Tickets for Kennedy gold

The Mint will put only 500 of the new proof gold Kennedy half dollars on sale at 11 a.m. on the first day of the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money Aug. 5.

Purchasers there will be limited to a maximum of two coins, said Marc Landry, the U.S. Mint’s acting associate director of sales and marketing, in a telephone conference with the news media July 16.

In order to prevent day-long lines at the Mint booth, 15 minutes to a half hour before the coins go on sale, the Mint will make an announcement telling potential buyers where in the hall to go to get tickets.

At that spot, would-be buyers will be given tickets. Only holders of tickets will be able to buy the coins at the Mint booth.

When they go to the Mint booth, they will find two cash registers dedicated to the gold Kennedy half dollars to speed the sales process. A third register will handle all other transactions.

Over the course of the convention, the Mint plans to make available 500 coins each day for a total of 2,500.

Landry recalled the rush for Baseball Hall of Fame coins in Baltimore March 27. He said, “people were standing in line for many hours over multiple days.” The Mint does not want to have a repetition of this.

Once the day’s allotment is gone, that is it until the next day when another 500 gold Kennedy halves will go on sale. Landry did reserve the right to adjust procedures and order limits on the second day after evaluating the results of the first day of sales.

Overall, the Mint will have approximately 40,000 coins available for purchase on the first day of availability. More will be produced if demand warrants.

Landry said it is the Mint’s goal to “have enough on hand to satisfy demand but not overproduce.”

Online purchases of the gold half dollar though the Mint’s website will have a household order limit of five coins.

The Mint’s three other retail outlets at Washington, Philadelphia and Denver will also offer only 500 coins each on the first day and have a purchase limit of two coins.

Sales results in the first week will be evaluated and adjustments will be made to production, Landry said.

Price will be determined by a Mint pricing grid depending on the price of gold bullion when the coins go on sale.

The 1964-2014 dated gold half dollar will contain three-quarters of an ounce of .9999 fine gold. At $1,300 an ounce, the gold content of the new half dollar alone is $975. To that, will be added a substantial mark-up.