US Mint Gold Coin Price Decrease Likely
As a consequence of the US Mint's new pricing policy, the prices for gold coins will likely decrease this week. Will collectors use this as an opportunity to buy US Mint gold coins?
Under the US Mint's new pricing policy for gold and platinum numismatic products, prices are adjusted as often as weekly based on the average of the London Fix prices from the previous Thursday AM through Wednesday AM. If the average price moves across thresholds set at $50 increments, prices for products are adjusted.
For the past several weeks prices for gold products have not changed, as gold has fluctuated between $900 and $950. The prior week's gold prices will likely move gold into a lower price threshold. The prices for this week's period are as follows:
| Apr 2, Thurs AM | 914.75 |
| Apr 2, Thurs PM | 897.75 |
| Apr 3, Fri AM | 901.50 |
| Apr 3, Fri PM | 905.00 |
| Apr 6, Mon AM | 879.50 |
| Apr 6, Mon PM | 870.25 |
| Apr 7, Tues AM | 879.25 |
| Apr 7, Tues PM | 879.75 |
| Apr 8, Wed AM | ? |
Unless the Wednesday London AM Fix price of gold is above $970 or so, we should see a price reduction for the US Mint's gold products. Although there are not a large number of gold products currently available, some collectors may have been waiting for a price reduction to make their purchases. Of course, they will also have to consider whether the price of gold might decline further in the coming weeks or months.
The US Mint has stated that price changes will be effective on Thursday mornings, but the past several adjustments have taken place on Wednesday afternoons. Once adjusted, the new prices should remain in effect at least until the following week when prices could be adjusted again if the average price of gold moves out of the $850 - $899.99 range.
The US Mint's currently available gold products, which would have price reductions are listed below.
2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin
2008 First Spouse Gold Louisa Adams - Unc
2008 First Spouse Gold Louisa Adams - Proof
2008 First Spouse Gold Jackson's Liberty - Unc
2008 First Spouse Gold Jackson's Liberty - Proof
2008 First Spouse Gold Van Buren's Liberty - Unc
2008 First Spouse Gold Van Buren's Liberty - Proof
2009 First Spouse Gold Harrison - Unc
2009 First Spouse Gold Harrison - Proof
A price reduction would see the price of the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin move lower by $50 to $1,239.00. First Spouse Gold Coin prices would move lower by $25 to $604.00 and $591.00 for proof and uncirculated coins, respectively.
The last time prices were at these levels was the last week of January 2009. It will be interesting to see whether the lower prices result in a noticeable increase in sales.
Update: As of Wednesday, April 8 around Noon ET, the prices for gold products have been lowered on the US Mint's website.
Labels: US Mint
posted by Mint News Blog @ 2:19 PM
18 Comments:
If the spouse coins are of interest I would wait a day or two to see if gold keeps goings down and pick up another decrease next week. It doesn't appear that the spouse coins are very popular now but they might be good long term investment coins. Thats all I see them as. I would rather have the fractional eagles but that appears unlikely unless economy takes off and relieves the pressure on bullion.
Any idea on YTD mintage on the 2009 UHR? Given your inside knowledge, how many UHR's do you think the mint will produce?
With a possible reduction of price on gold coins, what if I have ordered a gold coin 2 weeks ago but it has not been shipped yet? Can I cancel that and re-order at the lower price?
YTD sales for the 2009 UHR were 56,527 as of last week. The number has been moving up by approx 1,000 per week.
Technically the coins will be minted to public demand, but the one per household order limit is serving as a practical constraint. Eventually this limit should be lifted, which would allow the pace of sales to increase.
At this point, I am guessing the final mintage might be around 100,000, although a lot can still happen in the next 8 months to change this.
See also:
http://mintnewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/slowing-pace-of-2009-uhr-double-eagle.html
Yes, you should be able to cancel and re-order at the lower price.
The situation has never arose where I have done this personally, so I can't completely vouch for it. But I know other collectors who have done so without a problem.
That's right. As long as the cancellation box is still present on the other order, it can be cancelled and then re-ordered at the lower price.
The only real penalty for doing that will be that your place in line for one of the coins will be lost, and your new order will go to the bottom of the pile. However, a $50 price savings would be worth losing a couple weeks' worth of higher order placement.
Another important possibility to consider though is that the Mint might have to cross-reference the other order to confirm that is has in fact been cancelled, since for some reason they still have the "one per household" limit in effect. If the other order has gotten too far along in the process, the lower price re-order might raise the "duplicate order" flag, and they might cancel the second order themselves. Definitely keep an eye on the second order prior to a possible price increase coming down the pike if the spot price rises again.
It will be interesting to see how long the Mint adheres to this new pricing policy because of situations just like this. You know they have to get tired of all the cancellations and re-orders, but by changing the policy they have actually brought this on themselves. No one wants to pay more than they have to, right?
I believe the price has already been adjusted down this morning. The cost for the double eagle is now $1239 on the mint website.
Yes, the price changes came around Noon today.
I contacted customer service re: canceling and re-ordering a gold order not yet shipped. I was informed the order was "in the warehouse" and could not be canceled (4/10 shipment)- indicated I would have to return items once received at this point.
I am holding out until the mint offers a cash for gold scheme. I wanna see grandma standing in front of the mint saying "I never dreamed my 2009 UHR could be cashed in for over $1200."
So maybe this is a little off topic, but it looks like the only fractionals of any kind this year will be the gold proofs. According to Coin World, no other fractionals will be minted. Was hoping for platinum and gold bullion fractionals along with the gold proof, but doesn't sound that way. Anyone else have some facts?
What Coin World article are you referring to?
It's true that no fractional gold bullion or platinum bullion has been minted so far during 2009, but the last I heard was that this is a "temporary delay."
Michael - It was the April 20 issue on page 54 under 'Future Offerings'. The way I am reading this, the only fractionals will be the gold proof.
Michael - It was the April 20th Coin World page 54 under 'Future Offerings'.
Even though the article is about bullion coins, the "Future Offerings" section is describing the collector versions.
I don't think they are saying gold fractional bullion and platinum bullion are eliminated. The latest I have heard is that they are "delayed."
I contacted CW to see if they could clarify.
Coin World responded confirming my statements above.
The April 20th story was about bullion coins, but they provided some information about future "collector" or "numismatic" offerings as background.
The fractional gold and platinum "bullion" coins have not been offered to date, but should be available later this year.
I guess the article never said the Mint wasn't going to issue fractional bullion, I just assumed 'Future Offerings' included all the Eagle products, bullion and collector versions. Thanks for clarifying this.
HA!!!! I'm not happy once again... besides leaving almost $4,000 dollars on my doorstep when switching over to UPS, the mint has now top itself. I ordered a X31 ordered on March the 5th 12:01pm which is the 2009 First Spouse Gld UNC..... that's UNC Harrison and got a X30.... that's a freakin Proof!!!!! What a blemish... let's see if they can top that after I send it back... mental midgets.
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