The New Commemorative UNC Dollar King has been made
HalfDime
Posts: 85 ✭✭✭
Very quietly this coin has been sold out, and the final mintage is not yet published but the last number was only about 7,200 were made. This marks a historic low for modern commemorative mintages in this series. It is also lower than the classic commemorative half dollars if you go by design type. The last modern coin to have the lowest mintage was the 2022 Negro League baseball coin at 8,445. Of coarse the next 2025 coin may not sell any higher, although since it is a military coin it may outsell this by quite a bit.
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I don't think I'd have the patience for all of those buttons.
peacockcoins
Low demand = low mintage?
There was a time when I might have followed this sort of thing and jumped in near the end.
But the mint has desensitized me to all the commems.
Unfortunately, every year will become a new low. I agree with you about the possibility of higher sales next year, but I don’t think they will rival previous year military commemoratives. Maybe 15k for the $1 Unc.
My Jefferson Registry:
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/alltimeset/191115
As my main man, Miles, so famously said and played in one take, So What?
It looks like all the flippers have left the building.
Demand for the unpopular designs has been falling by about 1000 per coin for the last few years.
2021 law enforcement 9,423
2022 Negro League Baseball 8,442
2024 Harriet Tubman 7,300
If silver prices were to ever skyrocket, I could see an unpopular coin selling down to 3000 or less.
At least she didn’t need to unbutton to poop.
1986-P $1 Statue Of Liberty (Regular Strike)- mintage 723,625
2024 Tubman Dollar -7,200
I am very sorry to report that in just (38) years of the same Commem $1 program, the U.S. Mint has reduced collector interest by 99% (repeat 99%)!! I truly thought this was an impossible feat to accomplish. Can’t get any worse than a 1% additional decline from this point regardless of what happens!
A few years ago, I worked as the expert witness for the U.S. Justice Department (Kansas City) along with some very strong U.S. Mint personnel. We won that Federal case hands down. Happy to share my ideas any time with the U.S. Mint on how to turn their Commem $1 Program around.
Wondercoin
It's not really surprising to me.
When the modern commemorative program started I bought one of everything minus the gold. After too many commemorative programs I (mostly) stopped buying anything. I'm out.
People like me used to keep these mintages high, but no more.
JBK, as with you, I also bought many multiples of the silver commems from the onset in 1982. As numbers were declining and interest diminishing I was finally out in 2019. Unlike you, I also purchased many of the gold versions which I have mostly sold off for a nice profit. Turned those into high end type coins from earlier series. And a few older commems from the original half dollar series. Zack
I know I wouldn’t! But you could replicate that stately look and use Velcro underneath.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
There always two sides to every story, er coin...thought I'd add this to this thread.
Maybe a graded version could include FB for a higher value...(Full Buttons)
I gave up on modern commmems long ago. But this is an intriguing low mintage.
That is not a fair comparison, the Statue of Liberty dollar was part of a fund raiser for the repairs of the statue and got wrapped up in the public conscious. They were sold in every mall coin shop, gov gift store, and pushed by TV specials (on one of only 4 channels) about the statue and made people thinking they were helping with American pride. Hell I got two sets for Christmas that year from different relatives after already owning the three coin set (my first gold).
If anybody put that much PR into a modern issue (think Kennedy gold) it would do quite well too.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
I stopped buying US mint commems in the early 00s when the premiums over melt got ridiculously high and the events questionable (38th anniversary of end of Korean War?).
That being said, Tubman was a great American and Tubman Dollar looks pretty cool - I might have purchased one if it was on my radar.
Crypto: Ok. We can use the next Commemorative from 1 year later. The MS Constitution with a MINTAGE: 451,629. So, the Mint only lost 98% of its collector base in 37 years instead of 99% in 38 years. Now all fair.
Wondercoin.
That was one of my favorites if only for the odd anniversary.
I read an interesting spin on it: "These 1991 commemoratives were distributed to honor the 38th anniversary of the war’s end and as a tribute to the 38th parallel as the demilitarized zone." It also helped fund a Korean War Veterans Memorial which was completed a few years later.
Me, too! I might have very well bought one if not for the fact that I now totally ignore any mint marketing about commemorative coins. I got pulled into the Baseball HOF and Apollo anniversary coins because they were discussed here, but that's it for recent issues.
Yeah I know that’s why they chose the 38th Anniv, but still silly, and it prompted a WSJ article about the proliferation of US Mint NCLT stuff.
My prediction on this one is the same as for modern commemoratives generically. Decades from now, destined to be mostly forgotten and lost in obscurity, regardless of the mintage. It's another low to moderate appeal design with another limited appeal theme, at best.
I expect most profits from this series (when there are any) to come from an increase in the spot price, not because collectors want it for their collection. This series is more a random assortment of coins with no unifying theme which leads to collectors just buying the ones they like most, as with classic commemoratives. That's one of the few points in Jordan's two books I've read where I agree with him. The increasing number of coins also increasingly makes the series too expensive for much of its low to moderate budget collector base.
Most collectors who buy these coins for their personal collections are buying proofs, not the uncirculated versions. Proofs typically outsell uncs by around 3 to 1, and have done so consistently since the beginning. Uncs look drab compared to proofs, and it's likely most are purchased by completists and speculators. With today's minuscule mintages, it doesn't make sense to have two different versions of the same coin, especially since collectors have clearly expressed with their wallets which versions they prefer.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
Happy to share my ideas any time with the U.S. Mint on how to turn their Commem $1 Program around.
Apparently, the Mint decided that privy coins are more lucrative, and this type of thinking isn't beneficial to the hobby.
I knew it would happen.
Are you at liberty to discuss here? Happy to discuss via PM if that is better.
But at the same time that is what makes the commemorative series great, it is a series where you absolutely can do a box of 20 of what you like the best. You do not need a complete date and mint set unless you really want to.
Tubman is a great subject matter, but I think that Tubman would be great for a general circulation coin, not a commemorative that has a limited audience. I think that the general non collecting public might appreciate it more. Look at how the Tubman on $20 is being pushed by people outside the hobby.
Here is an idea for the mint to turn the commemorative market around. Say all past issues as a series is closed, and the new commemorative series begins with new obverses starting in 2026. Then they do a classic obverse on all future commemoratives such as this:
1 ounce silver: Flowing Hair design every time
1/2 ounce clad: Capped Bust design every time
5 dollar gold: Indian Head every time
They use these for every new commemorative, only changing the reverse to describe the cause to commemorate. This way they become a true series with the same obverse every year. Sales would go up dramatically.
I am less inclined to buy if one side is a static design - like our circulating quarters. Would prefer commemorative dollars on one ounce planchets though.
These will be worth a fortune a century from now. Maybe.......
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc