Last month, last hopes

We have just turned the calendar page to the last month of the year.

What a wild ride we have had in the first 11 months.

Can the trends continue? Will gold and silver be higher Dec. 31 than they are now?

Coin collectors are focused on their undone to-do list.

Sales of silver American Eagle proof coins are moving along. Having them at all this year was quite a gift, considering that the demand for the silver bullion coin was being rationed through August.

It didn’t take much imagination to fear that 2010 would be a repeat of 2009.

But it wasn’t.

The America the Beautiful 5-ounce bullion coins and their long absence from the market even though production began in September has probably kept more collectors focused for far longer on the nuts and bolts of numismatics when normally their minds would be diverted to programs for the kids and other family holiday events.

This is not a New Year’s blog. We’ve still got 30 days to go. It looks like we are going to have to pay close attention to every last one of them.