2016 Mercury Dime Centennial Gold Coin

[ponyo]

My favorite US coin is the Mercury Dime. US Mint recently released 24k gold Mercury Dime to celebrate 100 years history. Anyone else buy the coin? Next on the release schedule is the Standing Liberty gold quarter.

 

[SKORPI0]

$205, limit of 10. Sold out. >$280 at eBay. D:

http://catalog.usmint.gov/mercury-dime-2016-centennial-gold-coin-16XB.html

 

[brianmanahan]

nice coin, but i didn't get one because i prefer older ones to newer. my newest gold coin is a 1825 spanish doubloon.

though i may buy an AGE or two at some point because of the widespread interest. definitely easier to exchange or sell if you need to.

 

[Charmonium]

$205, limit of 10. Sold out. >$280 at eBay. D:

http://catalog.usmint.gov/mercury-dime-2016-centennial-gold-coin-16XB.html

Not sold out as in permanently unavailable, just presently unavailable. Click the "remind me" button and they will email you when it's back in stock.

 

[TheVrolok]

Very beautiful coin. Will have them remind me and may consider it.

 

[ponyo]

$205, limit of 10. Sold out. >$280 at eBay. D:

http://catalog.usmint.gov/mercury-dime-2016-centennial-gold-coin-16XB.html

It's like that with any hot new product release. Flippers did the same with Sony PS2, Nintendo Wii, iPhones, etc. People will buy and try to flip anything for a buck. US Mint did try to limit the flippers and eBayers by placing 10 per household limit. I received guaranteed private offer to buy all ten of my coins for $500 over or $50 extra each over what I paid from the US Mint. But I'm going to keep it because I like the coins, and I don't need the money.

Very beautiful coin. Will have them remind me and may consider it.

http://mintnewsblog.com/2016/04/gold-mercury-dime-sales-adjustment-and-other-updates/

The US Mint is suppose to release the remaining ~4,000 coins but it will probably sell out before you get the remind email from their system. 120,000+ coins sold out in about 20 minutes and it would've sold out even faster if their website didn't keep crashing due to the volume of orders.

 

[OutHouse]

Not sold out as in permanently unavailable, just presently unavailable. Click the "remind me" button and they will email you when it's back in stock.

thanks! beautiful coin. hope to get one when they go back to production.

 

[Charmonium]

thanks! beautiful coin. hope to get one when they go back to production.

Happy to help. It IS a beautiful coin but I always have to think twice about buying from the US Mint. They charge such a steep premium. At 1/10 of an ounce you're paying over $2k/ounce. It's normally worth it though since they generally have very limited mintages. So the odds of price appreciation due just to rarity are pretty good.

Mintage on these is 125k which is high historically. I try not to buy anything over 50k, at least for gold and platinum proofs. Silver I don't really care.

Speaking of which, in the meantime, I picked up a couple of the US Park Service silver proofs. Those look nice too

http://catalog.usmint.gov/100th-ann...rk-service-2016-proof-silver-dollar-16CC.html

 

[ponyo]

Betting on which coins from the mint will do well is crapshoot with very bad odds. As noted, the US Mint charges very high premium over spot for all their products. Paying $2,050 for an ounce of gold when the current spot price around $1,295 is dumb if you think logically. Which is why I rarely buy from the US Mint unless it's special and something I really want like this gold Mercury dime. Most of the time, I stick with plain gold and silver bullion for the low premium over spot. Commemorative coins rarely do well and most trade at spot or below in few years.

If you want to speculate on modern coins, you're better off sticking with something with proven track record of appreciation like the Chinese Pandas, Perth Lunars, Perth Kookaburras, and Mexican Libertads.

 

[Charmonium]

I haven't conducted a detailed survey of aftermarket prices but I can say that I have never had a gold and platinum proof coin sell for less than what I paid. Now to be fair, in most of those cases I was selling into a rising market and that makes a huge difference. But the few times I've checked other coins in a declining market, I've been surprised at the prices over spot. I don't know if people were recouping their premiums but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

And I'm not saying all mintages have a good chance of rising in value. But for the ones where there are only 20-30k proof coins minted, that tends to create its own artificial demand.

Of course the more unusual something is the better the odds of price appreciation but I'm just talking in general.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Not sold out as in permanently unavailable, just presently unavailable. Click the "remind me" button and they will email you when it's back in stock.

These are a limited series and not like the buffalos or eagles where they will just make more. I'm pretty sure once they are gone, they are gone gone. One would have to go to the secondary market to get one now.

I almost bought some but was busy that day. Could have easily turned a nice profit.

Just saw about the 4K remaining above. Good luck getting one. If they drop you will have probably 1 min to get any. I think I checked the website an hour after the 120K dropped and they were sold out by then.

 

[Rakehellion]

It's only worth ten cents?

 

[BudAshes]

It's only worth ten cents?

Yeah, but that is like $500 canadian.

 

[Charmonium]

These are a limited series and not like the buffalos or eagles where they will just make more. I'm pretty sure once they are gone, they are gone gone. One would have to go to the secondary market to get one now.

I almost bought some but was busy that day. Could have easily turned a nice profit.

Just saw about the 4K remaining above. Good luck getting one. If they drop you will have probably 1 min to get any. I think I checked the website an hour after the 120K dropped and they were sold out by then.

I guess I missed that. I'm trying to remember how the advance notification works. I think you're right about being in the queue with everyone else though.

