Is Anybody Buying Anything From The Mint?

I stopped buying from them a very long time ago. Every time I tried to place an order the big guys had bought them all out in less than a few minutes. Later, if I wanted to buy them later. I would wait a while and the prices would go down most of the time. At our club, we can find them for fewer prices most of the time. So, no I will not ever buy directly from the mint now. I have been in this hobby for over 60 years.

 

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Yes, I do. The proof set, the silver proof set, the uncirculated coin set, the clad quarter proof set, the silver quarter poof set, the silver eagle proof and burnished coins, the innovation dollar proof and reverse proof sets. I could wallow in complaints like so many, our just continue to enjoy the hobby. I voted for the latter.

 

@Santinidollar
Me too

 

I'm unsure how it can be misconstrued that complaining about the Mint translates into not enjoying the hobby. I'm very much able to enjoy this hobby completely by making my purchases from auctions (many to choose from), individuals (many to choose from) and LCS's (many to choose from).

Please don't categorize those who elect not to patronize the Mint, and are willing to vocalize their displeasure with the Mint, as people who do not enjoy the hobby. The Mint doesn't have us as a captive audience. There are numerous, virtually unlimited, sources to purchase all the coins I/we desire to collect.

 

In my own humble and personal opinion the Mint has lost its way.

They are pumping out such vast quantities of nonsense and people have learned that most of the stuff they are putting out now will never go up in value.

There are some good picks once in a while like the V75 ASE but most of the stuff is just junk in fancy packaging.

 

My wife got a 2016 Unc Natl Parks dollar and half as a Christmas bonus that year. It's not junk (I like them) but the packaging thing cracked me up. A box and a box and a card and a box and a card and a fancy box and... a coin.

 

I like coffee and usually drink it every morning at home like so many Americans. You can get coffee in many places and in many different styles. The mint to me is like Starbucks, it's pricey and sometimes nice to partake, but I can usually get my fix in other ways and much cheaper. Every now and then though, I get that hankering for a cappuccino if it looks good. Don't know if this makes sense but it's the weekend and jack is calling

 

That's a good analogy, I feel the same way. Yes, the Mint issues too much stuff, it's all overpriced and getting more so, and sometimes Congress has them mint something that makes you go "why?". But occasionally they do something kinda interesting and I'll buy one. It's a hobby and those MS-69/PF-69 coins are pretty.

 

This slides in an assumption that most Mint buyers are speculators, interested in coins only (or mainly) as a way to make money.

I was going to say "and this is why people have stopped buying new cars", but then I remembered what's going on in the used-car market right now.

 

Well I mean it’s a fact that a lot of people, even collectors, expect that decades from now they will at least get a decent portion of their investment back when they sell.

 

I agree.

When I started collecting almost 55 years ago as a kid I did hope to see a return on my collection decades forward. Since that obviously was a childish pipe dream it turned into me adjusting my expectations to that of a mere collector/accumulator. And that adjustment was basically to justify my decades of collecting.

I'd say the huge sums of money spent with the Mint over those years contributed to my disdain and apathy to the Mints current releases.

So yes, I'm a collector, both by desire and default.

 

The only reason I said that specifically is not long ago I was listening to a coin store owner named Daniel Malone (he owns Portsmouth Coin in Ohio) and he says people come into his shop with all kinds of junk they bought from the Mint.

He said when he tells them it’s worth a lot less than they paid alot of them become frustrated and choose not to pursue the coin hobby any further when in reality it could have become a lifelong hobby & passion if they had just stayed away from that kind of stuff.

I’m not talking about things like the V75 ASE or 2021 Morgan & Peace Dollars..

I’m talking about junk like this:



They are NEVER going to get anything close to $83.50 for these coins!

Honestly to me I would consider all of those spending money. I wouldn’t bother to keep one even if I got it in change in amazing condition.

Stuff like this hurts the hobby. Newbies feel like they got ripped off and they just stop. Instead the Mint needs to just stop making nonsense like this.

They should release more stuff like the W Washington quarters and things that can be found in circulation and something for people to enjoy looking through change to find.


Honestly I think it would be great if they purposely let out batches of very small numbers of errors for collectors to study coins and look for.

