Too much money and too much paperwork for my taste. It was a lame attempt by the Mint, in my opinion, to make this commem more interesting but I think it will backfire.
Just about anything they package costs too much in relation to the coin. BUT SOMETIMES, those items rocket in price. Why??? I don't know, but it seems to be when they have a low total production and it is quickly unavailable. The fear of not having the item in the collection is too much and the price escalates. The same people that want to purchase unopened quarter roll boxes, or want the Coin and Currency Sets want these items and they want them NOW. The US Mint is getting pretty wise to this, and they are cutting out the middle man's profit margin. If they could just manage to coordinate production with orders and keep their website up consistently.
The Gift that Keeps on Giving Well, considering that lawyers cost, this $60 item is a perfect gift for the attorney, litigator, barrister, solicitor, ambulance chaser, shyster, or mouthpiece in your life. As a gift from one lawyer to another, it is ideal. Give it to a judge! I wish I had $300 for five of them. (I wish I had $60 for one, actually ...) We think of ourselves, perhaps not unnaturally, and numismatics certainly rewards self-interested problem solving, i.e, greed, and giving "coins" to other people is usually a big waste, since they do not appreciate grading or mintage figures or Greysheet Bid, but something like this is an ideal gift, and that is true of many of the recent Mint issues. If you think they will never get their money's worth out of the gift, you are not thinking in the right terms of what a gift is. Besides, what is the market for used birthday cards? How long can flowers possibly last?
