2010 Boy Scouts Silver Dollar Coins

The 2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar will go on sale at the United States Mint tomorrow, March 23, 2010 at 12:00 Noon ET.

The Boy Scouts Silver Dollar obverse features an image of a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and female Venturer saluting with an inscription "Continuing the Journey". The reverse features the universal emblem of the Boy Scouts of America.

The design has not been without controversy. Some have questioned the portrayal of a girl on a coin for the Boy Scouts. The female depicted is a member of the Venturing program, which allows both male and female members, aged 14 to 21. The Girl Scouts of America will actually get their own commemorative silver dollar in 2013.

The authorizing legislation had called for a design "emblematic of 100 years of the largest youth organization in the United States, the Boy Scouts of America." The final design was selected by the Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC). View some of the unselected candidate designs in this post.

The 2010 Boy Scouts Silver Dollars will be minted in proof and uncirculated versions at the Philadelphia Mint. The maximum mintage across both versions is 350,000, as specified by the authorizing legislation.

For the start of sales, the proof version of the coin will be priced at $39.95 and the uncirculated version will be priced at $33.95. These prices represent introductory pricing, which will be in effect until April 21, 2010, 5:00 PM ET. After this time, regular pricing of $43.95 for proof coins and $35.95 for uncirculated coins will go into effect.

The US Mint has imposed an ordering limit of 100 coins per version, per household.

As mentioned previously, I think that the coins will achieve a sell out of the maximum authorized mintage of 350,000 due to the broader appeal of the subject. In addition to demand from coin collectors, this program will have demand from past and current members or those associated with the organization. According to Wikipedia, there are currently four million youth members of the Boy Scouts of America. Since the organization's founding, more than 110 million Americans have been members.

I am not sure this will be a one-day sell out. Last year's popular Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar took more than one month to sell out. Even the 2001 American Buffalo Silver Dollar took about two weeks to sell out. Although many non-coin collectors will be interested in buying the Boy Scouts Silver Dollars, I am not sure they will have the sense of immediacy to purchase coins on the opening day of sales. That said, I will still be placing my order on the first day, just in case.