Is the U.S. Mint the hobby’s problem?
Before the February 11th sale of the 2021-W American Silver Eagle Proof coins, the U.S. Mint allowed dealers to buy the coins in bulk. Coin World reports that dealers were able to purchase coins three-days in advance of the public sale.
The U.S. Mint had a product limit of 327,440 coins with a household limit of 99 coins. Since learning about this, it was surprising that coins available to purchase. The coin sold out in a few moments.
Speculators purchased as much as they could afford then listed their inventory on eBay. They are profiting from the U.S. Mint’s decision to serve the dealers rather than the collector. If you want to buy the coin on eBay, the average sale price of the coin issued at $73 is $110-140. It is a 33-percent to 48-percent increase over the issue price.
This eBay seller took a picture of the box the Eagles were shipped in. How do you feel about this?
For those who complain about coin designs and base-metal coinage as a threat to the hobby, what about the U.S. Mint’s action to shutout collectors from silver coins?
If the U.S. Mint serves the dealers, they do not serve the public and do not serve the hobby. If the approach is all about business, then what about the collectors?
When Rhett Jeppson started the U.S. Mint’s Numismatic Forum in 2016, the promise was to bring in different members of the numismatic industry to help guide the mint into the future for the benefit of the hobby. Jeppson was nominated to be the Mint’s Director but was never confirmed.
The U.S. Mint continued with the forms in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Reports of those meetings said that they were productive. It has not made an impact.
Since the Senate approved David Ryder as director, he has done little to make the U.S. Mint more responsive to the customer. The Numismatic Forums have ceased, and Ryder seems to favor creating collectible coins instead of getting the coins into collectors’ hands.
An example of what is wrong with Ryder’s approach is when there were ordering problems with the V75 American Silver Eagle. Instead of saying that the U.S. Mint will work on the issue, Ryder touts the collectibles he created.
What good is creating collectibles if the collector cannot purchase the coins?
The ever-changing quarter designs, privy marks, and other things people complain about will not hurt the hobby. Forcing the collector into the unregulated secondary market to buy newly issued coins will drive collectors away.
POLL: How should the U.S. Mint fix its ordering process
2015 Dwight D. Eisenhower Coin & Chronicles Set
We saw this recently when the main website, www.usmint.gov crashed during the sale of the Eisenhower Coins and Chronicles set because the U.S. Mint did not build enough capacity. We know this because if you went to catalog.usmint.gov you were able to complete your order.
Another problem is how to handle the production of special products, such as a reverse proof dollar or enhanced uncirculated coins. Maybe a poll for another day would ask if it is a good idea to change how the U.S. Mint issues these special strikes.
What should the U.S. Mint do? How should they fix the problems? Take the poll and add comments below. If you have another suggestion, add it to the comments, too.
How should the U.S. Mint fix its product ordering process?
Total Voters: 26
Loading ...Thank you, Jake!
Jake Sherlock
After years of complaining about the technology and communications that the ANA was not doing, I was asked to join the committee where I met Jake and learn what he was doing for the members from Colorado Springs. Even though it looked like the ANA was not doing a good job with communications, it was Jake keeping together what the ANA was doing!
Jake is not a computer person. He said that his background is in communications and public relations. But in that job, he was put in charge of the website. He was not a computer person in the way that someone like me has had an over 30 year career in computers. Jake was given the job because he was there and probably could spell “computer” faster than any other person.
Considering what the Technology Committee found when we began to look at what was available in Colorado Spring, the job Jake had done in keeping those systems together were nothing short of amazing! Even though the site had problems (not his fault) and various attempts to fix it had problems (definitely not his fault) and the pain in trying to provide extended web-based services was a bit disconnected (absolutely not his fault), you would never know that Jake’s first job was not in computers.
While a lot of people have helped with the transition to the new ANA website, Jake has to be singled out for knowing and understanding the processes that helped integrate the new services with the ANA headquarters. I am sure that some will point out the bumps in the road during the initial transition, it went a lot smoother than other integration efforts that I have been involved with in my long career in the computer business. I believe that everyone involved with the transition will credit Jake with success of the transition.
I would like to thank Jake Sherlock for his service to the ANA and hope he is successful in this next step in his career!
POLL: Are you going to the 2015 World’s Fair of Money?
On Tuesday, August 11 is the opening of the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money. It is the largest coin show in the world. The show attracts collectors, dealers, and mints from around the world. If someone could only attend one show, this is the one I recommend.
This show is significant in that it ends the run of shows in Rosemont. The run in Rosemont was a deal negotiated by former Executive Director Larry Shepherd under the guise that the ANA was more about the shows than being an educational association. He thought that being central in the country and close to O’Hare airport would make the show more of a success.
I have come out against holding the ANA premiere show in one location. While I love Chicago and have friends in the Chicagoland area, being able to move the show to different venues allows the ANA to reach more people and include it educational agenda in more places. For 2016, the World’s Fair of Money will be held in Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland! (fill in your own Goofy joke!)
