The U.S. Mint has put out a dizzying array of products in the past decade as it works to service congressionally mandated programs — such as the First Spouse gold $10 bullion coins, the Presidential dollar coin program and commemorative coin issues — while adding products that require no congressional authorization but are specifically developed for a numismatic audience. Examples of the latter include the 2009 Ultra High Relief gold $20 coin and the 2015-W American Liberty gold $100 coin. Whether it’s missing edge lettering on small-sized dollars (an error) or unusually Prooflike examples of modern gold issues, collectors find ways to differentiate some modern coins from the herd and pay appropriate premiums for them. 

Here is the first of three modern, yet valuable coins that we're profiling in the week's Market Analysis:

The Lot:

2015-W American Liberty, High Relief gold $100 coin, Mint State 70 Prooflike

The Price:

$5,885

The Story:

The 2015-W American Liberty, High Relief gold $100 coin is one of the more beautiful recent U.S. Mint products. Sales started strong and the Mint recorded sales of 60 percent of the initial limited release of 50,000 coins within the first 75 minutes of its noon Eastern Time release July 30 at an issue price of $1,490. Sales then slowed down tremendously and toward the end of 2015, the Mint was still thousands away from reaching the mintage maximum. Currently the mintage stands at 49,325.

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Examples today are available for around the original issue price, excluding some exceptional ones, such as a PCGS MS-70 Prooflike example that brought $5,885 at a Nov. 6, 2016, GreatCollections auction.

Another botched release from the United States Mint: Inside Coin World: The release of the Congratulations set adds to the narrative that the U.S. Mint needs to overhaul its approach to limited-edition releases.

Few receive a Prooflike designation, and as I write this PCGS has graded just 21 in MS-69 Prooflike and 122 in MS-70 Prooflike, compared to 1,925 in MS-69 and a whopping 8,832 in MS-70 without a Prooflike designation. It is a well-produced issue that “comes nice,” but a few examples are notably superior to the others in having Prooflike contrast. No Proof versions were minted.

Check back later in the week as we continue to highlight modern coins that were recently sold!