Quick US Mint News Updates

Update on $1 Coin Situation

As reported on Coin Update News, two bills have been introduced which seek to terminate the Presidential Dollar Coin Program. Basically, each of the bills would eliminate the section of the United States Code that provides for the design and issuance of the series.

It seems that the First Spouse Gold Coins Program would also be forced to conclude, by extension. The section of the code authorizing the 24 karat gold coin series states that the coins will be issued on the same schedule as the Presidential Dollars. Although it is not completely clear, it seems that without the issuance of further Presidential Dollars, no further First Spouse coins could be issued either,

The Native American Dollars series would be allowed to continue, although most likely in limited fashion. One of the bills provides specific restrictions on the production of $1 coins.

Each of the bills H.R. 2593 and S. 1385 have one cosponsor and have been referred to committee. In order to become law, one of the bills must be passed in the House of Representatives and Senate, and then signed by the President.

Yosemite National Park Quarter Bags and Rolls

Sales of the Yosemite Quarter numismatic bags and rolls should conclude at the US Mint next week. The products originally went on sale July 27, 2010. According to the product page, the bags and rolls are intended to remain available for one year from the initial release date.

The last reported sales figures are 7,171 of the 100-coin bags from Philadelphia, 7,219 of the 100-coin bags from Denver, and 37,174 of the two roll sets.

Final mintages for the Yosemite National Park Quarters are 34,800,000 (D) and 35,200,000 (P).

Sales of the bags and rolls for the previous Hot Springs and Yellowstone Quarters ended roughly when expected, one year after the respective release date for each product.

Disappearing America the Beautiful Quarters Album

About a week ago, the US Mint added a listing to its upcoming products section for the America the Beautiful Quarters Coin Album. It was to be released on July 20, 2011.
The product was a US Mint branded album for the new quarter series that included facts and information about each site. The price was $9.95.

At some point, the product page was deleted. (It used to be here.) Will this album be released at another later date, or has the product been abandoned?

The US Mint currently offers albums for the Presidential Dollars. The album which hold 2007-2008 coins sold 28,637 units. The album for 2009-2010 coins fared much worse, selling 7,087 units to date. I believe the album product has been discontinued for subsequent years, although the initial two remain available for sale.

A Word on Comments

Mint News Blog was launched on October 15, 2007 to provide coverage of the United States Mint, their numismatic products, circulating coins, and bullion coins. I have written more than 800 articles, trying to provide the most accurate and timely information possible, along with relevant commentary. Readers have contributed an astounding 21,000 comments, which have greatly enriched the site and the experience for all visitors.

The site is hosted on the Blogger platform, a free publishing service from Google. Although it makes starting and writing a blog simple, it lacks the robust features offered by other platforms such as Wordpress. In particular, the features for comment moderation are sorely lacking.

Recently one or more individuals started posting a high volume of vulgar and obscene comments. To make it clear, these were not dissenting numismatic opinions, but the deranged ramblings of a highly disturbed individual. Blogger lacks the capabilities to block or disallow specific individuals from posting comments, so I was forced to turn off all comments.

My plan is to convert the blog to wordpress, where I will have the necessary tools to deal with such situations. Since I don't want to lose any of the existing content or comments, this will be a slow process. Please bear with me while I work on making the switch. New articles will continue to be posted, comments will be reinstated as soon as possible.