J&T Coins LLC is now selling the 2010 Gold & Silver Chinese Pandas. Click here to order the Gold Pandas and here to order the Silver Pandas.

 Planned mintages  for the 7 gold and 3 silver panda sizes are as follows:

 Gold

 Kilo – Planned Max Mintage 200

5 oz – Planned Max Mintage 1000

1 oz – Planned Max Mintage 300000

½ oz – Planned Max Mintage 120000

¼ oz – Planned Max Mintage 120000

1/10 oz – Planned Max Mintage 120000

1/20 oz – Planned Max Mintage 120000

 Silver

 1 Kilo – Planned Max Mintage 4000

5 oz – Planned Max Mintage 10000

1 oz – Planned Max Mintage 800000

 All are legal tender of P.R.C.

 The 5 oz and Kilo Gold and Silver sizes are typically available in March of each year. If you would like to order one of these please call us at 866-267-6024.

 Mintages for the 1 oz silver panda increased to 800000 this year from 600000 last year. The 1 oz gold panda has a maximum mintage of 300000 this year up from 140000 for last year. The remaining gold sizes have also shown big increases with each having a maximum mintage of 120000.  

 With very strong demand for the series sellouts are expected. The question is for which sizes?

Mintage figures provided by Chinese-coins.blogspot.com

 

By Harry Miller, Numismatic News

December 08, 2009

In the past week we have had the U.S. Mint stop delivery of silver Eagles first and then gold Eagles. This has caused a rise in the premium of coins available for immediate delivery; however, word is deliveries will resume in about two weeks. Many believe this is an attempt to slow the market down by curbing the off take of physical delivery. Another indication of that are the discounts on methods of holding paper forms of bullion such as ETFs.

We again have higher premiums on proof gold Eagles, which are steadily going into many retirement programs and increases in many premiums of earlier U.S. gold type coins.

Morgan and Peace dollars are stable with a few minor negative adjustments in some high end items, but the market tone seems to have changed to a much more positive one. There is heavy demand for circulated common date issues and brisk trading in low to mid-range mint state coins. This is evidenced by the lack of any discounting on bulk deals in the wholesale markets and at shows.

Proof sets and Mint sets are stable with only positive movement over the last two weeks. Pre-1965 sets and many silver quarter sets now have a floor because melt value is near dealer bids.

By Eric Morath

The falling popularity of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning is threatening to cut into recoveries for National Gold Exchange Inc.’s creditors.

The Chapter 11 trustee operating National Gold Exchange is seeking to unload the Tampa, Fla., coin wholesaler’s Lightning season tickets as part of his effort to sell assets to repay creditors.

But the trustee said chances of getting full price for the $101.75 per seat tickets are slim.

Individual game “tickets can be sold for anywhere between 30% and 70% below face value,” trustee Joseph J. Luzinski said in bankruptcy-court papers. He also noted that it appears many other season ticketholders are trying to sell their seats and that tickets typically are available at the box office on the day of the game.

Luzinski suggested the company try to hawk the Lightning tickets on eBay or Craigslist because listings on those Web sites are free. A classified ad in the in the Tampa Tribune would cost the company $150, he said.

The Lightning electrified the state of Florida in 2004 when it became the southernmost team ever to win hockey’s Stanley Cup. As defending NHL champions, the Lightning ranked second in total attendance.

This season, the second-place Lighting sell only 74% of their seats on average, according to ESPN. That ranks second worst in the 30-team league.

Bankruptcy Beat favorite Phoenix Coyotes bring up the rear, selling only 56% of their seats.

SPDR GOLD TRUST SALES

Gold bubble worries lead to significant sell-off in top gold ETF

Investors have been taking profits in their holdings in the world’s largest gold ETF on ‘burst bubble’ worries

Author: Lawrence Williams

Posted: Wednesday , 09 Dec 2009

LONDON -

The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), noted that its holdings fell to 1,116.247 tonnes, worth over $41 billion at the current gold price, as of December 8th. This represented a fall of 1.2 percent or more than 13 tonnes in a day and was the largest one-day drop in around five months according to a Reuters report. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF hit a record high of 1,134.03 tonnes on June 1, and up until recently had been climbing back towards this level again.

Further falls were expected to be announced today as the gold market is going through a period of uncertainty and some investors are liquidating some or all of their holdings, and taking some hefty profits, in case the recent gold price falls are because a gold price ‘bubble’ has burst.

The SPDR Gold Trust gold holdings are larger than those of most nations’ Central Banks, and there has always been a worry that this overhang of gold, effectively in fickle investors’ hands, could in itself prompt a catastrophic fall in the gold price if sentiment moved sufficiently to generate a major sell-off, leading to a downwards price spiral.

