2010 Off to Slow Start, America the Beautiful Update
The US Mint is off to a very slow start for 2010 numismatic product releases. The lack of collector products is due to delays surrounding the release of the new America the Beautiful Quarters, the next First Spouse Gold Coin, and of course collectible Gold and Silver Eagles.To date, the US Mint has had only five product release dates, which included nine different individual products. (For product dates, I counted each day that new 2010-dated products were released. The number of different individual products includes all of the available packaging or ordering options, such as separate P and D rolls or separate proof and uncirculated versions.)
Using the same method of counting, by this date in 2009 the US Mint had nine product release dates, which included 19 different individual products. By this date in 2008, there were twelve product release dates, which included 35 different products.
Delayed products contributing to the slow start include the Abigail Fillmore First Spouse Gold Coin, which previously had a tentative release date set for March 4, 2010. In late February, the US Mint stated that the release would be pushed forward to an unspecified date in March. The release of America the Beautiful Quarters has been delayed with no updated information until recently. (See America the Beautiful Update below) There has been no new information on collectible Gold and Silver Eagles for 2010. As mentioned in previous posts, the release of these collector coins will remain contingent on the ability of the US Mint to fulfill "full public demand" for the bullion coins.
Last year the US Mint had waited until the last few months of the year to announce the cancellation or release of several long delayed products. They had also released some of the final 2009-dated products in early 2010. This year, it feels like they are falling even further behind.
America the Beautiful Coins Update
Per an article in the latest issue of Coin World, the designs for the five 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters will finally be unveiled on March 24, 2010. The US Mint will hold a special ceremony at the Newseum located in Washington, DC.The first America the Beautiful Quarter featuring Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas is expected to be released during April. (By comparison the first State Quarter had been released on January 4, 1999.)
The candidate designs for the 2010 quarters have been available since September 2009 when the CCAC and CFA performed their reviews and issued recommendations. The candidate designs for 2011 were also subsequently released in January for the CFA and CCAC's review.
Things have been moving forward with the required 5 ounce America the Beautiful Silver Bullion coins. According to an article in Numismatic News, a new coin press was installed at the Philadelphia Mint on March 1 to strike the over-sized coins. The same article mentioned that the new bullion coins are not expected to be released in late summer or early autumn.
The silver bullion coins will be sold through the US Mint's network of authorized purchasers, who also distribute American Eagle and American Buffalo bullion coins.
The US Mint subsequently stated that each release of the bullion coin series would carry a maximum mintage. There is no requirement to strike the America the Beautiful Silver coins to demand, as exists for the American Silver Eagle bullion coins.
Today on Coin Update News: The latest US Mint Sales Report
Labels: America the Beautiful Quarters
posted by Mint News Blog @ 5:55 AM
21 Comments:
How pathetic...and typical.
Any idea on what is the maxium mintage on the 5oz bullion?
"Any idea on what is the maximum mintage on the 5oz bullion?"
The recent articles state that the new press can make in excess of one million coins per year.
One million per year, split over 5 designs comes to 200,000 per coin. However, I think it will most likely be lower due to planchet supplies and timing.
It sounds like the US Mint will be pre-announcing the maximum closer to the release date.
The silver metal stuff will all sell out because the mint has very few silver offerings. I look for the silver quarters set to sell out before the years end once released also. Not sure about the gold spouse stuff. Doesn't seem to be much demand during the past year even though they are low mintage.
It seems that the delay in one offering has a domino effect on other products for the year. There are bound to be other repercussions for these delays. They are going to have to cut the length of time that some of the items are offered for sale. This is going to work against the collector.
JA
No doubt, 5 different Presidential carnival $1 tokens, 1 Native American dollar coin, Kennedy half dollar, 5 quarter designs, dimes, nickels, another new penny, 5 first spouse gold coins and 5 more first spouse medals, huge silver bullion quarters, siver and gold bullion,ect.... No wonder they can't produce. Plus all the different ways they market the coin's packaging. Wow!! I'm lost in what to buy. I miss the days that I could afford a yearly mint set and a proof set with some extra money to consider a commemerative. 2009 was a very expensive year for coins, and 2010 looks looks the same. Looks like the Mint is flooding the market to insure a large profit.
The 5 oz silver coins are an idiotic idea foisted on the mint by congress, so don't blame the mint for this one.
They can't make the ASE proofs because the mint is now saddled with another bullion coin and a real big boy at that.
