Proxy Buyers Clog Line At Denver Mint

The difference between the US Mint and RCM are the mintages. The RCM would never charge a markup of 50% over metal content for a mintage of 56,694, they know that's an impossibility with their products, hence the mintages between 500 and 10K pieces. For the RCM and other world mints, 50,000+ is bullion territory especially for gold and platinum, not a limited mintage for either of those expensive PMs.

If I understand you correctly, westcoin, that there will be more first day labels than were actually sold by the Mint at the Rosemont show. Those labeled slabs as such will always command a premium over 'regular' PR70s and OGP coins. Label chasing just gets more and more ridiculous as more people with vastly more dollars than cents enter the market on each subsequent 'hot' release, and in the process damage the hobby irreparably for us regular numismatic Joes, IMO. I didn't buy this coin because it felt like a gratuitous and unnecessary release by the Mint, which was an entirely new sensation regarding any Mint product.

I think this coin is ultimately destined to be a bullion coin only. It may take a while for that to play out as the usual suspects (telemarketers) may juice it up temporarily. Watch for that right around the anniversary of Kennedy's assassination.

I am not surprised with the proxy buyers at the Denver Mint. This type of action has been happening for years with concert tickets, sporting events, and new iPhones.

A spokesman for the mint said today in Chicago..."Striking coins to customer demand through Dec. 31″

Coin World is saying they will have 75,000 coins minted by Oct. 1st and they will mint to demand until the end of the year. This should be interesting to watch if anything.

http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-mi...-a-week.html

The Mint is hyping the wrong coin, IMO. The gold will easily surpass 100,000 coins I think. They are not in business to create intentional or unintentional rarities, but to maximize their bottom line. They haven't figured out the exact sales formula that will please everyone but they are getting there in appealing to the masses via word of mouth, the hobby press and social media. However with most things the market will drive how these coins are received in the marketplace. It's over hyped and the frenzy surrounding it does not justify the numbers. Mint processes are so uniform now that there are very little differences between coin #1 and #100,000 of 100,000, except to the slabbed label chasers. Don't get me wrong, I think the coin is neat and worth having, just not the secondary markups uninformed people are willing to pay. The gold half might follow the trajectory of the RP Buffalo, which was just $400 more last year and can be acquired around issue price now.

I wonder if the hype is going to affect the set that counts, the 4 silver half dollars? People might be heartily sick of the coins and skip the third release because its cheaper and thus psychologically "not worth their time," even though the rewards might be greater. It depends when this set comes to market, whether the Mint can capitalize on the wave of hype or let it get lost in the shuffle when the secondary market returns aren't proving as great as people expected, yet the potential ROI is greater than for the gold. There are greater variables with this set, 4 higher relief coins from as many mints, any one of which can stop production if the quality of the strikes isn't there (think Denver Mint who is notorious for high speed coinage but poor to mediocre strikes), and the most idiotic of production issues, the reliable sourcing and delivery of the plastic boxes from China to deliver the coins in. IMO, the silver set should have appeared as a lead in to the final product of the gold half dollar. Silver Kennedy set now looking like it might be eclipsed by the gold frenzy which is good for us collectors. That said, the Mint should have 200,000 sets on hand ready to ship on the first day of sales, but I'm guessing they'll aim for 50,000. Won't be a total surprise if this set has long (3-4 month) backorder times just like the last of the BHOF silver dollars that are finally getting shipped now.

Do you have a mugshot of him?

I was told by a fellow club member that one fo the dealers from MI who has a standing table at our local WI club show every year had struck a deal with NGC of PCGS (I'm pretty sure it was NGC though) to make an exclusive label only for him and the coins he submitted.

If he is 5'5" W/M late 20's / early 30's with short brown hair and from MI that may be your suspect.