The 2024 Liberty Britannia High Relief is a Sleeper Modern Rarity
treybenedict
Posts: 424 ✭✭✭✭
An excerpt from my blog post on my website follows below:
Earlier in the year, the U.S. Mint released its collaboration with the Royal Mint in a 24K Gold (.9999 Fine Gold) high relief $100 USD face value gold coin. Initially, The coin was deemed to have a BU strike which would mirror the 1 oz British gold Britannia, minted by the Royal Mint, and a United States Mint version of the American Liberty Series of High Relief gold coins. These plans slightly changed, with both coins having the same obverse design, where the reverse of the gold bullion coin would be His Majesty King Charles III, and the proof coin in the US would have a sunset over the ocean surrounded by Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Tree. Royal Mint Chief Engraver Gordon Summers, and the United States Mint Chief Engraver, Joseph Menna, teamed up on the US gold coins design which became its own series after being removed from the American Liberty High Relief series officially before the release.
Now what makes this coin particularly special is that it was available for pre-order starting in February of 2024 at a pricepoint of nearly $2,900.00 each, with gold spot hovering around $2,000. The increase in gold price to today's current price of $2,450, and a lack of interest in the coin being partially from the Royal Mint gave it the perfect storm of events to become a modern rarity. Only 5,539 coins were sold on the pre-order, making it the single rarest High Relief Gold Coin minted by the United States in the modern age. The next closest American Liberty High Relief is the 2021 American Liberty High Relief with the Bucking Bronco Design (Mintage of 12,500), which has soared to over $7,000.00 each on the after-market. The new Liberty & Britannia gold coin is nearly 1/3 of that mintage.
Now the coins are trading significantly higher than the retail values and steadily increasing in the last 7 days.
I know lots of people don't like modern coins, but I believe the next few years will be a haven of rare modern US mint coins that have been released due to the low mintages and high gold prices.
Comments
Perhaps a low mintage.... but demand is another part of that equation. A quick look on ebay shows quite a few available, so I would have to ask where the demand will come from? You may be right and it can be a sleeper... but I suspect quite a few of the lower mintage issues will continue to creep closer to the bullion value. First Spouse gold anyone? But... maybe those are sleepers also. The U.S. mint just puts out too many gimmicks now and at too high of a price. JMO.
The American Liberty High Relief series is a different beast than the first spouse, changing designs and well - high relief, make it pop compared to other proof modern products.
Time will tell though!
Slightly similar, I bought this one last year that I like quite a lot!
It’s the struck on the day sovereign that was struck on the day of Charles coronation. May 6th
Royal mint sold out within minutes, luckily I found one on eBay. Yes, it was pretty expensive, but I’m happy with it regardless.
It’s the regular sovereign design, but in a matte finish, the only thing that differentiates it from the standard one in addition to the matte finish is the plain edge. They only made 1250 of them and I paid fairly strong to get my example and happened to make a 70 so I’m very pleased with this one. I think this too, is a sleeper:
The portrait is super realistic, they did a great job with this one! And, I’m super grateful that it was TrueViewed before Phil left.
I find the TrueView to be excellent!
My YouTube Channel
The coronation crown series is very popular. The gold and silver BU coins have become hard to find as well. Nice pickup.
That’s correct, when I bought it from eBay it it was literally the only example for sale so after I got it in hand, I would check, out of curiosity, for quite a while. There was none to be found.
One would show up, and then quickly sell, another would show up and then quickly sell, so it’s not easy to locate this one!
It’s my all-time favorite sovereign!
My YouTube Channel
This 2024 Liberty Britannia High Relief, as you mention, is not the official high relief US Mint gold coin that is minted every other year.
It is not a continuing US Mint series, but apparently a one-off collaboration, with unknown future follow-ups.
Yes, the low mintage hype recently has driven up prices significantly. The blatant delay from mint orders to actual delivery was a disgrace and really caused a lot of cancellations, including mine.
As far as the PCGS registry, should it be in a gold commemorative set, a high relief set, or a stand-alone set?
Also, calling it "nearly 1/3 the mintage" of the bronco is a bit of a stretch. Must be new math. I get closer to 44% of the mintage vs 33.3%. The actual numbers are the best way to describe the mintage comparisons vs fractions.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
The sovereign looks great. I got as far as the raw silver coins. I picked up the last queen, the coronation, and new Charles.
Just more NCLT bullion. The people who really wanted them have them.
This ^^^. They were literally "made to demand," and 5,539 was the demand during the ordering window.
I think it's wishful thinking to believe that people who had no interest before are suddenly going to become interested, at $4200+, simply because the mintage was low. Maybe some short term hype, particularly if telemarketers bid them up in order to blow them out at inflated prices, but a one-off like this will almost certainly have no intermediate or long term legs, based on history with similar items at similar mintages.
Todays Update
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Based on the company you are an active founder of, are obviously promoting, and based your own description documented on your website, you are a Sneakerhead, Minesweeper, and Nerd. LOL
Did you buy too many of these? This selling effort should be on the on the BST site, not here.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
I have 0 coins and no active investment, just sharing the news as it comes. It's all public info, just like the 21 High Relief and 23 High Relief.
I just enjoy data trends and price changes, as you can read by my 11 years of numerous posts on the board.
As a founder according to this public reference, you do have an interest in the site screenshots you are posting of an active bid type auction.
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pure
I think it is perfectly fine to discuss the coin, and your opinions of it, but I think it is best not to over market it here.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
I like many of the Liberty coins in this series, but this did not ring the bell for me whatsoever, sad to say, and I suspect many others felt the same.