So far this has not happened, and with the weaker dollar this morning seeing the gold price pick up, and continuing economic uncertainty, there is evidence of buyers coming back into the gold market seeing the earlier falls as a good buying opportunity, and ignoring the ‘bubble’ talk.

There is no doubt that the recent sharp movements in the gold price that have seen it fluctuate up and back down by nearly $100 in the past weeks make this a market for those with nerves of steel. Several observers have warned of excessive volatility ahead and these warnings are definitely coming into play. The fundamentals which have been driving the gold price upwards are still in play, but as we have warned before on Mineweb, markets are often driven by investor sentiment and if the force is no longer seen to be with gold there could be even more volatility ahead for the price until some stability sets in.

Movements up or down in the SPDR gold ETF holdings will thus be watched with particular interest over the next few days as this will be a good indicator of where gold investment sentiment is trending.

WASHINGTON (Commodity Online): The United States Mint has suspended sale of its one ounce gold coin and in a statement it said the mint has depleted its inventory of 2009 American Buffalo one ounce gold bullion coins.

According to Mineweb, supply problems also persist with smaller gold coins, particularly given the enormous demand for fractional sized gold coins following the suspension of the one ounce Gold Eagles. Thus the Mint was forced to issue a second memo on Friday saying the American Eagle Gold Tenth-Ounce Coin inventory was depleted and that inventory for the half-ounce and quarter-ounce coins remains very limited. Following the sale of these remaining gold coins on Friday, the Mint anticipated that it would again offer all fractional sizes by mid-December, but in an allocation process.

The resumption of American Silver Eagle bullion sales will resume this week. These silver coins were suspended along with the one ounce gold coins a week ago – also due to depletion.

The Mint had been trying to control sales by not releasing the 2009 coins for sale until late in the year – they are usually available throughout the year, but demand has proven to be enormous. This doesn’t mean though that coins are not available to the US public as some authorized dealers will continue to hold stocks, although these are being depleted rapidly and premiums charged on sales are increasing.

According to a report on website Coinupdate.com “The US Mint began sales of fractional weight American Gold Eagle bullion coins on December 3, 2009…. These fractional Gold Eagles are typically available throughout the year, but this year the Mint delayed the release to focus production on the one ounce bullion coins. After only one day of availability, the US Mint recorded sales of 56,000 of the one-half ounce coins, 58,000 of the one-quarter ounce coins, and 260,000 of the one-tenth ounce coins. They have indicated that the inventory for one-tenth ounce coins has already been depleted and the inventory for one-half and one-quarter ounce coins is limited. The remaining limited inventory will be offered via the US Mint’s standard allocation process and additional inventory is expected to be available in mid-December.”

While the shortage of US Mint offerings due to demand exceeding supply is, in reality, not that significant in terms of global gold sales it does demonstrate the extent to which demand for easily available physical gold has increased over the past two years. Some of this has been the ever increasing interest by the U.S. public in gold in general and also a certain amount of distrust generated by some commentators as to whether the various ‘paper gold’ offerings were secure.

(Source: Mineweb)

Will gold supply run out as Barrick Gold warns?

 By David Vaughn

Barrick Gold says the world gold supply has run out. Wow! Isn’t that what some have been predicting for the past 10 years? The president of the largest gold company in the world, Barrick Gold, has just recently announced that gold production peaked in the year 2,000.

It is becoming increasingly more and more difficult to find significant deposits of gold ore. And as the tide has turned the central banks have now become serious buyers of gold and no longer sellers. China has doubled its gold reserves these past 10 years. Asia is turning those worthless US dollars into gold.

Will someone please tell Sarah Palin to get a haircut and take a class in rhetoric?

Rhetoric is simply the art of learning to speak well. Persuasive speech without the mouthful of peanuts. And through the power of effective speech your life begins to develop a sense of purpose and you can influence the thoughts and dreams of a nation.

Sarah’s recent appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show rocketed Oprah’s show to its best numbers in 2 years. Guess someone’s listening to her. The world awaits your destiny, Sarah.

Ever wonder why Adam decided to share with Eve that forbidden bite? Adam considered Gods wrath. He considered his wife’s wrath. It’s easy to conclude whose wrath he was most afraid of.

And what about investing in those mining companies producing gold and exploring for new deposits? A lot of money to be made here as long as you remember you’re dealing with speculation.

I like that word.

Let me say it again. Speculation. Has a soothing comfortable effect on the tongue. Technically, there is a difference between the term speculation and investment. Investment supposedly promises safety and speculation in the past has always been defined as risk. If there is any one thing investors have learned these past 10 years is that no investment is without substantial risk.