The 1955 DDO Lincoln Cent is famous for its very noticeable doubling. Why can’t they release a couple hundred or thousand 2023 Washington Quarters with the same doubling?

I think the true joy comes from the exploration, learning, and discovery.

Imagine the joy of being the first person to identify a doubled die coin that was just released!

 

Statements like that makes anyone who says so lose all credibility

 

No it doesn’t. It’s not an attractive coin to me. I’ve gotten a few of the Presidential dollars and I’ve spent those too.

These types of coins don’t have a huge market. You can tell just by looking at how many have been sent in for grading.

 

It does when you add amazing condition to it.

More importantly though you might want to look at the mints all across the world and what they sell and how much they sell it. The US mint barely offers anything in comparison and is much cheaper. I've said this time and time before but if you guys just want to say the mint is destroying collecting so be it

 

I’m not saying they’re destroying collecting. I’m just responding to the post with my opinion that this junk is unnecessary and I personally believe the Mint should focus on making collecting more enjoyable and getting people into it like they used too.

They do have some good ideas like I said the W Washington Quarters they released into circulation.

They could make it a yearly thing!!

Imagine if the Mint released W coins every year into circulation that could NOT be purchased from the mint in a set.

Collectors would have a great time looking for the best condition W coins they could find.

Idk that’s just my opinion.

 

Okay, suppose we agree that this is bad. What is the Mint supposed to do about it? How is the Mint supposed to guarantee that the coins you buy will be worth more when you go to sell them? They're prohibited by law from selling at a loss (unless, I suppose, you count cents and nickels minted for circulation ).

Look, I was right there with you in my early days of collecting -- what really caught my attention was not just that old coins had interesting designs, but that this penny you got for one cent might actually be worth ten cents, or even A WHOLE DOLLAR. At least according to the Magical Red Book. But even in my childhood, I realized that paying the Mint $5 for a proof set was a bad bet, because it wasn't likely to be worth more than a buck or two. And guess what? Fifty years later, they still aren't worth more than the Mint charged for them. In nominal dollars, never mind real value.

On the other hand, mere words cannot express how much I love this idea. THAT's the way collecting is supposed to work, at least according to the child still lingering inside me.

 

I’m not saying everything the Mint sells should be a profitable investment.

I’m just saying that a legit coin dealer (Daniel) has said he has observed people quit because they pay a fortune and don’t even get like 10% back.

Most coins it’s not like that. Usually you can get at least 50% of original purchase price for stuff like Morgan’s, Barbers, or really any of the collectible stuff that circulated at some point.


The Mint could stop producing the overpriced stuff or lower the price. Instead of $83.50 that set should be $29.99.

I just hate the idea of people being turned off to coin collecting because of overpriced Mint stuff.

 

Like they used to how? Doing two things a year that all lose money and being a joke on the world stage? Please elaborate

An LCS dealer said is just

Go back and ask that dealer how many things hes sold to people that have lost value and will he honor his sale price to them if hes so concerned about it

There's nothing that the mint has sold that people would get less than 10 percent back unless a dealer is ripping them off

 

I think at its very heart and soul collecting is all about the thrill of the hunt and the sense of accomplishment afterwards.

But lately (aside from the W Quarters) the Mint hasn’t really put out anything for people to hunt for.

Yeah they did State Quarters but those were so common it wasn’t even a hunt. Although the errors were indeed hunted for.

Keep in mind I am speaking from the perspective of someone who was a young child in the 90s and not an adult until 2007 so my lifetime experience doesn’t go back as far as a lot of other collectors but I do look back at the pre-1965 generation and I can’t help but be jealous at all the good opportunities they had to collect amazing coins.

Whether it was Lincoln cents or Walking Liberty Halves or Morgan Dollars or whatever..there are so many classic coins from the pre-1965 era and comparatively few from when I was born in 1990 to now.

Since I’ve been born nothing in circulation has really even been worth saving.

Take a look at Mint Sets for a great example! You can buy the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s Mint Sets in bulk for like $10 each.

Now look at something like a 1938 Mint Set or a 1949 Mint Set and the prices are ALOT higher. It’s not even proportionate to the silver value of the older coins.