What's Happening

From the desk of your Secretary

June 30/08 - Weighing in on the new reverse design for the Sacagawea dollar mandated by Congress, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee viewed more than a dozen designs June 18 before selecting a female Indian planting maize (corn) in a field. The design is intended for use on the 2009 dollar coin, which is the first that will host a Native American theme.

Each year thereafter a different Native American design will appear.

The design on the obverse is not necessarily the old Sacagawea design. It is to be chosen by the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, after consultation with the Commission of Fine Arts and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

There are two requirements: it must ” contain the so-called “Sacagawea design” and ” the inscription “Liberty.”

Despite recent difficulties with edge-lettering, the law requires that the inscription of the year of minting and issuance of the coin and the inscriptions “E Pluribus Unum” and “In God We Trust” are required to be edge-incused into the coin. The CCAC formally recommended the date movement, too.

There is a specific requirement that the edge-incusing of the inscriptions be done in a manner that preserves the distinctive edge of the coin so that the denomination of the coin is readily discernible, including by individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

There is an additional consultation requirement: designs selected for the reverse shall be chosen by the Treasury Secretary after consultation with the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Congressional Native American Caucus of the House of Representatives, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Congress of American Indians. They must further be reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

June 27/08 - Three new DVDs filled with thousands of listings and prices for coins and paper money have been released by Krause Publications.

They are the official DVDs of 2009 U.S. Coin Digest, 7th Edition, $9.95; 2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 36th Edition, $44.95; and Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern Issues, 1961-Present, 14th Edition, $44.95.

Each disc contains the exact pages from the same-named print publication in PDF form. They can be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader, which allows for a full search function and the ability to enlarge images and text 400 percent.

June 26/08 - The Japanese government is creating 94 types of commemorative 500 and 1,000 yen coins, including special coins for each prefecture. The designs for Kyoto and Shimane (pictured) were announced by Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga.

The 1,000-yen coins for Kyoto and Shimane will be sterling silver, weigh 31.1 grams and measure 40 millimeters in diameter. The government will mint a total of 100,000 of each coin.

The Kyoto coin features a scene from the classic work penned by Murasaki Shikibu (Lady Murasaki), depicting romances among members of the court in medieval Kyoto.

It will be issued before the millennial anniversary Nov. 1 of the Tale of Genji, which first appeared in recorded history in 1008.

June 18/08 - EBay Inc. hopes to attract more online traders by expanding the protections available to people who use its PayPal payment service for transactions on eBay's Internet marketplaces.

EBay executives said Thursday at the company's annual user conference that buyers who pay for items with PayPal will be eligible for full refunds, with no cap, if a seller fails to deliver an item as promised. Previously a buyer's coverage was capped at $200, or $2,000 if the item's seller enjoyed a particularly good reputation on eBay.

EBay sellers who accept PayPal as a payment method — as nearly all of them do — will also get unlimited protection against a charge being reversed. Such reversals can happen if a buyer claims not to get an item, or if a payment is fraudulently made. Previously sellers' coverage had an annual limit of $5,000, and applied only for shipments to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

PayPal spokeswoman Sara Gorman said the changes, due to take effect this fall, reflect the service's increasing confidence in its ability to spot and block many fraudulent transactions before they occur.

The steps come as eBay is trying several measures aimed at making its auctions and fixed-price listings easier and safer to use. Recently eBay revamped its feedback mechanisms and introduced new incentives for frequent sellers.

However, an earlier attempt to drive use of PayPal has encountered friction. The company recently postponed plans to require PayPal on all transactions in Australia after that nation's antitrust regulator raised objections.

June 18/08 -  Steel Cent Bill Opposed By U.S. Mint. The U.S. House of Representatives has finally taken some action in an endeavor to solve the current penny crisis. The question of whether or not to do away with the penny is being put aside for the time being. The current question appears to be “What” should the penny be made from?

House Bill HR-5512 calls for a penny to be made out of copper-coated steel within 270 days or approximately 9 months from the enactment of the date of enactment. The bill also calls for a steel nickel to be issued, but does not set a timetable for this coin.

US. Mint Director Ed Moy is in opposition to this bill, primarily because the bill does not give the Treasury Department sufficient authority to dictate what alloys U.S. coins are to be made from. Plus the Mint Director believes that 270 days is far too short to properly test and implement the issuance of the new penny. Furthermore, he is concerned that the price of steel could go even higher in the near future to coin pennies in a cost-efficient manner.

