BUYING COINS & COLLECTIBLES FROM THE US MINT

By Art Arbutine

Updated,  September, 2006: I have not read this for many years. It reflects my typical coin dealer bias against the US Mint.  Since this was written the US Mint has dramatically raised the premium on regular proof sets. With the statehood quarters included the collector pays $21.95 for $2.41 in coins. However, the good news is that some sets have increased dramatically. For example the regular 1999 proof set sells for around $70 and the 1999 silver proof sets sell for about $385. Of course, not all have done that great. There are still many that are selling way below issue price. The inclusion of the state quarters in the yearly proof and mint sets have created more interest.

Buying from the mint is still a hit and miss proposition, mostly a miss. The earlier modern commemorative dollars are now trading way below issue price, just a little above the silver content, but some of the more recent most popular dollars have gone way up, especially the 1996 uncirculated D mint Olympic dollars (everyone bought the proofs), and the Buffalo and Law Enforcement among a few others.

US MINT PRODUCTS: The United States Mint annually issues proof sets, mint sets and commemorative silver and gold coins. The US Mint maintains a huge list of regular buyers of Mint products. A customer on the list will receive the handy order forms for each new Mint product. Many people figure if it is the US Mint and they are paying the issue price, they can't go very far wrong, and automatically buy five of each, for no reason other than it's what they do every year. The truth is that the resale value of most Mintproducts is far less than the issue price. The reason is that the Mint charges excessive prices for their products.

Take the US proof set for example: It contains 91 cents worth of coins. These are not unique coins. Except for the S mint mark and the proof condition they are the same as the coins currently in circulation. Why is the issue price $12.50... for 91 cents worth of coin of the realm? The surcharge (price over the face value) is excessive on most all issues. Most coin dealers and collectors feel that the Mint is just plain greedy.

The US Mint is not to be trusted either. They often announce they will issuea certain amount of coins and then change their mind. A good example is the 1975-76 Bicentennial proof and mint sets. The Mint said they said they would take orders and established a cutoff date. They minted about 10 million sets in anticipation of great demand. When they sold only about 750,000 at the cutoff point, they reneged, and continued to sell the remaining nine million plus sets for many years until they were all sold out.

Many older people get in the habit of buying Mint products. Most are not really coin collectors but purchase most issues with the idea of eventually giving them to grandchildren and heirs. The truth here is that the people who get grandpa's mint, proof, and commemorative coins, take them to their local coin shop and sell them. Most young kids are not into numismatic items, cashing in any coins they get. They use the money to buy video games, computers and modern playthings. (

I'm not saying collectors should avoid modern commemoratives. In fact, if you buy them on the secondary market (not from the Mint) they are a good deal and will probably have a lot of collector's value some day. The recently issued commemorative silver dollars are extraordinarily beautiful and have relatively low mintages. Right now the mint is issuing so many different things, so often, that it has turned many collectors off, and the prices of these modern commemoratives are so low that this is a good time for collectors to be buying. Almost every recent Mint issue is available at your local coin shop at prices lower than the Mint issued price.

As intelligent, professional coin dealers, we buy none of the Mint issues except what we will need for retail sales during the year, mostly mint sets, proof sets and Eagle bullion coins, the latter not available directly from the Mint. We purchase all other issues on the secondary market, letting someone else "take the first hit".

Please call 888 436-6463 or E-Mail me if you have any comments about this column.