Braille Commemorative on Sale, Uncirculated Lincoln Sold Out
Today, the 2009 Louis Braille Commemorative Coin went on sale at the United States Mint. A ceremony to mark the launch was also held at the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, Maryland.
Three separate ordering options are available: the proof coin, the uncirculated coin, and the uncirculated coin in a special easy open capsule to accommodate anyone wishing to read the Braille characters on the reverse of the coin.
The US Mint has placed an ordering limit of 50 units each per household. This compares to an ordering limit of 100 per option, which had been set for the Lincoln Commemorative. The total authorized maximum mintage for the Braille Commemorative is 400,000 coins across all product options.
The launch of the Braille Commemorative coin seems to be generating much more mainstream attention than the launch of the prior Lincoln Commemorative. Dave Harper mentions that the story was covered on CBS Radio and I saw a story online from CNN. I commented before about the lack of mainstream attention for the Lincoln Commemorative coin launch, which seemed to have been overshadowed by the launch of the newly designed cent on the same day. It will be interesting to see if this added exposure translates into higher sales for the Braille coin.
In my opinion, I don't think the Louis Braille Commemorative will achieve a sell out, although it is definitely one of the most unique commemorative coin offerings in recent memory.
Meanwhile, the uncirculated version of the 2009 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative coin has now officially sold out. The coin had been put on "waiting list status" on Tuesday. The proof version of the coin remains available for sale, but likely not for long.
Numismaster reported the latest sales figrues for the Lincoln Commemorative. Proof coin sales are 312,075 and uncirculated coin sales are 135,793. This puts the total across both options at 447,868. This leaves only 2,132 individual coins left available for sale.
Update: On Friday, the 2009 Lincoln Proof Commemorative moved into "waiting list status."
Labels: Commemorative Coins
posted by Mint News Blog @ 1:40 PM
9 Comments:
If you read the description of the Uncirculated "easy open" Braille coin, it says it is a "This proof coin is extraordinarily brilliant and features sharp relief and a mirror-like background to highlight the images on both sides of the coin" Hmmmm... This could be a big seller. A uncirculated proof coin. Or, just the usual mistakes by the mint.
I just ordered 10 of each (proof, uncirculated, uncirculated in capsule). What the heck--more fiat paper for real money.
From a secondary market perspective, my money is on the Uncirculated coin with the "easy-open" capsule to be the winner for this one. As usual, the Proof coin will outsell the Uncirculated by a large margin, and the Uncirculated coin in the regular capsule will likely sell many more copies than the "easy-open" one. I just can't see very many collectors wanting to touch the surface of their coin, so they will opt for the more secure capsule.
Subtle packaging variations have proven to make a BIG difference for secondary market value in the past! I just wonder if the Mint will report separate sales figures for the two Uncirculated versions, or if they will just lump them both together. It would make sense to report separate figures, since they have unique product numbers. But, since it makes sense, it likely won't be done!
Brad, you make some valid points, however I think you may be missing one important factor in the secondary market (i.e. ebay) for the "easy open" capsule. Usually, when you buy a Mint product on the secondary market, you can usally expect it be be in "Mint condition". However, would you really want to buy a "easy open" capsule coin on the secondary market...you have no idea how much it may of been handled and what the actual condition may be. So...I think this will severly limit the secondary market value/potential.
Stevieladeek, you're right about that possibility. I hadn't really thought about that. I guess for the "easy-open" capsule version to have extra value, it would need to be sold in a Mint sealed box to ensure there was no handling after it left the Mint. A very good point that I had NOT thought about.
From the Mint website:
Waiting List Notice: The number of orders we have taken meets the maximum limit for the 2009 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Proof Silver Dollar. You may still place an order for this product, which will go on a waiting list.
I ordered the uncirculated lincoln back on 2/26 and it still hasn't shipped. Anyone else having issues like this?
Hyacynth,
I ordered mine on 2/12. The mint site says, "Order Status: Your order request is in process."
I'm not too worried. They'll deliver the goods, eventually.
The genius of the mint strikes again! I ordered the Braille proof and uncirculated version of the coin within 5 minutes of the onsale and my ship date was originally 4/1. Informed today it has been pushed back to 4/16. I have not had a single order ship on the first date they give me all year now. About 6 orders now. Sure am glad I didn't need these right away for Early Release or First Strike designation like the Eagles. Still waiting on my lincoln rolls ordered with 10 minutes of the onsale that day. Maybe they don't like me;)
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