I have just returned from my long-awaited and very exciting VIP tour of the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia! I had the incredible good fortune to be able to bring legendary numismatic scholar Tom DeLorey with me, and we took lots of photos. I even got an exclusive interview with U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy (who said he's a regular reader of my site, and he especially enjoys reading the comments people leave because it tells him what's going on with things from the Mint customers' / collectors' perspective. Since he'll likely be checking in soon to see how I covered my interview with him, this would be a great time to leave your positive comments about the Mint.) ;)
It is going to take me a few days to get all of my photos and observations posted, but I did want to share some of the really important things people would be most interested in. I'm going to touch briefly on several topics, and much more detail will follow soon.
The UHR Exhibit at the Philadelphia Mint
Ed Moy ceremonially opened a real nice exhibit in the lobby of the Philadelphia Mint detailing the story of the Ultra-High Relief (UHR) Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. As most collectors are aware, the Mint has just begun taking orders for the historic reproduction of this coin. Most of the exhibit was previously displayed at the ANA World's Fair of Money in Baltimore last summer. (The Philly exhibit has one less display case, the one showing a pile of gold bars, which had to be omitted for security reasons.)
The UHR exhibit will remain at Philadelphia for several months, and then move to Denver.
Back-Ordered UHR Coins
Collectors who placed orders for the UHR on the first day it was on sale have been reporting varied and changing delivery dates for their coins. I found out that the reason for this delay is that the initial orders have significantly exceed the Mint's expectations! They have only struck 29,000 UHRs, but orders have exceeded 43,000! As soon as the next shipment of blanks comes in, the West Point Mint will be busily striking away to fill these orders.
When I got home this evening, I found the same piece of email from the Mint that many others have reported: that my order has been further delayed from Feb. 11 to Feb. 18. (My original ship date was Feb. 6. My order was placed about an hour and fifteen minutes after the coin went on sale at noon.) A question I (and probably many others) would like to have answered is, why are first-day orders being delayed even further if the Mint has 29,000 UHRs on hand? First-day UHR sales were reported to be 28,173. I'll be looking into this tomorrow, because I am just as anxious to get my coin as everyone else is who ordered during that first hour or two.
New Coins are Stunning!
During the press event for the UHR exhibit opening, I got to hold in my hand and closely examine a 2009 UHR. The best word to describe it is "breathtaking!" (Did I actually have tears in my eyes as I beheld this fabulous wonder of modern minting technology? Well... no. But there were a lot of people watching.) ;)
Another new coin I got to hold and examine is the Lincoln Log Cabin penny. This design looks fantastic on the one cent coin! It really works well! I think people are going to be very happy with it, although it's always a big challenge to overcome the familiar. This new penny hits circulation on Feb. 12. (See my article about how to get the new pennies ahead of everyone else.)
The Philadelphia Mint began striking the Puerto Rico Territory quarter today, and I got to see some of the very first coins off the press! They look great, and the reverse seemed to be in a little higher relief than most statehood quarters were, but maybe it was just the lighting and the excitement of plucking a specimen to look at from the release-bucket full of shiny, just-struck coins from brand new dies...
John Mercanti is Appointed Chief Sculptor-Engraver
John Mercanti is a U.S. Mint artist who has been with the Mint since 1974! He is widely regarded as one of the foremost American coin artists of our time. The coins and medals he has designed and/or engraved number in the many dozens. Mercanti was loudly and heartily applauded by the audience of Philadelphia-area coin club members and various news media who witnessed Director Moy acknowledge Mercanti's 35 years of service by honoring him with the long-vacant title of Chief Sculptor-Engraver. Mercanti's previous title was the bizarre government-bureaucracy-type designation, "Supervisory Design and Master Tooling Development Specialist."
Of course, like any true fan of all things numismatic, I had to ask John Mercanti for his autograph on this historic day. =) (I found out later DeLorey also collected his autograph.) Mercanti's promotion was considered by the Mint to be an historic event because the Chief Engraver position has been unfilled for so long. It was long believed that the position would never be awarded again.
More to come during the next few days...
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Comments
New date for delivery 3/6/09
I would just like to add another point of data to the mint’s “uncertainty database” with respect to shipping of the UHR Double Eagle coins. I managed to place my order just 21 minutes after sales began (by being very patient while pages took minutes to come up). Originally my Track Order page stated “in stock and reserved” and my original email confirmation related a ship date of 28JAN. I have since received three backorder notices, slipping the date to 06FEB, 17FEB, and now 18FEB (as of yesterday). My Track Order page has changed at least 5 times, and has never been in sync with the emails, it currently states a ship date of 06FEB, but has shown dates ranging from the original “in stock and reserved” (which has shown up more than once) to 06FEB, 11FEB, 13FEB, 20FEB, 27FEB, and is now back to 06FEB. Clearly, as you have revealed, if the mint had 29000 coins ready when the coins went on sale, and I was one of the first few thousand to place an order (how many orders did they take in the first half-hour?), then all of the date shifting has to do with packing and shipping (perhaps a desire to include the book at time of shipment and not later) and still honor their promise of first-in first-out. If they actually began shipping on 28FEB, and are honoring first-in/first-out, then they are only getting a few hundred coins shipped each day.