Also, if you look at arguably a more popular series - the $5 Commem. series, you will note languishing are coins such as the BU Black baseball gold coin with a mintage of 1,504 that holders have difficulty selling....
Well, just Love coins, period.
I expect that there will be some promotion eventually for the coin, and price may have some appreciation. based on the mintage (until the next lower mintage gimmick from the mint comes along).
We all collect what we like. So who knows? Bottom line for me.... just not a coin I care to own (other than the gold in it at a much lower premium than the Mint was charging).
Another observation.... 'sleepers'...... can sleep for a long, long, time.... and may never see the desired price increase. That is part of the reason I have some skepticism on this issue. Been there and done that!
Dressed up bullion.
I agree with the overall sentiment. What this coin lacks is that it is not part of any series or collection that will drive demand going forward. It's cool and great looking and there's not a lot of them, but that doesn't mean buyers are going to flock to them.
This ^^^^. If they weren't so overpriced, the Mint would have sold more. Which would have created a larger collector base, as well as left more room for them to retain their value in the future.
Pricing something at a point that generates little demand does not create future sleepers. It just creates future products that few know about, care about, or want.
Maybe the OP, or a telemarketer, will target these, hype them, bid them up, and blow them out in the numismatic version of a stock pump and dump. But it is HIGHLY unlikely that a one-off joint issue with the UK that sold at a $900+ premium to spot and generated basically zero interest on release is going to be a "sleeper," simply because, once production ended, it turns out very few were made because very few were wanted.
The maximum mintage was set at only 10K, and that didn't motivate people to snap them up at the original issue price. Even with a 30 day order window.
Now that we know that only 5500 were made, it's difficult to believe sustainable demand is going to materialize at a premium to the already outrageous premium the Mint was selling them for, just because the final mintage is 5500 rather than 10K. Much more likely to continue being a corpse.
This Britannia coin is not an official US Mint commemorative.
It is not an official part of the American Liberty High Relief series.
It appears to be a one-time issue.
Maybe PCGS will make a separate registry set for it, but if they don't, it is just another very expensive ounce of gold.
The last few actual 2024 commemorative $5 uncirculated gold coins have sales of less than 1,200 and demand and pricing are terrible for them. They make the 5,537 mintage (sales data from US Mint Aug 11,2024) of the Britannia look high.
The Mint wants $3,340 for the more popular 2024 Buffalo proof (mintage limit 16,000 vs 7,038 sold so far), and $3,270 for a 2024 gold uncirculated eagle (limit 13,000 and only a pathetic 2,410 so far sold).
The new mint pricing grid has destroyed sales this year and as far as I can see, there are going to be lower sales or mintages compared to the past in many categories. Are they all sleepers? I doubt it. Probably just dead money for a very long time.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Nope
Hmm, the Mint seems to think it’s part of the Liberty Series.
https://catalog.usmint.gov/coin-programs/american-liberty/
Definitely a sleeper, prices continue to go up.
Once dealers go through their stock, this will get hard to find.
Bottom line, these were $3024 issue price and are pretty much $4000+ all day in 70. As a purchaser, I consider it a win.
I have a Proof 1 oz. British gold issue (with a mintage less than 1/10th this coin) has had ZERO interest on BST at a price that is $300 less than the issue price of this one.
The problem is always the same - the mints all overprice these special issue series coins and the price limits participation. Killing the golden goose, so to speak. It's always a gamble for the buyer, and the pricing certainly doesn't help.
There's always going to be limited interest in these manufactured rarities, especially as the economy turns down.
I knew it would happen.
Very interesting @treybenedict, thanks for sharing. Love to see more from you and the Pure team!
This post belongs in the Bullion forum.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
I agree the asking prices are really high for those remaining 70's at MCM and Pinehurst at $5,995, there is one CACG 70 for $4,895. The lowest PCGS in 70 seems to be $5,595, but several sold for closer to $4,000 just a few weeks ago. These still seem to be available, but pricing all over the place.
The Mint put this on the Americal Liberty page as you show, but the American Liberty series was supposed to be every other odd year.
However, after a search, I see that PCGS did already include this coin in a registry set. The title of the set could maybe use some editing, but the coin is in this set. "Gold Eagles High Relief $10, $20, $100, Circulation, Proof, Special Strikes (2009-2021)"
Considering this, I have to agree with you, there could be a larger following for this coin than I first thought.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Updating:
Bottom line, these were $3024 issue price and are pretty much $5000 all day in 70.
69 still available at 'reasonable' prices.
I needed this laugh. Hard to be a sleeper when there will never be demand. Although, I would, and have repeatedly, argued that this is our first coin to have a “trans” person on it. So I guess there’s that. 🤦♂️👍🏻
I have asked to mint to verify. Crickets.
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
My prediction is that it's another US NCLT destined to be lost in obscurity decades from now. What exactly is so compelling or interesting about this coin other than the low mintage? The OP didn't really provide one.
This coin will have a virtually 100% survival rate "as struck" for as long as it matters to anyone reading this thread. In this quality or comporable quality, the supply is not low and the comparison is much worse versus other coins in this price range.
The coin isn't actually scarce and won't ever be hard to buy. Assuming a 10 year holding period (too high iMO), that's 45 coins offerred for sale every week.
I can see it appreciate temporarily due to financially motivated buying but not otherwise. For $4200, there are far more interesting while still liquid enough coins, starting with Generic MS Saints, Type 3 DE, and Indian Head eagles.
I also agree with the above post that it doesn't fit into any clearly defined set. Modern commemoratives are an artificial series of actually mostly unrelated coins which has a low collectible preference which is not affordable to the overwhelming majority of hobbyist collectors who would rather buy something else practically all of the time anyway.