Even though this bill passed the House by a unanimous voice vote, it is highly likely to face stiff opposition in the Senate. A competing bill there is anticipated to be introduced by Senator Wayne Allard in the upcoming weeks.

It is thought that the Mint Director favors aluminum or some other metal rather than using steel to make the new pennies. The last time the U.S. minted steel pennies, it was a disaster! The 1943 steel cent, which was issued during the height of World War II to conserve copper for war production was especially reviled by the public. The steel penny was partially coated in zinc, and initially had a silver-colored appearance, which made it very easy to confuse with a dime.

The fact that only the faces of the penny were coated, rather than the edges, meant that the low-grade steel used quickly degraded into a corroded and horrifying mess in no time at all.

Although minting technology has advanced greatly since 1943, the U.S. has avoided using steel, principally because the large and politically well-connected vending industry uses magnetic coin validation technologies in its vending machines. Having to replace these machines or upgrading them would no doubt be a real hardship and costly to implement.

Of course the vast majority of vending machines do not accept pennies, therefore making a steel cent shouldn’t affect them. However, once the idea of using steel as an alloy for the other U.S. coins catches on, what implications will this have for the vending industry?

The manner in which the existing beneficiaries of government contracts have a vested interest in influencing future contract policies and legislation makes it very hard to radically change things.

If certain steel suppliers manage to get those lucrative U.S. Mint contracts to supply the metal and/or blanks, they will no doubt fight tooth and nail to further increase the Mint’s use of steel.

So the question comes down to whether the U.S. Mint should have the authority to decide what metals to use to mint coins rather than leaving the choice up to Congress as expressed in the U.S. Constitution.

June 11/08 - The United States Mint announced today a new program to ship circulating Presidential $1 Coins directly to retail establishments, financial institutions, and members of the public. The $1 Coin Direct Ship Program provides individualized service to the financial community and other interested parties who wish to acquire $1 coins at face value in smaller quantities than currently available to financial institutions.

"Retailers and financial institutions want to be responsive to customers' requests for the Presidential $1 Coin," said United States Mint Director Ed Moy. "The $1 Coin Direct Ship Program will help them to easily obtain the number of coins that best suits their needs."

The United States Mint is initiating this program to proactively comply with a directive in the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 to remove barriers and improve circulation of the $1 coin.

The $1 Coin Direct Ship Program is intended to complement-not substitute for-the Federal Reserve Banks' coin ordering systems. The role of the Federal Reserve Banks is to distribute bulk quantities of coin to depository institutions, which in turn distribute to branches, other financial institutions and the public. Market research conducted by the United States Mint found that some retailers and smaller banks would prefer to obtain Presidential $1 Coins in small quantities. By fulfilling these needs, the United States Mint $1 Coin Direct Ship Program complements the Federal Reserve's coin ordering systems and, at the same time, helps to encourage circulation of $1 coins.

The circulating Presidential $1 Coins will be available in 25-coin rolls packaged in quantities of 10 rolls per box, priced at $250 face value. The coins will not be separated by mint mark. Customers may order up to 500 $1 coins (two boxes) within any given Presidential $1 Coin issuance period. The United States Mint will pay shipping and handling fees on orders delivered via standard shipping methods. Orders requiring special handling (e.g., shipping upgrades) will be billed to the customer.

Customers may order the circulating Presidential $1 Coins through the United States Mint's Direct Ship Program at its secure Web site, http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/, or at the toll-free number, 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). All sales under the Direct Ship Program are final.

~ Effective immediately, the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) will begin authenticating and encapsulating “problem” coins (i.e. altered surface, cleaned, environmental damage, etc.). Holders and inserts for the Genuine service will be identical to the normal PCGS holder except that the insert will read “GENUINE” in place of the usual grade. No grade will be assigned to these coins, but they will be eligible for inclusion in the PCGS Set Registry with a grade value of 1.

Genuine service coins will be covered under the PCGS Guarantee of Authenticity but not under the PCGS Guaranty of Grade. PCGS reserves the right to reject any coins submitted under the Guarantee Service, including coins that are excessively damaged, altered to such a degree that making a determination of authenticity is difficult or impossible, or which have surface contaminants that may harm the coin in the future. In such cases, PCGS will refund the fee and related shipping charges for that coin. Customers should submit all coins for the Genuine Service on a regular PCGS submission form, marking “GENUINE SERVICE” in the “Other” box.