The 5 oz. coins based on the quarter designs shouldn't affect the Eagle Proofs for the Mint, since it's all about the BLANKS they can acquire. Their supply of 5 oz. blanks is independent of the supply of 1 oz. blanks when it comes to making the decision to mint Eagle Proofs or not.
However, since silver itself is supposed to be in shorter supply these days, using more of it to manufacture 5 oz. blanks could indirectly affect the number of 1 oz. blanks manufactured. However, from the Mint's perspective the two are mutually exclusive.
Besides, the Mint COULD have made some proofs last year if they hadn't cranked out so many bullion coins that they didn't sell them all, thus forcing the authorized purchaser network to order one 2009 dated coin for every so many 2010 dated coins, just to get rid of them. Had they made the proofs for collectors, they wouldn't have had any trouble selling them at all, and for a much higher markup too!
I believe that is the point of the above commenter. The 5 oz big boy is gonna eat up a lot of silver whether or not the mint sees it as a separtate item from the proof ASE.
I believe the blanks (planchets) for both the ASE and the 5 ozt silver "quarters" are supplied by Sunshine Minting Inc. There is enough silver to do all of this, the Mint just doesn't have its act together to accomplish it.
The reason we have ASEs is because senators from Idaho wanted to ensure a market for silver mined in Idaho. The reason we have 5 ozt "quarters" coming up is probably due to similar reasons.
This is not a supply issue. It's a political issue and an ineptitude issue.
Thats too bad that the mint has to resort to lying by telling us there is not enough metal to meet both bullion and proof demand.
Who are the "US Mint's network of authorized purchasers" and where will I be able to buy the 5oz silver bullion coins? As long as the price is not astronomical I'd like to try and acquire a complete set of these.
You'll have wait until they cull the best ones for grading at the TPG's then you'll find the rejects at APMEX.
Does anyone agree with me that the CCAC and CFA need to be replaced ? They seem to almost always pick the worst coin designs. I`d prefer on online vote where the public can vote for their favorite coin designs. We`d probably end up with better selections.
Can anyone explain to me why the US Mint sells some products, yet other products we can only purchase from authorized dealers? It would seem to me that if they can sell some things, they can sell everything they produce.
Thats a good question just above. I thought they did it because of volume and security. Its easier and more secure to sell 20 million bullion coins to 50 dealers than to 6 million individual customers. It may be a law also. Be interesting to hear from someone in the know.
As to the costs of the 5 oz. bullions... dealers currently sell the 1 oz. bullions around $20. So, these will probably go for around $100.
You should be able to find a local authorized dealer from this lookup list provided by the Mint:
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/american_eagles/index.cfm?action=lookup
Buy about four... figure out which one looks the best and send it in for grading from a third party grading service, and sell it on Ebay or Teletrade and you might be able to make your money back on all that you bought. Definitely if it goes for MS70.
As to why go through authorized dealers, per the Mint's website: "This method provides effective and efficient distribution, which maximizes the availability of the coins in retail markets as well as major investment markets."
I think the important word here is INVESTMENT. Those sneaky Wall Street guys! LOL! :-)
As to replacing the CCAC and CFA with public voting. My fear there is that Colbert or Stern some other funny-man would get tons of their fans to vote for some cheesy and awful design.
I think 1) Congress needs to get off its obsession with coins that have REAL people it, and 2) keep the CCAC and CFA for advice and consent purposes, but make the final arbiter a non-bureaucrat instead of current bureaucrats like the Secretary of Treasury... I really don't see Geithner or any other SOT caring a lot about which design should be used. Maybe the final arbiter is someone the members of the CCAC and CFA vote on to make the final decision.
As time goes on the Mint Directors get more and more lazy and incompetent.
It all started with Donna Pope shorting the amount of gold in the gold bullion coins because she "didn't think it would matter to anyone." It all went downhill from there.
It's too bad we don't have Canada's mint directors. They seem to really have it together and to listen to (and respect) the public.
It is already March and we can't even buy rolls of the 2010 penny on the US Mint website and the final designs (not just the candidates) for the 2010 quarters aren't even available.
waiting to see the first NGC/PCGS 5 oz slab holder. It will also be interesting to note what rules will pertain to a perfect ms70. Doubt that hand contact wear will be a major issue. I don't see them being passed around and placed in many pant's pockets. Guess it will all come down to the minting process. I'd rather see 5 collectible ASE's than 1 5 oz. bullion quarter. Another thought, what value will the mint place on these babies, a buck 25?
At 5 ounces, I'm betting the Mint will charge close to $100 per bullion. Then, tack on any dealer fees you might encounter after that.
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