2019 Moon Landing Coins - FINALLY

Yup, “standard” commem halves went >$20 last year. The issue is there are THREE divisions at the U.S. Mint. NONE OF THEM is allowed to subsidize any other. 1) Circulating. 2) Bullion. 3) Numismatic.

What this means is the lower sales drop, the higher prices will rise. Commem half sales units have dropped precipitously, ergo, price increases. So, are you a collector, or just a cheapskate?

BTW, PROOF bullion isn’t in the bullion division. It’s in the numismatic. 5 ounce ATB pucks come from two different divisions, but the Apollo puck is strictly numismatic.

The Hall of Fame clad half won the 2015 Coin of the Year due to the tremendous difficulty of a clad curved coin. Reject rates were VERY high compared to normal coins.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Um... both?

I do kind of wonder, though, how far mintages/sales will fall under this breakthrough "the less popular they get, the more we'll raise their prices" strategy. Will we see the clad halves cost more than the silver dollars? The $5 golds?

 

Why not? If the rarity is there. Clad commem halves unit sales are getting REALLY low. These pups are going to be as scarce as some of the tougher classic commems are.

 

The US Mint has staff that they have to pay.
In order to meet Payroll (this is for designers, staff at the machines, etc) they have to be able to generate the Revenue to match Expenditures. Of course I think they've been profitable and sending Profits to the Fed.

But there's an easy answer. If you don't like their price, then don't buy. That will be an individual statement to the Mint that their prices are too high. Of course, someone else may just buy it so it may be a ghost statement.

 

No profits to the Fed. General fund.

 

The silver dollar quality was lower than the halfs was.

Because the prices are so out of line for what they are directly from the mint. Many other countries produce the same type things for a fraction of the price with more detail. Then combine the high price with the fact that poor designs have been picked or the same design across several versions, lack luster topics and it's not hard to see why the sales have been plummeting.

Pricing is completely out of line when I could order 3 50p coins from England including paying for international shipping cheaper than I can order 2 commemerative halfs from the mint.

I'm not buying this whole engineering or cost argument at all.

 

Then why?

 

Some conspiracy screed, most likely. They warm the hearts of the perpetually dim witted.

 

You read my mind.

 

Because they think they can. Or because they don't want to deal with them and price them for a minimal amount of work. It's not rocket science

 

So back on the library shelf it goes. What did I tell you?^^ Government bureaus don’t “think” or make the rules. They have rules imposed ON THEM! The Mint can’t DECIDE anything.

British 50p commems all have circulating versions to share costs. Different animal completely.

 

Thanks for dusting it off.

 

So...in a word..."because".

 

Believe what you guys want I don't care. More expensive countries have already shown they can make a profit on similar products at half the price. So at best you're just arguing the US mint is an incompetent wasteful organization which makes them look worse than just trying to gouge people

 

Now that makes sense.

 

NO SHARED COSTS ACROSS DIVISIONS, UNLIKE THE U. K., which issues circulating versions too!!!! And the U.S. Mint cannot decide to do that, only Congress can.

 

Tne United States Mint has LESS independent decision making authority than any other world mint of substance. Congress wants ALL COSTS heaped upon the collectors, and NONE to the public at large.

 

Move to the UK, Australia or Canada. Then you'll buy coins at the prices you want. Your salary and other expenses may then seem out of whack ...

 

Argument holds 0 weight considering the UK is MUCH more expensive. But that's fine I'm done with this topic you guys win, completely reasonable US mint prices from an efficient well run organization producing top quality intricate designs

 

Yeahhhhh, you might need to choose a lane.

Just so everyone knows, the Mint didn't "choose" these prices. There is a spreadsheet and they plug in the bullion rates at a fixed number of days before issue, and the prices result. For clad, expect even flat ones to STAY above $20 long term. It's just the full-in unsubsidized costs, and NOT just of the actual coining - EVERYTHING, including salaries of the design staff, coin show staff, marketing people, all of it. It's a newish mandate. COVER ALL COSTS. Even the fact that curved capsules cost more, including whole new molds that have only been used once to date, gets figured into the retail price. Even the proportion of floor space for numismatic strikes gets figured in.

When clad halves were selling for <$20, they were being subsidized by other work.