Louisa Adams First Spouse Gold - Initial Sales Figures

The latest coin in the First Spouse Gold Series honoring Louisa Adams went on sale May 29, 2008. After two weeks of statistics reported, the initial sales figures are tracking even lower than the previous coin in the series.

The Louisa Adams First Spouse coin has sold 2,986 proof coins and 1,696 uncirculated coins as of June 12, 2008. This makes the total across both ordering options 4,682 coins or 11.7% of the maximum authorized mintage of 40,000 coins.

For comparison purposes, the previous release of the series for Elizabeth Monroe sold 7,768 coins (or 19.4% of maximum) in roughly the first two weeks of release (sales figures from February 28, 2008 to March 13, 2008).

Figures come from Numismaster Mint Stats.

Another decline in sales was widely expected as the First Spouse Gold series continues to lose steam. Reasons for the decline have been discussed in other posts, but to summarize:

• the tendency for the popularity of a series to decline over time
• the relatively high price premiums above the gold content value
• the one coin per household ordering limit
• the under performance of earlier coins on the secondary market

One potential bright side the declining sales is that if some issues of the series have low enough final mintages, they could potentially rise in value on the secondary market due to their rarity. The key question is how long can the US Mint continue to sell each issue before officially ending sales? I have seen the question discussed, but can't seem to find an official answer.

Does anyone know or have any insights?