2008-W Gold Eagles Sold Out, Gold Prices Adjusted Early
The last of the 2008-W Uncirculated Gold Eagles sold out today. The final coin to go was the 1/2 ounce version, which was priced at $600.00. The sell out came just before a price adjustment for other US Mint gold coins.
Under the new pricing policy, prices were adjusted upwards by $50 for each ounce of gold content. The price for the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle was increased from $1,289 to $1,339. First Spouse Gold Coins had their prices increased from $616 to $641 for uncirculated coins and $629 to $654 for proof coins. The price adjustments were effective around 2:00 PM ET today.
Some people were surprised by the price adjustment for US Mint gold coins, because they were not supposed to happen until tomorrow morning.
The US Mint's January 6, 2009 publication in the Federal Register very plainly states that price adjustments will take place Thursday mornings at 10:00 AM. The quote below is taken directly from their publication (bold added for emphasis):
Specifically, each Wednesday, the United States Mint will apply the average London Fix for platinum and gold (average of the London Fix prices covering the previous Thursday A.M. Fix through the Wednesday A.M. Fix) to the below pricing schedules. Price adjustments as a result of this process, if any, will be effective at 10 a.m. E.S.T. on the immediately following Thursday.The US Mint supposedly implemented the new pricing policy in order to increase transparency and predictability for their customers. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen when the US Mint chooses to deviate from their own published policies.
Labels: Gold Eagles
posted by Mint News Blog @ 11:39 AM
5 Comments:
It would be interesting to understand why the mint made this pricing adjustment against there own policy...more importantly a matter of the public having faith in getting reliable information from the mint.
Order when you can, get products while you can, and order as cheaply as possible if you can.
Since they (and pretty much any government entity anymore!) can make new rules effective the next day (7-day returns anyone?) or even retroactively if they want, no real rules apply.
2008 Uncirculated Satin Finish Set is also SOLD OUT today with the LOWEST mintage figures in 10 years.
Thanks.
This is turning out to be a busy day...
I did notice the early price increases today for gold coins. I figured the Mint would try to justify it by saying that they had been selling the coins too cheap since last Thursday, when the prices were still in the $900-$949.99 tier when the spot price of gold was hovering near $1,000.
Numismaster published the new "Mint Statistics" today, which were reported through 2/22. I noticed that all of the First Spouse coins posted nice gains this week, undoubtedly fueled by the discrepancy between the Mint's pricing tier and the gold spot price. I bet they don't sell very many coins this week though, since the spot price seemed to sink like a lead boot today! Just the opposite of last week, if the spot price dips much further, the Mint prices will be a tier ABOVE where they should be.
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