Coin Blog

As a change from recent years, the US Mint has announced nearly their entire numismatic product schedule for the upcoming year. It had become practice to release the schedule piecemeal, often with estimated release dates and numerous "TBD's". This time there is only one TBD, and incredibly release dates listed for Proof Gold and Silver Eagles.

Among the notable missing, are the numismatic versions of the America the Beautiful 5 oz Silver Coins. With collectors still having trouble finding the bullion versions, many are eagerly awaiting the collector versions. Although the mintages will be lower, at least everyone will have a fair shot at them through the US Mint's website.

The US Mint's 2011 numismatic product schedule is reproduced below.

In the past, the US Mint has released separate proof sets for quarters and Presidential Dollars early in the year, followed by the somewhat belated issuance of the full annual set.

I always considered this scheduling to be a product of marketing, attempting to sell as many of the separate sets as possible before selling the full set to the same people later. The other consequence was to disrupt gift giving during the early part of the year. Sometimes I would have liked to give someone a proof set, but the full set was not released yet.

This will change with the 2011 Proof Set, which the US Mint plans to release on January 11, 2011. This will mark the earlier release for the most popular annual set in years.

Each set will contain 14 different proof coins struck at the San Francisco Mint with deep cameo finishes. The coins will be packaged in three separate lenses with an outer cardboard box featuring the US Mint's new branding.

The pricing for the product has not yet been announced. I hope it won't be another price increase.

The designs for the 2011 Presidential Dollars have been announced by the US Mint. Following the format of the series, the obverse of each coin will feature a portrait of the President, while the reverse will feature a representation of the concept of Liberty.

The Presidents honored next year will be the 17th to 20th Presidents. The series has included four different designs each year since 2007. The series will continue until each of the deceased Presidents have been honored.

The Andrew Johnson Presidential Dollar was designed and sculpted by Don Everhart.

The coin for the Civil War military commander and two term President, Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Dollar was also designed and sculpted by Everhart. Likely the highlight, or most well known release for the year.

Honoring the 19th President of the United States, the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Dollar will be released third during the year. Once again, the design and sculpting work was performed by Don Everhart.

The last release of the year for the series will be the James A. Garfield Presidential Dollar. He served as President for the second shortest term before an assassin's bullet eventually led to his demise. The obverse design and sculpting was performed by Phebe Hemphill.

Back in 1986, the United States Mint launched the first series of gold and silver bullion coins. This included the American Gold Eagle and American Platinum Eagle. The former was issued in one ounce, one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, and one-tenth ounce sizes with legal tender face values of $50, $25, $10, and $5, respectively. The latter was issued in one ounce size with a nominal face value of $1. The coins went on to become one of the top selling bullion coins in the world.

In 1997, the program was expanded with the American Platinum Eagle. At the time, the price of the metal was around $400 per ounce. This series was initially very successful with about 250,000 ounces sold during the first two years of issue. Recently, the US Mint has not issued the bullion versions of the coins, but only the collector versions.

Within perhaps one year, the American Palladium Eagle will be launched. These coins will be available in one ounce size only and carry a legal tender face value of $10. The designs will be based on Adolph A. Weinman's Mercury Dime obverse and 1907 AIA Medal reverse. For the year to date, palladium has outperformed gold, silver, and platinum. Will this translate to popularity for the new bullion series?

Precious metals investors have gotten used to the idea of rationing silver bullion coins, but the US Mint has taken it to a new level.

The America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins are a new bullion series struck in 5 ounces of .999 fine silver. Each over sized coin bears the design of one of the America the Beautiful Quarters. Due to a combination of the unusual specifications, short time frame, and possibly a limited silver supply, the US Mint was only able to produce 33,000 of each design.

That would put these "bullion coins" on par with rarities such as the 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle, which had a mintage of 30,125.

After the US Mint halted the program due to complaints about high prices, they are set to relaunch the program tomorrow. This time around the authorized purchasers will be subject to new terms and conditions.

This will include the requirement that premiums charged to customers be no more than 10% above the cost of acquisition from the US Mint, with a limit of one coin per design per household imposed.

So basically, the few authorized purchasers will be rationed in their supply, and then they must limit this supply to the public. Sounds pretty complicated for a bullion coin, which is supposed to be a commodity like investment product.