2010 American Gold Buffalo Proof Coins
On June 3, 2010, the US Mint will begin sales of the 2010 American Gold Buffalo Proof Coin.
The American Gold Buffalo takes its design from the iconic 1913 Type I Buffalo Nickel by James Earle Fraser. The obverse depicts the profile of a Native American based on a composite of three chiefs and the reverse depicts an American Bison or Buffalo. Each coin contains one ounce of 24 karat gold. Produced at the West Point Mint, the coins carry the "W" mint mark.Based on recent gold prices, it seems that the offering will be priced at $1,510 each. The US Mint has indicated that there are no ordering limits or maximum mintage for the offering.
This year's release of a collectible version of the 24 karat gold coin will take place much earlier than the prior year. The 2009 Proof Gold Buffalo coins went on sale October 29, 2009 after some uncertainty as to whether the coins would be offered at all. The pent up demand following almost a year without collectible Gold Buffaloes and heightened performance expectations following the secondary market success of the 2008-W Gold Buffalo Coins perhaps contributed to heavy initial sales of the coin. After only four days, the US Mint had recorded sales of 19,468. The coins eventually sold out on March 29, 2010 with last reported sales of 49,388.
This year's offering of the 2010 Proof Gold Buffalo seems like it will carry a much different impression. If the price of gold remains within the current range, then the offering price will be $1,510 per coin, which is $150 above last year's initial price level. The coins are being released earlier in the year, which may remove some of the sense of urgency which existed last year. Finally, the 2009 proof coins have not been secondary market successes so far. The coins are selling for around $1,400 based on recently completed eBay auctions, which right around the price of the coins when last available directly from the US Mint. It always seems that secondary market appreciation spurs higher sales levels for the next offering of product in the next offering, and vice versa.
Despite these factors, the Gold Buffalo series does seem to carry a dedicated base of collectors. These coins will also represent the only numismatic gold coin offering besides the First Spouse Gold Coins.
If you are rooting for a low mintage for the 2010 Proof Gold Buffalo, one factor that may come into play to help make this a reality is the current elevated demand for bullion coins. During May 2010, the US Mint sold 70,500 Gold Buffalo bullion coins and recorded the highest monthly sales of one ounce Gold Eagle bullion coins since 1999.
Continuing high demand or escalating demand may cause a scarcity of precious metals blanks that can impact collector offerings. As we have seen in the past, the US Mint will prioritize the production of bullion coins over the production of collector coins, although in the case of the Gold Buffalo, I don't believe this is a legal requirement.
Labels: Gold Buffalo
posted by Mint News Blog @ 7:00 AM
63 Comments:
I don't know if it's a legal requirement or not, but it certainly does make sense that the Proof Buffalos could be suspended in the case of high bullion demand. If it did happen, it could be similar to what happened with the 2008 Silver Eagles. They were pulled fairly early in their offering period, and never came back.
If the 2010 Proof Buffalo proves a secondary market success, it would establish a pattern that the even-numbered year coins are the ones to get. Even the 2006 coin, despite a staggering mintage level of 250,000+, still commands a hefty premium over melt. The odd-numbered years have proven nothing special thus far.
Good News, Bad News: The good news is there is a proof 1 oz gold buffalo coin this year and at the current price there will be a low mintage. The bad news is that this price will most likely be its lowest price all year. How many of ya'all waitin' for gold to drop to $1000/oz? But don't forget those special super secret pricing rules the mint has.
I know that the 08 buffalo's have had a great run and have stabilized recently but I still think these are the coins to have. If you have the money to buy a 2010 or 2009 Buffalo, why take the chance,just stick with the 08's. These will be the coins to have in the future. Take for example the 1 0z UNC 08 Buffalo with under 10k, would you rather pay a premium and own this coin or buy a couple of 09's or 10's or that matter the bullion coins. I also doubt very much that in the coming years we will see any quality gold coins coming out of the US Mint therefore the prospect for the 08's is that much better.
I am pretty sure than last year the mint was not going to do gold buffalo 1 ounce bullion coins but said that legally they had to do them.
