Franklin Pierce Presidential Dollar Coin Cover

Today July 1, 2010 at 12:00 Noon ET, the United States Mint will release the Franklin Pierce Presidential Dollar Coin Cover. This will be the second release of the year and the fourteenth release overall for the American Presidency $1 Coin Cover series.

The cover will include two Franklin Pierce Presidential Dollars from the first day of mintage at the Philadelphia and Denver Mint facilities. These will be mounted on a display card within an illustrated envelope. The 44-cent Flag postage stamp is postmarked May 20, 2010, Hillsborough, NH, representing the circulation release date for the coins.

The Franklin Pierce Coin Covers are limited to production of 32,000 and priced at $15.95 each.

While it may partially be the impact of the slower summer months, I have been noticing that the US Mint's subsidiary-type products have been experiencing sharp sales declines.

The most recent example is for the Presidential $1 Coin & First Spouse Medal Sets. The set featuring Franklin and Jane Pierce sold only 1,340 units in the opening sales period. This compares to initial sales of 2,362 for the previous set featuring Millard and Abigail Fillmore. The second previous set featuring Zachary and Margaret Taylor had debuted with sales of 2,702.

The two most recent Presidential $1 Coin Covers had recorded initial sales of 17,833 for the Millard Fillmore cover released on April 2, 2010 and 18,705 for the Zachary Taylor cover released December 30, 2010. It will be interesting to see how much of a decline is experienced for the Franklin Pierce cover. Dropping sales are likely an indication that some US Mint customers are getting bored of the current product line up or dismayed by this year's higher pricing.