Mint News Blog

News, Information, and Commentary on US Mint Products

Thursday, December 2, 2010

2010 First Spouse Bronze Medal Set

Today, the US Mint will begin sales of the 2010 First Spouse Medal Series: Four Medal Set. This will coincide with the release of the Mary Todd Lincoln Gold Coin and individual bronze medal.
This year's set will include bronze medals featuring Abigail Fillmore, Jane Pierce, James Buchanan's Liberty, and Mary Todd Lincoln. Each of these medals is currently (or will soon be) offered for sale individually priced at $5.50. The medals are also included in the Presidential $1 Coin & First Spouse Medal Sets for each presidency.

The four medal set is priced at $15.95, which is a better value than purchasing the medals individually.

Duplicate bronze medals have been issued for each coin in the First Spouse Gold Coin series. These have provided an affordable option for collectors who wish to have an example of designs used on the one-half ounce 24 karat gold coins. Some of the medals, usually as incorporated into certain sets, have also marked strong secondary market price gains.

Each of the prior year annual medal sets seems to trade for at least some premium above the original issue price.

The annual sets have also sold out relatively quickly compared to other US Mint products. Last year's set went on sale December 3, 2009 and sold out by the first week of May 2010. While this was a six month period, it still represents a shorter availability than some other US Mint products, which can linger for a year or more.

Labels:

9 Comments:

At December 2, 2010 at 6:37 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

This one might be more popular than normal, due to the inclusion of Mary Lincoln. I could see it declared "sold out" by March 31. I wish the Mint disclosed how many of the medals were sold, both as sets and individuals. However, they never have reported those that I can recall.

Is there not going to be a sales report this week?

 
At December 2, 2010 at 6:52 AM , Blogger Mint News Blog said...

Regarding the sales report, the US Mint has indicated that it will be delayed this week due to "some challenges getting the information."

 
At December 2, 2010 at 7:01 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

yawn.

 
At December 2, 2010 at 9:16 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

In for three.

 
At December 2, 2010 at 10:26 AM , Anonymous New Collector said...

Looks like they changed the envelope packaging from the previous sets to include the new 3-d golden coin logo on black. So much for consistency throughout the series. I hope they don't change the packaging for the Presidential Dollar and First Spouse Medal Sets, since that's kind of why I started collecting those.

 
At December 2, 2010 at 11:45 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

All this black and white packaging just shows me that the US Mint has become cheap with their packaging. I'm in no way impressed by their over priced items anymore.

 
At December 2, 2010 at 1:21 PM , Blogger Mint News Blog said...

I highly doubt the switch to black and white color scheme was motivated by cost.

The US Mint paid a branding firm likely a substantial amount to develop their new brand platform and identity.

To New Collector- I believe they will be rolling out the new style to all of their products in time. They wanted to achieve a more cohesive image across all product types.

 
At December 3, 2010 at 3:13 PM , Anonymous New Collector said...

But they'll be achieving a less cohesive image across specific product types. Maybe I should focus on collecting coins; not the coin packaging!

Mint News Blog is awesome, btw!

 
At December 3, 2010 at 4:14 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I will get one of these only because I have bought the others from before. A nice little set of medals. I wish the mint would have done the President wives in the 50 cent piece. I think it might of been a better companion to the presidential dollars since the half ounce gold series is out of realistic reach.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home