2010-2013 America the Beautiful 5 oz Silver Coin Mintages

atbWith the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Coins wrapping up their fourth year of release, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a broader look at the series and provide a summary of the mintages or last reported sales for all issues to date.

The series of over-sized silver bullion and collector coins was authorized under Public Law 110-456, which had authorized the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. Specific requirements for the series included a purity of .999 silver, diameter of 3.0 inches, weight of 5.0 ounces, and the denomination of “quarter dollar.” The bullion coins were to be distributed through the authorized purchaser network utilized to distribute other bullion products. An allowance was also made for the National Park service to resell the coins at any national site honored in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.

Some of the legislative requirements of the series were unusual or problematic. The diameter of 3 inches made the coins wider and thinner than the 5 ounce silver coins produced by other mints. This actually caused some production problems for the mint, which prompted the introduction of legislation to change the diameter requirement to “no less than 2.5 inches and no greater than 3.0 inches.” By the time the legislation was enacted, the US Mint had already produced and released some of the coins, so they chose to maintain the wide 3.0 diameter.

The denomination of “quarter dollar” made the face value of the coins ridiculously low compared to the intrinsic value of the coins. The American Silver Eagle which contains one ounce of silver carries a denomination of “one dollar”.

The distribution of the coins through the authorized purchaser network caused initial problems. When anticipated demand far surpassed production levels for the 2010-dated issues, the US Mint was forced to halt the program in the face of complaints from consumers about unreasonable premiums being charged by some distributors. The US Mint would resume the program after establishing specific conditions for distributors which limited orders and capped premiums. For the following year, the US Mint boosted production and the conditions were not necessary.

America the Beautiful 5 oz Silver Bullion Coin Mintages
2010 Hot Springs 33,000
2010 Yellowstone 33,000
2010 Yosemite 33,000
2010 Grand Canyon 33,000
2010 Mount Hood 33,000
2011 Gettysburg 126,700
2011 Glacier 126,700
2011 Olympic 104,900
2011 Vicksburg 58,100
2011 Chickasaw 48,700
2012 El Yunque 24,000
2012 Chaco Culture 24,400
2012 Acadia 25,400
2012 Hawaii Volcanoes 20,000
2012 Denali 20,000
2013 White Mountain 35,000
2013 Perry’s Victory 30,000
2013 Great Basin 30,000
2013 Fort McHenry 30,000
2013 Mount Rushmore 35,000

Looking over the mintage figures for the America the Beautiful 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins shows the wide swings in production that have already occurred for the four year old series. Following the high demand and limited production for the first year of the series, the US Mint ramped up production in 2011 to high levels which ultimately proved unsustainable. The following year, the US Mint reacted by cutting production perhaps too drastically. For the current year, production levels were increased, but all issues still saw relatively quick sell outs. This may portend another increase in production for the coming year.

The current mintage high for the bullion run occurs for the 2011 Gettysburg and 2011 Glacier designs at 126,700 pieces each. The mintage lows occur for the 2012 Hawaii Volcanoes and 2012 Denali designs at 20,000 pieces each.

The five 2010-dated issues each had mintages of 33,000 pieces, but seem to drive higher secondary market premiums. This is perhaps due to the unusual circumstances of the distribution of the coins. As mentioned, the US Mint had placed special conditions on the sale of these coins. Specifically, authorized purchasers were required to limit the premium to 10% above acquisition cost and place an order limit of only one coin per design per customer. The ordering limit presumably resulted in a wider and more fragmented distribution of the coins. Whereas other issues could be purchased in roll quantities and inventoried by dealers, the 2010-dated coins were all sold one at a time until depleted.

atb-numisFollowing the unusual and sometimes frustrating launch of the series in bullion format, the US Mint would offer the first collector versions of the coins in early 2011. These coins carried the “P” mint mark and had a special finish created through a vapor blasting technique. The maximum mintage levels for the 2010-dated coins were lower than the bullion mintages resulting in intense demand.

Each of the 2010-dated issues would sell out of the maximum mintage of 27,000 design initial ordering limits of one per household. The actual sales figures for the Grand Canyon issue were reported lower, presumably due to quality issues and/or higher returns.

In response to the sell outs, the US Mint would increase the maximum mintages for the 2011-dated issues to 35,000 per design. Enthusiasm for the series seemed to fizzle and the pace of sales was dramatically lower. The 2011-dated issues actually remained available until the end of 2012 when sales concluded in the Last Chance offering at levels far below the maximum.

