Coins DIG

During last week, gold hit a new historical high of $1122 per ounce even though there was not much in the way of any new data. The week before last, the Reserve Bank of India purchased 200 tons from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Barrick, the world’s largest gold mining company, unwound some of its large hedged position in gold. December crude oil moved sharply lower due mainly to the larger-than-expected increase in weekly crude oil inventories which increased by 1.76 million barrels compared to market expectations of 1.0 million barrels. Also, gasoline inventories had an unexpected increase in weekly inventories.

Teen girls aged 15 to 19 accounted for the largest number (409,531) of the 1.5 million reported chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in the United States in 2008, followed by women aged 20 to 24, according to an annual federal report released Monday.

The researchers also found that black females continue to have a higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) than any other racial or ethnic group.

Last year, there were about 1.2 million reported cases of chlamydia and nearly 337,000 reported cases of gonorrhea in the United States, according to the Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2008, report.

Among the other findings from the report:

    * Gonorrhea rates among blacks were higher than any other racial or ethnic group and 20 times higher than among whites. While blacks represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for about 71 percent of reported gonorrhea cases, 48 percent of chlamydia cases, and 49 percent of syphilis case

Nothing with taxes is ever simple, even when you're getting a tax break.

An estimated 15.4 million tax filers may be getting paid more of the Making Work Pay credit than they should, according to a report from a Treasury Department inspector general publicly released Monday.

And that means they either will get less of a refund than they expected, or will actually owe money to the IRS on their 2009 taxes.

The taxpayers most vulnerable are those in two-earner couples; those who have dependents who earn wages; single or married filers who have more than one job at the same time; and filers who get pension payments or have a job and receive Social Security benefits.

We’ve been hounding General Motors about this car ever since Vice Chairman Bob Lutz revealed it at the Detroit auto show earlier this year, and there have been rumors afoot about its impending production for awhile now. Now, according to the Detroit News, the concept’s been greenlighted. We have to wonder if Lutz wasn’t bending a few arms behind the scenes to make it happen.

Perhaps the most significant news involving gold in the past week was the pattern of gold trading after last Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics announcement of the U.S. unemployment rate.

According to the BLS, the U-3 definition of the unemployment rate had jumped 54.5 percent in the past 12 months to 10.2 percent. This is the most commonly reported unemployment rate.

The BLS also reported that the U-6 definition of unemployment had climbed 45.8 percent from a year ago to its current level of 17.5 percent.

Gold rose to a record in London and New York as the dollar fell for a third day, spurring demand for the metal as a hedge against further weakness.

The Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s performance, slipped as much as 0.3 percent to a 15-month low. Gold jumped 5.6 percent in the past month in London as the currency index lost 1.8 percent and as news last week of Indian and Sri Lankan government bullion purchases raised speculation that other countries would follow suit.

Former President Bill Clinton claims health care reform is good politics, but the Senate must act fast and pass health care reform. Clinton, speaking with Senators at a luncheon today, said the worst thing Democrats could do is nothing.

According to "United States Patterns and Related Issues," by Andrew W. Pollock III, the only trial pieces purported to have survived from metallurgical testing in 1965 were the dime, quarter dollar and half dollar equivalent strikes in copper-nickel clad over copper. They are embedded in a block of Lucite displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.

Only four sets are accounted for besides the one that Eagle Numismatoics has. One set was cast in clear plastic for Congress, another set for the Mint director, one for the Smithsonian, and one set that was mutilated for metallurgical examination.

A California man has been arested in connection with the sale of $300,000 of fraudulently altered Morgan dollars in tampered Professional Coin Grading Service holders.
“Genuine, common date Morgan dollars were split into two pieces, then adhered to each other in combinations to create the illusion of rare dates and mintmarks,” said Stephen Mayer, chief operating officer of Collectors Universe, the parent firm of PCGS.
“The coins then were placed in tampered PCGS holders to give the coin credibility in the marketplace and to hide the alterations,” he said.
The coins were split front and back along the rim, with the new seam hidden by the altered holders.
Among the fraudulent alterations were “1883-S,” “1884-S” and “1903-S” that were deceitfully labeled as PCGS MS65, MS63 and MS64, respectively, Mayer said.
PCGS notified Northern Califonia law enforcement authorities after being alerted on Sept. 21 about suspicious coins by PCGS-authorized dealer Spectrum Numismatics of Irvine, Calif.