Tuesday, May 26, 2009


Just as the Guam Quarters Bags and Rolls went on sale today, the remaining Puerto Rico Quarter Bags and Rolls sold out.

Previously, the 1,000-coin Philadelphia and Denver mint bags had sold out. Last week, the 100-coin Philadelphia bags sold out. The two remaining options were the 100-coin Denver bag and Two Roll Set, which contains one 40-coin roll from each mint in custom wrappers.

According to Numismaster, sales statistics for the Puerto Rico bags and rolls as of last week, are as follows:
Puerto Rico Bags and Rolls Sales Figures


Phila. Denver Total
1,000 Coin Bags 1,047 953 2,000
100 Coin Bags 19,827 16,534 36,361
Two Roll Set - - 39,652

The timing of the sell out for the remaining options raises a question. Is the US Mint offering this year's bags and rolls until a certain number have been sold or until the next release goes on sale? In the case of Puerto Rico, the 1,000-coin bags sold out after an even 2,000 were sold across both mints. The 100-coin bags and Two Roll Sets were both close to an even 40,000, which could have been reached over the long Memorial Day weekend. The US Mint could have ended sales of the remaining options because the production run had sold out, or to coincide with the release of the Guam bags and rolls.

In the long term, I think buyers of the Puerto Rico bags and rolls will be rewarded. According to the US Mint's posted production figures only 53.2 million 2009-P Puerto Rico Quarters were produced and only 86 million 2009-D Puerto Rico Quarters. These represent the lowest quarter mintages in over four decades. As the case has been recently, the US Mint packaged bags and rolls may bring sustainable premiums over plain or generic wrapped rolls obtained from banks.

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