The Coin Collecting Den

The Mint announced today that the 24-karat American Buffalo Proof gold coin will begin sales on Thursday, October 29 at 12:00 pm Eastern Standard time. If gold remains between $1,050 and $1,099.99 per ounce, the coins will be priced at $1,360 each. There is no order limit and no announced mintage limit, apparently the Mint is not suffering any shortage of 24-karat blanks, in contrast to the 22-karat blanks used for the American Eagle coins. Demand seems likely to be high for this coin! This could mean the production figures for this coin will be relatively high, which in turn could limit the secondary market value compared to last year’s more limited mintage.

On a related note, the Mint has already sold 86,000 American Buffalo bullion coins as of today (10-22-09) since they went on sale October 15. That is a very robust figure, particularly in comparison to 2008, when 172,000 coins were sold in the entire year. This is a definite indication of strong demand that seems likely to include the proof coins as well.

Well, after crashing the Mint’s web site when sales started Thursday, as of Friday evening, the Mint is showing that they have received at least 50,000 orders for the Lincoln Chronicles set. Anyone still interested in ordering can still get in on the wait list and hope others cancel, or check out the already busy ebay scene!

Today at 12:00pm Eastern, the US Mint will release the eagerly awaited Lincoln Coin & Chronicles set. The set includes:

• One 2009 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Proof Silver Dollar
• Four proof 95% copper cents featuring the four different 2009 reverse designs
• Reproduction photograph of Abraham Lincoln
• Reproduction of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln’s handwriting
• Certificate of Authenticity

All in a leather-like tri-fold case with a slip cover. Production of the set is limited to 50,000 pieces, representing the last 50,000 Lincoln silver dollars out of the otherwise sold-out total production of 500,000. The price will be $55.95 and sales will be limited to one per household for the first 30 days of availability, though it seems unlikely this won’t sell out well before that point.

The Mint launched the US Virgin Islands quarter on Friday with a ceremony on the island of St. Thomas. The reverse design includes: an outline of the territory’s three major islands; the Bananaquit, the official bird of the United States Virgin Islands; the Yellow Cedar or Yellow Elder, its official flower; and a Tyre Palm Tree.  Inscriptions on the coin’s reverse are U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS and United in Pride and Hope. The Virgin Islands quarter is the fifth of six in the series of US territories and Washington, D.C. The sixth and final design, honoring the Northern Mariana islands will be released in late November.

If the previous four issues in the series are any indication, this will be another tough one to find in circulation, at least for a while. Total mintage of 82 million ties the American Samoa quarter for lowest production this year, less than half of the 172 million Washington, D.C. quarters produced to begin the series.

Today at 12:00pm EST the US Mint will release the special Braille Education set for sale to the public. Production is limited to 25,000 and orders are limited to one per household. The set includes one uncirculated Louis Braille commemorative silver dollar in a tri-fold package with educational information and readable Braille.

Funds from the sale of Braille commemorative dollars go to the National Federation of the Blind to further Braille literacy programs.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t expect this to be a big seller. I do wonder though if Tuesday’s announcement canceling the silver American Eagle proof and uncirculated coins might give a bit of a boost to the Braille set.

The Mint today announced that all gold and silver American Eagle proof and uncirculated coins are canceled for 2009. They also announced the cancellation of the American Eagle platinum bullion coins for 2009.

The cancellation means the following collector coins and sets will not be produced in 2009:

• 1 0unce American Eagle silver proof coin
• 1 ounce American Eagle silver uncirculated coin
• 2009 US Mint uncirculated dollar coin set
• American Eagle gold proof coins (1 ounce, 1/2 ounce, 1/4 ounce, and 1/10 ounce)
• American Eagle gold proof 4 coin set
• 1 0unce American Eagle uncirculated coin

The reason for the cancellations was, “The unprecedented demand for American Eagle gold and silver bullion coins,” which the Mint is required by law to produce “in quantities sufficient to meet public demand.” Since the public demands all the gold and silver coins the Mint can stamp, no blanks are left for us, the collectors. One more reason to hope for economic recovery to pick up steam, so investors will turn back toward other options and quit hogging all the precious metals!

The Mint did throw a small bone to the numismatically minded however, as they announced a one-ounce American Buffalo Gold Proof coin and one-ounce American Eagle Platinum Proof coin for 2009. The American Buffalo coin is tentatively scheduled for an October 29 release, with the American Eagle Platinum coin scheduled for December 3.