The US Mint responded by cutting the maximum mintage level to 25,000 per design for both the 2012 and 2013-dated issues. However, for all issues the actual production has been below lower resulting in early and often unexpected sell outs.

America the Beautiful 5 oz. Silver Uncirculated Coin Mintages
2010-P Hot Springs 27,000
2010-P Yellowstone 27,000
2010-P Yosemite 27,000
2010-P Grand Canyon 26,019
2010-P Mount Hood 26,928
2011-P Gettysburg 24,625
2011-P Glacier 20,856
2011-P Olympic 18,398
2011-P Vicksburg 18,594
2011-P Chickasaw 16,827
2012-P El Yunque 17,314
2012-P Chaco Culture 17,146
2012-P Acadia 14,978
2012-P Hawaii Volcanoes 14,863
2012-P Denali 15,225
2013-P White Mountain 20,530
2013-P Perry’s Victory 17,707
2013-P Great Basin 17,792
2013-P Fort McHenry 19,802
2013-P Mount Rushmore 23,540

Looking over the mintage or last reported sales figures for the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coins shows the highest mintages occurring for the 2010-dated issues at 27,000 each or thereabouts.

The low occurs for the 2012-P Hawaii Volcanoes coin at 14,863 pieces. Ironically, this seems to be one of the most popular designs of the series, resulting in a combination of higher demand and lower mintage both driving secondary market prices. Not far behind are the low figures for the 2012-P Acadia and 2012-P Denali design at 14,863 and 15,225 pieces, respectively.

During 2013, sales figures ranged from a low of 17,707 for the Perry’s Victory design to a high of 23,540 for the Mount Rushmore design.

In the coming year, I expect that sales figures will move to higher levels. The series now has some secondary market winners under its belt and the low price of silver seems to be spurring a further increase in interest. The recently announced 10% discount on subscription orders should also have a beneficial impact on sales.

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Comments

  1. ROS says

    2014 is a strong line up. It will be interesting to see what bullion mintage
    limit will be set.

    I predict they raise it to 50,000 per.

  2. vaughnster says

    I’m definitely going for the 5 oz. ATB subscription plan. Every bit helps and even with shipping costs you’re saving about $10 per coin at current prices. I usually order these the first day available anyway so it’s a bonus for me.

  3. Eddie says

    I can’t get my subscriptions to go though. I check my subscriptions and they don’t appear in my subs. Anyone else having trouble? I am trying to get 4 of each of the ASE both proof and unc.but they won’t show up. I don’t want to get 12 or so of them so I don’t know what is going on.

  4. VABEACHBUM says

    Thanks, Michael!! This is a great series summary, and delivered just as this series is gaining or, maybe regaining, some traction. The 2014 offerings, and the increased emphasis on designs moving forward, can only help to increase popularity and collector demand.

    I’m going to be very curious to learn how the Mint’s Subscription Incentive will bolster initial product sales and final production numbers. I, for one, added an ATB-P script as soon as it was publicized.

    Any possibility that you might be able to inquire with the Mint as to the number of ATB-P scripts (as a percentage of coin production) existing prior to their announcement, and the growth in those scripts (again, as a percentage) since?? I’m wondering at what point do they decide to either increase the authorized mintages or scrap the scipts for a one-per-household limit on a first come, first serve basis.

    Thanks, again, for all your great work this year. Can’t wait for 2014!!

  5. VABEACHBUM says

    @ Eddie – You should be able to go to your Script Summary Page, hit refresh, and see any changes. However, I also have had previous instances where the new scripts can take up to a day to post back through their management system.

    Regardless, you should receive a system acknowledgement email almost immediately. If not, you definitely will want to check your email again within the hour. If nothing then, something definitely did not work the way it was supposed to.

  6. Micro says

    @ Eddie, and everyone else, when I created my subscriptions I had to then go to my shopping cart and complete the “purchase” before it was added to my subscription list. Everyone else do it that way?

  7. Eddie says

    I went there yesterday and today and still the same thing. I know usually when you subscribe it is posted then so I don’t know what is happening.

  8. matt says

    Eddie,
    Call the mint they’ll tell you. I had the same problem. The mint said because I started and stopped a few too many subscriptions because I changed a few time the number of coins I bought they can only display so many, and if you have too many changes it won’t display at all but you still have a subscription.

  9. joe says

    This is the reason that Mint News Blog is my home page. Excellent information that is concisely presented! Thanks again Michael!

  10. HIdalgo says

    MIchael – I find your comment about increased sales for 2014 ATB P silver coins most interesting. Are there rumours that the US Mint plans to increase the number of coins it will mint?

