Comments on: 2013-W Proof Platinum Eagle Sales Debut at 2,139

By: RonnieBGood

RonnieBGood — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:11:01 +0000

Collecting brothers and sisters, no biblical prophecies here but FYI:

The bullion coins were not initially issued for collectors but for investors.
The uncirculated bullion coins were issued to coincide with new laws allowing individuals to hold gold and silver bullion in their 401(k) retirement accounts.

These coins were initially issued for investors and retirement funds and it was not until Coin “Grading” that Bullion coins became visible to Collectors!

By: jim

jim — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:25:13 +0000

Agreed, there is nothing unique about bullion coins. At least those with a W mint mark are usually limited to 850,000 or so – still a large number if scarcity is desired.

By: thePhelps

thePhelps — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:59:52 +0000

Tim B – bullion coins aren’t really a collectors paradise. I am not even a fan of seeing them graded and sold at a premium… since at the end of the day they are bullion and millions are made as you point out.

By: Tim B

Tim B — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:44:45 +0000

Agreed but they sure crank out a lot of bullion as well. 28 million plus silver AE’s so far this year for “collectors” and still going strong? Are you collecting one of these at that mintage? or speculating? I take solice in knowing there are a lot of upside down people here; doubling down I guess these days. Guess I just dont like the fact that the mint can sell a product that the so called ordinary person can not buy directly. And yes, just joking; I really meant “speculating” and not “collecting”. Seems to be driving this show.

By: thePhelps

thePhelps — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:53:12 +0000

The “purpose” of the mint retail products was/is for collectors. (hence the term numismatic coin products). That is the only reason they produce specialty coins at all. Increasing the number of items minted is to get more of the product to the collector that wanted to purchase a specific release is good business sense when viewed from the primary sellers perspective. Limiting production to drive up prices in the secondary market gains the mint nothing – if they cap and sell the same number each year. Selling to coin flippers shouldn’t be a primary concern to them.

Like others have noted, with no firm release dates for most of the mints products, they catch many trying to gather resources to purchase unexpected releases.

The WP set is a perfect example of greed in the secondary market, effectively defeating collectors. Most collectors had to wait weeks for the resellers orders to be exhausted before the collectors were getting the coins they ordered. My 1st day order of this set showed up here on Tuesday. Over a month after they started shipping these sets – because the resellers with inside connections and deep pockets of gluttony got there first. Plus the glut has diluted the market raising mintages and lowering value and turning many off to the mints products.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:47:09 +0000

I do wish they would change the packaging for this coin and put all the text in a little pamphlet to be included in a much smaller box.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:43:50 +0000

re: “collecting” – I wonder how many real collectors are out there and how many are dealers or speculators. My guess: the collectors are way outnumbered.

By: Tim B

Tim B — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 23:13:57 +0000

Jim – Begins Friday 9am EDT; wait a day to buy your puck if you dont think it is going to sell out tomorrow with all of this new found interest in “collecting”.

By: JesustheLionofJudah

JesustheLionofJudah — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 23:13:11 +0000

And yes, your comment that their premiums are high is true – they have systemically raised prices across the board; anything from 300% on clad coins to 50% on the silver and gold coins. The price increases are ridiculous of course, and they have seen their sales fall as a result, and for a while they have tried to just keep raising prices to offset the lack of customers while offering nothing better on their products or justifying any kind of price increase from higher costs or something (even if they did go down this road we’re only talking a 10% increase at most for that).
Bottom line, until they bring the prices back down to Earth like they were in 2007 or so, they will continue to have people stay away from their products and their sales will continue to plummet, just as they have every single year since 2007.

By: JesustheLionofJudah

JesustheLionofJudah — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 23:07:33 +0000

Did everyone on here get enough West Point 2-coin sets?