US Mint Price Increase and Anna Harrison First Spouse Coin Sales

Tomorrow around mid-morning, the prices for the US Mint's numismatic gold coins will likely be raised. Under the US Mint's pricing policy, the prices for numismatic gold and platinum coins may be adjusted once per week in response to changing precious metals prices.

The Mint calculates the average price of gold based on the London Fix prices from Thursday AM of the prior week to Wednesday AM of the current week. The relevant prices so far are indicated below:

Thurs Feb 18 AM	1,105.50
Thurs Feb 18 PM	1,118.00
Fri Feb 19 AM	1,107.00
Fri Feb 19 PM	1,112.75
Mon Feb 22 AM	1,119.75
Mon Feb 22 PM	1,115.25
Tue Feb 23 AM	1,112.00
Tue Feb 23 PM	1,107.00
Wed Feb 24 AM	?

As long as tomorrow's London AM Fix comes in above $1,002.75, then the average price will be within the $1,100 to $1,149.99 price range, prompting an increase. The coming price increase would take place after two price decreases on December 16, 2009 and January 27, 2010.

The price for the 2009 Gold Buffalo Proof Coin would be raised from $1,360 to $1,410. The price for the proof First Spouse Gold Coins would be raised from $704 to $729. The price for the uncirculated First Spouse Coins would be raised from $691 to $716.

For the past few weeks the spot price of gold has increased while the prices for US Mint numismatic gold coins has remained stable. This has led to elevated sales levels for the available gold products.

One particular coin that I wanted to point out is the uncirculated version of the Anna Harrison First Spouse Gold Coin. In the past three weeks, the US Mint has recorded sales 295 coins, bringing total sales from 3,153 to 3,448. In each reporting period, this particular coin had the highest sales out of all available First Spouse Gold Coins. Before the recent surge in demand, the Mint had been selling fewer than 15 coins per week.

The higher interest in this coin can be attributed to several factors. First, along with other gold coins, collectors are placing orders with the rising price of gold and ahead of the impending price increase. Second, sales of the coins are expected to end next month when sales of the next issue of the series begin (or sooner as happened on one occasion). Third, the coin will likely mark a new mintage low for the First Spouse Gold Coin series. The current low mintage (for coins no longer available directly from the US Mint) is held by the Louisa Adams uncirculated coin with last reported sales of 4,223.

I have been closely watching the First Spouse Gold Coin series for a while, since I believe that some of the low mintage coins and the Liberty subset will eventually gain more widespread appreciation. While I am not convinced that the Anna Harrison uncirculated coin will represent the exact low mintage point for the series, it will probably be among the lowest and worthy of some consideration ahead of the price increase.

Today on Coin Update News: Full US Mint Sales Report