    It seems that in 2013, the US MInt came pretty close to matching production/supplies with consumer demand. All 5 2013 P ATB silver coins sold out before the start of 2014 — which is where I would think the US Mint would want to be.

  11. thePhelps says

    The mints shopping cart has to be used to purchase the subscriptions. In the past you sbscribed and they were just added to your shipped items. I also had to go an update my purchases in the shopping cart and check out prior to the shipping notice.

  12. fmtransmitter says

    and the low price of silver seems to be spurring a further increase in interest. This changes and it will sputter along again imo…

  13. zeeman says

    I just did my subs.. today for the 5oz ATB ,had no problem and got my conf e-mail as soon as i was done.

  14. Sith says

    The 2010 bullion ATBs sales were also affected because you had to buy the whole set at once. I know for you gold buyers especially those that buy the FS coins $1K is nothing but damn it was a bitter pill to for me to swallow at the time.

    It only made sense to me to subscribe to the ATB silver quarter proof set as I always buy multiples of them, I’m almost tempted to subscribe to the ATB 5oz but its much too late for me to go down that path and I will stick with my bullion versions with select “P” versions, but with this years designs being so nice I may have to reconsider.

  15. VA Bob says

    The new subscription plan sounds tempting. The old one was definitely flawed. I may have to rethink it again. The only think I would suggest to the Mint is to allow the customer to select the ship date. Maybe get an email notification that the sub is ready, what day do you want to ship on. The reason I suggest this it that often these land on my porch, if one should arrive automatically when I’m not home (or expecting it), or worse, out of town. I’d hate for it to be sitting out. This might help prevent lost item claims to the Mint as well.

  16. Dustyroads says

    The 10% discount in sub’s may be the Mint conducting damage after complaints about the program, if that’s the case, then the discount will probably be short lived.

  17. Jon in CT says

    HIdalgo wrote on December 27, 2013 at 2:45 pm:
    It seems that in 2013, the US MInt came pretty close to matching production/supplies with consumer demand. All 5 2013 P ATB silver coins sold out before the start of 2014 — which is where I would think the US Mint would want to be.

    I disagree — in my opinion the perfect match of supply to demand for numismatic offerings would occur when each coin sells out after about one year of availability.

  18. Zaz says

    If the Mint tries to mint to stated max of 25,000 that would probably be a good idea. Increasing the maximum probably would not. It was only in January/February of this year collectors started paying attention to this series because of the quick sellouts of the 2012 coins on the heels of the 2011 concluding sales. The irregular spacing of the releases should be mentioned, this kept much collector focus off of this series during critical parts of the year. Perhaps with the subscriptions the coins will actually approximate their smaller counterpart’s release dates.

  19. Louis says

    Well, I placed subs for the ATB’s and 3 others and all but the ATB’s show up under subs. I did place an order for each one. Maybe the info. will get updated later but before release day. Who knows?

  20. Sith says

    @ Jon in CT – I could see that being true with products produced to demand, but in the case of the ATBs what would be the point of having a mintage limit?

  21. thePhelps says

    Louis… check the shipping information under tracking. Mine did the same thing – listed 3 items subscribed and showed all 4 of the items I sub’d to on the shipping info.

    @Jon – I’d rather they not run the ATB for an entire year. I actually like that they end them as they did this year – instead of producing the entire 25k and having them all hang around for months on end with few purchases adding to the total.

  22. says

    I set up three subs. All appeared in shopping cart. You could modify/cancel in the shopping cart. A couple of days after I set up the subs I made a current purchase. When I hit the checkout button, all subs have disappeared from the shopping cart. When I printed out my Order Confirmation is showed the current purchase + the three subs. I will keep my confirmation order but I would think that this is a flaw in the system because the subs no longer show up anywhere so if I was to have to cancel a sub I will have to call the Mint because there is nothing showing up in my account that I have indeed done three subs.

  23. Dustyroads says

    I often wonder what the US Mints capabilities for production are. The Mint no doubt has the ability to produce a lot of the AtB’s, but there has to be a cost for the higher production, possibly in the production of other offerings. I that’s true, it could be the reason why we haven’t heard much about many special offerings for 2014.

  24. Wdg5 says

    Thanks to you all, for the lively discussion on this blog, it is indeed a pleasure to read thro this blog. The info is, as always very very useful, thanks a million to Michael for that. Got my subs signed up too.

