I was just going to see what everyone thought about the National Park silver quarter sets. Do you think they are overpriced ? Do you see them going up in value? I have all the Statehood silver sets except the 1999 and 2002 sets and plan on getting the new sets soon but would love to know what everyone thinks.
I'm sure there are people here who will disagree with me, but I would stay away from buying a 5 oz piece of silver at a time when silver is at its (recent) high and with a premium on top of the melt price of these things. I'm sticking to getting some junk silver, foreign silver, etc., for below melt, and then selling off some of the silver I've acquired in the past at this time and using the profits for coins with more numismatic value.
Having a melt value around $26.50 and the set costing $32.95 (without ship and tax), there's only a $6.45 premium on the set or $1.29 each. So based on current melt value, I would say they are not overpriced. In fact, I'm surprised the mint has adjusted their selling price to account for the rise in silver. And yes, I do think these will increase in value. Although I collect them; not as an investment; but because I think proof coins strike very well on silver planchets. -LTB
My opinion on the 5 oz National Parks oversized quarters is simple. Buy them if you truely like them. With silver over $30 per ounce, they aren't going to be in most people's price range anyway. I would rather have a collectable coin with $175 of numismatic value than a big hunk of silver, which by the way presents a challenge for storage for me anyway. But, I'm not everyone. Some people may love these babies, and good for them. Someone has to buy these.
Normal Sized Coins: I like the 50 States series and have the entire silver collection PF70 except for Delaware and New Jersey. As an investment they probably won't be worth much during my lifetime, but that's not why I collect coins. I'm particularly interested in the 2010 ATB quarters. There's a "chance" they could have a low mintage like the 1999 50 States quarters. The Mint has told Coin World that their intention is to continue selling the 2010 annual sets through 2011, but I haven't seen where they've actually posted that as a "done-deal". Silver has gone up 40% since August (when they began selling the 2010 Silver Proof set, but the price of the set has remained the same. It's only natural to assume that the Mint will raise prices for their 2011 products...but the Mint wouldn't sell the 2010 sets at a lower price than the 2011 sets, would they? ...of course not. The Mint could do as they say...keep selling the 2010 sets through 2011 at the higher price, but the "hard-core" silver proof quarter collectors already have their 2010 sets and may not want to pay the higher price for more. It would be easier if the Mint just sells them out and focuses on the 2011 sets. Five Oz Coins: I've seen a lot of discussion on the potential future value of these coins/rounds. A coin's perceived value is a function of "Availability" to the "Collector Base". The lower mintage of these initial coins, combined with the "one per household" distribution" should make this first set the KEY of the series. The question is..."How many people will want to collect a complete set?". Well, back in the 1970's, I thought it would be impossible for anyone wanting to waste time collecting Eisenhower dollars...yet, today some folks pay some rather hefty sums for the more obscure varieties. I would think the ATB Bullion coins would be at least as collectible as Ike dollars...(and about the same size). I just don't see how you can go wrong buying a set of these coins/rounds at 10% over spot. If you want to continue the collection, you already own the Key to the series. If not, you should be able to turn a tidy profit.
RE: wil the Mint continue to sell the 2010 at the current pricing? Well the Mint kept selling the 2009 Silver Quarters through most of 2010 @ $29.95 and that set contained six silver quarters with a total silver content of approx. 1.085oz. That was an unbelievably sweet deal. The Mint just wants to unload everything that they minted. Any profit just goes back to the Treasury to help pay my Social Security LOL The 2010 quarters have the lowest mintage of any silver quarter sets since 1999. There are 721,383 quarter sets sold in both the Silver Proof sets and Silver Quarter sets. ...and the Silver Proof Quarter sets are attractive!
I do like how the ATB designs look in silver proof. They are reasonably priced. Now is the time to get in to start a complete set. What do you think the price of silver will be in 10 years when the series ends? I will guess higher...maybe much higher. TC
It'll be interesting to see what the Mint actually does. The current price for a 2010 quarter set is $32.95. With silver at $30.50/Oz (this morning), the silver content in the five (5) coin set is $27.59...leaving the Mint with a scant $5.36 return to cover packaging and production/handling costs. Of course, this assumes the price of silver won't increase over the next year (doubtful). Well, there's just a few days left to see what the Mint will do. If I had to make a bet, I would bet the price of the 2010 silver sets are going up.
You make very good points, and from a business perspective they should increase prices as spot silver increases. However, they have never done this in the past so it will be interesting to see what they do now. I am sure that they produced many of the 2010 silver sets early in 2010 when silver was around $20/ounce so are still making their projected profits. TC
Try four times the size. They are twice the diameter (1.5 inch compared to 3 inch) with a surface area of 1.77 square inches compared to 7.07 square inches. By weight they are 6.9 times the size (155.5 grams compared to 22.68 grams)
I have to agree with quartertapper with each coin potentially costing about $160 (just a guesstimate) and then being sold only in sets there's no way I can afford them. Also since the designs are the same as the quarter designs (as far as I've heard) I'm not too thrilled with some of the designs to begin with so I'm not too depressed about not being able to get them. As quartertapper said "...if you truely like them" then by all means buy them I just won't be one of the collectors buying.
