Interview with Former Mint Director Philip Diehl

ProofCollection

Thought some of you may be interested in this Mike Row interview with Former Mint Director Philip Diehl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl0tP7AB96Q

yspsales

Bump...

About halfway thru the interview.

Interesting gentleman, life story, and some Ft Knox tidbits.

MedalCollector

The Philip Diehl Mint Director medal is somewhat difficult to find. However, it is still much more common than the medals of his predecessor, David Ryder, and his successor, Jay Johnson. Interestingly, David Ryder became the Mint Director again in 2018 and his 1st term medal was re-released.

BillJones

Who cares? The prices the mint charges are ridiculous. This was the guy who raised the prices through the roof. I remember when he didn't lower the prices on Proof sets, and there were three fewer coins in the set. Shame on him.

There was a time when the mint some items at young collector friendly prices. No more. They want more than $50 for the clad, base metal commemorative half dollars. You can’t tell me it costs that much to make them, even with the surcharge for the group that gets the commemorative coin sales kick back. The rest of their prices are just as bad.

The mint is a profit center for the government. It charges monopoly prices. If things continue as they are, coins for general circulation will soon be obsolete any way.

ProofCollection

@BillJones said:
Who cares? The prices the mint charges are ridiculous. This was the guy who raised the prices through the roof. I remember when he didn't lower the prices on Proof sets, and there were three fewer coins in the set. Shame on him.

There was a time when the mint some items at young collector friendly prices. No more. They want more than $50 for the clad, base metal commemorative half dollars. You can’t tell me it costs that much to make them, even with the surcharge for the group that gets the commemorative coin sales kick back. The rest of their prices are just as bad.

The mint is a profit center for the government. It charges monopoly prices. If things continue as they are, coins for general circulation will soon be obsolete any way.

I'm not defending the prices and I don't like high prices either, but if a given mint issue sells out in a reasonable amount of time, the market has spoken and it was priced correctly. You could even argue that the coins that sell out in just hours are under priced.

BillJones

@ProofCollection said:

@BillJones said:
Who cares? The prices the mint charges are ridiculous. This was the guy who raised the prices through the roof. I remember when he didn't lower the prices on Proof sets, and there were three fewer coins in the set. Shame on him.

There was a time when the mint some items at young collector friendly prices. No more. They want more than $50 for the clad, base metal commemorative half dollars. You can’t tell me it costs that much to make them, even with the surcharge for the group that gets the commemorative coin sales kick back. The rest of their prices are just as bad.

The mint is a profit center for the government. It charges monopoly prices. If things continue as they are, coins for general circulation will soon be obsolete any way.

I'm not defending the prices and I don't like high prices either, but if a given mint issue sells out in a reasonable amount of time, the market has spoken and it was priced correctly. You could even argue that the coins that sell out in just hours are under priced.

Like I said, who cares, except the flippers? Where are most of the ultimate customers, who buy the flipper stuff at inflated prices, five years later? Unles the bullion prices have gone up, most all of them are in a loss position.

The mint, as it is now, is a turn-off, and from what I remember, this guy put that trend on steriods. I am glad the modern coins are not my thing.