The United States Mint was scheduled to launch the new America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins series earlier this week on December 6, 2010. Following complaints from consumers about unreasonable premiums being charged by authorized purchasers, the US Mint halted the program while they worked to determine an appropriate course of action. In a memo sent to authorized purchasers today, the US Mint outlined revised terms and conditions for the relaunch of the program tomorrow December 10, 2010.
The silver bullion program was authorized under Public Law 110-456, which provides for a series of 5 ounce silver bullion coins featuring duplicate designs of the America the Beautiful Quarters. Likely as a result of the challenging specifications of the new series, such as the 3 inch diameter and incused edge lettering, the US Mint was only able to produce and make available 33,000 coins for each of the five designs to be released in 2010.
The limited number of coins were to be distributed through the US Mint's authorized purchaser network, which is used for other bullion programs and required under the authorizing legislation. A small group of 11 primary distributors would be allowed to purchase the coins directly from the US Mint based on the market price of silver plus a $9.75 mark up for each coin. Prior to the official release of the coins, one of the primary distributors began accepting orders from the public at a price that equivalent to a mark up of around $130 per coin.
When the program relaunches, the primary distributors who place orders for their allocation of the coins will be bound by newly established terms and conditions. Under the authorized purchaser agreement, the Mint has the right to alter the terms and conditions "if, in the judgment of the United States Mint, the best interests of the U.S. Government and the U.S. bullion coin programs so indicate."
As a pre-requisite to participate in the purchase and distribution of the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion coins:
1. Authorized Purchasers shall make available for sale to the public all 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins that they acquire. The intention of this condition is to ensure that all 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins minted and issued by the United States Mint are sold to the public.
2. Authorized Purchasers may charge to their customers a price no higher than ten percent above the price at which the Authorized Purchasers acquire 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins from the United States Mint. Authorized Purchasers may charge their customers a reasonable shipping and handling fee; however, Authorized Purchasers may not charge any other fee, premium, or other expense to their customers to circumvent this ten-percent markup limitation. The intention of this condition is to ensure that members of the public can obtain these coins at a reasonable and affordable purchase price.
3. Authorized Purchasers must establish and enforce an order limit of one coin of each design for each household. A household is defined as all persons of a family, or living as a family, at a single mailing address. The intention of this condition is to ensure the broadest and fairest public accessibility to 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins, which are limited-mintage United States Mint products.
4. Authorized Purchasers may not sell, either directly or indirectly, 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins to their officers or employees. The intention of this condition is to ensure that 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins are available to the public and that Authorized Purchaser officers and employees do not have an unfair advantage over members of the public.
Under these terms, the price that the authorized purchasers could charge their customers would be approximately $170 per coin. This would result in a total cost of about $850 for a complete set of all five designs.
Prior to the establishment of these rules, one of the primary distributors had sold out of 1,000 sets priced at $1,395 per set in less than 24 hours. Prices recently realized at a well known online marketplace for "pre-sales" of complete 5 coin sets have been $2,500 or higher.
Most of the US Mint's primary distributors have not traditionally sold bullion coins to the public in small quantities. Therefore it is possible that some will not purchase their allocation since they are not set up for retail level transactions. In the event that an authorized purchaser does not order their allotment, any excess coins will be available on an allocated basis to remaining active sellers on Monday, December 20, 2010.
For authorized purchasers who acknowledge and agree to the terms of distribution for the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins, the US Mint has reserved the right "to examine and audit all of the Authorized Purchaser’s books, records, documents, and other data to ensure that they have complied with the terms and conditions herein. Violation of any one of the above outlined terms and conditions may be grounds for suspension or permanent removal from the United States Mint’s Authorized Purchaser distribution network."
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The U.S. Mint would rather posture as being in the price control business than simply PRODUCE ENOUGH SILVER COINS TO MEET PUBLIC DEMAND. The Mint is desperate to distract the public from the fact that SILVER IS DISAPPEARING.
Meanwhile, the NATURALLY high market prices on these coins, CAUSED by THE MINT’S GROSS UNDER-PRODUCTION, will simply move from the authorized distributor level to the next level down.
