Silver lining in lower gold price

It is probably no consolation for investors who are watching the price of gold bullion in free-fall, but for collectors who have not yet ordered the proof gold Kennedy half dollar, a lower gold price means patience has its rewards.

Cost of the coin is now $1,202.50, which is the cheapest it has been.

The program began at $1,240. The price rose to $1,277.50 and is now falling.

Neither higher issue price mattered much to those who were eager buyers to get special grading service labels.

With that excitement now in the past, fence-sitters might be tempted to buy one of these Kennedy coins, especially if gold would dip down to $1,199.99 for a bit.

That is not all that far from the current Kitco reported price of $1,219.90 a troy ounce.

If gold would drop below $1,200, the price point for the gold Kennedy would be $1,165.

Of course, the Mint now is about to go quiet to transition to its new website. Tomorrow is the last day you will be able to place orders for a while .

Deliveries will be suspended Sept. 23 to Oct. 1. Then the new website will go live.

Most collectors who have not yet made a purchase of the gold Kennedy probably never will, but there is always a contingent that waits until near the end of a program and then decides the product is just too desirable to do without.

Whether they are drawn in by a lower sales prices remains to be seen.

Usually the motivation for a late buy is a vision of profits to be made on a low mintage.

That particular factor will not apply with the gold Kennedy because the nearly 64,000 already sold should be sufficient to hold down the price of the raw (unslabbed) coins on the secondary market.

But you never know.

What if the gold Kennedy becomes a favorite as the 2009 Ultra High Relief Saint-Gaudens $20 has become?

Then late buyers will be rewarded with both a lower issue price and a higher secondary market price.

They would then really feel like winners.

Those are the factors and possibilities that keep collectors on their toes.

Remember, the gold Kennedy contains three-quarters of an ounce of gold.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."