Price Performance for US Mint Sold Out 2008 Products

It's been a wild year for US Mint customers. Volatile precious metals prices combined with the strong worldwide demand for bullion related products has resulted in long suspension periods, numerous product re-pricings, and unexpected sell outs.

To date, more than thirty 2008 dated products have sold out. This is a huge number of sell outs to occur prior to year end. In the past few years, prior year dated products have been available for many months into the following year. Some of this year's sold out products even include the US Mint's "core" products such as the 2008 Proof Set. Another very early and unexpected sell out was the 2008 Proof Silver Eagle. This coin is a favorite for holiday gift giving, but it sold out in August, never to return.

Prices for the vast majority of sold out products have already moved higher on the secondary market, in many cases significantly. I recently compiled some data to find the approximate secondary market price levels for sold out 2008 US Mint products. The data is presented in a table below.

The first column lists the product description. The second lists the US Mint's last price before the sell out. The third column lists the price range for completed eBay auctions from the last ten days. And the fourth column shows the percentage price change between the US Mint price and the lower number from the current price range. The price ranges only include uncertified coins. The numbers also do not take into account shipping charges, or differentiate fixed price and auction listings. Although it's not perfect, I think the data provides a good indication of general price levels.

2008-W Uncirculated Gold Buffalo
Product	Mint Price	Recent Price	Change
1 oz.	999.95	1500 - 1550	50%
1/2 oz.	524.95	650 - 720	24%
1/4 oz.	297.45	500 - 530	68%
1/10 oz.	129.95	275 - 300	112%
4 coin set	1902.45	2975 - 3250	56%
View current eBay auctions
2008-W Proof Gold Buffalo
Product	Mint Price	Recent Price	Change
1 oz.	1049.95	1625 - 1900	55%
1/2 oz.	549.95	700 - 770	27%
1/4 oz.	312.45	484 - 579	55%
1/10 oz.	164.95	307 - 395	86%
4 coin set	2005.45	3295 - 3500	64%
View current eBay auctions
2008-W Uncirculated Platinum Eagles
Product	Mint Price	Recent Price	Change
1 oz.	1069.95	1350 - 1650	26%
1/2 oz.	569.95	650 - 700	14%
1/4 oz.	319.95	380 - 420	19%
1/10 oz.	134.95	176 - 180	30%
4 coin set	2089.95	2800 - 3000	34%
View current eBay auctions
2008-W Proof Platinum Eagles
Product	Mint Price	Recent Price	Change
1 oz.	1119.95	1700 - 1775	52%
1/2 oz.	599.95	829 - 849	38%
1/4 oz.	359.95	550 - 630	53%
1/10 oz.	199.95	290 - 350	45%
4 coin set	2179.95	3100 - 3100	42%
View current eBay auctions
Other 2008 US Mint Products
Product	Mint Price	Recent Price	Change
Legacy Collection	100.00	150 - 170	50%
Pr Silver Eagle	31.95	80 - 100	150%
Proof Set	26.95	45 - 55	67%
State Quarter Pr Set	13.95	30 - 45	115%

Some observations and thoughts after compiling this data.

- The biggest winner so far is the 2008 Proof Silver Eagle. The US Mint's issue price was $31.95. Coins are currently selling for $80 to $100 each, representing an increase of at least 150%. These coins sold out the earliest, and the most unexpectedly. I think the latter is responsible for a big portion of the price appreciation. On a historical basis, the estimated mintage of 713,236 is far above the low mintage issues of the 1990's, most of which sell for lower prices.

- Another big winner includes the 2008 Proof Set. Once again the sell out was unexpected, which contributed to the fast price appreciation. The sell out is also not easily explained since this set does not contain any precious metals content, a factor that likely had a hand in most of the other sell outs. The estimated mintage of 1.4 million is extremely low on a historical basis. A regular proof set has not had a mintage this low since the 1950's.

- The Gold Buffalo coins and Platinum Eagles have both performed well. The fractional Gold Buffaloes now represent a one year only issue, which seems to be causing some excitement. All of the Platinum Eagles have relatively low mintages, with the proof versions seemingly having hte lowest mintage for any proof Platinum Eagles. Seeing the price performance and low mintages of these coins makes think sell outs for the remaining 2008-W Uncirculated and Proof Gold Eagles is not far behind.

- The sold out coins which seem particularly difficult to find are the 2008 Proof Platinum Eagles. In particular, the one ounce coin and 4 Coin Set only had a handful of completed auctions in the last ten days. The majority of the current auctions are fixed price listings with prices much higher than the ranges above.

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I may not fit in another post before the end of the year- so if this is the last one Happy New Year to everyone and thank you for reading Mint News Blog throughout 2008!