Sounds Fair to me. Congratulations USMint for sorting this potential fiasco out in a timely and assertive manner.
The Mint needs to publish contact info for these distributors so the public knows where to buy them.
Can CoinUpdate ask the Mint for this info ?
Can it be placed on the various mint web sites, including the main page for their main web site, their catalog web site, and the americathe beautiful.gov web site.
Perhaps they should make a note that it is for this year only.
the authorized dealers can just hold their coins. or sell it to close friends and business associate at a 10% mark up. and later on sell it big at ebay or hungry collectors.
the mint should release immediately the 27,000 collector’s version to compete it. and push the market price down. after all collector’s version is fewer mintage and can be purchase directly from the mint for collectors at a fair price.
finally. for collectors. remember very few collectors collect 5 oz size. just like platinum or palladium. for me. i pass this one.
“The Mint needs to publish contact info for these distributors so the public knows where to buy them.”
Yes, I am getting this list.
The list can be found here:
http://mintnewsblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/atb-silver-bullion-coin-premiums-capped.html
I have 2 words for ya’ll: Gainesville Coins!
Travis,
Gainesville took them of their site. Maybe they will re-list them tomorrow. But where will they get them from? The AP’s are required to sell all their coins from the Mint directly to consumers. They can’t wholesale them to other dealers. So companies like Gainesville that are not AP’s would seem to have to buy them from the public for whatever they can get for them.
Do not purchase your coin from Gainsville Coins! They charge you a credit card fee which they are not supposed to do by contract. LOOK AT THERE PRICES. Its not hard to figure out.
never buy anything from any coin dealer. buy only direct from the mint.
Adam at Gainesville coins said they won’t be getting any coins???……..How much you want to bet they miraculously have some by the end of the month and at a high premium!!
What a sham the whole process is:(
“never buy anything from any coin dealer. buy only direct from the mint.”
Things I have bought at the Mint have gone down in value (mint sets, proof sets) and things I have bought at coin dealers have gone up in value (silver, gold, platinum bullion and proofs at melt value). So that’s not a good rule to live by in my experience. Though some coin dealers are real crooks, others are very fair.
I don’t understand why the mint doesn’t just sell the coins directly from their own website. They sell lots of other coins on there, why not these?
As bullion coins (and specifically included in the legislation for the series), the US Mint is legally required to distribute them through the authorized purchaser network. See the first article.
http://news.coinupdate.com/keep-america-the-beautiful-silver-bullion-coin-prices-reasonable-0561/
Why would ANYONE want these 5oz coins, OTHER THAN FOR THEIR SILVER CONTENT, period. So, that said, silver can be bought in many other ways, for pennies on the dollar–cheaper!
Forget the Mint and their crap. Its like buying from Franklin Mint, or NY Mint. You pay more in fees/handling, etc, than the piece your buying is actually worth.
Wise up people!
So… all of A-Mark’s big dealers only get one coin? Yeah Right. If they don’t figure out clever ways around this only APMEX will be distributing these coins. And, even after getting their hands slapped initially, they, as direct-to-public retail specialists, stand to make out handsomely as most other wholesale oriented Authorized Purchasers pass on their allotments.
THIS IS GREAT AFTER BEING ON A LIST FOR MOUNTHS AND HAVING THE CHANCE TO GET MY SET BUT WHEN I SEEN 1,400.00 I SAID FORGET IT.
NOW THEY ARE GOING TO BE 850.00 I WOULD OF BOUGHT THEM FOR THAT, NOW MY CHANCE IS GONE,THANKS US MINT.
Why doesn’t the Mint just sell all of the coins that they make to the public! Coin Dealers have numerous ways of making a high profit including buying coins from a grieving widow who doesn’t know how much her husbands coin collection is worth. The Mint needs to follow current trends and take care of the middle class. I’m tired of being gouged by Coin Dealers. Help us, Mint. Sell your coins to the common man.
