Tuesday, May 1, 2012

2012 Presidential Dollar Uncirculated Set

Posted by Mint News Blog | Filed Under: Annual Sets, Presidential Dollars

Today, May 1, 2012 at 12:00 Noon ET, the United States Mint began sales of the 2012 Presidential $1 Coin Uncirculated Set. As a change from prior years, this product will have a limit of 100,000 sets.

Each set includes examples from the Philadelphia and Denver Mints for each of the 2012 Presidential Dollars honoring Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland (first term), Benjamin Harrison, and Grover Cleveland (second term). These eight coins are packaged in a folder containing biographical information and portraits of each President.

The coins are described as “uncirculated” which has come to mean the brilliant finish used for the annual uncirculated coin sets. These coins are typically better produced and more carefully handled than the “circulating quality” coins included in the numismatic bags and rolls.

The price of the 2012 Presidential Dollar Uncirculated Set is $16.95. This represents a reduction in price of $3 compared to the price of the prior year set, which still remains available for sale.

It remains to be seen whether the elevated sales levels recently experienced for the Presidential Dollar rolls and boxes will carry over to other numismatic products for the program. The 2011 Presidential Dollar Uncirculated Set, which did not carry a limit, has sold 65,082 units as of the latest sales report. The US Mint has optimistically set the limit for the 2012 set more than 50% higher than this amount.

Numismatic Gold Product Price Increase

Just one week after a price decrease, it seems likely that prices will be increased for the US Mint’s numismatic gold product offerings. Based on the available London Fix prices for the weekly period, the average price of gold will most likely fall into the $1,650 to $1,699.99 range. In the most likely scenario, as long as the Wednesday London PM Fix price is above the $1,650 mark, then a price increase will take place.

The impacted products would include the 2011 Proof Gold Eagles, 2012 Proof Gold Eagles, 2011 Proof Gold Buffalo, 2012 Proof Gold Buffalo, 2011 Uncirculated and Proof First Spouse Gold Coins, and 2012 Uncirculated and Proof Star Spangled Banner $5 Gold Coins (plus the Two Coin Set which includes the proof coin).

Each of these products would see the price increased by $50 for each ounce of gold content. Price changes have usually been made effective around mid-morning on Wednesday.

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Monday, April 30, 2012

Chester Arthur 100-Coin Bags

Posted by Mint News Blog | Filed Under: Presidential Dollars

Today, the United States Mint began sales of the 100-coin bags of Chester Arthur Presidential Dollars from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mint. These products follow the release of 25-coin rolls, 250-coin boxes, and 500-coin boxes, which went on sale on April 5, 2012.

Following the announcement of the suspension of production of Presidential Dollars for circulation, the Mint introduced many new ordering options for circulating quality coins of the series. For the 2011 releases, there had only been 25-coin rolls available from each mint. For this year’s releases, there are four separate options from each of the two mints.

The newly released 100-coin bags are priced at $111.95 each. On a per coin basis, the bags carry a lower cost than the individual rolls, but a slightly higher cost than the larger quantity box offerings.

Excluding shipping, the cost per coin would be $1.318 each for the 25-coin rolls, $1.1195 each for the 100-coin bags, $1.1038 each for the 250-coin boxes, and $1.1019 each for the 500-coin boxes. The 500-coin boxes carry an additional shipping charge of $7.95 per box, which makes the 250-coin boxes, the lowest priced option on a per coin basis.

Sales of the Chester Arthur Dollars through existing options have been extremely robust, with more than 6.5 million coins already sold. Due to the later release of the 100-coin bags, they probably won’t see the huge initial demand that the rolls and boxes experienced in the opening weeks.

On the world coin news front, the Perth Mint has released the first ever high relief Silver Kookaburra coin and the Chinese Dragon issue for the Dragons of Legend series. For more information, head over to World Mint News Blog.

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Friday, April 27, 2012

2012 San Francisco Silver Eagle Two Coin Set

Posted by Mint News Blog | Filed Under: Silver Eagles

The United States Mint has posted details of the upcoming 2012 San Fransisco American Silver Eagle Two Coin Proof Set on a preliminary product page.

As covered in a previous post, the product will contain one 2012-S Proof Silver Eagle and one 2012-S Reverse Proof Silver Eagle. At this time, it seems that both of these coins will be unique to the set.

The Mint will be offering the sets for sale during a period of only four weeks from June 7, 2012 to July 5, 2012. During this time, there will be no household limits and no maximum mintage. The mintage of the coins will be determined based on orders received during the period. Pricing for the set has not yet been announced.

The US Mint has obviously chosen their offering strategy in direct response to the situation which had occurred for the 25th Anniversary Silver Eagle Sets. These sets had a mintage limit of 100,000, household ordering limit of five, and sold out in less than one day.

Although some collectors are not thrilled about the criteria established by the US Mint for the current offering, things could have been worse. When the US mint has reacted to an unexpected sell out by increasing the mintage or lowering the ordering limits, they have tended to overshoot the mark.

After the sell outs of the 20th Anniversary Gold and Silver Eagle Sets, the US Mint offered the 10th Anniversary Platinum Eagle Sets. The sets contained one-half ounce proof and reverse proof coins with the product limit set at a whopping 30,000 sets. (Up until that point, the maximum number of one-half ounce proof platinum eagles sold by the US Mint during any one year was 15,431.) Although the US Mint produced sets to the entire maximum mintage, sales never reached that level. After a few suspensions related to precious metals prices, sales officially closed on December 31, 2008 with final sales reaching 19,583 sets. The two Platinum Eagles included in the set now represent the two highest mintage one-half ounce proof coins of the entire series.

