Today at noon EDT, the United States Mint will release their most premium numismatic coin of the year, the 2022-W $25 Reverse Proof American Palladium Eagle.
Opening at $3,050.00 and limited to 7,500 with 10 per household, each is produced at the West Point Mint and features the unique reverse proof finish showcasing mirror-like designs and frosted backgrounds. The coins polished planchets are typically struck multiple times resulting in an enhanced level of detail.
American Palladium Eagle Series
Authorized under Public Law 111-303, the American Eagle Palladium Program debuted in 2017 and has included several different finishes. Those releases and their latest sales follow:
- 2017 bullion Palladium Eagle – 15,000
- 2018 proof Palladium Eagle – 14,986
- 2019 reverse proof Palladium Eagle – 18,772
- 2020 uncirculated Palladium Eagle – 9,740
- 2021 bullion Palladium Eagle – 8,700
- 2021 proof Palladium Eagle – 5,169
Palladium Eagle Designs and Specifications
The work of Adolph Weinman is depicted on both sides of the coin as dictated by Public Law 111-303. This law states that the obverse (heads side) must carry a high-relief likeness of ‘Winged Liberty’ from the ‘Mercury dime’ obverse and a reverse (tails side) showing a high-relief version of the 1907 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal reverse.
Accordingly, the obverse offers a left-facing portrait of Winged Liberty that is ringed by the inscriptions of "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," "2022" and Weinman’s very distinct initials. In addition, there is a mint mark of ‘W’ notating the coin’s production at the West Point Mint.
An eagle and a branch appear on the coin’s reverse. Inscriptions around the depiction include "UNITED STATES of AMERICA," "$25," "1 OZ. Pd (the chemical symbol for Palladium) .9995 FINE" and "E PLURIBUS UNUM."
American Palladium Eagle Specifications
| Denomination: | $25 |
|---|---|
| Finish: | Reverse Proof |
| Composition: | 99.95% palladium |
| Palladium Fine Weight: | 1.000 troy oz. |
| Diameter: | 1.340 inches (34.03 mm) |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| Mint and Mint Mark: | West Point – W |
| Privy Mark: | None |
Ordering
Anyone interested in buying the 2022-W $25 Reverse Proof American Palladium Eagle may place an order from the U.S. Mint’s online page for palladium products.
Pricing for the coin can fluctuate weekly as the Mint ties it to their precious metal pricing matrix.
$3050. Ouch
No kidding, B k.
That amount can easily exceed a typical Social Security disbursement. It’s not exactly like everyone has a spare $3050 lying around looking for something to do.
Way expensive! Pass.
Um…. anybody concerned about NGC location in Sarasota, FL being right down the middle of hurricane?
Beyond expensive, Victor. Ditto on the pass.
In regard to the storm situation in Florida, I would say it’s PCGS-1, NGC-0.
Lol. I hope my coins soon to be graded aren’t damaged. NGC-1, Victor-0
Not on my radar…..im a regular ol coin collector. I stick to silver coins, nickel, clad and the like. Even gold is too much for me nowadays. Coins like this are for the wealthy or those that have cash to blow.
I’m with you, Domenic, in the cash outlay limitation department. Silver and clad – yes; palladium, gold and platinum – no.
After all, the truth of the matter is that it’s not a case of “to each according to his needs” but rather far more realistically “to each according to his means.”
Household limit of 10.
Gosh, Rooster, how will we ever get all the palladium ducats we need?
Kaiser: This design is fantastic. Never have gone down the palladium rabbit hole. Tempting though. I’ll leave them for the younger generation.
I agree, Rooster, this palladium coin is a real beauty; however, that price!
Last year’s 2021-W $25 Palladium American Eagle Proof, the lowest mintage coin of the young series, was a better buy at $2,800 the week before it sold out. It’s final sales/mintage is 5,169 even though it had an original mintage/product limit = 12,000.
Which may have gone a long way, Good Sir Rich, toward persuading the Mint to allow the Authorized Bulk Purchasers to pick up over 50% of this coin’s allotted mintage.
Indeed, Sir Kaiser. As reported in Coin World (9/23/22), more than half of the mintage of the limited-edition Reverse Proof 2022-W American Eagle palladium $25 coin is scheduled by the U.S. Mint to be offered to the dealers in the Authorized Bulk Purchase Program. According to U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White Sept. 14, “For some products allocated to the ABPP program, we rely on historical offtake to define the amount of product allowed to this program. This is, for high value metals such as gold, platinum and palladium, higher than 10 percent. These products are typically purchased in quantity through… Read more »
My “offtake”, or translation if you will, Good Sir Rich, of the above quoted Mint blurb is that this year the folks in charge there made the decision to not sit on their hands again while hundreds of thousands of potential sales once again went disappointingly unrealized. This year, rather than waiting for individual customers to drive up the Palladium Coin sales the Mint changed direction somewhat radically and opted to primarily dedicate their sales efforts down the apparently more reliable Bulk Purchaser route instead.
