Someone has to support the gubmint! http://news.coinupdate.com/us-mint-...-product-prices-as-precious-metals-fall-1871/
How are they going to sell ASE's for $53 when the spot price is now $28.93? I'm not buying any at that price. I'll pay maybe $32 for one. That's as high as I'm going.
I think they are shooting themselves in the foot. They already have pretty boring offerings compared to other mints, and now they're also pricing themselves out of what many are willing to pay for those boring offering. People weren't buying the 5 ounce proofs as it was. Now nobody will buy them.
I'll still buy some of their offerings. The mintages might go lower, so more profit for me in the aftermarket.
Say what you will about this, but the truth is the Mint has received secret information that the price of precious metals will soon increase significantly and they just want to stay ahead of the game. I think I heard it on Fox News or some other bastion of extreme credibility. Okay, truth be told, it is a completely ridiculous move to make given their stated mission and objective. But, hey, they may not be bright about many things, but you have to admit they are very consistent.
Nah, they have just heard on the bullion blogs and forums so long, that true PM 'stackers' keep saying they believe the USD is worthless, so they figure no one will complain about giving more of them to the mint in exchange for PM. It is a conspiracy you know....
We've been brainwashed to believe that PM events are logical and consistent within a short cycle of, say, a week. The duration required for analysis and understanding of cause and effect is much longer, months and months at a minimum. Most day-to-day events in the marketplace are random noise. You make money only if you can identify game-changing trends.
It's just like gas stations, just because the barrel of oil drops in a day doesn't automatically make the gas already at the gas stations drop as well.
I was done with the US mint after I could not get one 25th ASE set a few years ago. I completely am done with their new products (still like the old ones!) and this news just makes me feel good about my decision. I know there are some "not so smart" people around the country, but this baffles me that someone would pay nearly 2X the melt value of a highly minted bullion coin.
I would bet if they doubled the price again, there would still be a significant demand and sales for them. The bulk of collectors would not want to skip an issue and fragment their collection. The investors of coins, not bullion, would think the future value would still be there because of low mintage. Bullion investors will simple buy oversea's silver or private mint silver, and deal with the small discount they may have to sell it for in the after market. The Mint can pretty well do as it pleases and will still suceed to generate business. Myself, I plan to buy the Silver Proof Set direct from the Mint, but nothing else this year. The ASE's, I'll buy at MS and PF70, which to me now have a small premium on them for the grading.
Howdy all, I completely agree with all the complaints. I still buy the bare bones but have stopped with the weird stuff. Yeah, I know there are some very nice collectors that treasure the $5 gold spouses, but geez. They had the statehood quarters and now the ATB series. Strikes me as they're getting very 'canadianlike' at the US mint. I think they need to do a new series showing all the state capitols, and there perhaps the state flowers, and rocks and trees. And they'll all be available from HSN for two payments of $99.99 [++++ s&h] in the GENUINE gold plated sets. And so it goes, peace, rono
If they were REALLY Canadian-like, the Mint would embed a tiny chip of gravel in the State Rock coins, and the slogan would be Rock On...