No crash at open of Yellowstone ATB sale

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.

The interest was there for the 5-ounce America the Beautiful 2010 collector coin honoring Yellowstone National Park, but unlike opening day of sales for the Hot Springs coin, there was no mad dash to order them online.

“It didn’t crash,” said U.S. Mint Director of Public Affairs Tom Jurkowsky about the website that crashed and was out of service for about 45 minutes on April 28, the opening day of sales for the 5-ounce silver Hot Springs collector coin.

“We sold about the same number of collector coins, but it was spread out over the day,” Jurkowsky said.

Sales opened at noon May 17, with 18,409 Yellowstone coins ordered by midnight, Jurkowsky said. Of that total, 16,109 orders were placed on the website and 2,300 by phone.

First day of sales for the Hot Springs collector coin totaled 20,426, with 16,210 orders placed on the website and 4,216 by phone.

The price for each coin was $279.95. Total mintage for each of the five 2010 collector coins is 27,000.

The Hot Springs collector coin has officially sold out, but the Mint is allowing customers to be placed on a waiting list should some coins that were sold be returned and then made available for sale.

The Mint also announced that the first two 2011 5-ounce ATB bullion coins have been sold out to nine Authorized Purchasers. The coins honor Gettysburg National Military Park and Glacier National Park.

No restrictions on sales or price were placed on the Authorized Purchasers for distribution of the 2011 ATB 5-ounce bullion coins.

The 2011 ATB 5-ounce coin honoring Olympia National Park went on sale to AP’s May 23.

The Mint has set an initial release of 126,700 for each of the 2011 bullion coins. It indicated it may produce more coins if public demand warrants it.