I would still like to see a World’s Fair of Money in Washington, D.C. I started to help work on that but a lot of external forces have prevented me from pursuing this. I hope I can convince others to pick up that torch and run with it. I think there would be no better place to hold the World’s Fair of Money than the Nation’s Capital!
For this week, the World’s Fair of Money is in Rosemont. This week’s poll question, are you going?
Are you going to the 2015 Worlds Fair of Money in Rosemont, Illinois?
Total Voters: 16
Loading ...Weekend pocket change find
Every evening I empty my pockets and look at the change that I accumulate during the day. Since I almost exclusively use cash (it is safer than credit cards), I end up with at least a dollar in change. Last week, I pulled out my change and took a glance and saw a nickel that was a bit darker than the others.
Moving it aside so I can look in a better light, I was able to separate a bicentennial quarter and wheat back cent from the other coins before dumping the rest into a pitcher I keep on my dresser. After dropping the quarter and wheatie into a bank where I save these coins, I picked up the dark nickel and went to find a better light.
To make things easier I looked at the reverse to see if it was I suspected and found a large “P” over Monticello confirming that I found a war nickel. For the date, I needed to find my loupe to help my aging eyes focus to tell me that I found a 1942-P war nickel.
1942-P Jefferson “War” Nickel obverse
1942-P Jefferson “War” Nickel reverse
War nickels were struck by the U.S. Mint from mid-1942 through 1945 of an alloy that contained 56-percent copper, 35-percent silver, and 9-percent manganese. Removing the nickel and reducing the amount of copper used in these coins helped save these metals so that they can be used to produce military supplies. One specific need was the copper that went into the brass alloy used to produce bullets.
Looking at the coin and various grading images, if I sent it to a third-party grading service to be graded, it would probably be returned as a VG-8 since it has a little more definition than a flatter G-4. It could be argued that since the rims are more defined that it could be closer to a VG-10, but I would not represent this coin at that grade—besides, it is not for sale! Given that, what kind of profit did I made over the 5-cents face value.
According to the NumisMedia Price Guide, the current value of a 1942-P war nickel in VG-8 condition is $1.01. That is a 96-cent profit!
But what about the silver value? As I type this, Coinflation reports that the metal value of the coin (at the time writing this) is 85-cents with the silver value of 84-cents. That price is based on 0.0563 troy ounces of silver with the current price of silver at $14.88 per troy ounce.
Either way, I made a small profit on the coin and will add it to my hoard of interesting pocket change finds.
Mint v. Mint
As part of my perusal of the Internet looking for numismatic-related stories, I stumbled upon an article at the website for The Guardian about the Royal Mint’s operating income and profits. The story touted how the Royal Mint, whose history can be traced back over 1,000 years, increased over 70-percent from the previous year.
Using The Guardian’s reporting, I wondered how the Royal Mint would stack up against the U.S. Mint. Even though the story was published on July 23, 2015 and the U.S. Mint’s data is for Fiscal Year 2014 that ended on September 30, 2014, I am using the conversion rate of at the time I write this of £1 is equivalent to $1.55.
Revenues
The Guardian reported that the Royal Mint earned £260 million in revenues. This is equivalent to just over $404 million. In contrast, the U.S. Mint boasted revenues of over $3.1 billion or a bit over £1.995 billion. Yes, that is BILLION with a “B.” While the Royal Mint’s revenue was depicted as being the most in the institution’s history, the U.S. Mint’s record revenues came in 2011 when it earned $4.970 billion.
Profit
What good is making money if there are no profits. The Royal Mint reported a record profit of £11.5 million or just over $17.7 million. The U.S. Mint did slightly better by reporting a seigniorage of $367.9 million or more than £236.756 million. Even if you take it as a percentage, the Royal Mint’s profit margin is 4.38-percent while the U.S. Mint has a profit margin of 11.86-percent.
Benefit to their respective governments
The Royal Mint is wholly owned by the British Treasury. They pay a £4 million ($6.218 million) dividend to the British government. By law, the seigniorage earned by the U.S. Mint is deposited in their Public Enterprise Fund. The Treasury Department requests a budget for the U.S. Mint which is then approved by congress. The funds are withdrawn from the Public Enterprise Fund. Allowing for overages, the Secretary of the Treasury then transfers the rest of the money to the U.S. General Funds where it is used to pay whatever the government needs. In 2014, $272 million (£174.971 million) was deposited into the General Funds, more than 43-times the dividend that the Royal Mint pays the British government.
The U.S. Mint is the most profitable agency in the United States government. No other mint in the world can match the U.S. Mint’s production, income, and profit. The U.S. Mint even out performs private industry. The average profit margin in the United States is 5.1-percent.
The next time someone complains that it costs too much to make a specific coin, remind them that the U.S. Mint provides more benefit to the government than the loss of a little profit on a few coins.
U.S. Mint seal courtesy of the United States Department of the Treasury.
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Are you going to the World's Fair of Money
Total Voters: 17
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