The fee for the Genuine service is $100 per coin. Turnaround times for the Genuine Service will be approximately the same for all other PCGS services. The Genuine Service is a stand-alone service and is not available in combination with any other service levels. “No-grades” from other service levels must be resubmitted under the Genuine Service in order to be encapsulated.

June 04/08 - When surfing the Internet for safe Web sites, not all domains are equal.  Companies that assign addresses for Web sites appear to be cutting corners on security more when they assign names in certain domains than in others, according to a report to be released Wednesday by antivirus software vendor McAfee Inc.

McAfee found the most dangerous domains to navigate to are ".hk" (Hong Kong), ".cn" (China) and ".info" (information).

Of all ".hk" sites McAfee tested, it flagged 19.2 percent as dangerous or potentially dangerous to visitors; it flagged 11.8 percent of ".cn" sites and 11.7 percent of ".info" sites that way.

A little more than 5 percent of the sites under the ".com" domain — the world's most popular — were identified as dangerous.

More spammers, malicious code writers and other cybercriminals can establish an online presence when domain name registry businesses cut requirements for registering a site in order to boost their profit and profile. The report doesn't identify domain name registration companies McAfee believes are responsible for those lapses.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of companies are in the business of registering domain names; some are large and well known, while others are small and less reputable, offering their services on the cheap and with flimsy or no background checks to lure in more customers.

The fact that Internet scam artists gravitate to domain name services with lower fees and fewer requirements isn't new.

What McAfee's "Mapping the Mal Web" report, now in its second year, tries to do is identify the domains that are populated with the highest concentration of risky sites.

The servers for ".hk" and ".cn" Web sites don't have to be in China; Web site operators can register sites from anywhere to target different geographies.

Other risky domains include ".ro" (Romania), with 6.8 percent, and ".ru" (Russia), with 6 percent of sites flagged as dangerous.

Shane Keats, research analyst for McAfee and lead author of the report, said the increase in dangerous sites registered under the ".hk" and ".cn" domains over last year's report was caused in part by better data collection on McAfee's part on those domains and by apparent security lapses in some registrar companies' processes for registering addresses.

"My advice about surfing behavior is that if you're really desperate for cheap Prozac and the pharmacy ends in '.cn,' don't do it. Just don't do it," Keats said. "Find another place to get your Prozac."

Many Internet frauds involve fake sites for pharmaceuticals.

The McAfee report is based on results from 9.9 million Web sites that were tested in 265 domains for serving malicious code, excessive pop-up ads or forms to fill out that actually are tools for harvesting e-mail addresses for sending spam.

Keats said domain name registrars that are strict about authenticating that Web site owners are operating a legitimate business see far fewer malicious Web sites using their services.

Where McAfee found some of the least-risky domain names:

• ".gov" (government use), with 0.05 percent flagged;

• ".jp" (Japan), with 0.1 percent flagged and

• ".au" (Australia), with 0.3 percent flagged.

May 30/08 - Guam Gov. Felix P. Camacho yesterday released two designs for the Guam quarter prepared by artists of the U.S. Mint as part of the District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program.

Each design can be voted on and the design with the highest amount of votes will be recommended to the U.S. Mint. Votes will be collected until June 14, 2008.

“I encourage all residents to take part in the selection process,” Camacho said. “The Guam quarter will be a lasting symbol of our heritage and our people.”

May 29/08 - Are you yearning to see the panoramic vistas of the Grand Canyon but cannot make the trip? Do the next best thing and get shiny new Arizona commemorative quarter-dollar coins, available in bags and rolls beginning June 2 at 12 noon (ET). Customers may order as many of these options as they like. There is no order limit.

The Arizona quarter is the 48th coin in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program. The coin’s reverse features an image of the Grand Canyon with a Saguaro cactus in the foreground. A banner reading “Grand Canyon State” separates the two images to signify that the Saguaro cactus does not grow in the Grand Canyon. The coin also bears the inscriptions “Arizona” and “1912.”

May 21/08 - The State Capitol Senate Lawn in Phoenix will be the site of the Arizona Quarter Launch on Monday, June 2, 2008, at 10 a.m. (Arizona Time). United States Mint Director Ed Moy will join Governor Janet Napolitano in hosting the festivities. The public and news media are invited to this free event which celebrates the 48th commemorative quarter-dollar in the popular 50 State Quarters® Program.

