As precious metals continue to rise, another price increase for the US Mint’s numismatic gold products seems likely for this week.

Under the US Mint’s flexible pricing policy covering certain gold and platinum numismatic products, price changes can occur as often as weekly based primarily on the average weekly price of the metals. The average is measured based on the London Fix price from the prior Thursday AM to the current Wednesday AM. As a further confirmation, the Wednesday PM price must agree directionally.

Currently, gold numismatic coins are priced based on an average between $1,550 to $1,599.99. The average for the current weekly period is likely to fall within the next higher range from $1,600 to $1,649.99, which would prompt a price increase. A price increase would be avoided is the Wednesday AM London Fix price is below $1,553.75, or the Wednesday PM price is below $1,600.

Otherwise, price increase would take effect as follows:

As I mentioned last week, as the price of silver also rises, the chance of sales suspensions becomes increasingly likely. Silver numismatic products are not covered by the flexible pricing policy, instead sales must be suspended until new prices can be established through publication in the Federal Register.

The last time silver broke above the $40 per ounce level, the US Mint suspended two of the lower priced products. Silver is currently trading close to $41 per ounce.

Coin Update News: US Mint Sales Report

Effective July 22, 2011, the United States Mint made a major change to the Circulating $1 Coin Direct Ship Program. The coins may no longer be ordered with a credit card, but instead must be paid for by check, money order, or bank wire.

The Direct Ship Program allows individuals and small businesses to order quantities of $1 coins directly from the United States Mint at face value with no charge for delivery. The program was created in order to make the coins more readily available to the public for the purpose of introducing them into circulation.

Some individuals abused the program by ordering massive quantities of the coins with their credit card and then immediately depositing the coins ordered at their bank. This allowed credit card miles, cash back, or other rewards to be accrued at zero actual cost.

The abuses were first widely reported in late 2009. At that point, the US Mint tried to deal with the issue by indicating that rewards could not be earned through such a purchase. One article even included a quote from a Mint representative, stating that the purchases would be charged as a cash advance. Apparently, the US Mint was unable to do this, and the purchases continued to be charged as normal purchases which accrued rewards.

Other steps taken by the US Mint were to disallow purchases from some of the biggest abusers of the program and call individuals who placed large orders. Eventually, the Mint introduced ordering limits and included statements on the relevant product pages indicating that by placing an order, the customer would agree to adhere to the intention of the program. Although these steps likely cut down on some abuses, they could not prevent it completely.

Earlier this month, an article from NPR told about individuals who continued to abuse the program. This was followed by other similar articles in other mainstream publications. To make matters worse, a report was recently issued by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, estimating that 60% of the coins ordered through Direct Ship were eventually sent back to the Federal Reserve Banks.

The US Mint’s statement explaining the reason for the change to Direct Ship seems to acknowledge the recent articles and the report.

The Mint has determined that this policy change is prudent due to ongoing activity by individuals purchasing $1 coins with credit cards, accumulating frequent flyer miles, and then returning coins to local banks. Local banks, in turn, returned coins to the Federal Reserve. While not illegal, this activity was a clear abuse and misuse of the program.

During the 2009 fiscal year, the US Mint reported distributing 85.2 million coins through the Direct Ship Program. The total number distributed for the 2010 fiscal year was 90.7 million. Figures are not known for the 2011 fiscal year, which will end September 30, 2011.

Update on $1 Coin Situation

As reported on Coin Update News, two bills have been introduced which seek to terminate the Presidential Dollar Coin Program. Basically, each of the bills would eliminate the section of the United States Code that provides for the design and issuance of the series.

It seems that the First Spouse Gold Coins Program would also be forced to conclude, by extension. The section of the code authorizing the 24 karat gold coin series states that the coins will be issued on the same schedule as the Presidential Dollars. Although it is not completely clear, it seems that without the issuance of further Presidential Dollars, no further First Spouse coins could be issued either,

The Native American Dollars series would be allowed to continue, although most likely in limited fashion. One of the bills provides specific restrictions on the production of $1 coins.

Each of the bills H.R. 2593 and S. 1385 have one cosponsor and have been referred to committee. In order to become law, one of the bills must be passed in the House of Representatives and Senate, and then signed by the President.

Yosemite National Park Quarter Bags and Rolls

Sales of the Yosemite Quarter numismatic bags and rolls should conclude at the US Mint next week. The products originally went on sale July 27, 2010. According to the product page, the bags and rolls are intended to remain available for one year from the initial release date.

The last reported sales figures are 7,171 of the 100-coin bags from Philadelphia, 7,219 of the 100-coin bags from Denver, and 37,174 of the two roll sets.

Final mintages for the Yosemite National Park Quarters are 34,800,000 (D) and 35,200,000 (P).

Sales of the bags and rolls for the previous Hot Springs and Yellowstone Quarters ended roughly when expected, one year after the respective release date for each product.

Disappearing America the Beautiful Quarters Album

About a week ago, the US Mint added a listing to its upcoming products section for the America the Beautiful Quarters Coin Album. It was to be released on July 20, 2011.
The product was a US Mint branded album for the new quarter series that included facts and information about each site. The price was $9.95.

At some point, the product page was deleted. (It used to be here.) Will this album be released at another later date, or has the product been abandoned?

The US Mint currently offers albums for the Presidential Dollars. The album which hold 2007-2008 coins sold 28,637 units. The album for 2009-2010 coins fared much worse, selling 7,087 units to date. I believe the album product has been discontinued for subsequent years, although the initial two remain available for sale.

A Word on Comments

Mint News Blog was launched on October 15, 2007 to provide coverage of the United States Mint, their numismatic products, circulating coins, and bullion coins. I have written more than 800 articles, trying to provide the most accurate and timely information possible, along with relevant commentary. Readers have contributed an astounding 21,000 comments, which have greatly enriched the site and the experience for all visitors.

The site is hosted on the Blogger platform, a free publishing service from Google. Although it makes starting and writing a blog simple, it lacks the robust features offered by other platforms such as WordPress. In particular, the features for comment moderation are sorely lacking.

Recently one or more individuals started posting a high volume of vulgar and obscene comments. To make it clear, these were not dissenting numismatic opinions, but the deranged ramblings of a highly disturbed individual. Blogger lacks the capabilities to block or disallow specific individuals from posting comments, so I was forced to turn off all comments.

My plan is to convert the blog to wordpress, where I will have the necessary tools to deal with such situations. Since I don’t want to lose any of the existing content or comments, this will be a slow process. Please bear with me while I work on making the switch. New articles will continue to be posted, comments will be reinstated as soon as possible.