Note: The above comment was supposed to read “hundreds or thousands” instead of the inadvertently exaggerated “hundreds of thousands” [of potential sales].
Got it with no ordering drama. I’ve always loved that Mercury Dime design since I was a little kid. My grandfather collected silver coins and my grandmother saved for big purchases by collecting dimes. Grandmomma would “buy” dimes from us kids. We might get a quarter for a dime. We thought we were the greatest deal-makers in the world because we got a much bigger coin for the smallish dime. We probably would have accepted pennies or nickels for payment since they too were bigger than the tiny dime. I remember combing through dimes for my grandmother and coming across… Read more »
I remember finding Mercury dimes in my change. I held on to them because I liked them and they were obsolete designs, like Wheatie pennies and Buffalo nickels. Even came across three Standing Liberty quarters, no dates. I still have those dimes and they make up the bulk of my collection from the ’30s and ’40s. A few older dates, but not many.
Every time I read something akin to your comment, Antonio, I almost want to cry about how I let hundreds upon hundreds of Wheat Cents, Buffalo Nickels, Mercury Dimes, Standing Liberty Quarters and Walking Liberty Half Dollars slip in and out of my hands throughout the 1950’s and never gave any of that a second thought.
In my humble opinion, REB, the Mercury design is right up there along side the Walking Liberty as the two best designs in the history of American coinage. Incidentally, both of them bring back all sorts of good memories of my younger years also.
REB: Great that you acquired one of these fine gems. One of the best designs. I still have many old mercuries from decades ago. Culled through and all commons. I snagged a few of the 2016 mercuries though. Enjoyed your story of your grandparents. That bigger is better fooled many young kids just learning.
I can recall at the ripe old age of 7 departing Dulles when they had coin changing machines. I would spend the entire wait before departure changing half dollars to quarters. The quarters would run out and I switched to dimes. When the machine ran out of dimes I switched over to nickles though I got a nickle for every quarter changed. Finally I had worked the coin changer to empty and I would tell a airport guard the machine was empty and they would have to refill the coin changer anew with fresh coins as the old coins had… Read more »
Ravenwood,
While your entire story is truly fascinating, I found the single most remarkable think about it to be that you ran this amazing operation at the age of seven. Respect!
According to the U.S. Mint, slightly over 50% of the 7,500 Reverse Proof 2022-W Palladium Eagles have been allocated to the Authorized Bulk Purchase Program.
Apparently the standard 10% maximum Bulk Purchase allotment does not apply when historical sales figures don’t support that limit, in which case all bets are off.
Just checked the data-available for the Reverse Proof 2022-W Palladium Eagle and at 2:50pm ET there were only 2,631 coins available.
It appears, Good Sir Rich, that the Mint’s enterprising new sales strategy is working exceedingly well. That is, of course, pending the always possible return to the Mint of a plethora of Bulk 40 units, which would demolish the Mint’s seeming success just as quickly as it was established. We shall just have to wait and see.
The Limited Edition Silver Proof Set 2022 [San Francisco (S) American Woman Quarters Program] was just listed on the Mint site for sale on October 26, 2022 for $201. All coins are “S” mint.
Is there anything new in this set or have we seen each coin before?
REB, not sure if we have seen each coin before in this set. Here is what The Limited Edition Silver Proof Set includes: All five 2022 American Women Quarters™Maya Angelou – celebrated author, performer, and social activist Dr. Sally Ride – physicist and first American woman in space Wilma Mankiller – first woman to be Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Nina Otero-Warren – a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement Anna May Wong – first Chinese-American film star in Hollywood American Eagle One Ounce Silver Proof Coin Kennedy half dollar Roosevelt dime All coins in the set contain a… Read more »
I guess my question is: if I have the 2022 silver proof set and the proof 2022-S Walking Liberty dollar, do I have every coin in Limited Edition Silver Proof Set?
REB, the coins are the same. Just different packaging. Looks like you got the same coins for less too.
East Coast Guru, REB and Good Sir Rich,
It must be the rarest of occasions if something new ever pops up in this end of the year grand finale sort of Set. My best guess is what interest there is in this “annual retrospective” is prompted by a combination of some unique packaging and the exclusively silver contents.
