U.S Mint still out of control (another basketball commem thread)

Coin World is reporting the latest on the upcoming basketball commemorative series:

2020 W proof $5 gold
2020 W unc $5 gold
2020 P proof $1 silver
2020 P proof $1 silver (colorized; mintage 75,000)
2020 P unc $1 silver
2020 S proof 50c clad
2020 S proof 50c clad (colorized; mintage: 75,000)
2020 S unc 50c clad
2020 S enh unc 50c clad (kids set; mintage: 75,000)

authorized mintages:

gold 50,000
silver 400,000
clad 750,000

I get that sales are declining, the customer base is aging, and they're doing whatever they can to juice sales - but I'm an old fart so I can mock them for issuing 9 different coins in a single commemorative series (none of which I will be buying).

 

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I don't have a problem with their different issues, I actually like it. That said the mintages are WAY to high on the special ones especially considering the poor design of the basketball commem overall

 

Why do I think of the USPS and stamps when I think of the US Mint?

 

My opinion?
Gold - 200,000 PF; 200,000 UNC
Silver - 900,000 PF; 900,000 UNC
Clad - 1,200,000 PF; 1,200,000 UNC

~ Chris

 

They'd never get anywhere near those limits. I don't think a clad half has ever sold out and the silver very rarely sells out and the gold basically never sells out with the current mintages. The baseball halfs are the last one I remember selling out in any style and that was 6 years ago.

Those mintages obviously aren't going to change but 75k for the special issue when really it's 150k for the clad half is just way to much. The special ones should have been like 20k for each product for the clad and maybe 50k max for the dollar, more realistically like 35k for the silver dollar. Something like that would have generated some buzz which they're obviously intended to do.

 

You can count this old fart out as well - this seems like a great spot to wrap up my modern unc comm collection.

 

The U.S. Mint may be producing more "collector" coins, but it has a long way to get to the runaway proportions of the Royal Canadian Mint.

 

I know my mintages are too high. I just want to give the flippers something to think about when the line is so short at the coin show.

 

Nothing I'm interested in.

 

I’m slightly biased towards the coin, but I think I’ll wait a few months after issue and buy them on the secondary market. One for me and one for the kid (in the avatar picture). He is the only one of my kids that even expressed a very slight interest in coins when he was younger, but not enough to stick with it. Maybe this will light the fire.

 

Watch them put a famous player on the coin.

 

The Mint can take their offensive design for this coin and put it in the vault where the sun doesn’t shine.

 

Or a small hidden number... like 24? Either way, I'm still not buying it.

 

Set Registry info:

MS or PR69 Coins = 2 points
MS or PR70 Coins = 3 points

 

What if the colorized one is Niobium? A bimetallic coin. They won't let anyone take pictures of the coins until the unveiling.

 

Bimetallic would certainly be an interesting twist

 

Probably not Nb. From the article...

Two attendees at the Feb. 25 first-strike ceremony at the Philadelphia Mint indicated to Coin World that the basketball on the reverse of the colorized Proof silver dollar is pebbled and is a brownish orange in color. The basketball rim is also reportedly colorized as well.

For the Basketball coins’ colorization, the coins are struck at a designated Mint production facility and will be shipped to an outside vendor to complete the process. This is the first program in which the U.S. Mint is transporting struck but unfinished U.S. coins outside a Mint facility for additional processing.


https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-c...ium=Email&utm_source=Lyris&utm_campaign=World

 

As much as the mint charges for these clad halves, the least they could do is skip the enamel. Cheap, just cheap.

 

I read the article also. That is why I mentioned about the niobium. Not my picture, but, I do have one of these coins. The Austrian Mint can do it, surely the U.S. Mint can too.

 

Agreed. I still think the mintage is to high but something well done like that I’d probably get one