Go for gold, mint director tells Chinatown Chamber 

By Susan Fong 

The Chinatown Chamber of Commerce welcomed U.S. Mint Director Edmund C. Moy to the chamber's luncheon series on Sept. 12 at the Evergreen Restaurant.  Moy, appointed in Sept. 2006, is the first director of the agency of Asian heritage.

            Moy traveled to Chicago as part of a campaign to raise public awareness about the new gold bullion collector’s series and the presidential dollar coins now being issued.

Since 2003, the U.S. Mint has produced a limited edition of 22-karat eagle coins and last year introduced a 24-karat buffalo coin. 

The eagle series is available in full, half, quarter, and tenth troy ounce and the buffalo coin in full ounce weights.

Last year alone, the agency "sold 300,000 of the bullion series without a large advertising effort," Moy said. The higher karat coin costs $800 for a polished coin and $600 to $700 for a matte-finish version.

Moy said people of Chinese heritage tend to place a higher value on 24-karat gold but consider the polished gold too much like 22-karat gold in appearance. He explained that for increased availability, the coins keep a low profit margin because they are not sold directly through the mint but through dealers and selected banks.

Some numismatic speculators have bought bullion series coins and then "flipped" them on eBay, Moy said.

The U.S. Mint’s primary function is producing coins for circulation for the Federal Government. Since its inception in 1872, the agency has produced coins under the orders of the Federal Reserve. In the mint’s early days, coins sold for face value because the metal value and face value often were equal. Today, the mint produces coins at a metal value either less or more than face, with some coins therefore generating revenue. Producing coins for collectors also produces revenue.

            Moy noted the mint is a self-sufficient agency that requires no Federal funding to operate and in fact adds to the Federal bottom line. Last year the agency generated $950 million in revenue, of which $650 million was earned from its sale of circulation coins.

The U.S. quarter and dollar coins cost seven and 20 cents respectively to produce. On the other hand, one penny takes four cents to produce and a nickel ten cents.

            A recent bill introduced into Congress would change the metal composition of the lower value coins. Once this bill passes, Moy said, his agency "would save about $500 million in material costs."

When asked if the penny would be removed from circulation, Moy explained that step would require an act of Congress.

Over the years technology has improved the mint’s coin production efficiency from the stamping techniques of earlier times to its present production of 750 coins per minute, making the U.S. Mint the largest and most active mint in the world. The worldwide trend is toward higher value coins, Moy said, because "coins last longer than paper bills, which last only about 18 months."

Congress in 2005 asked the agency to produce dollar coins again. Although dollar coins enjoyed popularity in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the undersize Susan B. Anthony dollar coins of 1979 and 1980 proved unpopular with the public and were considered difficult to use, causing dollar coins to fall out of favor in recent decades.

Presently in circulation are the Sacagawea coins first issued in 2000 and the new presidential  $1 coin issued at the beginning of 2007. Both are gold in color but made from a copper alloy.

Chinese business owners like these coins because the gold appearance means wealth, prosperity, and good fortune.

The newer dollar coins have become somewhat popular because they require users to carry less change for vending machines that accept dollar coins and smaller denominations.

The mint will produce four presidential coins each year carrying the faces of the U.S. presidents in the order they served. Each version will be coined for only three months.

"Response to the presidential coins has been positive," Moy said, adding that the public enjoys seeing the changing faces. "Through a survey it was discovered that the general knowledge about American presidency has been very low." He is glad his work has an additional educational benefit of teaching history.

McDonald's Corp. has approached the mint about producing a series of coins that can be collected by its restaurants' customers.

Moy himself was "an avid collector of coins" in his youth, he said.  

He closed by saying he finds it very amazing that the son of an immigrant restaurateur would be appointed to his position as the 38th director of the U.S. Mint.

For more information about the U.S. Mint or where to buy the gold bullion coins, visit www.usmint.gov.