"Gold Kennedy Fiasco"

After the March of Dimes set came out, I saw a lot of comments on the "Gold Kennedy Fiasco". So, what is this referring to, I was not a member here when that came out? I know there was issues at the show where it became unsafe to sell them. Was there something else?

 

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Several levels of fiasco. The first couple days of sales was a complete circus unbecoming of this hobby, and included big security concerns at the Chicago ANA show. The subsequent reselling for Obscene Profit™ made some people money, and buried others in coins they're still trying to get out of.

Further discussion, both factual and opinion-based, can be found by searching if you really want to know more ugly details.

 

The only fiasco I recall reading about (I wasn't there) was that the purchase limit that was imposed by the Mint was being circumvented by the dealers in the show offering outrageous sums to people standing in line to buy the coins for the dealers.

Chris

 

bwahahahahaha!

 

Yeah. One of the main culprits was Silvertowne, and I will always remember that. They hired homeless people, gang members, etc to stand in line and buy these coins that the mint limited to one per person. So all collectors should always remember how Silvertowne INTENTIONALLY screwed over coin collectors just so they could make huge profits. Is that a firm you EVER wish to do business with? Not I. By the third day, I believe they had hired half the "line" and almost no coin collectors had a chance of ever buying directly from the mint.

 

It is also well documented that Kevin Lipton also "hired" a bunch of actor's to stand around giving the appearance of a mad rush for these coins and that he and David Hendrickson, from Silvertowne, were involved in brokering the deal for the "First Sold" Gold Kennedy Half Dollar for $100,000 to an "unnamed" collector?

Talk about "manipulating the market not to mention that I wonder if that "unnamed" collector even exists since Silvertowne, who owns the Coin Vault TV Show, was displaying the coin on that show?

 

what an astute business model i must ask dear eddie to copy it next time

 

Yeah, me too. Silverclown from now on. Hard to take that racketeering bunch of crooks seriously, anymore.

 

Wow, interesting, still a bit of a touchy subject. Opened a can-of-worms, huh?

Also, was there a bit of un-founded, self-inflicted hysteria over this coin that the coin and its market never lived up to? Sure it may be rare and cool, but its market is significantly smaller than for silver/clad products.

I believe there were some of the same quality issues being brought up then as is now with the MoD Set. Or is this just everyone complaining that it was not 100% 70 grades being sold? I did get one Gold Kennedy, one Kennedy 4 Piece Silver set and one MoD set where only the MoD dollar may be a 70. I tend to think that Vegas has better odds than flipping US Mint products for a profit.

 

I was at the show, I wrote a thread about it and it was quite long-

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/chicago-ana-show-report.250064/

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Laura Sperber, I believe is on the PCGS board of experts. One of her fellow board members was one of the dealers she blasted without naming by name.

 

I had no issues with the dealers paying people to stand in line. Everyone had a fair shot to get one. My Dad and I both got one (barely) on the first day, and sold at show for a large profit. The "greedy dealers" ended up probably taking a large loss anyways.

 

Slivertowne's price today
As Low As: $1,262.10

 

That's what they cost from the Mint raw at the ANA.

 

I guess I'll cross silvertowne off of the list of possible dealers to buy from.

 

That show was a blast!
I'm more than happy to perpetuate the image of gangs of marauding hobos and ex-cons running around the bourse floor, but truth be told, it wasn't that bad. Just an exercise in supply and demand. The 3 or so dealers behind this fiasco bought up most of the supply, which created an imaginary demand, which drove the prices sky high. All intentional, of course...which isn't very nice, but they were probably stuck with a bunch of them too
Here was my report:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/there-and-back-again-my-ana-chicago-2014-wfm-tale.250150/

 

The U.S. mint site still has them for cheaper, 1165.00.

 

IIRC, Coin World ran an article about a young man who stood in line for quite a while for the Gold Baseball Coin. The basisi for the story was that the US Mint Representative at the Baltimore show, certified that it was in fact the 1st one sold and the young man had no intention of selling the coin.

Soooooooooo, the US Mint bears some of the responsibility for the coin hysteria revolving around both the HOF Coins AND The Gold Kennedy Coin as both were certified by the US Mint representative at the respective shows as being the "First Sold".

Not that it means much but certain coin dealers were quick to draw up plans for obtaining that First Kennedy Sold, and then using the opportunity for self advertising.

Of course, this promotional build up quickly cost a lot of folks a lot of money as values for the Gold Kennedy literally plummeted. A full week had not passed before the coins were selling on eBay for "less than issue price" partly because gold had dropped in value and mainly because the antics of the Coin Dealing Community left a very bad taste in the mouths of honest collectors who simply were not buying.

Like so many other US Mint products, this one was doomed from the starting gate regardless of how much the coin dealing community promoted it.

 

You want to see marketing BS, look at this description, trying to sell this lovely pair at $40 a pop. Hell, we find these in high gem in the boxes from the banks. The kids who get them from the saps who buy them can't cash them off quick enough...

"2014 P & D Kennedy 50th Anniversary Half Dollar 2pc BU Set in OGP

2014 Philadelphia (P) & Dollar (D) Kennedy 50th Anniversary Half Dollar ($1/2) 2 Piece (pc) BU Set in Original Government Packaging (OGP)

2014 marks the 50th year anniversary of the initial release of the iconic Kennedy Half Dollar coin. The original Kennedy fifty cent piece was approved just over a month after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Proposed by newly installed President Lyndon Johnson, the new design had to be approved by Congress in quick order to meet the target mint date of early 1964. Congressional approval was required as an exception to a law that stated a design on any given coin could only be changed after 25 years in production (the Benjamin Franklin design featured on the fifty cent piece at that time had only been in place for 15 years). This exception was approved allowing the design to move forward.

The obverse of Kennedy Half Dollars was designed by Gilroy Roberts and depicts a forceful bust of John F. Kennedy’s profile. The original 1964 design that First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy had helped select has been updated with minor detail changes over the years, but the 2014 releases feature the original design. Obverse inscriptions on the new coins include LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and the year 2014.

The reverse of the coin features the Presidential Coat of Arms - consisting of a heraldic eagle holding a bundle of 13 arrows and a symbolic olive branch, with a shield on its breast and surrounded by a ring of 50 stars. This classic design was created by Frank Gasparro. Inscriptions on the reverse include UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM and HALF DOLLAR."

http://www.silvertowne.com/p-24320-...nniversary-half-dollar-2pc-bu-set-in-ogp.aspx