I’m a proof coin collector. If they popped a couple of reverse proofs into this set, I’d be a buyer. But getting the exact same coins I’ve already purchased doesn’t really gain my interest. As for the pictures of the packaging, if you haven’t got anything nice to say … well, you know the rest.
I like your idea, REB, especially since I have never gotten the point of buying something you already have and paying even more for it on top of that. This is one of those occasions where it would do the Mint a lot of good to have a wee bit more imagination.
Good to hear. I’m probably done for the year.
I would be too, REB, if it wasn’t for the Anna May Wong 3 Roll AWQ Set in October. Just can’t resist those desirable “S” Rolls!
For this reason, I bought the silver proof AWQ set. I still like it and plan to purchase one next year.
So no price increase over last year; that’s always nice to see.
Yes, Sir Kaiser, the price for last year’s Limited Edition 2021 Silver Proof Set – American Eagle Collection was $235, however that set boasted two American Eagle One Ounce Silver Proof Coins and contained a total of 2.876 troy ounces of silver (versus a total of 2.473 troy ounces in this year’s set).
Just out of pure curiosity, do any of my fellow collectors here think it’s more than a bit odd that this palladium coin, the most pricey of annual Mint offerings, comes in a plain cardboard box instead of a much fancier-looking and far more sturdy clamshell display?
Me. You’ve heard my rantings on this subject before. The Mint’s packaging has become embarrassing. No more wood. No more leather. No more hard plastic. No clamshells. Just cheap boxes with even cheaper thin plastic inserts. Shame on the Mint. Shame. Any precious metal coin should come in nice display packaging. I do recall the best Mint packaging ever – the cherry wood box with key for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic coins. I haven’t looked at it in awhile but all coins could be stored in the box in nice trays with velvet-lined holders. Wow, that was nice! That’s when… Read more »
But the Bucking horse silver Medal came in a real nice Clam Shell
I’m rather dazed and confused by the Mint’s packaging choices and decisions.
Just so long as you are not Dazed and Coinfused.
But what a brilliant idea you’ve just come up with, Good Sir Rich…a numismatic version of the iconic teen movie classic!
You did not forget we had “Dazed and Coinfused” posting on this site as recently as August, did you Kaiser Wilhelm?
How could I forget that pleasure, Jeff? No, I assure you I was fully cognizant of Good Sir Rich’s reference but nevertheless immediately jumped on the opportunity that had just been handed to me to take the conversation in a markedly different direction. After all, one tends to follow the dictates of the spirit.
Aww. I made a lasting impression in a very short time. I feel like biden and gas price hikes
I’m glad I’m not the only one on the premises who is more than slightly bewildered and even more disappointed to see the kind of packaging the Mint has been “gifting” us with these days. Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend in marketing of late, which is to cut corners with some aspect of the product itself in order to help stave off price increases.
… yet, they increase prices anyway. Bean counters should not be making esthetic decisions. At the very least they should be constructively talking to their customers. Not some bogus online survey that they ignore but actually TALK to the people buying their “product”. I suppose some slab these things and throw out the packaging. Many others, including me, don’t. With what we COLLECTORS pay for these items, you’d think they’d care about how they look. The only answer I’m left with … they don’t.
Unfortunately, REB, the bean counters are closely listened to by the organization, in this case the US Mint, because they act as the guardians of the bottom line, and when it comes to decision making the bottom line is at the very top.
I don’t slab my coins either, so the way they arrive from the Mint is the way they remain, which is why it would be nice if the Mint hadn’t taken such a big step down in packaging. What we see is what we get whether we like it or not.
You’re sadly spot on. Excessive bean-counting begats cheaper packaging which begats lower sales which begats more bean-counting which begats … you get the idea. At some point will we see precious metal coins shipped in paper bags with COAs printed on toilet paper? It’s interesting to look at the downward spiraling mintage numbers of some of the offerings as the packaging.gets cheaper. More than anything, you’d think the Mint would have more pride in what they send out. Clearly not.
Yes, Sir Kaiser, it’s a bit odd and embarrassing (as REB put it). Last year’s 2021-W Palladium American Eagle Proof was the last one with a decent presentation case. It was packaged in a gray leatherette presentation case with satin lining.
Wow, Good Sir Rich, that does sound like a respectable bit of packaging effort! Perhaps once the Mint’s bean counters saw the cost figures they put the kibosh on that.
The 2.5 ounce military medals come with a nice clam shell. The smaller 1 oz ones do not.
It’s interesting to see what makes the grade, East Coast Guru. Unlike our inherent rights, not all these choices are self-evident.
USMint.gov you’ve got an (another) issue.
Palladium coin for $3050.
