2013 West Point ASE set

I too ordered on the third day and still don't have mine. I certainly hope they aren't bruised when they do finally arrive. (still have a cancel box as well)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Here are the issues I see regarding how the mint has handled this. First and foremost, people expect businesses to handle orders in a FIFO (First In, First Out) manner. So when people who ordered early get their orders after people who waited to order, things seem amiss. It also *seems* as if the big-boys may have gotten preferential treatment regarding when they received their orders. If this is true, again it makes people feel as if they're not getting equal treatment. And lastly, as far as when the orders arrive, even if someone doesn't want to flip them, they may have wanted to have them graded and if they arrive late I don't believe they can get an "Early Release" designation unless they send the unopened box from the mint. They wouldn't be able to look them over first and see if it was worth their while to go for a 70.

 

I see your point about FIFO...that's a valid concern the mint should address.

I don't see your point about the "big boys". An customer ordering hundreds or thousands of an item should get preferential treatment over a customer ordering 1 or 2...that's just business...any business.

I haven't been collecting very long but even I know the Early Release designation is a crock.

 

You still have a week to get Early Releases or First Releases labels

Would I be right in assuming everyone who ordered on the first day will have their coins by then? Because if you didn't order on the first day, then you have nothing to complain about. And frankly, if it were important you should have kept trying to get through constantly within the first couple hours. You have to put an effort in.

 

My coins werent bruised or anything, they are perfect as far as my eyes can tell, so no issue there. I did have a small setback with the capsule itself though. The one on my reverse proof was cracked and I had to replace it with another, but there was no noticeabl damage to the coin itself. Soon as I pulled it out of the display part of the airtite broke off, but it was a simple fix since I already had another empty ASE proof capsule.

Really no complaints from me. I dont know how I managed to get ahead of first day guys, but I very much ordered on the Wednesday after the release and received my coins on July 16th-18th, cant remember off the top of my head.

I did place my order as a guest, so maybe that had a little something to do with it. IDK?

 

Crock or not, there are many people that buy into it, so it IS important to those of us that have bought some of these for resale.
Is everyone required to conform to your beliefs?

 

I understand what you say about shipping the "big boys" first... it's just the "little guys" feel slighted when that happens, whether it's a valid business practice or not.

As for Early Release, crock or not, it does seem to earn a slight premium on eBay, so why not get it if you can?

 

I don’t care so much about when I get them, as they’re staying in the OGP. My big concern about filling the big guy’s orders first is that you know they will return the inferior coins and they will be mailed out again to all us little guys. The mint needs to end this practice of sending out returned coins, so that we all have a chance of getting good ones. BTW my shipping date is today and not shipped yet and cancel box is still there. Sheeeeeesh!!!!

 

I ordered mid May, my estimated shipping day is sometime last month, I hope to see them by Christmas.

 

I am not submitting mine so labels do not matter. just noting the peculiarity of how the mint is shipping these. Read an article that I will attach that states the problem is with the packaging, which is not manufactured here in the U.S.
so basically there lies the problem. As the author of the article points out and I concur, why in the world does our "congress" allow this process?
http://www.coinweek.com/news/the-co...s-delayed-by-packaging-according-to-u-s-mint/

 

What a load of horse pucky. The packaging was available for large mint orders but not for small time collectors? I ain't buying it Lou. The mint shows prejudice toward the moneyed interests.

 

If packaging is the issue and I had a bulk order intended to be shipped off for grading, I'd call the mint to see if I could get them shipped without the trophy case. I bet they'd jump at it, just to relieve some of the back log.

 

Just got my set! It's beautiful!!! Even the mint's packaging was so perfectly done. The Enhanced American Silver Eagle is stunning! I have every single strike type of American Eagle and I'm glad to add the Enhanced ASE version to my collection. I didn't think I'd say this but it was definitely worth the (3 month) wait.

 

I was thinking along the same lines, but the packaging sells for $10 to $15 in the aftermarket...plus the packaging is made to hold the coins slabbed...and they're not really willing to give up any money that could go to profit...so while it sounds good, it's probably not going to happen unless the mint agreed to give them a discount for no packaging. That would probably work 1 time, then the packaging would become more valuable in the after market, and they'd all want it on the next release, driving the price back down... the roller coaster continues....

 

Well, they could ask them to ship the coins now and the packaging later when it is available.

I thought it was a very good article, very level-headed and free of unwarranted accusations against the Mint.

 

I just received my 2 raw sets from the mint today (ordered on 2nd day) in addition to my two slabbed sets. Opened the first one for an eyeball inspection and it looked perfect and then I opened the second one and thought oh no not again, looks like I received someone's rejects because I noticed a dark spot on the enhanced rim and another imperfection that looked like a ding and a bad one at that so I broke out the 15x loupe and it turned out the dark spot is an oily residue and the large ding was capsule damage, other than the enhanced strike being slightly off centered they looked pretty flawless to me. These are staying OGP.

It seems to me that the first releases are the real rejects because there is no way my pcgs 70 is a 70 with the ding I reported earlier and the NGC graded coins look much better however I just don't like the off centered enhance and it also has a tiny sparkle glittering off the field but it's a really small glimmer. When I ordered some regular proofs in January they were good but not as good as the last batch of silver eagle proofs I ordered.
2 of the proofs I got would qualify as UCAM in my opinion.

No more buying on the first day for me I'll wait for later batches here on out and let the crud go out and get FS 70 designations.

 

My order is still back-ordered and scheduled to ship on 08/08/2013

 

Coin dealers and grading services may use these terms in varying ways. Some base their use on the dates appearing on United States Mint product packaging or packing slips, or on the dates of product releases or ceremonial coin strike events. Consumers should carefully review the information below along with each dealer's or grading service's definition of "first strike" or "first release" when considering a purchase of coins with these designations.

The United States Mint has not designated any coins or products as "first strikes" or "first releases," nor do we track the order in which we mint coins during their production. The United States Mint strives to produce coins of consistently high quality throughout the course of production. Our strict quality controls assure that coins of this caliber are produced from each die set throughout its useful life. Our manufacturing facilities use a die set as long as the quality of resulting coins meets United States Mint standards and then replace the dies, continually changing sets throughout the production process. This means that coins may be minted from new die sets at any point and at multiple times while production of a coin is ongoing, not just the first day or at the beginning of production.

United States Mint products are not individually numbered and we do not keep track of the order or date of minting of individual coins. Any dates on shipping boxes are strictly for quality control and accounting purposes at the United States Mint. The date on the box represents the date that the box was packed, verified and sealed, and the date of packaging does not necessarily correlate with the date of manufacture. The date on shipping labels and packing slips for coins that are sent directly to United States Mint customers from our fulfillment center is the date the item was packed and shipped by the fulfillment center. The other numbers on the shipping label and packing slip are used for tracking the order and for quality control.

http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/?action=firststrike
******

If you want perpetuate a myth and continue the fleecing of others...you go right ahead. I'll call it for exactly what it is

 

Sparky, I think Rickmp would be one of the last folks on earth to buy into the hype of the TPG'ers. I think he was more into the fact that folks who wanted to participate in such programs were being denied that ability to do so on their own and had to resort to the aftermarket if they wanted to complete such designations in their collections.

 

Thanks for that post, Sparky. That's the first time I have ever actually seen it in writing. Wouldn't it be great if, in the interest of full disclosure, any coin sold with 1 of those bogus designations had to be accompanied by a copy of the TRUTH? I think it is truly a deceptive practice and does indeed fleece the naive.