Deliberate Rarities: Thoughts?

https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-c...le-gold-issue-marking-anniversary-of-wwii-end

I don't know about you guys, but this kind of thing makes me really mad. Deliberately creating a rarity that few will ever get their hands on will lead to an inflated secondary market price. Wish this kind of thing were prohibited.

 

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They've done it before and they will do it again. It's all about money. Every official with any connection will get one.

 

I would most certainly have bought a commemorative coin for the 75th anniversary of VE (and VJ) Day. A privy mark does nothing for me, and I don't collect these bullion (or any) coins in any case.

 

I have stated it here before but the mint's marketing department is working overtime to figure out how to boost ever-declining sales. This particular approach has worked in the recent past and they will continue to do it until it stops working.

Early on, flippers will profit selling to those who "missed out" but in the final analysis, nearly all of them will survive in MS-69 or MS-70 slabs and won't be all that special, at least to me.

 

I have no interest in this item. Contrived rarity takes the fun out it, especially when the items get “shipped out the back door” so that a few dealers get to control the market and charge high prices.

If you bought all of the crap the U.S. Mint markets these days you would either be broke or won’t have any money left for anything that is really a collectors’ item. I now limit myself to one silver Proof set a year. I still enjoy those.

 

I quit buying from the mint because of this type of stuff. Collectors work hard to build sets. The mint works hard trying to drive up the cost. I won't play that game.

 

Thoughts? Here's one: don't buy stuff from the mint.

 

I consider these "rarities" as novelty coins or tokens and not really part of a set that has real coins included. If all interested parties don't have reasonable opportunities acquire to these coins, then they are not really coins. The mint started selling large quantities of some coins to dealers and not letting the general public purchase smaller quantities. This is not right.

I was collecting the Presidential dollars. I got a roll of each. I was setting them aside for my many grand children. Not even half way through the set the US Mint raised the minimum order quantity. I had to stop the set. We need to boycott the mint on these novelty coins. But, that will never happen. Well, I'm boycotting these novelties.

 

I must agree to disagree with the vast majority extremely critical of the United States Mint. While those points have merit, and I as well become frustrated when something I desire sells out quickly, I see this as a positive driver which only strengthens the hobby. When looking at all of the available options in any given year, and there are many, the number of limited mintage products is miniscule. Simplifying what this means, suppose you collect Lincoln Cents. Each year/mint mark has different mintages and different numbers of top grades within. Any true collector seeks out the key and semi-key issues, not to mention the rarities such as the 1909s VDB. For the mint to purposely set a low mintage only adds to the thrill of the search, so to speak. Imagine if every coin struck had high mintage figures. Would you still find collecting enjoyable? I think not.

 

The fast "sell-outs" with a new release doesn't necessarily mean that your general collector was a part of the sell-out. When there are limited purchase quantities large dealers will hire collectors to purchase the maximum quantity and the dealer has an agreement to purchase the extra coins. This gives the participating collector his set at a reduced cost. When the 2011 5 piece ASE set came out there was a household limit of 5 sets. I was communicating with a dealer and he had a photo of himself with hundreds of sets in the background. He flipped them fast and made a ton of money while they were hot. And, over time, they do cool off as something else comes along. It's good business but not what collectors should have to deal with.

 

Frankly some rarities have ceased to provide any thrill for me when they are totally or virtually unobtainable. Two cases in point are the 1802 half dime and the 1876-CC Twenty Cent Piece. I have enjoyed collecting the early half dimes and the double dimes for mint years, but those two coins have prevented me from completing those sets.

Now that I am collecting coins of the Roman emperors, I find an ironic situation. I enjoy the history more than anything else. Oddly enough, some of the emperors who issued few coins because the ruled for a short time are often the most expensive. Some of the emperors who ruled for a longer period issued coins that much more interesting and affordable.

In summation, I can get as much or more enjoyment from a coin, token or medal that has a great story surrounding it as I can from an isolated rarity. That sentiment goes double or triple for these modern mint contrived rarities.

 

Makes me think of those magazine ads from places like the Franklin mint pushing their "collectible" plates or dolls. Just another way to make you think you're getting something special.

 

A low mintage for a coin intended to be circulated is not an issue with me. I have no problems with the W quarter. When a low mintage is designed to benefit the big dealers by not only restricting quantity minted but, also, the modify the distribution process to benefit those with more disposable income, I have a big problem.

A good example of modified distribution is the Presidential dollar. Only collectors wanted them. The mint didn't want them. The banks didn't want them. The Fed's didn't want them. So, how can the mint get rid of the most coins? Restrict purchase quantities to large batches. Now only big dealers can buy them. If a collector wants one, go to the dealers. Talk about quid pro quo.

 

Thrill of the search? It's not like you're going get one of these non-circulating coins in your change at 7-11, or happen upon one while coin roll hunting. Any "searching" for a coin like this will be limited to the likes of Ebay or Heritage.

 

For me the search gets very old after a while. It gets worse when I see the item in auction. I hate auctions because I get run up most of the time. I can count on one hand the number of times that I got "a bargain" in an auction, especially the big auctions. I would much rather buy a coin for a dealer directly.

 

Not at all interested. Pass, pass, pass.

 

I lucked up on one coin in my collecting days... the 2016 Gold Dime. I did get it from the mint. I was able to get it on the rebound. Evidently, someone's credit card didn't go though or they returned it because they had an issue with the coin. I did want to get the American Eagle One Ounce Silver Dollar from the San Francisco last year that had a "special finish". It wasn't too bad because there was another coin with the same finish in the joint coin set with Canada. I am really getting a laugh at the crazies that are buying the "Emergency" American Eagle Silver Dollar. I saw last night someone selling them for $300 +. I also like watching Rick hawking his European Hoard with limited XF45 Gold Double Eagles for about three grand each. I guess I'm just not into coin collecting they way some are. I sometimes wonder how valid the amounts are in our "beloved" Red Books. I only got into coin collecting about 10 years ago when my brother and I split my father's "coin collection." We gave the junk stuff to our grandchildren. At 72, I can't get too excited about many things.

 

Consider they have to put their "values" up 6 months before the year starts and those values are supposed to hold for a year... Given those restraints, the Red Book does offer a starting point and relative guide (ie a 1909 s cent is worth more than a 1909 p).

 

You shouldn't buy a Red Book for the values. It is a reference for specific coin details, not much more. If you've been in the game long enough you will observe that it is very difficult to get back what you pay the mint for a coin.

 

The only coins the mint sells directly to the dealers and not to the general public are the bullion silver and gold eagles.

As far as I know the minimum order was always a single roll.

Yes and THAT is one way how dealers get all of those "extra coins". Oh and a lot of collectors do the same thing. Also all of those "major dealers" have a ratline of lesser dealers who are buying and shipping upstream to the "major dealer", and all of those lesser dealer also have groups that at trying to buy them up on the mint website and funnel them to the lesser dealer. And if the coin has a household limit greater than 1, many collectors buy all they can and then sell the extras to dealers and once again they get fed upstream to the "major dealers" So within days of a limited issue being released the major dealer has hundreds or thousands of these limited edition coins flowing into them. It has nothing to do with getting special treatment from the mint.