Lake Superior Coin

I agree with NuMOOSE....

I think you are missing my point. For me and others, the coin is going nowhere... I will buy it, enjoy it, await the rest of the set, (complete with the murky brown Lake Ontario coin) and probably admire it for the next 30-40 years. This coin has positive (topography) and negative (bathymetry) relief, which is cool as heck in my books... This is my hobby, and buying coins like this is for my pleasure... I may even buy another set to give to a scientist I know who has spent a good majority of their career researching the Great Lakes. When it comes to low risk investments, I will stick with what actually works. Real estate, GICs and a diverse stock portfolio.

Seriously, if mintages really were the main concern, then why aren't people snapping up the hockey lenticular puck coins (mintages under 500 for 4 of the 6 Canadian teams) or the 2003 gold-plated maple proof cent (less than 8000 minted)... olympic puck loon dollars, golf dimes, I could name a bunch...

That's the point of discusion and as you say, of perspective.

For you, collecting coin is 100% pleasure. For other people including me, collecting coins is a hobby (pleasure) + an investment (even if at the end you don't make a profit).

No, definitely not missing that point. Anyone who has been collecting, buying and selling coins long enough, knows that is gamble whereby the collector is rarely the winner...

So are real estate and a diverse stock portfolio, and GIC rarely beat inflation. But the odds on our 'gambles' can be managed by how one invests.

Oddly, my coin collection has actually done better than my other investments since the crash in 2008. I don't ever expect it to fund my later years but I also don't think it compares to an entertainment expense - it's never going to zero. Just my thinking, your mileage may vary.

NuMoosematist is definitely not alone. There is a reason why NCLT coins sell for less when they are not sold with their original packaging. It is all part of the 'experience' of NCLT collecting, just like golf, if I go golfing I expect the 'packaging' of it all to be what I am paying for (i.e. what CC-Ottawa said, 'I don't expect to get the course, find out I'm playing in a group of 6, there are 3 wheels on my power cart and only 15 holes')

I don't necessarily agree with the golf analogy (e.g., 15 holes, three wheeled carts, etc.). The RCM provides a high quality, problem-free coin, with a case and COA. You get exactly what you pay for, nothing more, nothing less. If you get a defective coin, case or COA - the mint will replace it for you at no cost. That is their obligation to you, the customer. Final mintage numbers are not part of the quality control that the product represents to you, as their customer.

Does anyone complain when a mint report releases actual mintages, which for some products is less than what was intended? I don't see a single person who bought the 2007 Wedding set with the silver complaining that the mintage (817) were not as they were originally intended (10,000).

The amount of criticizing I see with stuff like this is such small potatoes. Nobody here obviously remembers what the RCM used to do with their leftover mint product in the 1980s and 1990s. Instead of melting unsold inventory, the RCM would wholesale out leftover mint product at a massive discount to US and World dealers, which would infuriate the Canadian coin dealers and customers who paid issue price. This would flood the market and collectors were left holding mint product at a substantial loss.

Honestly, despite the production and shipping issues, I think that the RCM is doing a pretty good job.