Holiday Gift-Buying Guide and Presidential Memento Treasure Chest

Today is just another day, unless you happen to be a “President Martin Van Buren admirer.” Fans of the eighth president convened today in Kinderhook, New York, his hometown, for the U.S. Mint’s unveiling of the handsome and valuable $1 Martin Van Buren commemorative coin (good for all debts, public and private, unless incurred in a vending-machine environment). Van Buren is a long-ago-deceased chief executive whose legacy is often associated with lack of stature–he was our second-shortest president . But his other accomplishments must be remembered. Among them is co-creator credit for the Panic of 1837. In fact, he might be looked on fondly as being one of the few presidents more economically inept than the current resident of the White House.

Dwell not, though, on hard times. The holidays are near, and someone close to you might want a single Van Buren buck, a roll of them, or a whole sack. Hurry! you can get a 25-dollar roll for $35.95 and a 250-dollar sack for $319.95! Or if you want just a single handsome Van Buren proof dollar in a stunning Van Buren proof dollar folder (pictured above left), that’ll run you $5.95. It’s a chance to buy a piece of history, grab on to a conversation piece, and sock away cash for your Emergency Gruel Fund — all in one.

And if you’re wallowing in this year’s hedge-fund profits — among the top pastimes of this site’s readers — you can secure the “2008 First Spouse Series Half-Ounce Gold Proof Coin: Van Buren’s Liberty” for only $549.95. If you’re on the fence about this purchase, consider: “The reverse … depicts Martin Van Buren as a young man at the family-operated tavern in the village of Kinderhook.”