Explosive Morning For Precious Metals

All four of the precious metals we numismatists follow regularly are exploding with investor demand this morning. Buying is skyrocketing on concern over possible shortages of gold, anticipation of tough economic times on the horizon and a desire to secure a solid inflation hedge with a position in the currently ultrapopular commodity.

New record highs were established this morning for Gold at $919 and Platinum near $1690. Silver and Palladium are not far behind, with spot prices riding at nearly $16.50 and $380 respectively, at the time of this posting.

Tom's Recommended Film of the Week

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

I Watch a lot of movies. If a new release looks interesting I'll watch it eventually. Sometimes I don't expect much, sometimes I'm anticipating too much. That colors my post viewing opinion of a film. For instance, when I watched Stuck on You, I thought it would be pretty bad, so when it was really well done I was most impressed. On the other hand I was anxiously anticipating a good film when I watched Smokin' Aces, so my dissappointment mas multiplyed by a factor of my anticipation when the film fell flat.

This weeks film, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, was one of those films I didn't expect too much from. I like Adam Sandler very much in most of his films, and being an Everybody Loves Raymond fan, I think Kevin James has been wonderful on his TV stints on that show and his own show, The King of Queens. They created my interest in this film, but I expected the writing to take the low road and go for the cheap laughs without offering any higher elements. Never-the-less it seemed worth a try.

Lucky for me the writing team included Alexander Payne, who wrote and directed two of my favorite edgy humor films, Election and Sideways. Payne was an excellent choice to create a film with heart and outstanding humor. So I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry was a pleasant surpirse, with compassion and plenty of big laughs to keep any viewer interested and entertained.

Fire at RCM in Winnipeg

The Royal Canadian Mint facility in Winnipeg experienced a fire early Sunday evening which caused about $300,000 in damage. Fire officials think the cause may have been an electrical short near an electroplating vat.

In terms of building I think that Winnipeg may be the more current of the two mint plants operated by the RCM, having been built in the mid 1970's and opened in 1976. Ottawa may be an older building dating back to 1908, but I think it has more high tech equipement in use today, as it stikes the majority of commemorative coins, while Winnipeg does the circulation issues, using modern highspeed equipment.

This is at least the third fire at the Winnipeg plant of the RCM since 2005. A fire in 2007 closed down the coin plating line. Problems with sprinkler installation have been a sore point for the RCM and were at the root of the second fire.

Visitors can get a tour of the Winnipeg manufacturing plant for $5.00, though I am not sure how this fire might effect that option. The RCM Headquarters at Ottawa can also be toured for the same price. Seeing that the RCM tends to be an innovator in the world of commemorative coinage, touring their facilities might be well worthy of a summer trip.

UBS Offers High Grade Crowns in Basel

UBS is set to auction The "Peak Collection" on January 22nd next week, as their Auction 74. The sale contains over 800 lots of choice blazing and toned coins, most struck in silver and a smattering of coppers, but primarily Crown sized pieces.

There are lots respresenting most parts of the world in this sale and many of the Crowns offered are quite seldom seen in this quality. It's a grand opportunity to add coins with great eye appeal to your collection. Check out this offering at the UBS website.

Personally, I centered in on four individual coins which are seldom offered. The first is a pattern Florin of 1848 for Great Britain cataloged at lot 438. The reverse of this pattern is denominatied three times, as 100 Milles, One Centum and One Tenth of a Pound. Most unusual, as well as being quite a rare Victoria pattern.

Russian crowns are well represented in this sale, as might be expected, but the Russian occupation coins of Poland are what caught my attention. Both lots 574 an 575 will be sought after by both Polish and Russian collectors. They offer the 10Zloty - 1 1/2 Rubel of 1837 and the 5 Zloty - 3/4 Rubel of 1841 and should realize strong bids above their pre-sale estimates.

Pretender coins can be found scattered through this auction as well. I noticed some of the scarce French Pretender pieces of Henri V as well as a wonderful Charles VII 5 Pesetas of 1874 in the Spanish listings. We list this coin in our Unusual World Coins catalog as an X#PT4, but I see that our image is incorrect, so perhaps we will be able to replace it with this lovely image from the UBS sale.

Just a few days ago I had a nice conversation with a friend and contrbiutor who specializes in pattern coinage of the world. He had purchased a few items at the NYINC and I mentioned that there were a few interesting patterns coming up for sale in some of the auctions I was writing up for these January blog postings. He informed me that Heriagte was distributing a pre-auction flyer at NYINC promoting an upcoming sale devoted to Pattern Coins of the World. I am anxious to see a catalog for this sale, it should be a very notable event and well worth shelf space for any world coin collector.

In the meantime however, I'll finish this posting by mentioning the fourth coin which caught my eye in the UBS Auction 74. It is a French pattern Ecu de Calonne struck at Paris in 1786. A lovely design and well worth a pattern collectors attention.