The 1929 half eagle issue is a curious one, struck during the year that the Great Depression began its decade-long stranglehold on the American economy, an unusual denomination to produce at a time when the theme song (written a couple of years later) was “Buddy, can you spare a dime?” Although the Mint struck 662,000 half eagles in 1929, few were ever distributed to the public. Most of the mintage was still in government vaults when the 1933 gold recall order mandated its melting. Since the issue never circulated to a meaningful extent, most pieces known today are in various Mint State grades. Examples such as this are in demand among budget-restricted collectors, and the supply is extremely limited. This is one of just 13 so-graded by PCGS.
Offered at $27,500
We do business the old fashioned way, we speak with you.
Burnished Gold Eagles are some of the lowest minted coins, yet they do not trade much over their bullion counterparts. In fact, they were struck 42 times fewer than the bullion gold eagles. Most of the time, you find a coin or two. We’ve put together a little bigger grouping that should be well received.
Available Coins: 2-2006-W $50 at spot plus $125 1-2007-W $50 at spot plus $125 2-2007-W $5 at $225 7-2008-W $10 “Key Date” at $875 1-2016-W $50 at spot plus $125
We do business the old fashioned way, we speak with you.
POSTED BY SRSROCCO IN MINING, NEWS, PRECIOUS METALS ON MARCH 20, 2019 — 11 COMMENTS
With the latest release by the USGS, silver production in the U.S. is now the lowest in more than 70 years. We have to go all the way back until the year after World War II ended to see U.S. silver production less than it was in 2018. While many reasons can be attributed to the decline, the main factors are falling ore grades and mine economics.
Unfortunately, there just aren’t too many economic silver deposits in the United States, especially with the high level of environmental and governmental regulations. Instead of dealing with all the bureaucracy, companies are looking to Mexico and South America to open new silver projects.
Regardless, U.S. silver production declined by more than 100 metric tons last year, or 10% in 2018, mainly due to the ongoing closure of the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho. The Lucky Friday Mine has been shut down ever since the United Steelworkers went on strike on March 13, 2017. However, the dropoff in silver mine supply can’t all be blamed on the Lucky Friday Mine. Domestic silver production has been trending lower for the past two decades:
In 2000, the U.S. produced 63.7 million oz (1,980 metric tons) of silver compared to just 29.7 million oz (923 metric tons) last year. Thus, U.S. silver production has fallen by more than 50% in less than two decades. Silver production in the U.S. ramped up significantly during the 1990s due to the McCoy-Cove Silver Mine in Nevada. At its peak, the McCoy-Cove Mine supplied 20% of the total U.S. silver production:
I don’t have a chart of U.S. silver mine supply over the past 100 years, but I checked the USGS data, and in 1946, the country produced only 713 metric tons (mt) of silver. Interestingly, while silver production had declined due to the war focusing its efforts on other strategic metal mining (2,090 mt in 1941 to 903 mt by 1945), the significant drop off in 1946 was also due to mine strikes at base metal mines and smelters. Because most of the silver is a by-product of base metal mining, the strikes had a profound impact on overall production.
So, even though the shut-down of the Lucky Friday Mine reduced U.S. silver production by 3-4 million oz, it doesn’t account for the additional 30 million oz lost since 2000.
At some point, Americans will become aware of the monetary properties of gold and silver. However, when they finally do, domestic silver mine supply will likely not be enough to satisfy the demand.
The 2000 Library of Congress Commemorative Coins were billed as “The Coins of Many Firsts”
The bimetallic coin design was inspired by the graceful architecture of the library’s Jefferson Building. The outer ring is stamped from a sheet of gold, then a solid core of platinum is placed within the ring. Then, the gold ring and platinum core are simultaneously stamped forming an annular bead where the two precious metals meet. The obverse depicts the hand of Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom, raising the torch of learning aside the dome of the Thomas Jefferson Building. The coin’s reverse is marked with the Library of Congress seal encircled by a laurel wreath, symbolizing its national accomplishment
This is the first ever bi-metallic coin Stuck by the US Mint that has both Gold and Platinum in it! Proof Mintage of 27,652 coins Mint State Mintage of 7,261
