Cheaper is good, but don’t try to explain

On Friday the U.S. Mint began selling the 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA Young Collectors Set.

It is not the best example to point to for teaching Girl Scouts or anybody else about the proper use of English or simple arithmetic.

This particular coin set is not actually a set. It has just one coin in it.

The description says it this way:

“The set contains a 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA Centennial Uncirculated Silver Dollar, along with colorful graphics paired with historic images. You will also find the “Mint Kids” characters who are back to guide you through this organization’s remarkable history that has evolved to meet the changing needs of girls and the Nation over the past 100 years.”

Collectors used to say that a couple of pieces of color-printed cardboard were packaging.

If you happened to go to the Mint’s website on Friday and checked the set offer and checked the standard uncirculated Girl Scout dollar offer you found that the regular coin cost $55.95, one dollar more than the special set’s $54.95 price.

Ordinary people would presume that a special set should be priced somewhat higher than the single coin, wouldn’t they?

Of course, with the widely fluctuating price of silver, pricing anomalies can occur, but try explaining that to a Girl Scout.

Will the maximum issue figure of 50,000 of these sets entice anyone to become buyers?

We will see.

The Mint hasn’t managed to sell 30,000 of the uncirculated dollars to this point.

Perhaps adding some bits of cardboard and initially pricing this so-called set for less than the regular uncirculated coin will help overall sales.

But if you are looking for logic in these two offers, it is hard to find any.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."