PRESSE

Final Sales Totals Are In On The 2012 San Francisco Silver Eagle Set

****An update to the final sales totals for the 2012 San Francisco Silver Eagle Set has been released by the United States Mint.  The source of highest anticipation during this year’s mintages, the once highly touted Silver Eagle set’s final numbers have dipped dramatically.  What this means for a future price spike in the currently low prices on eBay has many collectors ready to snatch them up quickly and then resell them in a couple of months for a profit.

The Silver Eagle Set

The Silver Eagle set was offered in both proof and reverse proof options, being struck at the famous San Francisco mint.  Sales of the set were started on June 7, 2012 with orders only being accepted until July 5, 2012.   Unlike previous sets released with such expectations, the Silver Eagle Set wasn’t limited to any maximum production, but instead was offered with a flexible ceiling that would meet the actual demand, rather than predict it or limit it.

While this was a bit of a risky move, capping the ordering period at four weeks was thought to ensure a rush to order, leaving enough time to gauge for cancellations, mintages, press and delivery.  The initial pricing was placed at $149.95 each.

Unique Counting System

During this four week ordering period, the U.S. Mint placed and odometer directly on the product page so that customers could see just how many sets were moving.  Typically only viewable on the backend of the website, the thinking here was that as customers saw the total number of sets sold go up in real time, so too would their interest in ordering one or more sets.  This would also offset the collector not knowing the maximum production run of the set beforehand, thus adding an exciting new layer to coin collecting.

At the time of official close of sales, the total product numbers were placed at 251,302 sets.  With this new sales release, the actual number of sets sold has shown to be quite a bit lower, 224,981 sets to be exact.  This 26,000 discrepancy represents the final unaudited sales and even though many of these numbers are representative of cancelled orders and return, the U.S. Mint has yet to release the final audited mintage.  Most coin experts in the industry aren’t expecting much of a change from the 224,981 figure that we have now, however.

Looking Ahead

From a collector’s viewpoint, a perusal of eBay a few weeks ago saw raw sets going for about $185; an okay profit for those that bought at the original $150 from the Mint.  NGC Proof-70 sets were selling for around $300 to $325, and PCGS Proof-70 sets were selling for around $425 to $450.  Raw sets are now mostly being seen in the $170 to $180 range with NGC Proof-70 Sets going for $270 to $290. The big gainer (mostly due to how little it shows up for sale) is the PCGS Proof-70 Sets, which have been going for between $450 to $600.

With these new lower sales numbers reported, many collectors are buying up what they can now in the hopes that a secondary market sales bump will occur as collectors find out the population has shrunk.   In fact, at its current population, the 2012 Silver Eagle Set is now the fourth lowest mintage of a series, bumping out the 2006-P Reverse Proof coin.  Keep a close eye on this one!

Do you think the new numbers will cause a spike in resale prices?  Let us know below!