Truman Sets and Jackie Kennedy Gold Coins: An Update
The Truman
sets, which had an issue price of $57.95, are doing very well on the secondary
market, hitting an initial peak of $150 and still bringing very close to that
amount. Often when the Mint finishes
shipping orders out, prices decline somewhat, but that may not happen in this
case because the Mint was well prepared for this release and began shipping
orders immediately.
Not
everyone, including some dealers, understood what all the fuss was about these
sets, but when you have the first reverse proof presidential dollar ever, and a
non-precious metal modern issue with a mintage of only 17,000, that means the
coin becomes an instant key, and I expect demand to remain strong for these
sets. And high-grade examples of the
Truman reverse proof dollar will fetch hundreds or more.
Some
collectors believe the mintages for these sets should have been higher to
ensure a more equitable distribution. But
the fact remains that the web site functioned smoothly at least for most people
when the sets went on sale, and for the first time I can recall some collectors
compared the Mint to Amazon and similar retailers known for their efficiency.
In the time
since my article appeared I have been able to obtain additional information
about the events surrounding the release of the Kennedy coin. I believe I was right to raise questions
about the proof coin since no matter what demand expectations anyone had, it
seemed odd that no coins would be ready to ship yet dealers had them in stock
days later.
But two important
facts have emerged to clarify the situation.
First, as Adam Stump, the U.S. Mint’s Deputy Director for the Office of
Corporate Communications explained to me, proof and uncirculated coins were
sold at all three of the Mint’s retail locations in Washington, DC,
Philadelphia, and Denver. And I have
learned that a number of major dealers sent representatives to those locations
to purchase coins.
Second, the
Mint’s initial estimate that backordered proofs would not ship until September
1 was incorrect as orders began shipping by the middle of last week. From my discussions with the Mint and with
collectors, I would say that most early orders for the proof coin have already
been filled.
In addition,
some collectors have noted that the release of images of the 2015 American
Liberty high relief gold coin just days before the Kennedy coin was launched,
and the announcement that the high relief coin will be released on July 30, may
have negatively impacted demand for the Kennedy gold coin.
But dealers such
as Andrew Salzberg, who runs Modern Coin Mart, told me that demand has been
strong at their companies for both ungraded and graded coins despite the
planned release of the Liberty coin and the fact that it is summer, when the disposable
income of many collectors is going towards other things such as vacations.