    Happy new year to all of you guys, wish a very prosperous year with all the VERY interesting ATB roll out next year. Also the civil rights collection, Kennedy coins and the baseball HOF collection promises to be the “spotlight” collection for next year. I just hope the mint is able to change the way it does the LESP.

  25. Wdg5 says

    Just occurred to me that the next years mint set will feature FDR on 2 coins……wonder how many years have had such an occurrence….. maybe the year where Lincoln featured the penny as well as the Dollar? Anyone else have know more?

  26. AkBob says

    There’s one topic that we all have been hearing on this site and now even more and that is in reference to mintages. The Mint really would do us all a great service and re-new some collector’s interest by having items with the lower mintages. I do like some of the coins where there is a very high mintage but I would much prefer to have a collectionn of coins with some low or even very low mintages. Of course with lower mintages comes higher costs for production but I wouldn’t have a problem paying more for something that is difficult to acquire and/or has low mintages. Just something I hope the Mint starts considering. Happy New Year and Happy Collecting!!

  27. Eddie says

    After you subscribe to the ones you want to subscribe to they show up in your cart. You go to view cart and checkout and the subscriptions then show up in your subscriptions.
    I hope that all makes sense.

  28. Ikaika says

    @ Samuel

    And soon the FM 69DMPL will be around the $200-$300. The quality of the FM did not decrease compared to other coins of the series. Probably there were fewer coins submitted initially, so fewer offered for sale. Expect more being offered for now. As I mentioned before, patience pays off.

  29. Ikaika says

    If one doesn’t care about fs or Mercanti signature you can get one for $375 or lower on the bay.

  30. says

    re: 2014 Mint products.

    The Mint has indicated that there will not be a silver eagle set this year…so I wonder if they might add an individual “enhanced” silver eagle in addition to the proof & burnished offerings. If not, then that may add some value to the 2013 enhanced sae as the mintage is only 235,000.
    Personally, I would like to see the individual “enhanced” sae added to the line up. I would buy it instead/or maybe in addition to the burnished.

    What are your thoughts/opinions on this?

  31. Jeff says

    While were are all contemplating new ideas how about a enhanced ASE set from all 4 mints San Francisco , West Point , Philadelphia , Denver now were talking 30 day window one set per household can you say waiting room explodes…lol

  32. high low silver says

    Steve : No intrest here, I would like to see a one and done offering (unlike the RP silver eagle).

  33. Eddie says

    @Jeff I would love to be able to get one of those sets.

    It’s hard to believe that the Hawaii 5ozer has the lowest mintage of all the 5ozer. I thought it would have one of the higher mintage of them.

  34. Jerry Diekmann says

    @Wdg5: Lots of times there have been the same president on two different coins in the same year. Jefferson on nickel and commem dollar in 1994 (dated 1993), and on dollar in 2007, FDR on dime and $5.00 gold in 1997 (and scheduled on the dollar for 2014 as you said), Washington on quarter and $5.00 gold coin in 1999 and on dollar in 2007, Lincoln on cent and commem dollar in 2009 and dollar in 2010. If not the same year than you get Ike in 1971-78 dollar plus 1990 commem dollar plus 2013 commem dollar plus the golden dollar in 2015. Don’t know if JFK will show up as a half dollar in 2015 but he will be included on the golden dollar in 2015. The point is that we have seen enough of these dead presidents. Yes, all of them were great, but there have been a lot of other great Americans worthy of commemoration too. We’re going overboard with the same old theme. But at least we’re not as bad as the countries in the British commonwealth, with the obverses of all their coins showing the tired and tiresome monarchs, none of whom were great. or even close to anything other than mediocre at best. Sorry, Brits – facts are facts.

  35. AkBob says

    @Eddie – While yes, you are correct about the FS coins the problem for me is I can’t afford gold products that cost that much. I have a silver budget and am quite content with that. It could be a lot worse if I couldn’t afford silver (not all of it of course).

    I was meaning that it would be really nice to have some products with intentional low mintages. If you get some great and if you don’t then you have something to put on your “list” of wants.

    Do you collector’s want some lower mintage coins, i.e. clad, silver, gold and platinum or are we content the way the mintages are being done currently. I just feel that the Mint could improve in this area. IMHO

  36. Gary says

    I would have like to have seen them continue with a S Burnished Silver Eagle series after they produced the 2011 S Silver Eagle…No luck!!

  37. AkBob says

    I too love the S mint marked 2011 as well. What surprises me is it really hasn’t gone up in value that much. It is much lower than the P Rev Proof from the same set. Can anyone explain that, afterall there are only 100,000.