The Arizona quarter goes into circulation nationwide the same day. After the ceremony, the public may exchange their bills for $10 rolls of shiny, new Arizona quarters at the event. Each child under 18 attending the launch will receive a free Arizona quarter.

May 20/08 - U.S. paper money discriminates against the blind and must be redesigned to help sight-impaired people distinguish among dollar bills, tens, twenties and other amounts, a federal appeals court ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling today, rejected Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's contention that changing the bills to differentiate the denominations would be too expensive. ``A large majority of other currency systems have accommodated the visually impaired, and the secretary does not explain why U.S. currency should be any different,'' Judge Judith Rogers wrote for the majority. ``The financial costs identified by the secretary are not out of line'' with the costs of other currency changes the secretary has made, she said.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson in Washington ruled in 2006 that the same-size paper currency violates the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination based on disability. An inability to identify the value of paper money without help from others leaves blind and sight-impaired people at risk of being cheated, he said. Of 180 countries that issue paper money, only the U.S. prints bills that are identical in size and, until recently, color for all denominations. Judge

Thomas Griffith joined Rogers's opinion. In his dissent, Judge Raymond Randolph said the court should have dismissed the appeal because the district judge didn't specify what the remedy would be. Rogers was appointed to the federal appeals court by President Bill Clinton, Griffith by President George W. Bush and Randolph by his father, George H.W. Bush. ATMs, Vending Machines ``The product of this ill-conceived appeal is proof positive that it should never have been allowed,'' he wrote. Randolph said that while changing the size of the bills might aid the sight impaired, it might also require an act of Congress, and relevant facts are in dispute regarding costs of the switch -- including potentially having to alter millions of bank automatic-teller machines and vending machines across the country. There are about 7 million food and vending machines in the U.S. and it may cost as much as $3.5 billion to convert them to handle different currency sizes, Randolph said in his opinion.

Eric Bridges, director of advocacy and governmental affairs at the American Council of the Blind, the Washington-based advocacy group that brought the suit, said his group isn't specifying how bills should be differentiated, just that blind and visually impaired people need them to be. `What's In My Wallet' ``People like me -- I am blind -- should have the same rights and abilities as others to be able to know what's in my wallet,'' Bridges said in an interview. ``We're not prescribing any one solution. We're saying to Treasury, look, you guys are the keepers of the currency'' and should find the solution, he said. The Treasury issues new designs every seven to 10 years, and along with different colors, some kind of tactile alteration should be implemented to differentiate denominations, Bridges said. ``The Canadian dollar has Braille dots on it; the Japanese yen also has differences,'' Bridges said. ``Size is a factor, but it's not necessarily the only one. Currently, I can't tell a five from a one, and that's what matters to me.''

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said the agency is reviewing the ruling. She said in an e-mailed message that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which prints paper money, is studying methods to help the blind and visually impaired. The results of this study will be available by early 2009 and the bureau will take the findings under consideration when it installs new equipment in the following years, she said. The case is American Council of the Blind v. Paulson, 02- 864, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Washington).

May 12/08 - In a recent Commentary by Barron’s Editorial Editor Thomas G. Donlan, there was a short addendum added to the end of the article which we felt was worth sharing. Below are Mr. Donlan’s comments “THOMAS GRESHAM WAS NO FOOL. “Bad money drives out the good,” he said in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Canny people have been saying it ever since, and acting accordingly. In 20th-century America, gold was the first good money to go. First, it was driven out of circulation by a flood of paper; then the government confiscated much of the gold its citizens were hoarding. Silver dollars were the next driven out, and silver quarters and silver dimes weren’t far behind. In 1965, it cost more than 10 cents worth of silver to make a dime. First, the government made it illegal to melt down coins, then it took the silver out. Pennies were next. Until 1982, there was enough copper in a penny to pose a temptation to smelters and hoarders. The pennies made after 1982, though intrinsically almost worthless at the time, now contain more than a pennyworth of zinc and copper. And there’s more than five cents worth of copper and nickel in a nickel coin. Since 2006, it has been illegal to melt down pennies and nickels for their metal; now there are active proposals to substitute baser metals for zinc, copper and nickel. There is a better alternative: Create good money, and maintain its value.”