C.Hardesty ANA#R3135211
Are the new pennies going to be sold at the Mint? They’re not on the product Schedule?
Mr Moy, please find it in your heart to allow the US Mint to strike these Ultra High Relief coins in triple nine silver so the rest of us collectors with shallow pockets can afford to add one to our collections. Please, pretty please……
The Mint adjusted prices again today as the London fix averaged above $900 for gold last week. The UHRDE price is set at $1289 today with a posted ship date of 20MAR (5 weeks from tommorow). All other gold items also increased in price today, as per the published data (no platinum products are currently available). My Track Order page still says expected ship is tommorow (06FEB) for both the coin and the book, but my last backorder notice says 18FEB for both. We’ll see if anything happens in the next few days or not. This latest price increase is likely to impact sales as collectors wait for prices to drop, now that we know they will if the London fix says so.
C.Hardesty ANA#R3135211
My 08-08-08 Prosperity set has also been on rolling backorder for some time. These coins should have already been struck and just be awaiting shipping, yet my ship date changes every day by dropping back one day. I can understand the hold up on the UHRDE, but what could possibly be the hold up on the Prosperity sets that have been around since August? I had the same issue w/ a frac. GAE. The mint is making some beautiful and innovative products, I just wish they would straighten out their shipping operation. Thanks
I just wonder if anyone received the UHR yet. It seems like the mint has not starting shipping the orders.
My Track Order page has changed once more for the UHRDE. It once again says “in stock and reserved” for the coin, and now says 20FEB as the expected ship for the book. Let’s hope that means that shipping is about to take place! I’ll keep you all posted.
FYI: my order # is 308*****, I think order #s are sequential.
C.Hardesty ANA#R3135211
(Note from the Editor): I edited out most of the order number posted here, due to reader concerns about the poster’s privacy.
Well they changed my date online for the coin to the 20th of feb now but they did send out today my two rolls of kennedy half dollars,sure hope they stick with the feb 20th date and please sell boxes of the new pennies online,2 boxes per person free shipping woohooooo
Got the dreaded email again this morning moving the shipping date to Feb 21st. And it looks like they charged me for shipping for the rolls of halves i ordered, will they hit me for shipping twice ? Also i sure hope the boxes they made for the ultra high relief were made in america.
My new ship date is 3/13/09 for the UHR
Hardesty you really shouldn’t have posted that info. I won’t say how, but people could cancel your order and view all of your info using that post. I would change it if there is any way or if a moderator could.
Danny,
Thank you for posting your concerns about Hardesty’s privacy. I have redacted most of the order number, and will leave it shielded unless I get confirmation from Hardesty that she would want it restored. My edit might take a little while to show up.
I sincerely appreciate your vigilance on behalf of our entire community.
Susan Headley
About.com Guide to Coins
Thank you all for your concern, advice, and assitance. Point taken. My page still says “in stock and reserved” for the coin and the book once again (as of this morning) says 06FEB for expected ship (but no new emails from the mint). That is a pretty big hole the mint fill sometime soon, espcially with order numbers being handed out in sequence (my history goes back to JULY 2000 and the numbers increase steadily from the 4 million range to todays 30 million range).
C.Hardesty
My new ship date for the UHR is 3/13/09 but the rest of my order was shipped yesterday 02/05/09 this like my 4th or 5th change of ship date.
Reply to: (4) kimokeo,
I woundn’t think they will strike UHR in .999 silver, as stated by the law they can only strike 1 ounce gold and no fractional meaning no 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 ounce.
But they planing to make a UHR, 1 ounce palladium version on 2010. cheaper then gold. and will be the 1st time they will issue palladuim if ever get aprove.
MAX
I generally stick up for the Mint but I too am frustrated with the apparent ball-dropping with regards to the UHR shipping delays. Same story… ordered on the first day… email alerts never syncing up with my Mint tracking page. Until today – the day my coin was “supposed” to ship I get an alert (and the tracking page) telling the date is being pushed out a whole month!
Am I over-estimating the size of the Fulfillment Center operation? 29,000 coins isn’t “small change” but should this really tax their distribution capabilities to this degree. Does anyone know how many coins they typically ship on a weekly basis?
Dave
Well, there was a stampead on the day the coin went on sale. I don’t know why when there going to be minted for the entire year. A limit of one coin per household. The mad dash to get inline may have overwhelmed their ordering systems. Ya think?!
coiny
The number I saw stated that the Fulfillment Center ships 2.8 million packages a year – and this number is a couple years old. This equals over 53,000 per week. If these numbers are right, the UHRs might be stressing the system some but overwhelming it to the point where shipments of the firsts in line are delayed for over a month???
As for the stampede, well, Americans want everything now. But also, I know the Mint “intends” to take orders for the full calendar year but it also stated that production of the UHRs is subject to the availability of gold blanks. So will they stop taking orders early?…
The good news from an investment perspective is that I’m sure these delays will chase away some potential purchasers – lowering the mintage total. If demand still outpaces supply when they halt production… we know which way the value of the coin will go in the secondary market. I’ll be holding onto mine though. I want the coin for its beauty.