It seems reasonably evident that now in June there is no indication what so ever there will be any 2010 silver proofs this year do to the record volumes of silver eagles being made buy the USMint. It does seem , I could be wrong, that the previous silver proofs will go up dramatically once the collectors realize there will be "no more silver proofs ever made" It seems this could be a sleeper as you can still buy today silver proofs at a reasonable price but for how long?
Best Regards, Jerry
The 07 proof is the best buy out
there. I agree the 08 fractionals
are your future big winners, the
unc 1/4 oz.,under 10,000 and about the size of the nickel can only
go up in price, period.
I love the gold buffalo! What a nice coin to have. The price will be hefty, but what other 2010 coins come close? If the ASE proof was killed, how much longer does the gold buff have?
"I am pretty sure than last year the mint was not going to do gold buffalo 1 ounce bullion coins but said that legally they had to do them."
Yes that's correct. What I meant was that the US Mint is not required to produce the Gold Buffalo bullion coins "in quantities sufficient to meet the public demand." They leaned on that particular legal requirement when justifying skipping last year's Proof Gold and Silver Eagles.
Best Coin Collecting Info site in the business. Thank you.
anyone buy one yet?
Just bought my first 2010 Proof Buffalo, took about 3 minutes, must not be to many people wanting to pay the price.I will buy more in a couple of months, hopefully price goes down a bit but probably won't. I have been buying these beautiful coins since they first came out so my average price through the years is still pretty good.
yea fyi i just purchased one also.
Just purchased one! I think that gold is going higher. This will prove to be a good purchase. --CQ
Thank God we have the Gold Buffalo. Unfortunately many are not able to buy the Gold because of price. Fortunately the beautiful silver proof coins are available 1986-2008 for those who have limited resources. The silver proofs offer the collectors a good choice and when reality hits, some still believe the Mint is going to continue making the silver proofs, many will be happy they have a few in their collections when silver price goes up and these beautiful proofs will continue to command higher prices.
Got one. I expect this coin to have lower mintage than the 2009 due to higher gold prices. Also, the Mint is fiddling with their pricing policy which is their way of trying to dissuade buyers from purchasing; thus reducing the demand. Perhaps the reason is that they don't have that many to go around (25K?), and want to stretch that 25K as far as it can go. JMO.
The 10's may be like the 08's,they could'nt give them away and when they pulled them, everyone had to have them at any cost.
Have to agree with some commenters. This could be second lowest mintage, maybe 30 large or less. Price getting into platinum range and likely to go up. Buffs are popular but too high a price will stifle demand down the road. I would love to get one but by the time I am ready the mint price may have already skyrocketed out of my orbit.
anyone have any idea how many have been sold? i got order #34531*** at about 12pm.
34530*** about the same time
To those able to get one and are still sitting on the fence: I bought the '06 for $800 four years ago and I thought I was getting screwed then. Will the 2014 version be selling for $2500? Wouldn't surprise me a bit.
The 07 cost me $825 and I was not sure if I was making a big mistake.
Glad now I bought & held.
I got order no. 34536*** at 4:44 pm
This is one of the few coins from the mints pickpocket prices that has held up no matter what year you bought.
I don't know if you guys know it, but order number does not translate to the number of 2010 Gold Buffalo Proof coins sold.
The order number you receive is a sequential number for ANY order that is placed on www.usmint.com.
So in-between order numbers 100 and 155, there could have been 1 Gold Buffalo sold and 54 Lincoln penny rolls sold.
you right everyones jumping in on the pennies that have been for sale forever.
You got that right about the Lincolns. Gold buffalo is overpriced and Lincoln sells.
Your right,the lincon cent is only costing you about 10 cents apiece by the roll. What a deal.
Nah, it's more like 4 or 5 spouses for each buffalo...
Yup anonymous at 4:50 PM. It's called return on investment.
Getting a Lincoln cent and selling it for 10 times the amount is smarter than buying a Gold Buffallo for $1500 and selling it for $1800.
Get a roll of Lincolns (50 coins) and sell them for $5. Your overall profit is $4.50.
Glad the bloggers here don't manage my investments.... LOL !
who cares about lincoln cents, open your eyes investor..
