1/10th Ounce Platinum

[SarasotaFrank]

Is this just a blip on the screen or is the 2002 1/10 Platinum Eagle really going to be worth something? I see that up until November 2002, only 7,000 had been minted, and then the mint kicked out another 7,000.

 

I understand the other 1/10th ounce Platinums have been moving up but not nearly as steeply.

 

I own a set of the 1/10 ouncers 97-02 and have them in Intercept Shield 2x2's. I am considering getting the whole works graded. Each one of them is stunning.

 

I wonder if I might just get lucky?

 

Funny thing is, a month ago, I was going to sell all six of em at about what I paid as they were tying up funds I could have been putting into Morgans.

 

If I manage to have something on my hands that I didn't sell just beofre it went up in price, it'll be a first!

 

[keithdagen]

Any premium for these pieces would be minor as they mainly trade related to their bullion values, and not based on mintages.

[SarasotaFrank]

true, however, this drastic price increase on the 2002 is puzzling me. At bullion, these should be about $65.00, yet you can't get one for under $125.00 and this spurt has taken place only in the last couple of weeks.

[EZ_E]

Frank,

 

Actually, the total planned mintage of the 1/10 oz plantinum eagle is 20,000: 10,000 of which are being sold individually and an additional 10,000 to be released in the platinum four-coin set. To date 11,380 platinum 1/10 ounce coins have been sold by the US Mint (iaw 12/10/02 issue of the "Numismatics News"). This is the highest production of all 2002 US platinum coins. In contrast, 14,000 one ounce coins, 13,000 1/2 ounce and 15,000 1/4 ounce will be produced.

Personally, I speculated with the 1/2 oz coin and bought 1 in addition to the 4-coin set. I hadn't heard of a price increase for the 1/10 oz coin especially since they can still be purchased from the Mint at the release cost. Let's hope we will see a nice return on our investments.

Victor

[GDJMSP]

Part of the reason for the recent price increases is that the Mint is not going to make the platinum coins any longer. This is to be the last year of issue.

[Guest]

Only the business strikes trade based on bullion value, the proofs do not. The mint has spent much money advertising the Eagle series and there is a modest following of collectors that usually spread out over the silver, golds and platinums. Because of the collecting interest in the proofs, which anyone can buy directly from the mint, there has been interest in collecting the business strikes as a compliment. You only need to watch the ebay auctions to find that many people collect these as slabs and the price corresponds roughly to their mintage.

 

Just look at the growing interest in the silver eagles. Even thought the platinums are more restrictive based on their price, they have the advantage of being of original design (with the beautiful changing reverse of the proof platinums each year) with much lower mintages. It would be too bad if the mint does drop the platinums after this year, as this would really kill interest over the short term. However, their markup (over bullion) is much lower than the silver and gold eagles and I think that their worth will only increase.

 

The reasons that I understand for the mint discontinuing the platinum eagle program is a lower than hoped for demand that does not warrant the tremendous difficulties in obtaining adequate platinum stores to support the program. I don't think that this will be the last platinum coin produced by the mint and I think that over the long term that American interest in platinum coins will increase.

[mrkelso]

I do hope they keep making them. I like them. Don't you think they are a beautiful modern coin?

[SarasotaFrank]

Personally, I think it is a fabulous coin. AT one point in time, I was considering accummulating the entire set, but thought I might be better off to put the 8-10,000 into other projects. I did put together the 1/10 ounce set, and at this point am glad I did. I should probably pick up at least one i ounce coin just to have it.

[mrkelso]

There is an article in coin world about it. Looks like they may continue the program for 2003.