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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;krispy, post: 1317939, member: 19065&quot;]The OP presents a very weak argument that is incredibly shortsighted and ill considered for terminating the ATB program. It&#039;s an argument that&#039;s equally confused about a program with several years left to run and too little of a performance record yet to even evaluate whether the Mint should terminate a program that has already secured the coin legislation to fulfill representation of all the parks selected to be in the program.</p><p><br /></p><p>As collectors, customers of the ATB products should be pleased to have the opportunity to buy either bullion or numismatic versions of the 5 oz. coins currently showing slower sales. With less attention to the program, there is a potential for lower mintage coins, opening the possibility for key and semi key dates, which sets the stage for potential increased numismatic/collector value later. There is also the other product line up available from the Mint in ATB quarters, rolls, bags, silver proof sets, etc. that meets the demands and budgets of collectors. These products have sustained sales, and there have been no issues with their release.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The OPs #1: </b>While the 2010 bullion 5 oz. ATB coins release appeared flawed, demand for the coins was enormous and sales were swift. There have not been problems with the 2011 5 oz. ATB coins, so it was an isolated problem. The 2010 bullion ATB release was flawed due to the APs who were unprepared for direct sales to the collecting public. Once the APs recognized the demand, they also attempted to sell the products for more than they were allowed and, in some instances apparently, sold selectively to their existing customer base. The APs were unprepared for the Mint&#039;s sales intervention and unprepared for the deluge of collector-customer interest that this new coin release caused. The APs have since figured out their sales process for selling these coins and it remains up to the customers now if they want to buy these coins in this fashion from APs according to their terms. This &#039;fiasco&#039; only pertained to sales of the bullion version and was unrelated to the collector products directly sold to collectors from the Mint.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The OPs #2</b> fails to make any point to support terminating the ATB program. If it were so strong of a reason to terminate the new coin program, then you should also support eliminating all denominated bullion products. Why? Because the intrinsic value does not match that of the denomination given on the coin. A 5 oz. piece of silver with 0.25¢ denomination is no different than an ASE with $1 or a 1 oz. AGE with $50, amongst others. Denominated bullion sells to collectors and investors, but without it, it&#039;s a &#039;medal&#039; and sales crash (re: the Mint&#039;s Gold Arts medals and the recent sluggish 9/11 sales.) The low denomination is also in place to prevent people from spending these as currency. Simply, no one is going to try to spend 5 oz. of silver for 0.25¢ and for the slimmest percentage of those who would, it wouldn&#039;t be enough to terminate the program, only enough to question the person trying to sell/spend the item for that amount.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The OPs #3</b> is entirely subjective and cannot be argued to terminate the program.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The OPs #4</b> is quite confused. Collectors don&#039;t need circulating versions of coins to tell them about other, similar collectible products, from the Mint. Collectors know of the range of products from the online catalog (web site) and the U.S. Mint&#039;s direct mail catalog. Bullion investors enjoy that the Mint offers a lower premium product that&#039;s in an easier format (shape) for buying/storing larger quantities of silver. The 5 oz. size is more convenient to store 5 ounces of silver than individual 1 oz. bullion. For the non-collecting public to discover Parks quarters in circulation and seek other products they have no interest in or little idea may exist, it&#039;s going to take more than these coins to point them towards and convince them to buy 5 oz. pieces of silver with the same designs. The fact that you cannot find as many ATB coins in circulation as you would like doesn&#039;t mean they don&#039;t exist. Rather it means the coins are minted and sitting in supply rooms at the Fed waiting to ship them to banks. Those that have been sent out to banks and made it into circulation are spread thin right now, and/or they ARE effectively being collected (removed from circulation) indicating a healthier collector market of circulating ATB coins that the OP is able to recognize.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The OPs #5</b> is telling about personal collecting budgets and little else. People who were able to afford and managed to navigate the AP mess to purchase the 2010 bullion ATB coins were required to buy all 5 designs at once. That was generally around $1100-ish per 5-coin set. Many (they sold out) not only bought them in 5-coin sets, buy also bought them from each AIP of which some 8 or 9 were selling them. Clearly they could afford the cost of buying one coin each of the bullion and one coin each of the numismatic ATB coins if they so desired, and many surpassed the OPs $2000 figure in the first few months of the bullion coins release. </p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, the ATB program should be a serious financial decision a collector should make, but that is true of anything you buy. Comparatively, the 1 oz. Proof AGE costs as much as obtaining all the bullion and numismatic ATB 5 oz. coins together. The platinum Eagles are also a large financial commitment with small mintages and even fewer collectors buying them. However, the costs to collect any of these coins is not going to terminate any of these programs as the OP reasons might be good enough to terminate the new ATB program. These products are priced an fluctuate with the spot metals price. The ATB coins are near their lowest prices since release and that should catch peoples attention. Fortunately it doesn&#039;t occur to every collector and helps to make buying opportunities now for those who do, and those who will seek to profit later from those who don&#039;t.</p><p><u><br /></u></p><p><u>When no one want&#039;s something, buy into it.</u>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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