Time to act if you really want 2015 coins

You can still party like its 2015 as far as certain United States Mint products are concerned.

The Mint sent out a reminder about coins going off sale by the end of 2016.

Many of them date back to 2015.

I have never had a good handle on the reason a collector would wait nearly two years to make a purchase.

I suppose they could be newcomers.

I suppose they could have been unemployed when the coins were first issued.

I also suppose that there is room for changing minds.

This behavior is the direct opposite of those who place orders within minutes of coins going on sale on the Mint's website.

If you fall into any of these late buyer categories, now is the time to act.

Going off sale by midnight Dec. 31 are both clad and silver 2015 proof sets, the 2015 mint set, the 2015 America the Beautiful clad quarter proof set and the silver 2015 ATB quarter proof set.

More recent coins going off sale Dec. 29 are this year’s commemoratives honoring Mark Twain and the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

There are the proof and uncirculated Mark Twain gold $5 coins as well as the same denomination for the National Park Service.

I expect some collectors might still be evaluating the potential of low final mintages.

Numbers presently stand at 12,972 and 5,531 for the proof and uncirculated Twain gold $5s, respectively.

The Parks totals are 4,743 and 4,113, respectively, but you have to add in the 14,283 proofs that were sold as part of a three-coin proof set to come up with the running count of 19,026. This puts Parks ahead of the proof Twain $5.

The uncirculated gold $5 coins are $376.15 each. The proofs are $381.15.

Silver dollars for the two programs are $49.95 for the uncirculated and $50.95 for the proof.

Proof and uncirculated dollar sales totals for Twain stand at 77,365 and 25,981, respectively.

Parks numbers are 61,447 and 20,387, respectively, for the proofs and uncs.

Adding the Parks proof dollar from the three-coin set to the running dollar total yields a number almost identical to Twain at 75,730.

The National Park Service program has clad half dollars in it.

The uncirculated is $24.95 and the proof is $25,95.

The proof sales number stands at 39,013. The unc is 18,767.

Adding in the proofs from the three-coin set puts the potential proof mintage figure at 53,296.

I write potential because sales do not become final mintages until the coins are no longer offered and the Mint goes through its full accounting process.

There is also a three-coin National Park Service proof set. 15,000 is the maximum mintage. Presently it stands at 14,283. Price is $442.15. This saves you $15.90 on the combined prices of the coins sold separately.

If you have any money left after buying Christmas presents, perhaps one of these soon-to-be-gone coin offers could be a present to yourself.

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

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.