Limited Edition Bullion

I agree. There are so many made-for-collectors coins out there now that the national mints are starting to look like Franklin Mint. It remains to be seen whether large numbers of low mintage coins that never circulate will ever command significant numismatic value. I doubt it.

 

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I think the early First Spouse coins will wind up being melt price coins, there were just too many of them. But some of the more recent ones do have some potential. I don't think they will be runaway high value items because frankly they will only really be of interest to someone who wants to put together the set and that won't be too many people. But still I think a US gold coin with a mintage of only 1,300 coins is NOT going to sell for melt value. maybe melt plus 25%. And if gold prices ever do fall back in a significant way I think you will see them selling at a MUCH higher premium over melt. Why because with a much lower cost for the common ones, a lot more people will start putting together the set. I mean if I have to pay over $800 apiece for even the most common ones, I'm not going to collect the set. But if they were only $350 apiece a lot more people are going to think "yeah I can swing that."

Unfortunately what would hurt the set then and put a damper on it would be that the extra collecting pressure would make the low mintage coins a lot higher, and the set has a LOT of low mintage coins. Of course their base bullion value would also be lower, so if the commons got down to the $350 level, I could see the low mintage pieces staying around where they are now.

 

One series that often seems to get overlooked is the Australian Koala 1 ounce silver bullion issue. Some find the Koala ugly, but it always sells out and has a relatively limited mintage for a silver bullion coin. The coin design changes every year, you can buy it closer to spot than many other world silver bullion issues, and early years are already selling at a significant premium. Here are the mintages:

2007: 137,764
2008: 84,057
2009: 100,000
2010: 100,000
2011: 100,000 (not sure if Perth has announced final mintage yet)

I especially like the upcoming 2012 silver Koala. The design was introduced early last fall but was delayed and is just now starting to surface. Some on other bullion forums have speculated that the Perth Mint may have a shortage of silver blanks to devote to the silver Koala due to the mass promotion of the 2012 lunar silver dragon coins. Thus, 2012 could be a lower (less than 100K) mintage year. :smile TC

 

Please permit me a chance to rant. It's frustrating at times how provincially-minded this site can be. The OP began by listing three interesting (to me anyway) foreign coins. It was the beginning of what had the possibility of being an interesting thread. YoYo then showed us the Kangaroo at Sunset, which was only responded to by me. However, the great majority of the posts in this thread deal with the fugly, uninteresting (to me anyway) First Spouse coins. There are many more interesting coins in the world than the sometimes interesting, but mostly not, stuff the U. S. Mint releases. I hope we get lucky and next year the Mint will release a new series called First Child coins. Man, won't that be exciting. Then we can have dead politicians, the wives of dead politicians and the offspring of dead politicians. I just can't wait. Rant complete.

Aside from the rant, I think it's safe to assume that by "limited edition" the OP intended coins that have a limited mintage and will most likely sell out. Although the First Spouse coins do have a limited mintage, I don't think we have to worry about the annual sales even coming close to the 40,000 allowed.

 

Is there a site that gives the release dates, mintage etc for world bullion coins? As well as new and upcoming products for 2012? If you look at for example the Perth Mint website it doesn't really have much on what's upcoming. Don't Mints plan at least a few months in advance, or is everything supposed to be a surprise in the world of coins?

 

Canada has some relatively low mintage gold commems. I have the attached St Lawrence Seaway commem in PF69. This photo is just a stock photo. I think the mintage is less than 10k. So don't forget to look to Canada. They put more detail in many of their gold coins.

 

Try silverbullionworld.com. TC

 

I have this set



http://www.coinnews.net/2008/09/05/...d-crean-celebrated-with-silver-and-gold-4381/

 

Well i do cherry pick and try to buy any interesting gold and silver coins i run into as long as i can grab it at close to spot price. Perth mint also has nice comm coins as well . Who knows couple years down the road i might just buy the first spouse coins if the price is right

 

You very well may be right, but I have just one question..."What if you're wrong?"

If you're right, you pay 25% more for the bullion that you would normally have...OK, I'll admit...that hurts. However, let's face it...just about ANY coin series you collect will garner a premium over what you can sell them for.

Even if you go to the auction houses like Heritage or TeleTrade, you're still paying a 15% "Buyer's Fee"...and that's for the coins that make the auction. Remember, the Auction Houses pick over the best coins before they're listed. Additionally, the Auction Houses are "Seller Agents", not "Buyer Agents". They bid on their own auctions to drive the prices up for the Sellers. That adds at least another 10% on to the price of the coins.

Unless you're in the "Inner Circle", you're paying a 25% premium for picked-over coins...and let's face it, once you're gone what does it matter. At least when you buy directly from the Mint you get an honest coin (sometimes good, sometimes bad) at an honest price...OH! ...and did I mention..."no chance for counterfeits!"?

I was at the Baltimore coin show a while back and this guy (this "Dealer") was showing me a raw 1919-D Mercury dime he claimed as MS65 FSB and was trying to get me to give him Big $$$. I admit, there's a lot about coins I don't know...but I know a FSB Merc when I see one...and 90% FSB != 100% FSB.

You REALLY have to know a lot about coins to survive and CT is a great place to learn! For a beginner (or even someone just a step higher like me), buying directly from the US Mint isn't a bad way to go. I buy coins to enjoy them, then pass them along. I don't have any illusions of immortality. US Mint coins are fine for that...(imho).

...and I LOVE to gamble on my LADIES!!!

 

won't make any difference either way. If you bought because you like it, you'll have it. or you'll have gold. there will always be new "low mintage" gold coins to buy.

 

New? ...new First Spouse coins, maybe.

You have to go back to the 19th Century to find half ounce gold coin mintages as low as the Unc Julia Tyler!! encil:

 

I believe the 2006 1/2 oz Canadian Timberwolf has a mintage of 100,000
2012 Pandas are planned to be increased to 8,000,000
You can get all the Perth mintages somewhere on their site, I don't remember where. The 1 oz and 1/2 oz Perth silver coins are 300,000 as has been stated, but larger size coins are however many they get buy orders for and can vary typically to the upside.

Generally I am not a fan of rare coins because you end up paying more than the melt value, and I'd rather have more metal. The exception to this for me are coins where I simply cannot resist the beautiful designs, such as Perth Mint lunar series. I would really love to get my hands on any sunset kangaroo.. don't much care for the rest of the roo's, but that particular coin is top notch.

 

I believe the limit on the mintages have dropped on this coin to 7,500 for each type. People have consistently discounted these coin set, called them names, yet over the past 5 years they have been some of the highest appreciating coins out there. The Julia Tyler coin is selling for more than $2000, if you can find one. These are "true" collectors coins because they only appeal to the people who take the time and effort to understand the history of each coin. For a student of American history this is excellent series of coins to collect and why they continue to totally prove their detractors completely wrong in future appreciation value.

 

as far as a US coin is concerned and even so it's just a commemorative. I buy them too, but they're not the best thing sliced bread. complete platinum sets are worth more.

 

What about the China Silver Panda 25th Anniversary proof set from 1982-2007?

I know they are only 1/4 ounce coins but only 30,000 were minted. With the limited minting of the panda's pre-2011, and the increasing premiums for those years, I wonder if this set will be a good one to get? I know you can argue that 30,000 may or may not be limited but will these follow the same trend as they annually released oune ounce coins?

 

I love the Platinum coins, too!! Unfortunately, I lack the funds to collect both.

 

If you had asked the question when it was issued i would said it is great buy but now it selling for around $1300 for roughly 6 ounces of Silver there is more risk to down side than any potential gains.