  38. Gary says

    It will AkBob…just have to give it some time! I definitely think the US MInt left a little money on the table not continuing the S Burnished Series?

  39. Louis says

    Yes, low mintages are nice, but what you folks don’t understand is the mint wants to sell coins and does not care about low mintages. When they occur, it is by accident and because people don’t buy a particular issue. You can pretty much forget about intentional low mintages from our mint.

  40. thePhelps says

    I think low mintages by “design” aren’t of much value. What you see from the other mints is a multitude of low mintage coins – all with inflated price tags. That is the only way they can recoup the setup costs to make the coins.

    There isn’t much to actually like about that scenario to me. You are looking at selling in the future relatively unknown coins at inflated prices hoping to recoup your costs? The only way it even possibly works is if they repeated the same series annually and it started to become popular – like the Pandas etc… but even that has pretty much run its course.

  41. HIdalgo says

    The 5 star generals (Macarthur) proof gold coin is now on backorder. It will be sold out on December 31st.

  42. gary says

    The ATB series started off very badly. The 2010 bullion issues were viewed as miniscule at the time they were released and all at once in Dec. 2010. The hype surrounding them was unbelievable. A graded MS69 set was seen as the pinnacle and quite a few collectors paid thousands for it but within 90 days it crashed and crashed hard and prices never recovered. I bought the 1st two 2010-P issues but had to give it up because the 2010 and 2011 issues were going to be released in a quick succession and given the high silver price and mint premium, was going to be too costly for me to budget for.

  43. HIdalgo says

    Something else I noticed about the 5 star generals (Macarthur) gold coin… If the US Mint produced say, 5800 – 6000 individual units, then I believe it would be the modern commemorate proof gold coin with the lowest mintage to date. (Note: I considered the 9,999 that were sold in the three-coin 5 star generals proof set).

    Also of interest – if you consider the projected mintages of both the uncirculated and proof versions of this coin, then it seems that the MacArthur design would have the lowest mintage of any modern commemorative gold coin to date.

    For those of you who like to speculate about values…. Well, demand will play a big role. I’m not sure where demand lies for this gold (Macarthur) coin. I wonder if consumers were more focused and decided to spend their money on either or both of the two 2013 gold buffaloes and the 2013 West Point silver eagle sets this year. Time will tell if collectors will want to add this coin to their collections in the months/years ahead.

  44. merryxmasmrscrooge says

    Low mintages? How about the 2010 John Lennon commemorative.
    Cost $100. Silver 5,000 minted. eBay now $250 to $400.
    Clad 5,100 minted. eBay $75
    ssssoooootttthhhhiiissssiiiissscccchhhhiiiissssttttmmmmaaaassss

  45. merryxmasmrscrooge says

    BTW, John Lennon Commem, same design, gold Mintage = 1 only
    but that was given to Yoko Ono and I read she either sold it, or had contributed it for charity.

  46. HIdalgo says

    @merryxmasmrscrooge – low mintages are all relative. There’s got to be secondary market demand for values to go up. What good is a mintage of 250 coins if no one in the world is willing to buy it?

    Some world mints (e.g., Canada, Perth, etc.) sell specialized low-mintage coins. From what I’ve seen, some of these coins don’t sell out. And they certainly don’t sell well on the secondary market.

    Bottom line: low mintages are relative. Low mintages and high consumer demand play a big role in high secondary market values.

  47. Brad says

    I’ve been reading some comments about the Mint’s sporadic issues with the order status page. I’ve been experiencing it too, and noticed how I can tell if it will work now before I even try. Right after you sign in, if you don’t see the home page come up that welcomes you by name, then clicking on your order numbers for a status update will NOT work. All of your order numbers and dates will appear, but clicking on them only loops back to the same list. Getting to the order details page only works on the times I sign in when it has my name on the home page. It’s weird.

  48. Ralph says

    What Matt explained may be happening with my ATB 5oz sub. I went through checkout, got the confirmation email and it shows up in my order history. But, it is still not listed in my sub’s. The one for the ASE’s I ordered just prior showed up with no problem. I think it might have something to do with the ATB 5oz sub’s?

  49. stephen m says

    My ATB 5 ounce subscription isn’t showing up on the view subscriptions page. I also had to purchase by putting in the shopping cart. I would think most mint employees are on holiday taking advantage of their “use it or lose it” annual leave vacation hours. They will get the bugs straighten out after the new year when everyone returns to work.

