Eager market
According to reports, the very first set of gold coins bearing the First Spouse emblems had sold out in a matter of hours- three hours to be precise. The first set of U.S. Mint First Spouse Gold Coins bore the faces of two notable individuals in United States history: the first being Martha Washington, the better half of the venerable George Washington, while the other was Abigail Adams, spouse of President John Adams.
Coin collectors around the world would be glad to know that the First Spouse gold coin series had been released alongside the Presidential Dollar series, which showcases not only the faces of past U.S. Presidents, but also a thematic for their life’s work.
According to news, the mintage for the First Spouse series of gold coins had been consciously limited to forty thousand pieces. The coins were then divided according to their basic finish. The two types of finish for the gold coins are the following:
- Uncirculated gold coins
- Proof gold coins
As predicted, when the third First Spouse gold coin was released, the market was more than eager to consume the limited release. Despite certain measures undertaken to increase the general life span of the coins, the coin was still consumed by the market in a matter of hours.
The restriction was strictly enforced: only one gold coin from each of the available gold coin types for every household. If we were to compute, then thousands of family representatives went to the sale of these First Spouse gold coins.
Pricing
The First Spouse gold coins, featuring the emblems of the long and colorful histories of the United States, were being sold at these prices:
- USD 429 for Proof coins
- USD 410 for Uncirculated coins
The coins were being released to the public housed in a stylish wooden box made of hard wood. Before stricter measures were employed in the purchasing of the U.S. Mint First Spouse gold coins, the public had been allowed to buy up to five coins from each category. However, as was proven by the first release, this meant depleting the supply of the coins in less than half a day.
Supply & demand
What kind of demand are we talking about here? According to coin collectors who attempted to get in on the action when the U.S. Mint released the gold coins, all three avenues were crowded to capacity. Of course the U.S. Mint was full of people; and while many thought the website would be much better, the pace of placing an order through the U.S. Mint’s website slowed down to a snail’s pace.
After failing to get their hands on the First Spouse gold coins through those avenues, enthusiasts and professional coin collectors then turned their attention to the telephone ordering system. Unfortunately, even the ordering system through phone was swamped. Many callers were merely met with a pre-recorded message saying that the system is unable to handle their calls for the moment.
Of course, there are always windows of opportunity for the resourceful. If official avenues are closed, there’s always Ebay. Within days, Ebay was already full of First Spouse gold coin offers. Most of the offers priced the gold coins at a much higher price than the original- some over a hundred dollars more than the original price.
After the initial fever subsided, many of the prices on Ebay began to drop, especially with the increasingly wide availability of the bronze versions of the First Spouse gold coins, being offered to the public at a much lower price: thirteen dollars per piece. Many collectors focused on the bronze versions rather than the gold ones.