After sell outs of the first two issues of the First Spouse Gold Coin series, the US Mint dropped the ordering limit to just one per household. Even after collector interest had fallen dramatically and opening orders dwindled, the Mint continued to impose an initial ordering limit of one per household until the middle of 2008. Imposing such a strict ordering limit long after it was necessary may have served to further discourage collector interest in the series.

If the US Mint had tried to establish a higher mintage limit for the 2012 San Francisco Silver Eagle Set, I think they would have come up with a ridiculously high number while at the same time imposing a one per household limit. This would have resulted in an overproduced product which would linger in the product catalog for a long time to come.

There is some precedent for offering a special coin or set with an unlimited mintage for a specified time. These situations have actually worked out well for collectors.

Most recently, the US Mint offered the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin for almost a full year. Although there were ordering limits imposed at the start of the offering, the limits were eventually increased, and then completely removed. Late in the year, the US Mint announced a specific date for the conclusion of sales. The last reported sales were 115,178, which seemed high at the time, but has ultimately come to be recognized as limited compared to the worldwide collector demand for the coin.

Looking at some past US Mint promotional materials, it seems that the 1998 Kennedy Collector’s Set, which contained a matte proof 1998-S Kennedy Half Dollar, was available for ordering for only six weeks. Collectors were enthusiastic about the offering following the success of the 1994-P and 1997-P matte proof Jefferson Nickels included in previous commemorative coin sets. Orders for the Kennedy Set reached about 62,000 with the specified period. Once again, this product went on to secondary market success and continues to hold a strong premium.

105 Comments
Friday, April 27, 2012

Girl Scouts Silver Dollar Designs

Posted by Mint News Blog | Filed Under: Coin Designs, Commemorative Coins

One of two commemorative coin programs approved for next year will celebrate the centennial of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America. The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee recently reviewed obverse and reverse design candidates prepared by the United States Mint and provided their recommendations.

The authorizing legislation for the program offers minimal criteria for the coin designs, stating only “The design of the coins minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the centennial of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America”. Required inscriptions include only the value of the coin, date, “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, “United States of America”, and “E Pluribus Unum”.

The United States Mint provided elven different obverse design and ten different reverse design candidates. Going into the CCAC meeting, the Girl Scouts of the USA had expressed their preference for obverse design 8 and 9, and reverse design 3. These are shown below.

In their discussions some members of the CCAC spoke favorably about different obverse design candidates, but ultimately design 9, which had been supported by the GSUSA, received the most votes. For the reverse, support seemed to quickly coalesce around design candidate 6. This features the same logo as the design supported by the GSUSA, but in a more modern design that would utilize frosted and mirrored fields. The obverse and reverse designs recommended by the CCAC are shown below.

You can read in depth coverage of the CCAC discussions and see images of all of the design candidates in this Coin Update News article.

I do not believe that the Commission of Fine Arts has had a chance to review the design candidates yet. The final designs will be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consideration the recommendations of the CFA, CCAC, and Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

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Thursday, April 26, 2012

2012 Native American Dollar Rolls

Posted by Mint News Blog | Filed Under: Other Coins

Today, April 26, 2012 at 12:00 Noon ET, the United States Mint will begin sales of rolls and boxes of the 2012 Native American Dollar.

The reverse designs for the series celebrate important contributions and accomplishments of Native Americans. The theme for the current year’s coin is “Trade Routes in the 17th Century”. The reverse design by Thomas Cleveland features a Native American and horse in profile. Three small horses appear running in the background to represent the historical spread of the horse. The obverse design carries Glenna Goodacre’s depiction of Sacagawea and child.

Under Public Law 110-82, it is required that the number of Native American Dollars minted and issued each year shall be not less than 20% of the total number of $1 coins minted and issued during the year. From 2009 to 2011, this resulted in relatively high mintages for the series, driven by the production of Presidential Dollars. Since the Federal Reserve Banks did not place orders for Native American Dollars, the US Mint distributed the coins primarily through the now-cancelled Direct Ship program. With the production of Presidential Dollars extremely reduced, the production of the Native American Dollars should also follow lower.

The US Mint will offer circulating quality 2012 Native American $1 Coins 25-coin rolls priced at $32.95 each. Also available will be boxes of 250 coins priced at $275.95 and boxes of 500 coins priced at $550.95. Each option will be available with coins from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mint.

A standard shipping and handling fee of $4.95 is added to all orders. An additional charge of $7.95 per 500-coin box is also imposed. (As I mentioned before, this extra charge makes it cheaper to buy two of the 250-coin boxes rather than one of the 500-coin boxes.)

The recently released Chester Arthur Dollar had surprisingly high sales that reached more than 6 million after 11 days of availability. As of the latest report, sales have climbed to more than 6.5 million.

It will be interesting to see how sales of the 2012 Native American Dollars stack up. The 2011-dated coins have only generated sales of 1,151,800 through numismatic roll sales after more than a year of availability. This year, if sales of the Native American Dollars are lower compared to the average sales level for the Presidential Dollars, the US Mint will legally be required to find some way to issue enough additional Native American Dollars to get to the 20% requirement.

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