I wonder what others might think is an appropriate number of coins for an Olympic commemorative set, and what would be an appropriate mintage figure? Here is a case to consider: This silver (Ag 92.5%, Cu 7.5%) coin, shown below, is from the last set of coins distributed in September 1988 for that year's Seoul Summer Olympics. It was made in both Mint and Proof finishes. This one appears to be of the Mint variety. Interestingly, the Mint strikes of the coins in this last set were rarer than the Proof strikes. While the Korean Mint, Komsco, only made 15,010 of the Mint variety, they went nuts and made 110,200 Proofs. And this was just ONE design out of THIRTY-TWO different coin designs for the Seoul Olympics. If you consider that there were TWO finishes (Mint and Proof) for thirty of these coins, that makes 60 different kinds of coins for an Olympic commemorative set! And the mintages for each variety were often in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of pieces. After the glow of the Olympics had faded by the following April (1989), the Bank of Korea realized that it still had a sizable number of the total number of these coins left unsold. ...Oh, and that unsold amount just happened to be over 2.5 million pieces! AND retailers in Korea were demanding that the Bank buy back their own unsold stocks of these coins!! ****** I think this design is supposed to represent the "Show Jumping" event in Olympic Equestrianism.
The one modern commemorative issue that I don't collect........too much of a throw back to the abuses of the thirties which undermined the classic commemorative program.
I'm not really big on commemoratives unless they are of special interest in historical reference to something I enjoy. I like reading anything on the Civil War so I purchased the Lincoln Commemorative Dollar. I am glad though that there is a limit on the number of issues each but otherwise I'm with green18.
Well, I think 32 is at least 28 too many. I could understand a nice 2, 3, or 4 piece set, but more than that starts to get ridiculous really fast.
Woops, I did not factor in the special issues, sorry. I'm just referring to the Silver/Clad Dollar/Half Dollar issues.
I get the feel that this seems to be the majority opinion of many "coin people" that I've heard from, even before posting here. The commemorative coin set for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea has recently been issued and revealed at a well-attended coin-release event in Korea. Eleven coins in all. Many I've asked said that even eleven is far too many... I really wonder why there is a disconnect here between the decisions of the authorities that mint and release (Olympic) commemorative coins and the opinion of people in numismatics?
I'm not too sure if there is a record holding competition for the most amount of coins issued for Olympics events. For the Moscow Olympics in 1980 - there was a total of 6 different nickel copper, 28 silver, 6 gold and 5 platinum coins. These were struck in both UNC and proof condition. On top of this, there are mintmark and other varieties so the total would be closer towards 100 (!!!) The Sochi Olympics in 2014 was no exception either. I have not checked the total number but I would not be too surprised if the number is over 50.
I collect commems the same way. But since the Olympics are considered to be universally popular, the potential "target market" for such products may be judged to be wider, so more of these coins are issued. That may be a theory. Or do market forces have anything to do with it? Maybe every hosting country just releases scads of Olympics commemoratives just for the purpose of national pride, or just as promotional pieces to hopefully flood the numismatic market, but ones that they don't ever expect to get a financial return on (much like the Olympics themselves)?
I would say the absolute max number of coins I would not consider completely ridiculous would be one per circulating denomination and one per metal for each bullion issue. So, in the US, a cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half, and dollar set, along with a gold, silver, and platinum coin would be basically it. Even that I would consider more than I'd want to buy. I think silver dollar, silver half dollar, small gold, large gold, and maybe a platinum coin would be the most I'd feel good about.
I remember these two coins issued by Japan to commemorate the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Japan 1000 Yen 1964 Olympics Silver 35mm Japan 100 Yen 1964 Olympics Silver 22.5mm As I recall, I was able to purchase them in California by mail from the local Bank of Japan office.
Don't know whether the Olympics are still popular, but I suppose that such coins are sought after at least in the issuing country. For the London 2012 Olympics, the Royal Mint issued more than 60 coins. Sixty, just in terms of different designs. Obviously such pieces are fundraisers, which is also why several countries issue, hmm, participation coins: "Our team for the XYZ Olympics". I do not care about Olympics coins and do not collect them, with few exceptions: The ones for Munich 1972 (fortunately only six if you don't take proofs and mint marks into account) and some that I particularly like because of the design and/or theme. My gut feeling says that, if the coins are easily affordable and have the same specifications as the regular coinage, a dozen or so would be OK. (Maybe a three-year program with four designs per year.) But if you add gold and silver issues that carry hefty surcharges ... Christian
And out of those two, the 1000 Yen piece probably has one of the best obverse designs for a modern Asian coin of any kind, IMO... Yes, why not just TWO?