  50. Don says

    This thing with low mintages for collector coins is all about supply and demand, with the emphasis on demand. There is a saturation point for modern collector coins, beyond which the market value flattens out (or even decreases). It is the coins that were never meant for collectors where low mintage figures, and obviously condition, weigh heavily on their value today. It is the older coins that fit into this category–the Morgans, the Barbers, the Libertys, etc.

  51. Ralph says

    Just tried what mark did and re-ordered the ATB 5oz sub. Still, nothing shows up in my sub’s. Cancelled it off. Maybe stephen m is right about them all on vac lol. I’ll wait it out from here on.

  52. HIdalgo says

    Just wondering – for everyone who is having problems with placing an online order for subscriptions…. Why don’t you call the U.S. Mint, customer service, and place an order for one or more subscriptions over the phone?

  53. mark says

    5 oz atb subscription…you have to place it in your cart. Then go threw the same procedure as if you were purchasing it right now. You wont be charged until it ships.

  54. Ralph says

    Hldalgo: tried calling. All she could do is look at the same things I was seeing, it wasn’t in my sub’s. It was a little frustrating.

  55. Ralph says

    Didn’t try the order on the phone. I’m going to wait until after holidays and see if it straightens itself out.
    Happy New Year to everyone. My all your coin collecting wishes come true! 🙂

  56. dv says

    Just curious. Do we have to subscribe to each of the 5 oz? I subscribed over the phone and it seemed only one subscription. Thanks

  57. JagNut says

    Zombicks Waller copper proof just released by provident metals. Limited to only 10K. Scoop them up b4 this low mintage offering sells out.

  58. dan says

    Louis and DV

    I have had the subscription service with the ATB’s since it was started ;last year. I have not had to renew it for each coin as they were released. Like clock work, when the coins were released they were either in the mail or I received a backorder email.

  59. dan says

    Don

    You really summed it up nicely in regard to your statements on modern commemorative, mintages, and supply and demand. If I can I would also like to add one last caveat to the mintage aspect and that is the believed surviving population epecially in regard to older coins. Sometimes the coins with the lower mintage may not be the rarer in reality.

  60. Ralph says

    I just proved it is only the sub for the 5 oz coins that don’t show up in your sub’s. I just placed a sub for silver proof set’s. Showed up in my sub’s, no problem. I then re-ordered the 5 oz sub and nothing. It doesn’t appear. Interesting, no?

  61. simon says

    Just my 2c FWIW : coin collecting is purchasing coins you select which have great personal appeal for any variety of reasons. Doing it purely for profit may well end up an endless pursuit of a windmill – a rapidly vanishing illusion of windfall. In many ways the TPGs are to blame for the situation where folks eschew the intrinsic value of a coin in preference to “return-on-investment.” The coin purchaser is now blindly guided to make purchases based on multiple tiers of “advice and recommendations” i.e. cheap falsehoods. IMHO I do not see how one can ever “like” and appreciate spending vast sums on purchases which have no personal appeal. There’s simply no love and very little patience. Despite the many negative and unnecessary comments directed at the US Mint, it is most definitely not to blame. Purchase and collect what you like, and over the years you will see satisfaction in a multitude of ways, well beyond the commercial value of the coins or bean bags if one collects those.

  62. says

    I agree with Ralph. I have multiple subs that show in my account but the 5oz coins do not. I did one sub on 12/26 for the 5oz and since it did not show in my account I resubmitted a sub today for the 5oz. Still nothing showed in my subscription for the 5oz coins. Called the mint and the customer rep said that I indeed had duplicate subscriptions for the 5oz coins. I asked why she could see what i could not see and she replied that there was just so many lines that could be displayed online. She said that they were aware of the problem and they were working on a fix. If you have submitted a sub for the 5oz I would suggest you phone customer service before you end up with more subscriptions than you intended on having.

  63. high low silver says

    I’m getting a new CC issued in early Jan. thanks to the Target.com leaking information, some on here might want to wait awhile to subscribe.

  64. Eddie says

    I subscribed to the 1 oz ASE’S and never saw them in my subscription I just happened to look up and saw them in my cart. When I checked my cart it showed I had 12 of each instead of the number I wanted.

  65. MarkInFlorida says

    Thanks, Michael, for a great post on one of my favorite Mint offerings. I’ve loved it since it was announced and I got the first 2010 release when I bit the bullet and ordered it for $1395 from APMEX and then got a $500 refund, sold it for $2500 at a coin show, and ordered 9 more sets from all the other APs that I learned about on this blog! Thanks to this blog I’ve also picked up a few extra Hawaii and Alaska and Mt. Rushmore which look to be winners.

