US Mint Coins Or Sets To Collect

Unfortunately, you cannot predict the future. Believe any advice you receive should start with that.

Case in point. The collector version of the 5 oz America the Beautiful ( ATB) started out as limited production. For the first five, this has held true for the first five - NP1 through NP5. NP6 and on, well, the floodgates of production, MIGHT be opened completely. Mint is not saying absolutely how many may be made or not. Mint might melt what they don't sell after a period of time.

Mint and proof sets tend not to do that well in terms of value. Silver items and silver proof sets will at least track silver in value. I know little about commemoratives, so I can't speak to how they've performed in terms of value, but most of them are silver at least. Anything that has very limited mintage numbers will tend to do better.

The 25th anniversary silver eagle set is coming out on the 27th, and that might be a good investment because the 20th anniversary sets and the special reverse proof that is unique to those sets have done very well.

Classic coins may be better investment-wise than modern stuff.

But the better answer is to collect what you like.

You asked what is best to order directly from the mint.

Your second constraint was not gold.

Your third constraint was items that tend to go up in value over the years so that you could pass that value to your children.

Given these constraints, you should focus on offerings that contain silver.

There is some possibility that you may order and receive an oddity when ordering non-precious metal coins, but the chances of that are small.

There is also the possibility that you might, by sheer chance, happen to order non-precious metal items that later on become valuable because of scarcity. Again a small chance.

Thanks for the replies. From what I am gathering proofs and commemoratives are not worth bothering with? The silver and gold coins are only a good investment if the prices of these metals are down. But the older coins are actually the best investment? So,the us mint is not worth buying from unless they gaurantee a low mintage? Also, if buying an older coin, what % of value should I expect to pay vs. book value per coin? For example, I see that a 1914D books for about $300 in VF condition on coinauctionhelp.com , but on e-bay sells for about $150-$200 on e-bay. If I was to start collecting older coins what would be a good % to pay now for a good pay off a few years down the road...if you were buying that is?

@tershaffer

High grade commemorative coins before 1950 are a good play. They are scarce and desirable. If you can get a good deal on MS-65+ coins- they should go up in value by the time you leave them to your kids. The key, in my opinion, is getting the highest grade coins you can afford. Lower grade coins- even key date coins- are fairly common in the numismatic community. Any dealer can get their hands on a Good 4-6 1916-D Mercury Dime- but getting an AU or MS example is something that is much more rare- and something down the road that will maintain its value if not rise in value.

The other play is bullion. If you believe gold or silver will be more expensive years from now- then just buy and hold bullion assets. I would not recommend that you buy graded bullion coins because the pretty design on the coin has nothing to do with metal. Furthermore, modern bullion coins will never circulate and therefore will not likely deteriorate in condition between now and when your kids get your coins... therefore, the survivability rate of these bullion coins in a high MS condition will be high.

Most dealers I know don't want to buy them back- and every pawn shop or Cash for Gold/ Silver store has a safe full of them.

I buy an ASE Proof every year and give it to my son with his birthday gifts and have done this for MANY years...Great looking coins, reasonably priced and it has jump started his interest in collecting coins...I just give him one from my subscription order when they arrive

I personally think that classic coins have the greatest appeal to me simply because I wonder how many individuals (common and famous ones) handled these coins under various circumstances.

I agree with what was previously stated about truly enjoying the ones that you collect.

Just the other day, for example, after I picked up a 1794 cent at a yard sale I went right to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1794 to review the key events of that era.

This allows me to learn while I collect which keeps the hobby interesting etc.

It is difficult to understand the desire to focus only on accumulating common date silver or bullion coins unless one is a speculator.

fyi,
mdpmedia

Don't want to call anybody out, but I think this is just a really bad idea. The modern 69 and 70 graded coins of any denomination are already losing interest and being looked down upon because the grading standards have been relaxed....and some are afraid they will be further.
Regarding proof silver Kennedy halves, all of them are following the PM market and would drop if silver drops. The high grade 70s cannot be obtained at a reasonable price because those selling paid too much for them. If you were to buy one it will probably go down in value regardless of what silver does.