With barely a week of sales elapsed for the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins, the Proof and Uncirculated $5 gold half eagles have sold out, with the silver dollars not far behind.

Sales by the United States Mint of the Proof and Uncirculated Baseball silver dollars reached slightly less than their legislated maximum authorization.

Sales began at noon Eastern Time March 27.

“Sales of the gold coins were strong enough to predict that the maximum mintage level might be reached at some point overnight [Friday],” Mint spokesman Michael White said April 3. “In an effort to provide the best communications to our customers, we made the decision to put the gold coins in a waiting list status at the close of business, while we could still provide the message.

“We believed it was better to notify customers a little early that their orders could potentially be placed on the waiting list rather than a sellout occurring overnight after close of business and then having to notify them that they would not receive a coin(s) because of depleted inventory.”

U.S. Mint officials confirmed March 31 that sufficient orders had been placed to exhaust the maximum 50,000 gold coins authorized.

The estimated breakdown is 32,000 of the Proof gold coins and 18,000 of the Uncirculated gold coins. The exact split won’t be known until the program closes and all sales are audited.

All sales totals reflect sales online, by telephone to the order fulfillment center, at the sales center at Mint headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at the Whitman Baltimore Coin & Collectibles Expo March 27 to 29.

Through April 2, the Mint recorded cumulative sales of:

??Single Proof silver dollar, 208,870.

??Single Uncirculated silver dollar, 104,841.

Percentage of maximum mintage of 400,000 sold: 78.4 percent.

??Single Proof half dollar, 87,525.

??Single Uncirculated half dollar, 56,287.

Percentage of 750,000 maximum mintage sold: 19.1 percent.

Through April 1, the sales totals were:

??Single Proof silver dollar, 193,065.

??Single Uncirculated silver dollar, 94,279.

Percentage of maximum mintage of 400,000 sold: 71.8 percent.

??Single Proof half dollar, 83,551.

??Single Uncirculated half dollar, 54,033.

Percentage of 750,000 maximum mintage sold: 18.3 percent.

Through March 31, the sales totals were: 

??Single Proof silver dollar, 170,545.

??Single Uncirculated silver dollar, 79,881.

Percentage of maximum mintage of 400,000 sold: 62.6 percent.

??Single Proof half dollar, 74,158.

??Single Uncirculated half dollar, 47,530.

Percentage of 750,000 maximum mintage sold: 16.2 percent.

Based on the U.S. Mint’s daily cumulative sales totals, sales of the Proof and Uncirculated Baseball silver dollars picked up soon after the confirmation March 31 that the gold coins were no longer available.

Through March 30, the sales totals were:

??Single Proof silver dollar, 155,523.

??Single Uncirculated silver dollar, 73,002.

Percentage of maximum mintage of 400,000 sold: 57.1 percent.

??Single Proof half dollar, 67,236

??Single Uncirculated half dollar, 44,144.

Percentage of 750,000 maximum mintage sold: 14.8 percent.

Whitman Baltimore sales

At the Whitman Baltimore Expo, demand was so strong for the Baseball Hall of Fame coins that limits were imposed restricting the number of each coin that customers could purchase.

“Customers purchasing 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Coins at the Whitman Expo were initially limited to one gold Uncirculated and one gold Proof (or two gold coins total) as well as five each silver and five each clad for a total of 22 coins per person,” according to White. 

“Approximately two hours after the show opened, we sold out of all gold options. From that point through the end of the day on Thursday, customers could purchase five silver (Proof and Uncirculated) and five clad (Proof and Uncirculated) coins for a total of 20 coins.

“By the end of Thursday, we had sold out of everything except products from previous calendar years’ silver Proof coins and therefore limited customers to 5 coins total.

“We ordered more inventory Friday and received enough to offer only 1 silver coin and 1 clad coin option (2 max) to customers on Saturday until those were depleted as well.” 

Officials indicated that for the first day of sales at the show, 200 each of the Proof and Uncirculated gold coins were available for sale; 2,000 of the Proof silver dollar and 1,000 of the Uncirculated silver dollar were available; and 1,000 of the Proof half dollar along with 1,000 of the Uncirculated half dollar were available for purchase.