Boy Scout coin is sold out. www.coinnews.net http://www.coinnews.net/2010/08/05/2010-boy-scouts-silver-dollars-sold-out/
petered out... So has the hype that this was another great US Mint modern silver commemorative coin to flip coin for a profit!
I agree that this coin came with a lot of hype and then fell flat much to do with the design issues (although IMO the reverse is awesome). You never know what the future holds as far as interest and collectibility. I am happy to just have one uncirculated and one proof in my collection. TC
Obviously, the coin was a huge success : "The proof coins launched on March 23, 2010, along with their uncirculated counterparts, to overwhelming demand. In fact, ordering in the first few hours was so intense that the U.S. Mint’s online store and telephone systems experienced significant issues reminiscent of the troubles that occurred during last year’s Lincoln Coin and Chronicles Set release. 200,000 Boy Scout Silver Dollars were sold during the first four days of their release, accounting for well over half of the maximum 350,000 mintage allowed by law."
Where's that quote from? At any rate this is just boasting for the purpose of marketing and the Mint always sells out of commemorative coins, because once the public demand falls off and the next year rolls around, they liquidate unsold bullion coins through the bullion dealer network, forcing them to take orders of these coins along with orders for the next years bullion coins. The success of the BSA may take a few generations to be a popular collectible amongst numismatic collectors and by then it may be the toners only that are desired, for instance. What I was talking about in terms 'success' (not a success) was based on those people hyping the ability for this coin to demand an instant numismatic premium above retail issue price, selling to a clamouring group of non-numismatic collectors with ties to the BSA. It just hasn't proven to be this sort of success at all.
No they don't. and they don't dump them on the bullion dealers either. The number authorized for each issue has also been declining as well.
I just hope people are buying the coins becuase they like them and not for a long term investment. Like most of the modern commems, they would not make a good long term investment, especially if they are a sell out. I think the exeption might be if it were a very quick sellout or a very low mintage. Even the Franklin commems that sold out quick and jumped in price out of the gates fell to release prices after a year. If anybody recieved a BSA commem a photo would be great.
Conder, I'd like to see some of your proof to the contrary. These are not unlikely scenarios and as much has been written and suggested about Mint inventories and final sales in numismatic media channels. The Mint certainly have required bullion dealers to take older inventory with incoming orders of new inventory in the past. It was the case when the allocation program was in effect. Incoming orders for new gold/silver Eagles, for instance, 2010 orders required a percentage of each order to be taken in the previous year's (2009) issued coins until the inventory was depleted. Many bullion retail dealers sell BU commems at close to spot, items not considered grade worth or in a condition to sell with a numismatic premium. These returned/damaged/lower quality coins can be acquired from the Mint through the bullion dealer network selling reduce back stock to retail dealers. In this capacity the Mint does sell out of all the coins they've minted which can be liquidated through the bullion dealer network. 350,000 units for the BSA is a decline? I think not. And how do you compare it to prove there's a continuing decline in mintages? It's not like they issue the same commemorative coin year after year like the Eagle program with mintages that differ one year from the next for direct comparison. Perhaps bullion demand and the Mint's excuse of a problem sourcing proof planchets could be cited as a drain on higher mintage capability with regards to commemoratives mintage decline. At any rate each commemorative has it's own legislation authorizing it to be minted, so the number could be voted higher or lower based on different demographics the coin appeals to through greater lobbying efforts and other supply issues, et al.
Bullion YES (to the distributors) Commemoratives No. And the reason bullion retail dealers are selling the commems for close to bullion is because they have purchased them over the counter at close to bullion as well Because that is all a lot of them are worth. And even if the mint sells all the coins they have MINTED that does not mean a "sell out" unless they have minted as many as were authorized. For many issues that is not the case. As for 350,000 being a decline, they used to authorize 2 million coins and they couldn't sell out The authorizd mintages have been dropping and dropping 1.5 million, 1 million, 750,000, 500,000 and a fair number of those issues didn't sell out Now we are down to 350,000 for both unc and proof combined and it still took over 4 months to sell out (Over 200,000 in four days then four months to sell the next 100,000 and that for a program that was supposed to have a high demand) Yes I would call that a decline.
So you are aware of the way the bullion inventory is liquidated. But you have not provided your contrary reasons why commemorative coins do not go out through bullion dealer network channels. Yes, the bullion retail dealers can acquire those coins over the counter and sell them for what they do, near spot, but that is not their only source for acquiring this inventory to sell to customers. 350,000 BSA MINTED were also sold out (245,000/105,000). That 350,000 'authorized and minted' is not a decline from 2 million 'authorized' but not all 2M being minted. The commemorative coin mintages are not reflective of a decline because those writing the legislation and lobbying for it have simply recognized the size of the market willing to buy over priced collectible bullion and are no longer in a position to order up an excess amount to cover the potential size of market who demands these products but falls far short of 2M or fewer buyers consuming 2M units. Years of writing the legislation and budgetary constraints, limited access to production materials and competition with other minted products and competition with facilities busy with business strike coins all conspire to limit the amount of commemorative coins that can be 'authorized and minted'. The lower the number the easier it is to sell out and the more successful the Mint's sales record looks, which goes a long way to promote themselves in marketing efforts.