Remember Uncle Bernie?

Bernard Madoff? For years known as Wall Street’s most successful money manager. It is really best to classify any and all investing as speculation. There are no guarantees where ever you place your money. That’s a hard pill to swallow for 401K participants who were counting on 30% annual returns until retirement. And back to Uncle Bernie. I understand that about 50 billion still remains unaccounted for.

What about speculating in mining stocks?

There are those who promise significant profits in just a couple of weeks. Nostradamus couldn’t do better. Somehow I feel a chapter needs to be written about gold speculation. So here we go.

When you hear any one touting a particular gold or silver mining company as a sure thing then head for the hills. The following terms below are good warnings to look for. When you hear the following terms below run.

“the next big thing” “elephant country” “new improvements in mining technology” “enormous land position” “no cash” “no permits” “may prove up” “should” “…quick and cheap to drill exploration holes.” When you hear this kind of language it sure whets your greed.

And the following crap below is a favorite.

Someone touting an existing property having over 90 million ounces of gold before the first drill hole has been drilled. Give me a break. Or how about? “There’s no limit to the potential size of this deposit!” And the following is a good one. “Volume of ore is somewhere between huge and enormous.” “Past exploration confirms…”

And the best probably. “A great deal can be learned with just a FEW drill holes.”

A few drill holes? What a load of bull. A mining company can never drill too many holes. Who knows what’s under that ground? That’s what determines what’s under there…lots of drill holes.

There’s an old saying. Know how to make a quick 20,000 dollars? Invest 50,000 in a gold mine. There’s a lot of truth in that. Actually, a lot of truth.

If none of this makes sense then Google Bre-X. Bre-X provides a good education. And Bre-Ex is not a soap cleanser. The mining business is complicated. The geology of a site is always difficult for even professional geologists to interpret. Assay results often are not right on the money.

Precarious business.

The following names below are worth following. Lot of gurus out there worth reading. A few?

Doug Casey. John Doody is a master craftsman. Kenneth J.Gerbino has brains. Jon Nadler always has a grip on reality and emotions. Kind of like Spock. You’ve never heard of these? Well, you need to acquaint yourself with these guys. If you do you might just make money.

The following fellow below may just have been a successful speculator in gold mining stocks. And maybe not. Who knows? But the story sounds good.

”We talked about Gods grace and all the hell we raised” ”Then one sunny day, I saw the old mans face” “Front page Obituary, he was a millionaire” ”he left his fortune to some guy he barely knew, his kids were mad as hell” ”But me, I’m doing well” “And i drop by today, to just say thanks and pray, i left a six-pack right there on his grave…” Billy Currington

And back to good analysts to follow? Don’t forget Dennis Gartman. Brains there too and perspective and objectivity. There are others not mentioned, but in due course they make themselves heard. Information is always valuable. Almost forgot to mention Jim Sinclair! Been in this business for 30 plus years. The one and only gold prophet.

Is information important?

The founding father of international finance, Meyer Amschel Rothschild believed in information. Though born in a Frankfurt ghetto he had the ability to realize the importance of information. It was Meyer who put to the test that information can represent the difference between poverty and wealth.

What leads to poverty or wealth is volatility. What we are seeing today. Instability and volatility generally contribute a great deal to the direction of a share price…whether up or down. Jesse Livermore lost more money when the markets were “flat.” But with the depression of 1929 and volatility that went crazy. He went on to make 100 million dollars.

Volatility is always the friend of speculation.

Information is proving in the world markets today that gold is being recognized as real currency. More central banks around the world are increasing their gold reserves. Physical gold and physical silver represent insurance and shares in mining companies will always be speculation. Gold will probably continue its climb. 2,000 per ounce looking more like a reality down the road..Let’s change direction here and take a history lesson.

History always repeats itself. Lot to learn from the past. A lot of people often refer to the decline and death of the Roman Empire. Don’t think it ever really fell. Sure, the emperors all died and civilization collapsed. But Rome’s influence continues to endure and shapes the very foundation upon which our civilization exits. Its influence truly never died. Its influence still reigns today.

The ancient Roman world began around the 8th century BC. Just a humble little trading post that began its road to fantastic wealth by trading salt along the Tiber River. Officially, the last vestige of Rome, Constantinople, came to an end in 1453. What is that? From the 8th century to 1453 is over 2,000 years.

What does this have to do with anything, especially gold and current events? So much so that Rome created the blueprints for modern day society, modern finance and even the futures currency.

Nothing new under the sun.