  66. mark says

    Same here…got my first set from apmex with a $500 dollar refund. Then ordered many more from all the other dealers. Flipped them for a really nice profit, and managed to keep three sets for around $300 a set. Then was able to order 5 sets of the 2011 5 coin silver eagle anniversary sets for $300 a set and sold them on ebay for $900 each. That made for a very Merry Christmas.

  67. HIdalgo says

    When I read stories about flippers making profits on coins that they purchased, I keep wondering how much they lost on purchases they thought would increase, but did not.

    Reminds me of some folks I knew who played the lottery, bet on horses, and gambled at Las Vegas. I always heard stories of their big winnings, but never heard how much they “invested” to secure their eventual winnings.

  68. high low silver says

    HId : I questioned a daily instant lottery player once, $5,10,20 losers in the trash every day…I think they like the attention cause they don’t want to talk about them.

  69. Dustyroads says

    I got lucky yesterday while looking through some pennies and found a bright, AU looking 1993 double die penny with both sides showing the DD. I’m not really sure how it’s possible to have the DD on both sides, but it looks like maybe there was a light strike, an adjustment, then a normal strike. I also found not long ago a 2009 early years penny that was struck through grease, causing both sides to be very blurry, while “E PLURIBUS UNUM 1809” is clear, having been created after the strike. Just thought I’d share.

  70. Dustyroads says

    After this years “West Point” flipping fiasco and seeing graded 70 Enhanced Silver Eagles selling on line for around $110. I can’t help both think about the risk flippers are taking. I guess one thing to consider is the assets balance sheet.

  71. high low silver says

    Dusty: I find odd coins from change when dealing with my coin dealer, proof nickle, kennedy clad half, wheat cents, fresh statehood quarters. I always check my other change and almost always strikeout. Congrats !

  72. KEITHSTER says

    I see the single 5* 50 center is backordered also looks like the 5*’s are cleaning up on the last chance thing. Anybody getting anything last chance I’m checking one thing and might just pull the trigger but should just learn to budget instead? Good Luck All We’ll Need It:):>

  73. mark says

    You guys are always looking for the next new low mintage coins….is that because you intend to flip them…lol

  74. MarkInFlorida says

    I’m not usually a flipper, but a coin dealer friend said I’d be crazy not to take the $2500 I was offered by another dealer for the first set of pucks, and he was right, since I soon bought more for about $900. I only sold one more set of them because they came slabbed (at no extra charge) but I hate slabs. They take up too much room. Everything else is just put away for the coming worldwide financial meltdown.

  75. high low silver says

    I guess we’re not too far off, I get low minted sets (2011 ann) and trade for a proof walker.I don’t sell on ebay,(maybe I should), I still like to barter and trade .

  76. mark says

    Yep…I would take the proof walker. Now sitting on 20 sets of the 2013 uncirculated dollar sets and 10 pcgs 2013 w ms70 burnished first strikes. These will double in price as soon as the unciculated sets show sold out. I will flip these and buy perth mint lunar series horses with the profits. FREE SILVER with a little work.

  77. Dustyroads says

    High low~Are you saying that the dealer you know gives the coins you mentioned in their change?

  78. Dustyroads says

    KEITHSTER~The 5* gold I bought is a 69, but with only some tiny bright spots noticeable under a 9 mag loop on LIBERTY. Also, it’s capsule was a mix-match of a gold eagle proof bottom and a commemorative top which didn’t fit together well and allowed the coin to shake around inside. Good luck to you!

  79. Dustyroads says

    Must have been a Freudian slip. Seriously though, these could be winners, and we will see soon.

  80. HIdalgo says

    @Dustyroads – I primarily collect general circulation coins. So your find of a 1993 double die penny intrigued me. There is a way to tell if the double die is due to a rotated die or if it is due to say, a “greasy” or “slippery” die.

  81. HIdalgo says

    @Keithster.

    Re: Last Chance Products. My thoughts.

    * The backordered 5 star coins. The US Mint likely will not produce any more of these coins before the end of the year. It seems that demand has exceeded supplies. Time will tell if these will have any secondary market values.

    * First Spouse coins – if low mintages are your focus, then these are winners. However, demand appears to be soft. That’s why, in general, most of the uncertified coins in the series are not selling significantly higher than their issue price. In fact, some are selling lower because of the drop in precious metal values.

  82. Buzz Killington says

    Another absolutely fantastic article in this blog.

