First Spouse Gold Coins Honored at the White House
Monday November 19, 2007
First Lady Laura Bush hosted a reception today at the White House for U.S. Mint artists and VIPs in honor the First Spouse Gold Coin series, and to launch the latest First Spouse coin, the Dolley Madison issue. U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy presented the First Lady with a set of the eight 2007 First Spouse gold coins, (one of each in Uncirculated and Proof versions) all arranged for display in a large oval frame. Dolley Madison reenactor Lucinda Frailly gave a convincing performance of the beloved First Lady in the form of a speech, where she described saving a famous portrait of George Washington from destruction as the British forces rapidly advanced during the War of 1812. In a nice touch, the very portrait that Dolley Madison rescued (and which is depicted on the reverse of her First Spouse coin) was hanging in the East Room during the ceremony!The Dolley Madison coin went on sale today at 12 noon Eastern Time, but the coin dealers I spoke to were skeptical about the coin enjoying the rapid sellout that the previous First Spouse coins saw. The price, at $509.95 for Uncirculated, and $529.95 for Proof, is roughly $100 higher than it was a couple of months ago when the Jefferson First Spouse coins were sold. If the U.S. Mint's Web site is any indication, the dealers might be right - as of 4:00 pm ET the coins were still not sold out. Another bad sign was the responsiveness of the Mint Web site at 12:15 pm. For previous First Spouse coins, the Web site was basically deadlocked until well after 2:00 pm. Today, no such troubles!
Amidst the excitement at the White House, we got our first look at the final designs for the 2008 First Spouse coins. I think the portraits of the ladies are far more flattering that the year 2007 coins. The women are portrayed as younger and more vital than the careworn, haggard appearance seen on some of the 2007 coins, especially the Abigail Adams coin. You can see all of the new 2008 First Spouse Gold Coin designs in my First Spouse photo gallery, starting with Elizabeth Monroe.
Comments
I’m thinking that you need to look at what the Gold oz. prices are doing when looking at any gold coins or bullion. A month ago 10/22 gold was about $750 oz. it went to about $835 on 11/08 and closed yesterday around $780. The mint (from what I’ve seen) charges about $100 over spot for their gold coins.
Any additional comments or suggestions are welcome as I’ve been trying to figure this one out for a while.
Thanks…
With the roller coaster ride in precious metals lately, i’m sure the mint has to cover both sides of the upside and downside in the large swings in gold prices. The premium to the mint insures no losses for that minting period untill the coins are sold. What happins in the market place for coin prices, or the price of the yellow metal is of no consequence to the mint. Only that they lose no money on production. The price for this spouce coin seems high. The production numbers are so low, i see tremendous gains for this coin ahead. 20,000 gold proof coins. 20,000 UC. That’s the total for mintage for this coin. The nice thing about it this time, there is a limit of one coin per house hold. Giving every one a fair chance at owning this coin. I see “that” as the reason for the long sell out period. Not so much the steep price. How are the gold eagles doing in comparison to the first spouse coins? They usually sell out pretty fast. I’ll have to check that one out also. Just curious. Is it the price? Or the confusion? This seems to be creating.
P.S. I re-checked the mints web site. This one per household sale cap is for one week. According to the mint, as they see how it goes. The cap will be recinded, or remain. After the first week of sales. So that should give every body a good chance at owning one of these. BTW … The one ounce gold eagle proof coin, is no longer available. It could be the price reflects the difference for what the mint is getting for the half ounce gold eagle, which is still available. I believe the purity and gold content is more in the first spouce gold coins also. Another price factor to consider?
I’ve been thinking about this too. Besides the price issue, I think the biggest factor contributing to the lack of a quick sell out of the coin this time around is the 1 coin per household restriction. This limits all the eBay’ers out there from buying whole lots, thereby reducing supply, and making normal coin collectors go out to the secondary market to buy. A recent look at eBay shows ALOT of first spouse gold coins floating around, even the formerly hard to find Washington/Adams coins. My outlook: wait to see what happens next week when the restrictions come off. If we don’t see the coin sell out then that means the eBay’ers have too much inventory on their hands. In addition, if the economy continues as it’s going, my prediction is we’ll start seeing the Mint offer subscriptions on the coin by year end 2008 for the 2009 series. You heard it here first!
I feel that the failed sellout is directly attributed to the approximate 100 per coin increase. I myself was hesitate but I had already committed myself to the previous 6 first spouse coins so discontinuing now would not have been a wise decision. I feel the mint was wrong in raising it that much. Fifty (50) per coin would have been more palatable. As for ebayer’s they have many ways to get around the one per household restriction, just look at the big sellers and how many they list.
Interestingly. The people in the know work for the gubment. Is this a prelude to future gold prices? So even though the bite to own the last of this years series first spouse coin, it may seem like a bargain a year from now. When i purchased my one and only proof platinum eagles back in 04′ the price of platinum was in the $700.00 range. Todays prices are near double that or more. Commoditys are always a gamble. And yes, the price almost stoped me from buying at that time. And now i’m glad i did. I can no longer afford the platinum eagles, i have to spend wisely. Just my own opinion. I think as of now they are still a good buy. And proofs are always a fair investment for collectors. Over the BU coins. I bought what was availble last time out, my first purchase of any BU gold coin. I still think the coin will be importent to collectors in the future. I’m wondering if the half ounce gold eagle is or isn’t a bargain now, since the rise in gold prices? The more i think about it … The more i think it might be.
I went and got a few rolls of these dollar coins from the bank and used them, but I haven’t yet recieved any. doesn’t look like they’re very popular.