coins were released without addition of the edge inscriptions, which
occurs in a separate process after the obverse and reverse designs are
imparted by a coining press.
"In God We Trust" first appeared on a U.S. coin on two cent pieces
dated 1864. It has been required on all U.S. coins for about a
century and on U.S. paper money printed since the late 1950s.
The scheduled release dates for 2008 Presidential dollars are
- James Monroe - February 14, 2008
- John Quincy Adams - May 15, 2008
- Andrew Jackson - August 14, 2008
- Martin Van Buren - November 13, 2008
Mintages for 2007 Presidential dollars dropped sharply with each
successive coin, from more than 340 million for George Washington to
about 140 million for James Madison. Financial institutions can
order each new Presidential dollar from the Federal Reserve during a
six week period that begins 2 weeks prior to the official release
date. Orders for dollar coins outside the six week period may be
filled with whatever coins (Sacagawea, Susan B. Anthony and/or various
Presidential dollars) are on hand.
CURRENT SPECIAL
Through January 31, prices have been further reduced
on about 80 great collector coins. Pictures of most of the coins
on sale can be viewed by clicking the respective listings on our
Current
Special page, where you'll also find the sale prices.
2008 AMERICAN EAGLE UPDATE
Uncirculated 2008 American Silver Eagles are now in stock.
Individual coins and rolls of 20 coins in original U.S. Mint issue
plastic tubes can be ordered on our web
site.
Telesphere Numismatics has recently discontinued selling gold bullion
coins. Bullion coins have been a small part of our business, and this
decision will allow us to focus more on collector coins, which are of
greater interest to the vast majority of our customers.
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Telesphere Numismatics
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