The march of modern numismatics into irrelevance continues, with the United States Mint’s announcement that it would issue 230 Flowing Hair gold dollars with a special privy mark, with all of these coins to be sold at auction.

Instead of blindly distributing these coins throughout the mintage in a random manner, like the U.S. Mint did with the Flowing Hair silver medal with “230” privy mark in October, the Nov. 7 announcement spelled another milestone in the development of the modern U.S. coin market.

The details of this Dec. 12 auction remain to be announced (Editor's Note: Stack's Bowers announced on Nov.15 it will be conducting the auction), but suffice to say that the U.S. Mint will capture the market share from these coins, instead of letting collectors and dealers siphon off profits in the middle.

The United States Mint is probably already the largest “coin dealer” in the world. Its auctions, er, actions are only sliding it further into the commercial realm. But this is nothing new, globally, anyway.

World mints have struck increasingly mercenary tones, seeking to leverage their unique positions as creators of the objects to capitalize on the monetary gain, which serves to squeeze dealers that they’ve relied upon for decades to support the initial and secondary markets.

In 2017, the Royal Mint bought a stake in British-based auction house Sovereign Rarities, which quickly became a venue for newly struck rarities from the Royal Mint. It corresponded with an increasingly commercial focus for the Royal Mint, which began offering collector services like authentication, and even began selling bullion directly to retail customers.

In recent years, the Royal Mint has partnered with Stack’s Bowers to sell unique or nearly so examples of various coins, including transitional coins from the switch from Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III, or coins examined in the Trial of the Pyx.

Swissmint in 2023 consigned trial pieces to SINCONA Ag’s auctions, realizing astounding sums for modern minted rarities, items that in previous eras would never see the light of day, sequestered in official archives or destroyed, lest they slip out.

There are numerous examples, too many to cite here.

The market response for these kinds of special offers is astounding, suggesting that, however many reservations may exist in the hobby, the dollar signs are speaking loud and clear, drowning out any objections.

These developments speak to and reflect the consolidation in the marketplace, the idea that the rich get richer as entities capitalize on unique access to maximize profits in an increasingly competitive space.

Many of the voices protesting the U.S. Mint’s auction of the 230 special Flowing Hair gold dollars undoubtedly would be selling an example of said rarity if they happened to obtain one if the Mint distributed them blindly throughout the whole mintage, how the Flowing Hair silver medals with “230” privy mark were distributed. So, their viewpoint is not entirely altruistic, even if one can see and/or even agree with their point.

The position that the irrelevance of modern mint products is rising does not mean that these coins will want for buyers. Absolutely not. They’ll sell out, and sell for big money.

The game of buying modern mint products has become all about striking it rich. And how appropriate that is, for wealth and the quest for it is such a through-line to American history.

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