May 09/08 - The House passed legislation Thursday to change the composition of pennies and nickels, addressing dramatic rises in metal prices that have made the coins more expensive to produce than their face value. Action now moves to the Senate, where the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee has a similar bill, though no action has yet been scheduled. According to the U.S. Mint, it costs 1.26 cents to make a penny and 7.7 cents to make a nickel. The House bill, sponsored by Zack Space , D-Ohio, estimates that reducing the cost of penny production to face value would save approximately $500 million over 10 years, while similar changes to nickel production would save $60 million annually. “Right now our government is needlessly throwing away money in the production of coins,” Space, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, said during floor debate on the bill May 6. The measure would allow for the minting of pennies made primarily of steel but coated with a copper-colored dye so they appear similar to the current zinc-copper alloy. It also would require the production of 5-cent coins made primarily of steel, with a coating of nickel, in place of the nickel-copper composition originally authorized in 1866 when the coins were first minted. The last time the penny and the nickel were produced at face value was fiscal year 2005, according to the Mint. In a May 6 letter to House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank , D-Mass., Mint Director Edmund C. Moy said he opposes the bill because it proposes an “unrealistic timeframe” of just nine months for the production of steel-based pennies. Metallic changes to nickels would be required two years after the bill’s enactment.

May 08/08 - On Tuesday, May 13, the United States Mint will release a second option in the collection, the United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Historical Signature SetTM, in honor of John Adams, our Nation’s second President. This latest product includes a proof version of the John Adams Presidential $1 Coin and an intaglio print of John Adams from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The intaglio print is visible from the cover of the textured, leather-like folder of the United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Historical Signature Set. Inside the folder is the official John Adams Presidential signature, courtesy of the White House Historical Association. A Certificate of Authenticity accompanies each set.

May 03/08 - Designs for 2009 First Spouse gold coins and bronze medals were considered at the Citizen Coin Advisory Committee meeting April 22. Images of the First Spouse coin designs viewed at the meeting can be seen on Page 23, identified by codes used by the committee. For the Anna Harrison coin, CCAC preferred designs AH-O-02 for the obverse and AH-R-02 for the reverse. First Lady Harrison was a supporter of education and an avid reader, and the reverse design reflects these attributes.

April 25/08 - Living in a Radically Transparent world is, it seems, not without risk. Apparently a Seattle man was recently sued for $10,000 because he left a “Neutral” rating for an eBay seller from North Carolina.

Sued! For $10k for using a system that eBay implemented to encourage feedback!!!

Shellhorn bought some Morgan silver dollars from a man in North Carolina. The price was fair, but Shellhorn says the coins were packed poorly. “The coins were hanging out of the envelope, loose, with no packing whatsoever around them,” he said.

The seller wanted feedback. Shellhorn couldn’t honestly say the deal was good or bad so he took the middle ground. “This is neutral feedback, not even negative feedback, but neutral. He sued me for $10,000,” he said.

The judge in Buncome County, NC did dismiss the law suit, but it still raises a serious question about the future of consumer feedback, if the consumer is fearful of leaving any feedback at all.

It’s amazing that someone would sue an individual for one “neutral” rating, but that goes to show just how important ratings are on eBay. It’s also scary that an attorney was willing to take on the case. What if the judge hadn’t shown any common sense? What if the court had ruled in favor of the plaintiff?

It may not have happened this time, but you can bet that this case will inspire someone to think they can remove legitimate negative (neutral?) customer feedback by taking them to court. And it will be a scary time for all, should a naive judge rule in favor of the company.

April 24/08 - At 12:00 noon on April 28, 2008, collectors can begin purchasing 2008-dated Golden Dollar coins bearing the image of Sacagawea. The coins, available in bags and rolls, are of circulating quality and were struck on the main production floors at the United States Mint facilities at Philadelphia and Denver.

Each roll of Sacagawea Golden Dollars contains 25 coins wrapped in distinctive packaging and priced at $35.95. The canvas bags, priced at $319.95, contain 250 coins. Both options bear either the “P” or the “D” mint mark denoting the mint of origin.

The United States Mint will accept orders for 2008-dated Sacagawea Golden Dollar coin options at its secure Web site, www.usmint.gov, or at the toll-free number, 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). Hearing- and speech-impaired customers may order by calling 1-888-321-MINT (6468). Domestic orders include a $4.95 fee per order for shipping and handling.