Meanwhile, Palladium spot around $2200 (or less).
Come on. Get real. Hard pass.
P.S. Frequently-the-last-one-to-comment “Sir Kaiser” … unless you buy me (or you) a coin $800 or so over spot-market … zip it. Tonight’s sunset was more beautiful and meaningful than this rip-off. Far past time to call out the USMint-pork-bureaucratic-complex for its overpriced, entitled enterprise. Enough.
Hi J S, not sure where your criticism of Kaiser Wilhelm came from here. Bad mood today, for some reason? Here are the comments Kaiser Wilhelm made in this thread regarding the price of this coin– “That amount can easily exceed a typical Social Security disbursement. It’s not exactly like everyone has a spare $3050 lying around looking for something to do.“, “Beyond expensive, Victor. Ditto on the pass.“, “I’m with you, Domenic, in the cash outlay limitation department. Silver and clad – yes; palladium, gold and platinum – no.“, “I agree, Rooster, this palladium coin is a real beauty;… Read more »
I agree. I also think there’s a collector vs. investor mentality at play here. Are ANY coins, from silver to gold to platinum to palladium, sold by the Mint worth exactly their spot price? I would guess not. For the investor, he or she would likely be better off to scoop up silver tea sets at yard sales than buy coins from the Mint. I recently saw a beautiful silver punch bowl at a fine silver/china store with a price tag of $40,000. Was there $40,000 worth of silver in the piece? No. Did I feel like I wanted to… Read more »
You certainly hit all the nails right on the head here, REB. Collecting and investing are not always the same thing – in fine art, maybe so, in coins, probably not – and if one loses sight of that reality some very serious disappointment may likely loom ahead. Coin collectors are a lot less squeamish about paying the difference between spot prices and retail pricing than investors are since their goals are so completely separate. As a collector myself I am willing to pay several multiples of the spot price for a coin to get a proof or uncirculated (multiple… Read more »
That’s an excellent point, Jeff, regarding how there is nothing imperative about the connection between cost and price. While there are indeed certain conventions that some retailers subscribe to there are on the other hand no prevailing rules or regulations that mandate the fixed adherence to these aforementioned guidelines. Since a retailer is free to charge the public whatever he chooses to, the onus then passes onto the customer and/or consumer to make the decision as to whether or not to make the purchase at any given price.
They make it so expensive that middle class can’t afford it.
David,
True, and these days that observation applies to cars, homes and higher education also.
Health care?
Good catch, Antonio, and as we know it’s one of the biggest single budget busters.
Hi David, While the price of Palladium alone probably puts it out of reach of most people, one thing the mint has gotten right is that there is something available for sale at every price point on the spectrum. Anyone ever go into a store where the least expensive item in the store was out of your reach? At least everyone can still find something in their price range at the Mint. I am sure you can find something for sale under $20. I am pretty sure you can get something under $10. I do not know if there is… Read more »
Hi Jeff, at the Mint you can get a Happy Holidays or Happy Birthday Gift Sleeves, One-Lens Three-Pack for under $5 at $4.95 (lowest price item) or a Palladium American Eagle for $3,050.00 (highest price item [current price based on this week’s palladium pricing range]).
Thanks, Rich!
Occasionally one can get something entirely free from the Mint, like the corrected replacement covers for the misprinted Reverse Proof JFK Half Dollar ones a few years ago and the current promotional AWQ collector cards for this year’s batch and the following years of this coin series.
Not to mention the recent BOGO promotion for a free gold coin, the American Liberty One-Tenth Ounce 2018 Gold Proof Coin, with the purchase of the American Liberty One Ounce 225th Anniversary Gold Coin, although not something entirely free.
Still, Good Sir Rich, free is free, so I would say you’re entirely correct in contending that promotion does qualify as a freebee.
That’s the beauty of making Mint purchases; there is such a wide range of prices which allows just about everyone to make selections that fit into their budget.
Hi all. Just got a reminder it is available. Is now $3100. So went up $50 since the release date. I collected a couple of these. I don’t remember the exact years I have. 2018 is one. I was sad in 2017. I had an early morning operation to remove 2 kidney stones (one was 9mm, not fun) I came to amd was released to get dressed. I was elated to discover it was 11:55 but no cell service. I got internet right at 11:59. Bam jump onto the site and try for 30 minutes to buy it. Then later… Read more »
I passed my troublesome kidney stone the old fashioned way, so I feel/felt your pain, Dazed and Coinfused. All around quite an interesting story, and to your credit you almost made it clear through to the end without tripping on a trumpist “joke”. Oh well.
Available this morning 6/6/23 at $2150.