Jacqueline Kennedy Gold Coins Hit 10,894 in First Day

First Spouse Gold Coins featuring Jacqueline Kennedy are selling quickly. First-day sales of the collector proof and uncirculated editions totaled to 10,894 coins, the United States Mint said on Friday. That tops sales of the last 12 coins combined, and those have been available for months.

Jacqueline Kennedy coins launched at noon EDT on Thursday, June 25, and opened at prices of $790 for the proof and $770 for the uncirculated. Expecting stronger demand, the U.S. Mint tripled mintages of the pair to 30,000 from the common 10,000 limit set on other recent issues.

Sales splits for the new $10 gold pieces total 7,102 for the proof and 3,792 for the uncirculated, representing percentage breakouts of 65.2% to 34.8%. Proof coins with their frosted sculpted foregrounds and mirror-like backgrounds always dominate their uncirculated counterparts. So that’s not unusual.

What was atypical was the proof edition getting placed on "Back Order" immediately on release, with an availability date of Aug. 1, 2015. That may have deterred some people from placing orders. We’re waiting to hear back from the Mint on this subject, and we’ll update this article when there’s more information.

Update: Adam Stump, deputy director of the U.S. Mint’s Office of Corporate Communications, provided the following statement about the coin’s "Back Order" status:

The Mint underestimated the initial demand for the 2015 First Spouse Series One-Half Ounce Gold Coins – Jacqueline Kennedy and, unfortunately, the products went on back order very quickly after sales started. As of this morning (June 30), additional product is arriving at our distribution center in Memphis that will clear a majority of the backorders. The Mint has resumed production and we expect to fulfill all customer demand in the coming days and weeks. We apologize to our customers for the delay.

As of 2:31 PM EDT on Friday, the proof has a back order date of Sept. 1, 2015. Some collectors have already received the uncirculated gold coin, a testament to what’s good about the Mint’s new ordering system. The uncirculated coin also now has a back order date of Sept. 1.

First Spouse Gold Coins are available directly from the United States Mint’s online store via this link.

Listed below are the latest sales figures for releases going back to 2012. Those with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.