My calculations, based on my order numbers for orders placed since July of 2000 (57 data points), and assuming that order #1 occured on 01JAN1999 (which seems resonable) indicate that the mint averaged ~2.8 million orders a year through mid 2004 and has averaged ~3.2 million orders a year since then (I love math!). That is a long term average of just under 6 orders a minute, about 8500 orders a day. A one day hit of an additional 30000 orders is big, but not massive. What was massive was the ordering in the first couple of hours of availability of the UHRDE, which reached ~200 orders a minute, 33 times the long term average.
There are clear bumps in the graph in 2001 (the buffalo dollar) and 2003 (the wildlife medals, Wright Brothers & Lewis and Clark dollars). The increase in order rate since mid 2004 is clear on the graph, there is a definite change in the slope of the line (overall, the graph is very linear, almost a straight line). I don’t have an explanation for the increase since 2004, I just know it occured.
It is important to note that I am looking at order numbers over time and have no indication of what or how many are included in each order. Three million orders a year sounds like a lot, but I am sure that compared to Amazon.com, it is noise. I think Amazon.com does 30 million orders at Christmas each year (the entire 10 year mint history in a few months).
My credit card was charged for the coin this morning… game on!
Mine too! That should mean they will ship today.
Front page news. News flash. Yesterday scientists were baffeld by the sudden rise in oxygen levels world wide. Today: They are just as baffeld about the sudden rise in CO2 levels. As they studied this further, they found it was from a collective world wide sigh of relief. As the Unite States Mint began to ship their star of coins. The UHR Double Eagle coin.
Phewwwww
Just kidding!
coiny
Coiny, let’s hope it is really true that shipping has in fact begun before we all suffocate. My CC was charged Monday, but I have no evidence that my coin has shipped. The website still says “in stock and reserved” for both coin and book. I may actually stop holding my breath and checking to see if every noise I hear from outside is the delivery man with my prize in hand. Mr. Foy needs to take five minutes out of his schedule and tell us all what is going on, even if he thinks it will make the mint loose some of its luster. Even MS61, with all of its dings and flaws is better than “cleaned and polished”.
Well, something is up. The mint has just taken the order tracking page off line. It just says “this feature is temporarily unavailable”. I still have no indication that my order has shipped. My credit card still shows the mint charge on Monday for the UHRDE and shipping.
The Lincoln dollars must be selling well, the UNC version just had its ship date pushed to April 1st like the proof did this morning.
Has anyone else whose CC has been charged received any more information about delivery of the UHRDE? CC charging always used to mean that the product shipped that day, but that does not seem to be the case this time.
I am the same status as others here, ordered first hour (could not get through before), multiple ship dates so far, now 2/20 “In Stock and Reserved”. Called Mint 800#, got nowhere, asked if in stock and reserved why don’t you ship it, no straight answer, gave up.
I agree with your comment probably problem with other parts and pieces in package or in fullfillment contractor change, whatever it is certainly big foulup
Talk about a snafu? It has to be a communications problem between mint, and the fullfilment center. Dosen’t the lowest bidder get the job? If that is the case, it has nothing to do with the mint and ALL to do with the fullfilment center. I don’t think the mint should take the heat for a royal screw up that was out of their control. May be time to go shopping for a new fullfilment center. Maybe charge this one for the exspensis incurd.
coiny
Hmm, seems to be something really going wrong at the mint, order tracking still down, now Tuesday Feb.17 late pm. Anybody have any more input different from above?
Reply to (15) Max:
There is no law that specifically authorizes the UHR coin – Congress tried passing one, but was unsuccessful.
Instead, the Mint is relying on language in Title 31, Subsection 5112 (i) to mint the UHR coin. This law was passed in 1992 as part of the 1995-6 Olympic Commem program. It allows the Mint to coin any gold coin in any denomination, size, fineness, or weight the Treasury Secretary sees fit. This same law is what allowed for Fractional Buffalo gold coins.
The Mint has no authority at this time to produce any coin in palladium, nor does it have authority to produce any silver bullion coin except the Silver Eagle.
Interestingly, it does not appear that the Mint has any authority to coin silver proofs of dimes or half dollar, even though those are included in annual silver proof sets each year.
Don,t get excited about charge on credit card.Funds will be released after a few days.This is a test of available funds done by Mint.Mint has allways done this.
Eddie. I have been purchasing from the mint for over a decade and the mint has never put a charge on my CC until the day the product shipped and it stayed there. There is no benifit whatsoever to placing a hold and then letting it expire. That act in no way makes sure that funds will be available. All I have to do is watch my CC online, wait for the mint hold to expire, pull the rest of my credid (or cancel the card) and wait for the mint to ship and then try to charge my card again. This action is totally bogus, it is not the right way to do things. No one should be placing a hold on my credit unless they are actually going to follow through. Intentionally placing a hold that you intend to let expire is totally inappropriate.