District of Columbia Quarter First Day Cover
The US Mint will release the District of Columbia Quarter First Day Cover on April 24, 2009 at 12:00 Noon ET. First Day Covers were also offered for the prior 50 State Quarters series. This will be the first cover release for the DC & US Territories Quarters series.
The District of Columbia First Day Cover will include two quarters, one each from the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. The quarters will be mounted on a custom display card with a 42 cent 24/7 Flags stamp. The card will be post marked January 26, 2009, Washington, D.C.
The offering will be limited to 25,000 units. The covers are priced at at $14.95 each. This is the same price changed for last year's State Quarter First Day Covers, all of which still remain available for sale on the US Mint's website.
The product page for the offerings is already available on the US Mint's website here, although ordering options won't be available until the official start of sales.
Labels: Coin Covers, DC US Territories Quarters
posted by Mint News Blog @ 6:20 AM
7 Comments:
Michael,
What's your opinion on this one? Personally, I think with the popularity of the U.S. Territories Quarters thus far, combined with the much lower than normal production run, this cover will sell out in a hurry. There appears to be no order limit in place, so it only takes a few people with faith in it to make it vanish. That would catch a lot of people by surprise, and drive the price on it up sharply, at least in the short term.
The First Day Covers never really seem to catch too much excitement.
For the prior State Quarters covers, the sales steadily declined over the course of the offering and none seem to have really appreciated. On eBay I have seen complete 50 State Quarter FDC Sets sell for less than the total original price.
However, as you point out US Territories Quarters products like the bags and rolls have been very popular this year. There are also many fewer products to choose from, which may cause some to consider the FDCs.
But all things considered, in my opinion, I don't see much happening with this one. It will be a nice addition for anyone who collects them, but there probably won't be a big frenzy for other collectors.
You're right for the most part. I too noticed that the early covers don't sell for much. There are a couple of exceptions to the trend, though. The 2007 50 State Quarter Covers saw a lot of appreciation after the "Last Chance Sale" concluded last December, especially the Wyoming and Utah covers. They can both fetch $50+ each now. All five of the 2007's were selling for nice markups for a little while, but the first three have cooled off to join the other 2006 and prior covers.
The Presidential Dollar covers aren't as popular now as they were at first, but there have been over 22,000 sold of the W.H Harrison. It seems like more people would want the DC quarter cover than the Harrision Dollar cover, and 25,000 is a pretty small production run.
Considering that, it still seems to me that they will sell out pretty quickly and see some short-term appreciation. If it does, there will likely be an order limit put into effect for the Puerto Rico covers a couple of weeks later.
That's just my thoughts. I've picked both winners and losers over time, as I'm sure we all have! :)
P.S. Do you remember those silly "Presidential Historical Signature Sets"? I had planned to buy those until it was announced that they would be discontinued. I figured no one (myself included) would be interested in a product that would not be seen to the end of the program. So, I cancelled my order for two of each. As it turns out, only 3,XXX units were sold of each of the 2008 offerings, and they've since sold for $250+ each on eBay! Talk about a lost opportunity.
I noticed some of the prices for the Historical Signature Sets too.
For some reason, the offering was also the subject of an article in the Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123456200098985701.html
At least this series will be a nice short one, so won't require much of a financial commitment. This FDC series is visually distinct from the Fifty State Quarters covers and, judging from the DC cover, much prettier. I just wish they had a more relevant postage stamp to go with it. I'll probably add one to the cart when the Lincoln rolls go on sale next month.
Not sure what this one will do. The rolls sold out quick but who knows. I can't believe how expensive some of the Presidential $1 and spouse sets are on ebay. Never thought that would happen.
I would think less people would be interested in the territories, I couldn't even name all of them until recently. Doh!
I predict these will sell out within two or three weeks. The Harrison $1 cover sold 23,000 less than three weeks after it went on sale.
If you're going to get these, I wouldn't wait too long if I were you.
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