Particularly economics and finance. Throughout history, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Rome, the medieval era, France, Germany, the 20th century, the 21st century. Always a predictable pattern. Never ending economic cycles. A little variation here and there. But nothing new under the sun.

Pompeii had air conditioning…known as evaporative cooling. Modern day air conditioning was not re-invented until 1902. Romans also invented central heating, long forgotten, and not commonplace again until the mid 20th century. Indoor plumbing and running water was available in every major city in the empire. Both indoor plumbing and outside running water became a forgotten luxury by the 6th century. Not until the 18th century would common citizenry enjoy running water. And, oh, those flushed toilets I like so much.

Rome had the brains and engineering to build a great sewer system 2,600 years ago, the Cloaco Maxima and its still in use today. Rome’s engineers provided public toilets flushed with running water and elaborate fountains were every where.

Rome designed horse racing stadiums called hippodromes. The one in Rome held as many as 250,000 spectators. These hippodromes were scattered all over every major city in the empire. Chariot racing was as popular in that day as world soccer is today. The Blues (Venetii) and Greens (Prasinoi) chariot racing teams raced against the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi).

Engineering marveled the age then.

Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the western edge of Parthia, modern day Iran. Rome paved over 250,000 roads all over Europe, North Africa, and the Mid East. Just in Britain alone there were over 6,000 miles of paved road. And many of these roads are still being used today. Roman roads were often as straight as our modern expressways and even tunneled through solid rock where necessary. The only difference in modern day road systems and the Romans is that ours require more maintenance and are constantly in a state of deterioration. Contractors have learned to build things in our day that quickly fall apart so they can shortly be built again. More money made this way.

The US senate, the executive branch, all old ideas. Their Capitoline Hill we call today the Washington DC capital. All today’s classic buildings are patterned in the ancient Roman style. And the major building component was concrete. The secret of making concrete was lost and not rediscovered until 1756. Over a 1,000 years with out concrete until just 250 years ago.

The point in all of this?

We can see what our past forefathers did to ruin their economy and currency. And this understanding proves that what is happening today was learned long, long ago.

In an effort to attempt to deal with their increasing economic problems the rulers gradually began to devalue the currency beginning around 60AD and eventually became even worse when the silver content was substantially reduced in coins. And the economy only worsened. By the 3rd AD century the amount of silver content in a silver coin was only .02%.

One reason the economy began to fall apart in the roman world was because the existing currency was debased. Much as is happening again today. As the money became worth less and less people began spending even less money.

Always, through the ages, the middle class is eventually squeezed out of existence, economic opportunity ceases, and the majority becomes the poor masses dependant on the state. And as an economy worsens the middle class eventually became lower class.

And inflation ensued.

And of course inflation then was caused by the creation of more and more debased currency. Like the US pre 1964 coins made of silver and now made of some trash metal. The phenomenal rise in prices in the later empire followed the large increase of the amount of money in circulation just as today.

And in the later empire it became forbidden to hoard gold and silver coins and the penalty became death. Sounds like the United States under FDR in the 1930s when physical gold and silver was confiscated from the average man in the street. Inevitably, we are all just conduits for stupidity and avarice.

Jim Sinclair – “Be careful as gold is going to $1224-$1278, $1650 and then on to Alf [very, very high!] Numbers. Ask yourself if you are a speculator or an insurance holder?”

Summary

A major cycle is unraveling in the global financial economy today. And as this crisis cycle evolves the world as we know it will for ever change.

Every world cycle is about freedom and security. Some will want freedom and others will want to keep the security and the status quo. Some want to be free while others happily will wear a golden collar of servitude provided by a polite government.

Always look for the gold in the ground. “Proven & Probable” is always the superior classification for the best affirmed deposit. This is the term the banks like best before lending money.

Courtesy: http://goldletterdv.com

By Dave

Over Here. No, Over There

December 07, 2009

If you have ever played with a small dog that loves to race around from spot to spot depending on where you are looking or going, you have a good sense of what the Mint looks like day to day as it tries to cope with serial bullion coin shortages.

What’s being offered today?

A new allocation of one-ounce bullion American Eagle coins.

Will there be enough?

Are you kidding?

And so it goes.

Bullion coin buyers and coin collectors who are following the spectacle like to tsk tsk this these ongoing shortages.

But there is another small dog racing around here. It is the bullion coin buyer who is also racing from spot to spot bidding up prices of the bullion coins on the secondary market to ridiculous percentages.

Forgotten by these buyers is that the unusual premiums that occur from time to time get zeroed out. Sometimes bullion coins even trade for a discount to bullion value.

To use round figures, imagine paying a 10 percent premium for a half ounce gold coin. At today’s gold price of $1,144, that works out to a gold price of $572 plus $57.20 to equal $629.20.