A one ounce Silver (Frosty, Gem, Proof) Buffalo would be an innovative and practical way for collectors to purchase the magnificent art contained in this historic coin. I believe it would be an outstanding seller for the mint and a welcome new series for all levels of collectors. Most importantly, a silver buffalo would be affordable and available to all or most collectors with a limited budget.
2008 Buffaloes -
What goes up will come down.
From what I've seen on eBay, now that the euphoria over the 08 Buffaloos has subsided, secondary market prices have drifted downward from last year's highs.
Spend now, pay later.
Nothing goes straight up.These '08 fractionals have eveything going for them to remain one of the most modern collectable coins ever produced by the US mint.
Yea, I agree. Those fractionals are gonna keep chugging along. Creeping up a little each year. The problem for me is I want the '08 1 oz.er but it has already rocketed up way too much even with the recent pull back. That's called missing the boat as it leaves the dock. Who woulda ever thunk it? The mint could put a little bit of a depression in those fractionals by reintroducing them but that ain't a gonna happen.
I'm surprised that the one time only UHR with a total mintage of slightly over 100k is only doing ok in the secondary market. Anyone think this could be a long term "sleeper"?
I want that 1 oz Gold buffalo (not proof version). It has been going for approximately 3800 on ebay. I There are only 10k or so of those around; in 10 years that thing will be one of the most valuable coins around. I'm not so sure about the UHR. I feel like 100k is a big number and people who bought those are hanging on to them. Not many will be lost or destroyed. I think it's one of the nicest coins made by the mint though. I hope they go up.
The UHR may have got lost in buffalo fever and the giant shadow cast by the '08 buffalos. Size matters and the UHR is quite a bit less diameter than the 1 oz. buffalo and eagle even though it is thicker people see the diameter. My hindsight tells me the mint should have made the UHR stand out by doing it in a 1 1/4 oz. 90% gold or just a 1/2 oz 90% gold although the alloy may have created high relief problems. The big one woulda been huge and couldn't be missed. The smaller one would have been available to more budgets. As it is now I would have to say it is a long term coin for value increase because of the high mintage but for collectors in the here and now it is a beauiful coin to enjoy.
If there are about 10K of the 2008 gold buffaloes, then that means that many of the First Spouse gold coins will be really really valuable in a few years.
Heck, with mintages of 3,000 - 7,000, that means they can be worth at least $10,000 (!) in a few years.
Rare coins are worth lotsa money. Ka ching!
ya if gold gets to $10,000 per oz
To commenter re: states low mintage equals high value. As stated by others there has to be a demand. If very few want something then values remain low. I have a one of a kind creation called meadow muffin in a cracked punchbowl. The cracks are unique and cannot be duplicated. It is very rare. What can I get for it? Rare coins equals lots ofs moneys onlys ifs lots ofs peoples wants thems. Same for meadow muffin in cracked punchbowl.
may if you put punch in the bowl you can hide the crack
Don't hide that crack. Thats what makes it unique and rare. And a meadow muffin soaked in punch. Yummy, yummy. Lets make it simple. Just drill a few large holes in your '08 buffalo, grind it down and then zinc plate the fragment. Another rare item rarer than any plain old '08 buff. To da moon.
The $1510 for a '10 is close to the cost of an '09 proof (PC) plat. I'm sure the mintage of the Buffs will be many fold that of the plat. We really need proof gold and silver Eagles (with an eagle you don't need a magnifying glass to see).
Any sales #s on 10 pf buffs yet?
hopefully tomorrow by mid-day.
thanks
I got a notification that the mint shipped to me via ups. They have shipped every other item via USPS, how annoying... Did the mint change its standard courier?
I bet sales will be " anemic", this price flushed the flippers out of the market. I excpect no more than 5000 sold may be.
Hey this is a good game. Guess the first reported proof buff mintage. I'll say 8,784. Too many people got burned by missing out on '08. '09 was to short of a sales period. It's a popular coin so by the time all is said and done later this year it will be chugging along around 30 large with one caveat that price doesn't get much higher which is probably unlikely. High price and I will revise down to 20 large or so by end of year. Mr. Zielinski please give us your prediction. You were on the money for the '09
My guess...I will say no more than 25K for 2010 Proofs. I think the Mint will cut off sales due to gold prices and "other obligations".
