Seeing is believing?

The U.S. Mint releases its United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set July 15.

As is often the case with other Mint product releases, I had an e-mail from a reader saying that a TV shopping show was offering the sets days ahead of time.

He demanded to know how the show gets coins early.

I telephoned the Mint July 12, as I have done from time to time with other offers, and received an official denial that the sets were released early.

I relayed this back to the original e-mailer and he does not believe it.

So, does anybody out there have actual possession of the official mint set or coins from the mint set that are slabbed as the first day of issue? These must be the actual coins, not images or promises.

Only actual possession before the release date of the set can prove or disprove the e-mailer’s suspicion.

Otherwise we chalk it up to marketing.

It has long been a practice in the coin hobby to begin advertising the availability of something slightly head of the release date to attract the maximum numbers of potential buyers. Fulfillment of the orders generated is then undertaken as soon as the release date arrives and the coins or sets are received by the advertisers.