Tell me what it was I bought

Like a baseball game announcer I can say three up, three down to describe the Mint’s success in marketing the first three of its 2010 America the Beautiful 5-ounce silver uncirculated collector coins.

Even as the Mint was adding some waiting list names to top off the third offering, the Yosemite coin, yesterday also saw the beginning of sales of the 2010 Grand Canyon 5-ounce silver uncirculated collector coin.

Reader Ricky L. Snyder emailed me to report that he had easily placed his order just five minutes past noon.

“It was stress free and as easy as eating apple pie and vanilla ice cream on a hot summer day,” he wrote.

On the other hand, apparently some individuals are having trouble keeping the moving parts of the program straight.

A phone call that I received yesterday was from a collector on the other end of the line saying he had bought the five coins early this year.

What are they, collector or bullion coins, he asked?

Are they going to make more, he wondered?

He even had a copy of Numismatic News and was reading from the “Mint Statistics” column.

I told him what he had purchased were the 2010 bullion coins and the 33,000 mintages reported there were final.

The coins being sold by the Mint now were the 2010 collector versions and the 2011 bullion coins.

Is there a third kind, he inquired?

I assured him there were just two kinds, and obviously even with statistical lists there are problems keeping track of them.