Hey, a lot of comments on silver ‘drying up’ and ‘getting harder to find silver coins’ when there are quantities ranging from small lots of 3 or 4 to multiple rolls of old silver Morgans and Peace dollars, plus Engelhard 100oz bullion bars and other sizes– I list these on my site bestgoldbuyers dot com and am surprised that more and more keep showing up on Ebay– the coins are selling for nearly bullion prices on some bids. These are all listings from ebay and with new rules for Paypal both buyers and sellers are covered. Maybe dealers are dumping what they got for $6 an ounce five years ago at $28 an ounce now– prices are good, drawing in more sellers. Some people snicker at ebay coin sellers, but there are more coins listed every day than you’d find at any single coin dealer anywhere.
I had hopes to buy two sets of these coins. When I saw the $1,395+shipping price I was disappointed. I eventually decided to bite the bullet and ordered one set. My check has already been received according to the APMEX website. Now I don’t know what to expect. Will I get a refund for the difference? Credit towards future purchases?
Let me get this straight… The US Mint bungles the production for the bullion version of the ATB 5 oz silver coins thus causing demand to far exceed the supply. Then they try to tell independent business people how they have to run their business in regards to selling the ATB 5 oz silver coins under threat of cutting them of from being able to purchase from the US Mint. This is nothing short of government thuggery! It’s obvious that socialists are running the US Mint & have also targeted capitalism & our free market system for destruction.
I would like to see every one of the authorized purchasers of the US Mint tell the US Mint that they are not going to tell them how to run their business & that they can just keep the ATB silver coins. If the US Mint is allowed to get away with this, you can rest assured there will be other issues that will come up where they will tell independent business owners what they can & cannot do.
The US mint seams determined to keep the ATB out of the hands of the small investor or collector. I find it offensive that the sales are only left up to APMEX to distribute 1 per household. And if the res of the bullion distributors cant sell one per household. This means most will go to dealers. APMEX had sales to everyone big and small investors, Now the mint is going to set up rules after they were to go on sale? What else can the mint do to frustrate small collectors? Setting up rules after the release is like closing the barn door after the horses all get out. Another screw up, first the Silver eagles subscription cancellation, and then the cancellations of the silver eagle orders. Now the ATB. I miss the old days before Moy got in.
Why would a small collector be upset that they only go to small collectors at a price close to melt? The dealers who were ready to buy from the APs and make $500 instant profit on each set are the losers here.
And you guys who keep saying the Mint should sell them direct, they CAN’T. It would be illegal. The law says they must sell bullion through the 11 Authorized Purchasers. And it’s not socialism to tell the monopoly purchasers that they have to sell under certain terms.
Why is it taking so ling for the APs to decide what to do about these? All their web sites say they are “evaluating the situation.” Are they all having their lawyers look for a loophole in the contract so they can charge more than 10% and sell to their friends instead of the public?
Mark, sorry you lost $500 instant profit on each set. Instant!
In regards to selling the bullion thru the 11 AP’s, maybe it’s time to change the law in favor of the middle class working man.
Middlemen make instant money while the small collector has to wait years longer for the price to appreciate past what they paid for it.
Very simple, change the law! You guys have dozens of other ways to make instant profit.
Can someone explain why it was made law that the Mint had to sell to authorized dealers? What is the resoning behind that? Who does it benefit? Certainly not the public.
From what I have seen, the authorized distributors are holding onto the coins and not responding to inquiries — waiting on prices to rise or figuring out how to charge the highest price while still remaining in compliance with the new guidelines? I thought distributors were supposed to distribute. As usual with anything related to the Mint, it is the citizens that pay through the nose.
I saw the Home Shopping Network offering them for $5,000 a set yesterday evening (January 5th). They said they had 210 sets. This system is working out great for the middle men.
I called the Mint and was told to call (202) 354-7500 if I had a complaint. I was told this was the office in charge of bullion coins. There was a recording, but you can leave a message.
Dillon Gage’s website announced that they would start selling the ATB bullion coins on Jan 16th but when I called today (1/7) for full details they told me that they have been taking reservations and all were accounted for. So how come that information wasn’t posted on the same website??? Looks like the dealers will be the lucky few to make a killing on the premiums.
I called APMEX every day in Dec. and was to call back for more info until finally they told me they sold out. Same thing with from another AP but I forgot which one as I keep scratching their names off my list.
The mint told me to call this number to complain 202-354-6829 but it also had a recording. Last hope will be from the mint for the collector’s version as long as they don’t delete any orders again.