Gold has to reach $1,258.40 to give the coin a bullion value equal to what was paid with the 10 percent premium. That is quite a swing and quite a nut to have to cover before profits can begin.

Does it matter?

Well, just try telling a small dog how silly it looks and you will get the same result.

Gold Coins Sell Out at Mint

By NumisMaster

The Mint announced today that it has depleted its inventory of 2009 American Buffalo one ounce gold bullion coins. No additional inventory will be made.

The inventory of American Eagle gold tenth-ounce coins was depleted today after less than one day of sales.

The inventory for the half-ounce and quarter-ounce coins remains very limited, according to U.S. Mint Director of Public Affairs Tom Jurkowsky.

The Mint launched the sale of the 2009-dated American Eagle gold fractional coins on Dec. 3.

“We will offer the remaining half-ounce and quarter-ounce coins for sale via the United States Mint standard allocation process, he said. “Additional inventory is being produced based on available in house blank supplies.”

Jurkowsky anticipates that an additional limited inventory of coins in all fractional sizes will be offered for sale by mid-December via the United States Mint standard allocation process. Additional information will be provided as soon as available.

Additional 2009 American Eagle gold one ounce coins will be available by mid-December, via the standard allocation process, he said. Additional information will be provided as soon as available.

On Monday, Dec. 7, the Mint will resume taking orders for 2009-dated American Eagle silver bullion coins. The coins will be allocated among the authorized purchasers.

“We anticipate that we will allocate these coins until at least the end of December, 2009 on a weekly basis,” Jurkowsky said.

Gold’s golden journey through the ages

 

NEW DELHI (Commodity Online) : The precious yellow metal is going great guns by setting new records since last week.

Let’s see how the yellow metal achieved every milestone on its journey to the top.

Trade commodities or equities from across the globe. Join Now

* January 1980 – Gold hits record high at $850 per ounce. High inflation because of strong oil prices, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the impact of the Iranian revolution, prompts investors to move into the metal.

* August 1999 – Gold falls to $251.70 on fears of central banks reducing reserves, and mining companies selling gold in forward markets to protect against falling prices.

* October 1999 – Gold reaches a two-year high at $338 after agreement to limit gold sales by 15 European central banks. Market sentiment toward gold begins to turn more positive.

* February 2003 – Gold reaches a four and a half year high on safe-haven buying in run-up to conflict with Iraq.

* December-January 2004 – Gold breaks above $400, levels last traded in 1988. Investors turn to gold as risk insurance.

* November 2005 – Spot gold breaches $500 for the first time since December 1987, when spot hit $502.97.

* April 11, 2006 – Gold surpasses $600, the highest since December 1980, with funds and investors jumping into commodities on a weak dollar, firm oil prices and geopolitical worries.

* May 12 – Gold prices peak at $730 an ounce with funds and investors pouring money into commodities on a weak dollar, firm oil prices and political tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

* June 14 – Gold falls 26% to $543 from its 26-year peak after investors sell out of commodity positions.

* Nov. 7, 2007 – Spot gold hits 28-year high: $845.40/ounce.

* Jan. 2, 2008 – Spot gold breaks above $850.

* March 13 – Benchmark gold contract trades over $1,000 for the first time in the US futures market.

* March 17 – Spot gold hits an all-time high of $1,030.80 an ounce. US gold futures touch record peak of $1,033.90.

* Sept. 17 – Spot gold rises almost $90/ounce, a record one-day gain. Investors seek safety amid equity market turmoil.

* Feb. 20, 2009 – US gold futures rise back above $1,000 an ounce to a peak of $1,005.40 as investors turn to gold as major economies face recession and equity markets tumble.

* Sept. 8 – US gold futures hit $1,000 an ounce for the first time since February as the dollar’s weakness, concerns about the sustainability of global economic recovery and worries about future inflation underpinned sentiment.

* Nov. 3 – Gold crests $1,080 an ounce, defying dollar strength as the International Monetary Fund’s 200-tonne sale of gold to India’s central bank boosts sentiment.

* Nov. 6 – New York gold futures rise to a record above $1,100 as the dollar eases in the wake of weaker-than-expected US non-farm payrolls data, while spot gold hits a record high at $1,100.90 an ounce.

* Nov 26 – Spot gold rises above $1,192.60 per ounce, extending gains from the day before.

* Dec 1 – Gold hits record highs of $1,198.70 an ounce in Europe, as the dollar weakens against a basket of currencies after policy comments from the Bank of Japan.

* Dec 3 – Spot gold price rises to $1,227 per ounce.

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