Comments on: 2013 Silver Proof Sets at 166,710 in Debut Sales

By: jim

jim — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:29:10 +0000

Griffin – answer to your first question – not for silver products. They follow the pricing guide for gold and platinum coins but there’s no published pricing guide for silver coins. How they price silver products is apparently a closely kept secret. Probably why they have to shut down sales so they can have a meeting to discuss what the new prices should be. Inefficient if you ask me, but then what else do the deputy director and his immediate minions have to do anyway?

By: mike

mike — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:39:56 +0000

2013 SILVER EAGLE WEST POINT SET —– US Mint web site crashes, phones backed up, orders now shipping late July. Wow they must only be minting 100,000 of these sets. Better get them while you can before they pull the plug!

By: Griffin

Griffin — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:09:26 +0000

I just did some quick math based on the cart above. The mint raises its premium a set percentage over the spot melting price, right? Well they need to change their policy because they are loosing sales and money. When the sale price was 44.95 at a premium of 27.49 over spot, they sold 774,874 units which = $34,830,586.30. Now when they sold them for 67.95 at 31.31 over spot they sold 395,443 units which = $26,870,351.85. If they had kept the premium at say 27.49 over spot they may have sold the same number of units and still profited over 34 million dollars. Instead they made $7,960,234.45 less. What kind of business strategy are they using over there???

By: jim

jim — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:50:45 +0000

RBG – you’re right. New coins in my collection tend to be mostly silver these days. Now I look at a coin’s rarity or uniqueness to other similar coins (for example the two-coin silver eagle set available today) before buying. Commemoratives are another area for uniqueness (can’t wait to see the final designs for the Baseball and US Marshal commemoratives) or historical markers like the last Canadian proof and uncirculated sets to contain a penny. Because these kinds of coins tend to show up only once or twice a year budgeting the money for them is a lot easier. And I’m already putting a little aside each year, getting ready for the eagle 30th and buffalo 10th anniversaries in 2016. I think they will contain something special.

By: RonnieBGood

RonnieBGood — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:25:54 +0000

Hi Jim, If you receive fixed income from Social Security you do get an inflation adjustment (for years there is calculated inflation). SS recipients received a 1.7% SS increase in January this year (myself included). Even so this is arguably not real inflation as several important items such as auto gas are not included in the inflation adjustment calculation.

It is a difficult paradigm for the US Mint. Coins minted in Silver and Gold has a much greater collectability factor. But the cost of owning coins minted in Silver and Gold have become out of the reach of older Americans on fixed incomes and younger Americans with a limited disposable income for themselves and/or their young families.

Arguments can be made for the Circulating State and ATB quarter series and the presidential series available at banks but these have no precious metals value and collectors will soon lose interest. How many kids/grandkids lost interest in filling their State quarter series books before the series ended?

The hobby is at risk of losing both new and old generations by being priced beyond the average American’s reach. The greatest risk being the loss of new generations to the hobby.

By: Boz

Boz — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:19:50 +0000

You can see there are another quarter million former collectors who also have the same fixed income issues, and have dropped out of the market. This doesn’t speak well for the future of coin collecting.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:07:00 +0000

Sorry, but being on a fixed income I don’t get inflation adjustments so if the price goes up it’s more money out of my pocket percentage wise and less for me to spend on the other things that make my life worth living.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 08 May 2013 03:17:04 +0000

Shoot me, I’m just a collector………