Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Conder101, post: 1086873, member: 66"]No they are not paid for by US citizens tax money.  The US Mint does not get any appropriations from Congress, it is self funding and in fact generates money for the general fund. As to why they do not circulate for face value....back in the 90's the amount of halves requested by banks had be dropping for some time and the flow of halves was mostly from the banks to the Fed.  In 2001 the Fed decided they had enough half dollars on have to supply the demands of commerce for the foreseeable future and decided not to release the 2001 coins that had been struck and that they were not going to order any more halves from the mint until further notice.  In 2002 the mint was going to continue to make halves just for the mint and Proof sets but enough requests for halves were coming in from collectors that they decided to try selling roll sets and small bags directly to the collectors at a premium over face value (roughly double face.).  It went over well enough that they eventually got the 2001 halves back from the Fed and began selling those as well and did so for years.  Ever since then they have made a few million coin each year for direct sale to collectors, but none of thse coins have been released for circulation.  Some get into circulation because the collectors but the coins, search them, and then take the rejects to the bank.  And yes they do lose money on them doing that.[/QUOTE]