The doctor is in

I can tell that we are in an economic downturn simply by the tone of e-mail communications to me. It gets harsher.

One person wrote me two e-mails in the span of two days. The first was to complain about the winner of the Coin of the Year Contest announced last week. She wanted to buy the 2007 Mongolian 500 tugrik but didn’t know where to buy it.

The second e-mail arrived when the Mint announced online its weekly repricing of the Ultra High Relief Saint-Gaudens $20. She jumped to the conclusion that the order that she had already placed would be repriced higher, costing her more. I assured her that that would not be the case, but she replied in a third e-mail that she didn’t really trust the Mint to do the right thing.

Another writer complained to me that he somehow didn’t see news in Numismatic News of the availability of the Ultra High Relief when it went on sale Jan. 22, but had nevertheless bought one in the first days of availability, so even though he was able to buy one, he wrote he felt that I had let him down.

I can understand the stresses collectors face. To the extent that I save the family dog from being kicked, feel free to vent in e-mails to me.