It's interesting that they would release 120k of the 125k at one time. They must have had some reason to believe there was strong demand. Personally, I wouldn't bother with this unless you plan to resell immediately. Honestly I can't see why people are lining up for these. I strongly suspect it's just another bout of gold fever though.

 

[turtile]

I would have purchased one if I was home. Not like the US Mint site would work anyway...

Long term, I don't think these will go up a lot due to the fact that they minted pretty many. I'm actually more interested in the quarter.

 

[ponyo]

I haven't conducted a detailed survey of aftermarket prices but I can say that I have never had a gold and platinum proof coin sell for less than what I paid. Now to be fair, in most of those cases I was selling into a rising market and that makes a huge difference. But the few times I've checked other coins in a declining market, I've been surprised at the prices over spot. I don't know if people were recouping their premiums but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

And I'm not saying all mintages have a good chance of rising in value. But for the ones where there are only 20-30k proof coins minted, that tends to create its own artificial demand.

Of course the more unusual something is the better the odds of price appreciation but I'm just talking in general.

You can usually buy older US Commemorative BU/Proof gold coins for spot or slightly above all day long.

http://www.apmex.com/product/8894/u-s-mint-1-oz-gold-commemorative-arts-medal-random
http://www.apmex.com/product/14078/us-mint-gold-5-commem-bu-proof-agw-24187-oz-capsule-only

I wouldn't even pay the prices on Apmex website. You can always buy it for under spot price from eBay Apmex or Bay Precious Metals (BPM) during 5X eBay Bucks promotions.

Last year/early this year I could've bought all the gold JFK half dollar coins I wanted at below spot. Most of the First Spouse gold coins are trading around spot price even with the low mintages.

 

[Charmonium]

You can usually buy older US Commemorative BU/Proof gold coins for spot or slightly above all day long.

http://www.apmex.com/product/8894/u-s-mint-1-oz-gold-commemorative-arts-medal-random
http://www.apmex.com/product/14078/us-mint-gold-5-commem-bu-proof-agw-24187-oz-capsule-only

I wouldn't even pay the prices on Apmex website. You can always buy it for under spot price from eBay Apmex or Bay Precious Metals (BPM) during 5X eBay Bucks promotions.

Last year/early this year I could've bought all the gold JFK half dollar coins I wanted at below spot. Most of the First Spouse gold coins are trading around spot price even with the low mintages.

Ohhhh, you're talking about medals. I should have been more specific. I was talking about legal tender coins like the American Eagle proofs.

If you get a good grade like 69 or 70, those will go for top dollar.

 

[ponyo]

Ohhhh, you're talking about medals. I should have been more specific. I was talking about legal tender coins like the American Eagle proofs.

If you get a good grade like 69 or 70, those will go for top dollar.

$5 & $10 gold Commemorative, JFK, and First Spouse are all legal tender coins with face value. The only medal is the one ounce gold Commemorative.

Other than 2008 gold Buffalo fractionals, 2013 gold reverse proof Buffalo, 2009 gold ultra high relief Eagle, and 2015 high relief Liberty gold, I don't see many winning proofs from the US Mint. But I only started following and buying PM for about one and half years so I'm relatively new at this.

 

[Charmonium]

I'm surprised the reverse buffaloes have done well. IIRC, there was no mintage limit on those.

I think have all of the ones you listed except for the 2015. The other high relief has done really well but that's the exception I assume because it's so unusual.

I also have the 2014 baseball coin that was the first curved coin they made. Not sure how that's done though and too lazy to check ebay.

 

[edro]

Not into modern coins much.
Would much rather have the old $2.5 Indian head gold coin for $100 more.

I love the mercury dime, but new mintages just scream "flea market" to me.

 

[shimpster]

My favorite US coin is the Mercury Dime. US Mint recently released 24k gold Mercury Dime to celebrate 100 years history. Anyone else buy the coin? Next on the release schedule is the Standing Liberty gold quarter.

No, i didnt purchase that coin

 

[Eli]

Interesting thread.

 

[kranky]

The consensus of people I know in the coin business is that these are a flop financially, at least for the moment. Many were disappointed that the detail of the gold Mercury dime is lacking vs. the original. Last weekend dealers were paying $210 and selling for $270, and that huge spread indicates they don't think the $270 price will hold, plus although lots of people wanted to take a look at one, they weren't buyers.

 

[ponyo]

The consensus of people I know in the coin business is that these are a flop financially, at least for the moment. Many were disappointed that the detail of the gold Mercury dime is lacking vs. the original. Last weekend dealers were paying $210 and selling for $270, and that huge spread indicates they don't think the $270 price will hold, plus although lots of people wanted to take a look at one, they weren't buyers.

The details are lacking compared to the original but I still love it. I gave up instant $500 profit by keeping instead of selling but I have no regret. I knew prices would come back down short term as flippers flood the market. And most of the graded coins are coming back as 70 instead of 69 so that will depress prices further on grades coins as well. I don't care. I'm not looking to sell or grade these.

 

[kranky]

For people doing buy-and-hold, I think it makes sense to buy from the mint direct. No risk of having to pay a premium later and even though a lot of issues drop below issue price, I think the winners balance out the losers on a $ level.

Sometimes I wonder who the people are who buy these kinds of things on ebay right as they hit the market - why aren't they buying them from the mint? Remember the gold Kennedys? Huge spike as soon as they came out, ebay sales soared, and a couple months later they were dead.

(I'll let someone else have the obvious dead Kennedys joke.)