What’s next for First Spouse program?

The Dolley Madison First Spouse gold coin is not yet sold out more than two weeks after it went on sale Nov. 19. This situation was not unexpected.

The price hike for this, the fourth coin in the series, upset many potential buyers.

The expense of routinely buying expensive gold coins is beginning to hit home with collectors who are facing the costs of building a set of approximately 40 designs and 80 coins (if we assume they want both proof and uncirculated versions).

And the instant profit available to any buyer who acquires what can be popular on eBay is missing.

Of the three factors, the eBay factor is probably the most critical for this set. Once this factor disappears, can it ever return?

That raises other questions in my mind that I would ask all collectors. Have you written off the idea of ever collecting a complete set of First Spouse gold coins? Have you written off the possibility of ever buying even one First Spouse coin? If you happen to have purchased any of the first three, will you continue to keep them, or will you sell them while the price of gold is high and move on to other areas?

I would like to know the answers. I think the Mint would like to know, too.