The 2001-S Silver Proof set remains in collector demand at multiples of its issue price despite the U.S. Mint's recent announcement it sold more than twice as many of the sets as originally reported.
Mint spokesman Doug Hecox said Dec. 4 that the actual number of 2001-S Silver Proof sets sold by the Mint is 889,697, not the 317,142 published in a cover story in the Dec. 16 issue of
Coin World. Hecox said he confirmed the higher sales figure with the Mint's accounting staff, but does not know the source of the lower figure.
The erroneous figure was provided to
Coin World several months ago by a previous Mint spokesman who no longer works for the nation's coin producer. The lower sales figure was secured while research was being done for
Coin World's 2003 Guide to U.S. Coins: Prices & Value Trends. The erroneous sales figure appears in the 2003 Price Guide, but will be corrected to the higher figure for future editions.
Sales for the 2001-S Silver Proof sets ended July 24, 2002, the day sales for the 2002-S Silver Proof sets began, Hecox confirmed.
Nonetheless, dealers say the overall number of sets sold is not what's fueling the price increases for the 2001-S Silver Proof sets. It's the pattern in which the sets were dispersed, with collectors often buying no more than one or two sets in many cases and dealers not stockpiling the sets in any significant numbers. For any dealer to amass a large quantity of sets will likely require going to multiple secondary market sources.
Paul Sims from Paul Sims Inc., Richmond, Va., said the price surge in any such set is "almost exclusively [due to] the distribution" of sales, not the total sales themselves. He said as an example, the posting of bids on numismatic dealer networks seeking 2001-S Silver Proof sets elicit responses of offers of maybe 10 to 20 sets per dealer at the most. Making the same request for 2000-S Silver Proof sets will be replied to with offers of 300 to 500 sets per offer, since there are many dealers with large quantities of the 2000-S Silver Proof sets in inventory, Sims said.
Sims said the 2001-S sets, which spiked to around $125 retail before settling back to the current $110 per set mark, could push higher toward the $140 mark. The Mint sold the 2001-S Silver Proof sets for $31.95 each.
Posted 09/15/2008 5:14 pm
someone must know
