The U.S. Mint sold 80 percent of the 50,000 2015 John F. Kennedy Coin and Currency sets within the first hour from their noon Sept. 16 release.

The Mint reported eventually selling 45,613 of the sets by 11:59 p.m. on the opening day of sales.

Tom Jurkowsky, director of the Mint’s Office of Corporate Communications, announced via email that the Mint sold 25,000 of the sets via its website within the first 10 minutes of the sales launch.

“Of those orders, approximately 78 percent were via desktop computers, 16 percent via the Mint’s new mobile app and 6 percent via social media,” Jurkowsky said. “All of the Mint’s systems performed as expected. After the first hour, sales totaled over 40,000 units.

“The Mint will begin shipping the first 25,000 sets from its fulfillment center immediately and anticipates all customer orders will be fulfilled by early October.

“The Mint continues to closely monitor sales of the product.”

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While Mint officials indicate the Kennedy set sales were executed without any of the major website issues that befell the ordering of Dwight D. Eisenhower Coin and Chronicles sets on Aug. 11, customers reported mixed experiences in ordering sets.

A number of Coin World readers reported on the Coin World Facebook Page soon after the JFK set sales launch that they were able to place their orders with relative ease. However, several readers reported on Facebook and by email that they encountered a range of webpage errors during the ordering process and, in some instances, were not sure if their orders were accepted.

The Kennedy set, limited to a product maximum of 50,000 sets with orders restricted to two sets per household, is offered by the Mint at $57.95.

The sets were being pre-sold on eBay before the Mint’s sales launch at prices generally around $150 per single set, with one sale confirmed Sept. 13 for $324.95 for an unopened Mint shipping box containing two sets. 

While some collectors have criticized the pre-sale offers, such sales are permitted. The Mint has no authority to prevent pre-sales of its products by its customers and eBay permits pre-sales of many products as long as certain conditions are met.

The number of eBay auctions for the sets increased exponentially after sellers received confirmation of their orders from the Mint.

The set contains a Reverse Proof 2015-P John F. Kennedy Presidential dollar struck at the Philadelphia Mint; a 1-ounce .999 fine silver version of the 1961 bronze Kennedy Presidential medal originally struck by the Philadelphia Mint (no Mint mark); and a 1964 5-cent Kennedy U.S. postage stamp; all contained in packaging with an informational booklet on Kennedy’s presidency.

Some Facebook comments posted by Coin World readers:

Christopher Brant: I already bought my two sets.

Bill Williams: 2 sets ordered .... No problems this time!

James Clark: Ordered mine but several page errors when I tried to go to my cart and when I tried to checkout. Eventually the order went through (I hope!)

Carla Miller: Got mine ordered as well. Took about 10 minutes of page errors and checkout errors, but finally got it to process through.

Roy Clevenger: How will QVC get thousands of every limited release?

Johnny White: And when are you [the Mint] going to re-release (increase the limit) Truman and Eisenhower so we all can have a fair chance of obtaining one? You realize we are being penalized because your website crashed both times ... not our fault. Please reconsider and increase the limit to 50,000 on all Coin and Chronicles Sets retroactive to Truman and Eisenhower.

Collector Jeff Kelsey reported the following by email:

“I just tried ordering the JFK Coins and Chronicles Set, and I may or may not have been successful. I tried ordering 2 sets, but it said that I had 4 sets in my shopping bag. I tried changing it from 4 to 2, and then I had 6. I tried changing from 6 to 2, and then I had 8. That’s when I gave up and just placed the order as is — 8 sets. I hope that they will decrease it to 2 sets and not throw out my entire order. Why in the world do they allow you to go above 2 sets (when that’s the limit) anyway? Once again, a very frustrating process.”