United States Mint saving the best for last?

Ready for a bargain from the United States Mint?

When the annual uncirculated dollar coin set goes up for sale on the Mint website Dec. 14, buyers will find that it is priced at $49.95.

At first glance, that might seem like a so-what price.

But if you take a moment to consider that the key coin in the set, the 2016-W uncirculated silver American Eagle, is priced at $44.95 if purchased separately, you can see the advantage of buying the whole set.

There are four other dollar coins in it.

The final three Presidential dollars are in this final collector product of the year.

These honor Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan. They are struck at the Philadelphia Mint.

The 2016 Native American dollar is also in the set. It is struck in Denver.

It honors code talkers of the two world wars.

These four dollar coins have a face value of $4 and the Mint is charging just $5 more for their inclusion in the set.

The three Presidential coins are offered in a three-coin set of uncirculated coins from Philadelphia. It is priced at $11.95.

That set doesn’t include the Native American dollar. You would have to figure out another way to acquire it. Naturally, that means additional cost.

Coin for coin, the uncirculated dollar coin set is the way to go if you want all of these in your collection at the lowest possible price.

The Mint may not be giving them away, and you have to face the $4.95 shipping fee, but it is nice to see that an intelligent purchaser can save a little money.

Thanks United States Mint for thinking of the little guy.

Perhaps this set can be a stocking stuffer for the coin collectors on your Christmas shopping list.

If you order the first day, the Mint can probably get the set to you before Dec. 25.

This of course is the best gift of all.

When I bought my first coin set from the Mint in the pre-historic late 1960s, we had to wait the better part of a year for delivery.

Times do change for the better.

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