A lesson on HOF Coins

I have decided to write this article today after watching all of the hype unfold since the United States Mint had released the set on their official website which can be viewed here.

This new commemorative coin that the United States Mint has recently made available was actually designed by us, the collectors. In 2013 the government started the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 112-152) which called for a three-coin program of $5 gold, $1 silver, and half-dollar clad coins that required a competition to select a common obverse (heads side) design emblematic of the game of baseball. This competition had lasted from April 11th – May 11th of 2013. At the end of the competition 178 unique designs were submitted and the winning design of the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin competition was created by Cassie McFarland of San Luis Obispo, California. Her design was selected from sixteen finalists by the Department of the Treasury on September 9, 2013

Now there are quite a few types of this new coin so let’s go over them.

$5 coin type

This type is composed of 90% Gold and 10% Alloy and its diameter is .850 Inches (21.59mm) with a weight of 8.359 grams. This uncirculated coin has sold on the United States Mint official website at $419.75 and the Proof coin has sold on the United States Mint Official Website at $424.75 to check up on current prices on the proof coin please click here for current prices on the uncirculated coin please click here










Above is a picture directly from the United States Mint website

$1 Type

This type is composed of 90% Silver and 10% copper and its diameter is 1.5 in (38.1mm) with a weight of 26.73 Grams. This uncirculated coin has sold on the United States Mint Official Website at $47.95 plus tax and the proof coin has sold on the United States Mint Official Website at $51.95 plus tax. This item is still available for purchase from the Mint however you will be placed on a waiting list so if someone cancels their order then the first person on the waiting list will receive his/her order. For current prices on the proof coin please click here. For current prices on the Uncirculated coin please click here









Above is a picture From the United States Mint Website

Half dollar clad type

This type is composed of 8.33% nickel and balanced copper and its diameter is 1.205 in (30.61mm) with a weight of 11.34 Grams. This uncirculated coin has sold on the United States Mint Official Website at $18.95 plus tax and the proof coin has sold on the United States Mint Official Website at $19.95 plus tax. . For current prices on the proof coin please click here. For current prices on the Uncirculated coin please click here







Above is a picture from the United States Mint website



Desirability & the future Market

We have went over the specifications of these coins and their prices now I want to discuss the desirability of these coins and the future market for them. First let’s talk about the current desirability of the coin. As you can see there are lots of listings for each type of coin being posted on eBay by those who were quick enough to secure their orders with a desire to make a quick profit. On the date of April 9th 2014 I sold my silver uncirculated on eBay for $76 to a person who collects baseball memorabilia. I know this because I had messaged him and asked why he was interested in the coin. Anyways there is certainly a desire by coin collectors and baseball fans to own this coin. For collectors the reason might be because it is the first curved coin produced by the Mint or perhaps they collect commemoratives. As for the baseball fan he/she may try to buy this coin only as a display piece that fits in well with the rest of their memorabilia display. This leaves me to believe that while there is a demand by baseball fans for this coin the demand is not as large as some had hoped and probably never will be.


This of course ties into the next part of discussion which is the future market of these coins. As stated in the previous paragraph I personally sod mine for $76 and after fees I made $15 off of the coin. Right now the desire is a lot higher because it is the hot new item and everyone wants to get their hands on one. However in the few months ahead when the initial hype dies down I believe that the prices of these coins will drop down and get close to the original Mint prices. The reason I say this is because the precious metal market has been basically stagnant in the past year that along with a limited market for the coin will bring the price down. The people who will buy this coin are commemorative collectors, coin collectors who will buy any coin, and some few baseball fans. The desirability of a coin is directly related to its market and that demand in the market is what determines the price.

On a final note with all of this hype about the Hall of Fame Coins one may think this commemorative will be the Morgan Dollar of the 21st Century. But based on my opinion that just may not be the case.





Thank you,
Josh

 

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Nice article Josh......

 

thanks.

 

That's an outstanding write-up Josh! I enjoyed reading it very much and the part quoted above is quite intriguing to me. It's the first actual confirmation I've heard on any board of baseball collectors getting in on these.

 

Thank you for the kind words. There certainly is a market for this coin in the baseball memorabilia field but the scale of that probably is not that large. As you have said this is the first confirmation you have received and there have been quite a lot of HOF coin threads here.

 

So does everyone agree with my market analysis on this coin? had some who agreed and disagreed from my CTU submissions.

 

I agree in that I don't think it will be the coin of the century. Not even close. How valuable it will be in the future remains a mystery. I think it will mostly depend on what the Mint follows it up with.

 

Nice article, but if you are setting yourself up to be a professor, you need to proofread before publishing. Also there is written English and spoken English and there are differences in the two. I know I am being picky, but if you want to be listened to, you have to be correct. Some examples: not - if you want to check up on...check on is sufficient - we have went over...no, no, no we have gone over - made $X off of the...again no, made $X from...picky I know, but it takes attention from the "meat" of the article, which was pretty good.

 

I suppose you are right kentucky. I am not the best when it comes to professional writing. I'll work on that.

 

I agree with Kentucky. The article needs some thorough editing for grammar and punctuation. You also need to write differently from the way you speak. Your article is a bit too conversational.

I also don't think I'd choose to link eBay for current prices. It's not the entire market. I'd remove the homework reference from the end. It points out that you cut and pasted it from your course, and that's not relevant here. Also irrelevant is the fact that you sold one for $76. Big deal. The reader may benefit from knowing that you sold yours and realized a profit by flipping it fast, but it sounds more like you're bragging than teaching me about the coins.

Overall, I think it's a nice write up. I disagree with you on this point of your analysis: I think that the precious metal value of this coin will likely never be the primary driver of it's market price, but rather it's status as the first coin of it's kind (concave/convex) that will be at the root of the demand. This coin will always command a premium. I think you've underestimated the number of people who might be interested in these coins in the future.

That said, I liked the article. I enjoy your enthusiasm. Keep writing!

 

I'll write more properly on my next educational thread. I will have a lot of time on my hands starting wednesday up until monday.

Also please do not expect my work to be completely perfect. I am no English Major yet I love writing. What a contradiction that is.

 

Writing is a process. Write it and then re-write it. Then edit it. Then make it more concise. Then re-write it again. Eliminate unnecessary words (like "up until Monday" in your previous post). Then edit it again.

It's a process and it doesn't usually come out perfectly the first time you write it, so re-write it, then see the above then re-write it again.

 

I'll be a master writer in no time but seriously I'll edit this tomorrow.

 

While I agree that some of the writing could use improvement, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I wouldn't spend too much time writing multiple drafts before making it public. The only reason it's probably being suggested is cause you're now an instructor. Just try to be efficient. As others have suggested, eliminate unnecessary or redundant words. Write a first draft then step away for some time and come back to it later. Read it over and make the needed fixes as you now see them. That's all.

 

I think that will be what I am going to do. I'll be fixing this and maybe writing another thread while listening to Schubert's Ave Marie in Music class tomorrow afternoon.

 

Again, don't worry about it too much. This topic has gotten more attention than it should have. To be honest, I didn't even think your first write up was bad. I thought it was better than average actually. You're not a professor of English anyway, so not a big deal.

 

I think that the others just want to encourage me to produce higher quality writing and I respect that. I will work on my writing and gradually make it better.

 

The metal value is what will keep the coin from becoming worthless. Any premium would obviously come from being the first of its kind.

 

I also think that's why. There's no real reason to think otherwise. I just wanted to say I don't think it's a major issue. Just in case you took it that way.

 

They produced 400k of these coins which is actually quite high since most commemoratives are 300k or less.