BLOG
March of Dimes Proof Sets Sold at Mint’s Headquarters
The delay
matters to buyers who want sets that are eligible for PCGS First Strike or NGC
Early Release labels, and they are required to submit their sets in unopened
boxes since there is no way to distinguish the silver dollar in the set from
ones sold separately.
Although the
Mint posted a message on its Facebook page stating that the sets would not be
sold at any retail locations, they are being sold at its sales counter at the
Mint’s Washington, DC headquarters, where approximately 50 sets were sold the
first and even more the next day.
A Mint
employee said that while products with household limits are typically not sold
at retail locations, the management decided to allow them to be sold in-person
in DC with a limit of five per person as on the web site.
Few people
knew the sets were being sold there, but one of those who did, a local dealer,
was seen trying to pay strangers to pick up extra sets on his behalf until he
was advised against such behavior.
I applaud
the Mint’s decision to sell the sets in DC, but it would have been better to
get the word out before doing so. Or
perhaps there was a conscious strategy to avoid the mayhem of the Rosemont, Illinois
ANA JFK gold coin release.
Last year a
dealer I spoke to about that incident said a big part of the problem was
announcing a year in advance that the coins would be rolled out at the show.
I think the
entire mintage of the March of Dimes sets would have easily sold out on day one
if the Mint had anticipated how much demand there would be, as it did with last
year’s special John F. Kennedy coins, and had more sets ready to ship.
Two issues
are key going forward. One is how long
it takes to ship orders. Those who
ordered before the item was backordered are having their orders shipped quickly,
making them eligible for special labels from the grading companies.
The second
is how much long-term interest there will be in the dimes, especially in graded
examples of the first reverse proof and the first West Point Mint proof since
1996.