Tomorrow, April 28 at noon is when the mint will be selling the first of their America the Beautiful Five ounce silver bullion coin, depicting Hot Springs in Arkansas. The price will be a whopping $279.95 per coin with a household limit of one. With silver approaching $50 an ounce, the markup is unexpectedly modest.
The mint expects its computer to be overwhelmed, and a quick sellout is anticipated.
The hype reminds me of another series that is fizzling out. I speak, of course of the first spouse gold coin series. The first issues sold out quickly. Then the price of gold (and the prices of the subsequent issues) rose dramatically. Suddenly, there were few who could afford to collect the series.
sound familiar? At current prices, those who want to collect the oversized quarters will be paying $1400 per year for the five quarters that are issued annually. The entire series will have 56 coins. That means it will cost nearly $16,000 for a complete set. I predict that interest will be lost before the series expires.
The mint will dramatically increase its production for subsequent years, thus guaranteeing that the 2010 set will be the rarest and most valuable.
I wish you the best of luck battling the mint's computers for the right to purchase one.