Below is my example of the new 2017 25-Cent Pure Gold Coin- Predator vs. Prey: Inuit Arctic Fox. One of the coins in the Canadian series Predator vs. Prey. This coin is very small at 11 millimeters, the smallest coin made by the Royal Canadian Mint, making it very hard for me to photograph with my equipment. As such I have added three pictures from the Canadian Mint web site. The coin is in proof finish with serrated edge. Is has a total weight of 0.5 grams of 99.99% gold. The mintage is 6500. The reverse is designed by Inuit artist Andrew Qappik in the Inuit art style. The obverse is done by Susanna Blunt featuring Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The design of the coin has a number of natural prey animals in and about the body of the arctic fox. As a numismatic eye test, how many can you identify? Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy my blog.

   So it seems to me that the US Mint has misjudged the public and us, their customers, again. I received an email from the mint yesterday, 21 September, notifying me that they have removed the household limit on the new 2016 Gold Liberty Commemorative Standing Liberty Quarter. I guess us regular folks didn't care to purchase this item at the inflated price. Today it is listed for $ 485.00..Anyone that wanted one has bought it by now. All this loosening of the rules now allows their REAL customer base, the third party people, the tele-marketers, to buy as many coins as they want. As Usual. How does this help me. Just an average collector that was out priced on this item that should be in silver!!  Don't forget there are over 9000 gold dimes still lying around no one knows what to do with. What do you think??  Thanks for looking. Just my opinion. I could be wrong!!

 I was one of the lucky few people who were able to order the Gold Mercury Dime from the mint. I bought this as a gift for my wife who is a Mercury Dime collector. I had no desire to have this coin graded at the time nor do I now. I have seen some ads for different graded dimes that got me thinking. This led to a question I am hoping all you fellow numismatists can answer. This coin, as you all know, sold out in lets be generous and say an hour. Given this fact, how is it that NGC and PCGS have offered Early Release type labels on some of their slabbed coins? For example, NGC has set a cut off date for this label as May 23, 2016. Since ALL these coins sold out in an hour, shouldn't all the slabbed coins get this designation? Why should one pay extra for the "early" label given these facts? As of today, Coin World states that nearly 9,000 of these coins are still unsold as they were returned for some reason. It seems to me these should be the only gold dimes that don't get the designation, if and when they are ever sold. I hope someone can answer my question. I know it seems trite but I would like an answer without calling NGC or PCGS. That's too easy..

This is the very first coin I bought with the intention of sending it in to NGC and having it graded and slabbed. That was an agonizing period of time waiting for it to come back and see what it did. I thought it was about an AU but honestly was hoping for anything other than cleaned or scratched or any kind of damaged grade. Very happy when it came back about what I was hoping for! It really made me feel relieved. I think I'll stick to coins already slabbed for a while.