Have any pf 2010 buffaloes shipped yet?
i got an email confirmation that mine shipped via ups yesterday...
Check out the Mints Web site for pricing of gold platinum silver on the London fix. and at the bottom of all the rizzel and dazzel is this:
Note: The United States Mint reserves the right to discontinue sale of gold numismatic
products in the event that the selling price of United States Mint gold bullion products
begin approaching the sale price of the gold numismatic products.
It gives them the option to stop sales at anytime of the numismatic coins as they have in the past.
Re Rich's comment above. The mint reserving the right to discontinue sales appears to be a CYA in case metal goes up real fast in less than a week before they can adjust their prices. And if buyer tries to get one before they can stop sales my guess is they will cancel the order anyway. Remember they have special super secret rules they can implement retroactively. For gosh sakes ITS THE GOOBERMENT. What other little surprises are lurking in those super secret policy manuels?
Received my 2010 Gold Buffalo yesterday via overnight UPS, signature required. The mint finally is realizing that they can't leave these coins at your front door. Beautiful coin, looks a little sharper than the 2009. Can't believe that I ordered this on June 3 and received it June 8!! Anyone find any sales figures on this coin yet?
I ordered three 2010 Buffaloes on 06/03/2010 at 12:10 AM and received the order today (June 9); Great turnaround time, right? However, what I received was one 2010 Buffalo (BU1) (a good looking coin) and two 2009 Buffaloes (BA9). The invoice states that they shipped three BU1 coins but the two boxes are correctly labeled as BA9. Do you believe this? How could this happen? I immediately called customer service to document what happened. But now I have to go through the hassle of returning 2009 coins for a refund at 2010 prices. Plus I need to try to collect my shipping and insurance fees for sending back the coins. Has anyone had a similar situation? This stinks. Oh and when the initial sales figures come out remember to subtract 2.
Next time they send out the wrong Buffalo's hope for a couple of 2008's!
the problem with this post is now I have to open the box....
I'm playing hookie today because I received my delivery notification email last night. Expecting "Brown" to arrive within the hour.
For Bowtie, I feel your pain, and wish that I could be comfortable enough with merchandise quality AND employee accuracy to leave products sealed in the Mint Box. I learned last year, when I opened my 2009 Proof Buffalo and discovered a "mole" and two "pot marks" on the Chief's face. So obvious - without a 5x loop. Could not believe that this coin cleared the Mint's "stringent" QA process. Back in the box and returned the next day. This was my 4th quality issue return in 3 years.
Which gets me to Annon on 06/09 at 2:11. First, I find it disconcerting that the 2009's have not been available for sale for some time now, yet they're sitting on a shelf and within the reach of Joe average merchandise picker. Those coins should have been locked away days after sales ended.
Second, you can be reimbursed for return costs, and any Mint customer service rep should be willing to explain the process to you. You'll need to provide copies of the original order, receipts, etc., then fax them to their service center. Typically, they set a $25 limit on the reimbursement, but since this is their blatant error, you should be able to recover all costs.
Good luck with the return and with getting the right coins!! Don't delay!!!
I placed my order on 6/3/2010. Mint ship date was 6/9/2010. Received my coin this morning, 6/11/2010.
Now I guess I should send it off to some 'unbiased' third party for their 'expert grading'. Do you think they'll consider it a first strike?
With the money I'm saving on that rip off , I'll be able to purchase a Proof Silver Eagle if and when they become available.
WTF, they still have '09 coins available on the shelf as stated from commenter a few comments earlier. So how many are really minted. And is their ship site farmed out to some other country. Man this is weirdsville.
What the hell, US Mint! I ordered 5 buffalos on Jun 3rd @ 12:10PM and received them today on Jun 15th. Add insult to misery, 4 of the coins are going back because they had light gold specs on them. Where's the quality control? I know people have been getting there coins earlier last week. Did I get some returned rejects here? Any answers would be appreciated. Thanks
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home