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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;onecenter, post: 1386108, member: 8703&quot;]I also disagree that .900 fineness American silver coins are being thought of, at least in the coin blank preparation business, as &quot;special order.&quot;&nbsp; I also realize the US Mint has reduced its planchet making business.&nbsp; As one of the world&#039;s largest national mints, I would imagine that all four US Mint facilities combined are producing a great deal of the world&#039;s precious metal coinage, regardless of fineness.&nbsp; If I remember correctly, all US Mint coinage production is for our own monetary system.&nbsp; The US Mint currently does not strike any foreign coinage.&nbsp; It can do so, as in the past, but just does not compete much in the foriegn coinage production arena, if at all.&nbsp; US coins are actually exported to El Salvador, Panama and Ecuador as their monetary systems are dollarized.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is no doubt that the .999 fineness standard has emerged as the dominant preference for bullion and investment coinage and collectors love it!&nbsp; Nonetheless, when it comes to traditional numismatic coinage, I can think of at least two other national mints that produce large amounts of silver numismatic coinage for their national and worldwide government customer base--the Royal Canadian Mint and the British Royal Mint.&nbsp; The British national fineness standard is appropriately sterling, .925, and all those lovely numismatic silver round pounds, two-pound coins and five-pound crowns sell nicely in sterling, both in standard planchets and piedforts.&nbsp; Canada has also issued many beautiful collector coins in sterling for years like the 1992 125th anniversary of Confederation series, as just one example.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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