The U.S. Mint will begin selling three new types of collector sets this November. All three of these sets are new product offering types for the Mint, although all of the coins available in the sets can be obtained in other ways. Here's what's planned:
2010 America the Beautiful Quarters Three-Coin SetTM - These sets will consist of two Uncirculated coins, one from each Mint that strikes circulating coinage (Philadelphia and Denver), and one Proof coin struck at San Francisco. The Hot Springs Quarter will be the first offered in this new set, with the remaining 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters being offered in this format in early 2011. The coins will be mounted in a plastic card themed to the topic of the current Quarter, and the set will cost $13.95.
2010 America the Beautiful Quarters Circulating Coin SetTM - This ten-coin set will contain one coin from each of the two circulation-quality minting facilities, of the five America the Beautiful Quarter designs issued in 2010. The coins will be in packaging that allows them to be easily removed and placed in collectors' albums. The set will sell for $9.95.
2010 America the Beautiful Quarters Uncirculated Coin SetTM -This is the same as the set above, except the coins are Uncirculated quality rather than circulating quality. "Uncirculated" is the confusing term the U.S. Mint persists in using to describe coins that many other major world mints call "Specimen", a finish similar to what the U.S. Mint itself sometimes calls "Burnished." (The term "uncirculated" has been used by the collecting community for decades to mean a circulating-quality coin that never circulated.) This ten-coin set will sell for $21.95.
Although all three of these offerings are new types of products, I don't recommend investing in any of them. You can get all of the coins in the first and third sets as part of the standard annual Uncirculated and Proof Set offerings from the U.S. Mint, and the coins in the second set can be acquired from your local bank at face value.
For some tips on which U.S. Mint sets are winners over the long run, see my article about which mint sets make the best investments (and why).
Comments
Good luck in any of you in obtaining ANY new America the beautiful quarter rolls from your friendly neighborhood bank! Your best bet is to get them directly from the U.S. Mint.
What about the 2010 PROOF AMERICAN EAGLE that is supposed to be out in the middle of November
The proof SAE is still scheduled to be available and goes on sale at 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time on Friday, November 19. I agree that the Circulating Coin Set may be a good way to get the quarters to complete sets since there is no guarantee that the coins will be readily available in all parts of the country. The set does bring into question the mint’s statement that it will be offering annual sets very early in the year starting next year. If they offer this set early, they will be circumventing release ceremonies, so I would guess that the circulating coin set will continue to only be offered late in each year, after all five quarters have been officially released. Also, there has been talk of no longer offering satin finish coins, which brings into question the availability of the uncirculated sets. Without the satin finish, I do not know how we will be able to tell the difference between uncirculated coins and high grade circulating coins that have not circulated. Either uncirculated coins will have to be discontinued or the mint will have to mark the coins in some way to differentiate them. If they were to simply change the uncirculated coins to a brilliant finish, they would play havoc on the third party grading system since it would not be possible to tell an uncirculated coin from a very high grade circulation strike coin, the latter being of much higher value because of condition rarity.
What Robert said. I have only seen five 2010 quarters in bank rolled quarters and none my family has seen any in change. I’ve only seen a dozen or so 2009’s. Banks don’t have them, can’t get them, and I get the impression that they are glad not to have to mess with statehood quarters any more. I can only find one bank that orders the president dollars and then only because of customer demand and because they can order and actually receive them.
As far as ordering premium (37.5 cents each in the 100 quantity) priced ATB quarters form the Mint, a high percentage are unfit quality for collectors. My friends and collectors have no problem paying two times face value to get them from me, but I’ll only be able to get face value out of about 10% of them.
It will be interesting to see what the quality level of the coins that the mint puts in the circulating coin sets is. They should be at least slightly better than coins from rolls just because of a little less coin to coin contact from striking to consumer, but we shall see. Before 2005, when uncirculated sets were made from uncirculated exampes of circulation strike coins, some years were really good and some years were really bad.
Hi, my name is Jose and I do digital work for the US Mint. Thank you for mentioning the America the Beautiful Quarters! I thought you might be interested to know that the Mount Hood National Forest quarter launch event is Wednesday, November 17, 2010, at 10:30 am (PT), World Forestry Center, 4033 SW Canyon Road, Portland, OR 97221. The day before, November 16th, there will be a coin forum from 5:30-6:30 at the same location.
Interesting to see how people are reacting to the new non satin mint. Thanks.