Community Voice Responses (10/16/12)

From the September 21th Numismatic e-newsletter: Will you buy the 2012 First Spouse coins when they hit the market? Here are some answers sent from our e-newsletter readers to Editor Dave Harper.

Yes, absolutely yes. Have to keep my Proof-70 collection up to date. Just hope they don’t hit the Mint website all at once.
Scott Tuley
El Cajon Calif.

Depending on the price I would buy the First Spouse gold coin depicting Alice Paul as a suffragist. The coin displays an attractive woman, which isn’t the case for any of the other coins other than Julia Tyler, and it may be a real rarity as it doesn’t depict a coin of the era or the spouse of a former president.
However, with gold in the stratosphere there is the question of the ability to afford it and to divert otherwise scarce funds to buy a BU or Proof version of the coin.
Bill Brownstein
California

Yes, I will. I have the entire series and I plan to complete it.
Tom Quinn
Texarkana, Texas

I am not interested in First Spouse gold coins, but I do like gold coins, bullion and numismatic and foreign gold coins I also have a wide array of Morgan silver dollars and Peace dollars along with silver bullion. A First Spouse coin would interest me if it was close to bullion prices.
Bob Weiss
Address withheld

I am collecting the set in PR-70 and PR-69, plus trying to go back and pick up the MS-70. These are a profitable series for the Mint, and I think they should keep making them.
What I think they need to do is charge $4.95 for shipping, and an extra $3 or more by weight at least for their overnight upgrade.
The $4.95 free upgrade is a money loser more than it encourages increased spending. What it does do is encourage people to save buying mint sets and other items until they have $300 to get the free upgrade. It may look like a big order, but it is really a bunch of smaller orders combines to save shipping.
Name withheld