Gold quarter mintage set
A U.S. Mint mock-up image of the gold Centennial Standing Liberty quarter.
The Mint has set a mintage ceiling of 100,000 for the gold Standing Liberty quarter Centennial coin that will go on sale Sept. 8.
The coin is the second of three Centennial issues released in 2016 to commemorate the 1916 Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter and Walking Liberty half dollar.
Dealers’ opinions on the gold quarter’s mintage number are varied.
Pat Heller, owner of Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., and author of a weekly commentary about the bullion markets in Numismatic News’ Friday e-newsletter, thought the number to be too high.
“It’s going to be a struggle to sell that many,” said Heller. “I don’t think they will sell out quickly.”
He said it would have been much better had these Centennial coins been made of silver.
Harry Miller, owner of Miller’s Mint in Patchogue, N.Y., thinks the opposite.
Miller, who has served as the Coin Market price guide editor of Numismatic News, answered the question with two words: “Not enough.”
He said a lot of people can’t afford the original 1916 quarter. They look at the gold 2016 coin as a opportunity to fill the empty space in their Standing Liberty set with something that costs less money.
Unless bullion spikes higher or lower, the cost of the new coin will be less than $500, which is indeed much cheaper than a 1916 silver Standing Liberty quarter.
Miller suggested a sales limit of one per household at the start. If they don’t sell out at once like the gold Mercury dime did April 21, only then would he like to see the Mint open it up.
Above all, he wanted to see a fair shot at the coins offered to all collectors.
The opinion of David Sundman, president of Littleton Coin Company in Littleton, N.H., falls in the middle.
“It sounds like a reasonable number,” he said.
His firm is very successful as a mass marketer.
Longtime California professional Mel Wacks was also optimistic about the mintage.
“I think they’ll sell out,” he said.
The most colorful language was used by Colorado dealer and former ANA president Tom Hallenbeck.
“They’re going to cause a panic.”
It took the Centennial gold Mercury dime with its mintage of 125,000 less than an hour to sell out when it went on sale April 21.
Hallenbeck made a prediction about the gold quarter: “This will sell out in half that (time), minutes.”
Now we just have to wait and see.
This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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