Golden dollar, 2006 Kennedy halves new to boxes

Editor's note: Sales figures in boxes at the end of this story were compiled Feb. 22.

I was never any good at jigsaw puzzles. In fact, I don?t think I?ve ever had the patience to sit long enough to finish one.

This flaw or handicap, or whatever you want to call it, makes juggling these boxes somewhat difficult.

There?s always a game at play here. To make them all line up properly, you have to take some things out and add some things in. It involves the kind of decisive decision-making that just doesn?t come naturally to me and it gives me a God-complex, and I?m not comfortable playing God.

Mostly, it just makes me nervous that I might leave out numbers that you, the reader, are dying to see.

I can agonize for hours about such things. I really can. The older I get though, the less time I take for such things. Life?s too short to get worried over things like that. And I?ve finally started to realize that if it?s not included in one week?s Numismatic News, chances are it?ll be in the next one. And that?s OK.

Anyway, there was much juggling this week, as you can probably see. Since the Benjamin Franklin commemoratives have been sold out for a few weeks now, I didn?t think anybody would mind if I removed them. If anybody?s wondering, they?re still sold out.

Now, for the tit for tat. With the Franklin commemorative box gone, that means we welcome some new products to the show ? namely, the 2006 Golden dollar and the 2006 Kennedy half dollar bags and rolls.

Both products hit the streets Feb. 15 and so far, there hasn?t been much movement. Not sure if anybody expected mass sales on these items, but at first glance, it appears they?ll be available to anybody who wants them.

Before I forget, I also took out the 2005 five-quarter silver proof set numbers. I don?t think anybody will miss them.

They?ve been sold out for a while, but I kept them around because it was helping with box alignment until I could figure out how to change things and get everything to line up perfectly. Maybe I should take a class in Feng Shui design, and adopt a Zen approach.

Another addition for this issue: production numbers for the West Virginia quarter. I finally tracked them down.

So, are you watching the platinum bullion and platinum 2006 proof American Eagle numbers? In light of reports that mintages for platinum bullion coins hit an all-time low in 2005, it should be interesting to see how platinum sales do in 2006. The price per ounce is still pretty high.

Looking ahead, the Nebraska quarter is due for launch soon. The launch ceremony is one month from this issue date.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail any queries to me at peter.lindblad@fwpubs.com.