    If this were an article about a rotating reverse silver dollar, I would be totally all in.

    Yet, just like the FS gold coins, I just don’t connect with these enough as coins to be interested at all. Some of the artwork is nice (Rushmore I think was creative), but I find myself more interested in the Zombuck medal series, which is a creative take-off on classic themes. (Having said this, I can sort of sense this series is already losing steam, but I’m ready to be proven wrong.)

    If I was interested in accumulating a lot of silver bullion, I think these pieces are a fantastic way to do that, and should be more marketable than, say, an Englehard 100 oz. bar. But as a coin collector, and not a bullion accumulator, these are just too much for me.

    The interest on this blog in these pieces continues my speculation that coin collecting is undergoing a fundamental transformation as coins become less a part of our everyday lives.

    Happy New Year!

  83. Wdg5 says

    The proof version sold out today, I wonder why they had 2 different dates for the PR and U/C versions of the 5* general gold coins.

  84. Brian says

    The preliminary data show a total of 39,430 uncirculated half dollars sold between the individual option and the profiles set. One or more dealers got greedy and bought about 3,000 of them this week.

    That puts the combined mintage only a dozen coins below the 2011 Army half. With the profile set still available it will certainly surpass it today and tomorrow.

    That probably will kill any potential resale value on these. Too bad for me as I ordered a few dozen back when there was introductory pricing.

  85. mark says

    Thanks for the info…just cancelled my backorder for 10. Not worth the risk for a clad half dollar.

  86. Eddie says

    Do you think if and when they offer a Kennedy half set that the Mint would offer it in May or November?
    I know this is off topic.

  87. Louis says

    Brian,
    Thanks for the info. There is still some hope as the prelim. data has been consistently wrong and too high lately, and probably includes orders that may not get filled. Plus there could be a lot of cancellations of pending orders now. I want to see tomorrow’s report # and next week’s.

  88. HIdalgo says

    @Eddie – I would not be surprised if the US Mint had an ordering window, like it did for the past two American Silver Eagle sets and the reverse proof Buffalo gold coin. If so, then I would say the US Mint would likely offer the Kennedy half set more towards May than November.

    If the US Mint does have an order-as-many-as-you want ordering period, I would not expect secondary market values to be high for uncertified coins. Why? There would be no “surprise” factor since everyone who can afford a set can buy one.

    If you look at secondary market values for the two ASE sets and reverse proof Buffalo gold coins, you’ll see that values are not significantly higher than the US Mint’s original issue price for uncertified coins.

  89. HIdalgo says

    @Joseph – yes, I was able to place an order in my cart. It comes and goes. Give it time. If you can’t wait, simply pick up the phone and call the US Mint’s customer service phone number.

  90. gary says

    With the great new line up of designs for the ATBs for 2014 I look forward to my only 5 purchases from the Mint for the year. I started with the 1st two P-Mint issues in 2010 but gave up with silver so expensive at the time. The designs of 2012-2013 were of such great quality of design that I decided to collect them but only in OGP. Ebay was a great place to pick up the coins individually this past year as so many were available for less than Mint issue prices. Happy New Year

  91. Joseph says

    Thank you,Hldalgo. I finally placed my order. kept trying for about 15 minutes

    @Brian/Mark, the 5 * generals 3-coin set was a proof version.it had no UNC coin in it. so ,I think, those will not count toward the total of unc clad. now it is about 29k sold, still the lowest mintage of all modern commemorative clad half. am I right?

  92. HIdalgo says

    @Joseph – the 3 coin set was all proofs. The Profile set has all uncirculated coins. Both sets will affect the count of single proof or uncirculated versions of the coins contained in the set.

  93. Steve says

    Easy to overlook the seemingly still under-priced 2013-P set. The mintages on those for the most part are fewer than the ’10 set. Still a great buy. I grabbed a complete set on ebay Sunday for $1009. Would imagine with the Mint making the purchase of these more appealing starting with ’14 issues the first 4 years may turn out to be the best investments as potential for higher mintages the final six years could be 50%+ higher than ’10-13 sets. The complete 10 year set could turn out to be quite a sleeper in just a few years.

  94. Steve says

    I have 19 of the “P” mint marked 5 oz ATB’s I need to sell ASAP for a great price, either all together or individually. My mom is in a nursing home on hospice and no burial nor life insurance. Email me at SLSawyer@webtv.net if interested. THANKS! Will start putting them on ebay first of week (March 31) but would love to avoid all those fees.

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