Issue 20 · week ending October 25, 2026
October 25, 2026
A quiet weekend edition: gold's digital future, a horse that stood in for Lady Liberty, D.B. Cooper loot at auction, and a reader Q&A on who designs our coins.
Tokenization could be gold's next step after ETFs. Vincent Domien, head of precious metals trading at ICBC Standard Bank, said at the London Bullion Market Association conference that tokenized gold could let financial institutions use bullion as collateral. The piece cites a World Gold Council estimate of up to $700 billion in latent demand and notes U.S. real yields at a 19-year high.
Kitco News (Neils Christensen) printed up to $700 billion in latent demand (World Gold Council); U.S. real yields at a 19-year high (2026-10-23).
The 2022 American Liberty Silver Medal carries Beth Zaiken's riderless bucking mustang, the design that first replaced Lady Liberty on the 2021 American Liberty high relief gold coin, symbolizing the colonies throwing off British rule.
CoinWeek printed no sale figure.
A partial $20 Federal Reserve note from the D.B. Cooper ransom sold for $134,200 against a $20,000 estimate in Heritage's Oct. 6–9 GACC U.S. Currency Signature Auction (#3602). The report does not say whether $134,200 includes the buyer's premium.
Numismatic News (Bank Note Reporter) printed $134,200 against a $20,000 estimate; the report does not say whether that includes the buyer's premium (2026-10-22).
Richard Giedroyc's October 24 CoinClinic explains how the U.S. Mint picks coin designers through its staff sculptor-engravers and the Artistic Infusion Program, and how to spot Confederate-struck 1861-O half dollars by their late die state: a die crack from the rim to Liberty's nose, and a bisected date with a speared olive bud.
Numismatic News (Richard Giedroyc) printed no sale figure.
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