Secondary market prices for the sold-out 2001 American Buffalo silver dollars continue to heat up the numismatic market at multiples of their issue price, despite the fact that the United States Mint has shipped few of the coins yet.
Only a handful of the more than 250 listings of Buffalo silver dollar products being offered on the eBay Internet auction site actually claim to have the product in hand, with all of the latter being single Proof 2001-P American Buffalo dollars. A check with Coin World advertisers who ordered the commemorative coins bears out that shipping pattern.
A number of the eBay listings claim they have gotten confirmation of their orders through the U.S. Mint, especially the American Buffalo Coinage and Currency sets, even though the Mint reduced the size of orders after confirmations were rendered. Telephone, fax and mail sales began June 7, but when Internet sales over the Mint's Web site started four days later, the Mint decided to limit the number of the sets per order to no more than 20. This included orders already placed and confirmed over the first four days of sales.
The Coinage and Currency sets were pushing the $200 level on eBay, followed by the two-coin set at a maximum of $150 per set, the Proof dollars topping $90 and the Uncirculated coins exceeding the $60 point. The options, which sold out during the Mint's pre-issue discount period, were offered originally by the Mint for $54.95 for the Coinage and Currency set, $59.95 for the two-coin set, $33 for the single Proof dollar and $30 for the single Uncirculated dollar.
Dealers awaiting shipment of the coin options they ordered told Coin World they are waiting to have the product in their possession before establishing any price levels.
Mint spokesman Michael White said July 6 that orders for the Coinage and Currency sets, single Proof and Uncirculated dollars and two-coin sets were still being reconciled. The Mint reported the entire maximum authorized mintage of 500,000 coins was exhausted June 21. Despite the sell-out, the totals for the latest date for which the Mint provided sales figures, June 19, add up to only 427,500 coins.
The June accounting suggests sales of 123,800 single Proof dollars, 49,100 of the single Uncirculated dollars, 102,300 of the two-coin sets and the 50,000 Coinage and Currency sets.
Although the Proof dollars usually reign supreme with collectors, many believe the single Uncirculated 2001-D American Buffalo dollar will be the sleeper, since the number available individually without breaking up either a two-coin set or one of the 50,000 Coinage and Currency sets is a third of the single Proof mintage.
Dennis Steinmetz of Steinmetz Coins & Currency in Lancaster, Pa., said he had not yet received any of the American Buffalo dollar options he had ordered, and in fact had to obtain some of the Proof dollars received by another dealer to satisfy some of his obligations. He said he pre-sold some of the coins at specific levels, knowing the possibility the Mint could still further restrict the number of coins per order.
Steinmetz said it was his understanding a lot of the material has been pre-sold into the market, which could be either boon or bane for the individual seller depending on when he finally gets the material, and if his entire order is filled. Steinmetz said he has received a lot of calls for the Coinage and Currency set, but has been hesitant about quoting prices until the product is actually received.
While the general public has been historically bored with the Uncirculated options, Steinmetz believes the advanced collectors understand the future potential of that version.
Thomas K. DeLorey from Harlan J. Berk Ltd. in Chicago, said the firm had not received any of each of the four options it had ordered. He's also of the belief the single Uncirculated dollar will be the option to watch closely in the secondary market because of the small number of coins available when compared against the Proofs. He said he has not taken orders for the product the company expects to receive from the Mint, learning early that you "don't sell what you don't have."
Andrew Cooper of Upstate Coins & Collectibles, Manlius, N.Y., is still waiting to receive the coins he ordered. Cooper said he considered it a dangerous practice of pre-selling product when the seller has no guarantee if and when the product will be delivered.
A spokesman for Ken Pines' Coast to Coast Coins in Columbia, Md., said the firm had not yet received any of the American Buffalo dollars as of July 6 and wasn't accepting orders until the product is received so secondary market prices can be established.
A spokeswoman for Kirk Kelly's The Coin Depot in Greenville, S.C., said the company is taking want lists for the American Buffalo silver dollar options, but is not setting prices on each of the options yet. The company is waiting until the material is shipped and received in-house.
Paul Sims from the Richmond, Va., coin company that bears his name, said the company has received numerous phone calls for the American Buffalo dollars, but is not taking names and orders yet until product has been delivered by the Mint.
"Until we know when and how many, we're not quoting any prices," Sims said. "If you got them and have them in hand, that's one thing. To sell them and take someone's money without having them, we don't do that.
"We're still waiting for the Mint to deliver [2001] Proof silver [American] Eagles and bags of Sacagawea dollars we ordered months ago for which they charged our accounts.
"Even with verbal assurances from more than one person that the orders will go out promptly, we no longer believe anything they tell us. We always add some time [concerning delivery] to what the Mint tells us. Nothing what they've told us in the last 45 days has turned out to be true."
The Coinage and Currency sets contain the Uncirculated 2001-D dollar, struck at the Denver Mint; a "replica" note printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing of the Series 1899 $5 silver certificate featuring Chief Running Antelope of the Hunkpapa Sioux on the face; and two stamps related to the coin's obverse and reverse designs - a 10-cent stamp issued from the 1987 Great American Series featuring Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux, and a 21-cent Bison stamp issued in March 2001 featuring a bison against a sunset background.
The 2001 American Buffalo silver dollar bears modified renditions of James Earle Fraser's obverse and reverse designs for the Indian Head 5-cent coin, issued from 1913 to 1938.
