By CoinWeek News Staff ….
Thursday, March 15 saw the much-ballyhooed release of the 2018 Breast Cancer Awareness Commemorative Coin program, which includes the first-ever “pink gold” coin produced by the United States Mint. As of Friday, the Mint’s Director of Corporate Communications Michael White had shared first-day sales figures of the Proof and Uncirculated $5 “pink” gold, $1 silver and half dollar clad coins.
All together, the commemoratives sold 37,778 on the first day.
Breaking down the total, we get the following:
- Gold $5 Proof – 4,176
- Gold $5 Uncirculated – 2,116
- Silver $1 Proof – 12,479
- Silver $1 Uncirculated – 5,478
- Clad Half Dollar Proof – 8,435
- Clad Half Dollar Uncirculated – 5,094
In order to appreciate how much of the total mintage these sales represent, it must be noted that the maximum mintage limits for each coin include all finishes and run across all product options. For example, the 4,176 Proof and 2,116 Uncirculated gold coins add up to 6,292 gold $5 coins sold out of a possible 50,000. Likewise, the 17,957 silver $1 coins sold make up approximately five percent of the 400,000 maximum mintage allowed by law, and the 13,529 clad half dollars are but a fragment of the 750,000 total mintage limit.
Did price affect sales? Introductory pricing for the silver and clad issues was announced January 30 according to the following table”
Special introductory pricing for the Mint’s newest products lasts 30 days from the date of release. Regular retail pricing for the Breast Cancer Awareness commemorative clad and silver coins goes into effect April 16.
As for U.S. Mint numismatic gold and platinum coins, price is constantly determined by the Mint’s pricing grid, available on their website. As of last Thursday, the Proof gold went for $431 and the Uncirculated gold commemorative sold for a price of $421.
Surcharges include $35 for each gold coin, $10 for each silver coin, and $5 for each half dollar coin. After production and marketing costs are accounted for, the Mint will give the surcharges to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), as mandated by the Breast Cancer Awareness Commemorative Coin Act.
The $5 face value “pink gold” coins consist of 7.931 grams of 85% gold, and the $1 silver coins are made of 26.73 grams of .900 fine silver. All three issues in both finishes are still available for order on the Commemoratives page of the United States Mint’s online catalog.
