US mint just reduced Platinum Eagle by $100

[delta]

For anyone who's been waiting to buy the new 2011 platinum eagle from the US mint in the hope the price would be reduced, now's your chance. Just now the price was reduced from $2092 to $1992. The mint's policy is to set their selling price of the Pt Eagle on the basis of where the London Closing Spot Price has averaged during the previous week, and that seems to have been just a tiny amount under the threshold of $1750, closing today at 1749. The pricing grid from the mint decrees that when platinum spot is from 1651 to 1750, the coin is sold for $1992, and when from 1751 to 1850, the coin will sell for $2092.

 

Since the coin was released for sale last May 26th, about 8000 of the announced maximum 15000 mintage were sold for $2092 each, with a limit of 5 coins per household.

[michael]

do the proof platinum ouncers have a higher selling cost from the mint?/

[delta]

The US Mint has been selling platinum in only the form of proof coins for the last three years, since 2009. The most recent mint state non-proof US platinum coins were issued in 2008, at which time yes, the proof coins would have been more costly.

 

 

do the proof platinum ouncers have a higher selling cost from the mint?/

[FishyOne]

The 15,000 mitage for 2011 will keep me away from this unless they drop another $100 to $1892.

[michael]

thanks delta

 

also is there much demand for raw ungraded platinum coins and the fractionals in proof from earlier years?/

 

 

friend had a small coin shop in cow pie country and it took him 4 months to sell a tenth ounce unc platinum coin in his shop

 

gold goes way quicker

 

 

[BillJones]

There seems to be very limited interest in the U.S. platinum coins among most collectors. When I was dealer, one of my customers consigned a one ounce platinum coin to me to sell to raise some cash to buy a piece that he wanted. I put it out in my case, and it just sat. No one even asked to look at it. Finally I took it to a dealer who specialized in bullion. The best he would do was to pay me the melt value of the piece.

 

My perception is that most collectors don’t care about the platinum coins. I consider myself to be an advanced collector, and my attitude is that for me they hardly exist. I just don’t want the money tied up in them. They don’t generate enough interest for me to pay those high prices.

 

I have one 1/10th ouce piece that I bought many years ago from the mint. That's it for me. I have it just say that I own one.

[delta]

Hi Michael, Yes, you're absolutely correct, there are very few platinum collectors outside of large metropolitan areas, excepting some parts of California, Texas, and Florida where platinumismatists seem to be concentrated. I just coined that word here.

 

Regarding the demand for raw and/or fractional early-year platinum eagle coins, yes, those can be very valuable if they were properly cared for and are relatively flawless. During the early years of production, the US Mint was careless in making and handling them, and only a tiny percentage have graded as 70s. In recent years, grades of 70 are very common in platinum coins, but for the early years from 1997 to 2002, several are known only as high as grade 69, and most others have only a handful or relatively very low number of 70s. I myself am always trying to find good ones among early raw platinum coins.

 

thanks delta

also is there much demand for raw ungraded platinum coins and the fractionals in proof from earlier years?/

friend had a small coin shop in cow pie country and it took him 4 months to sell a tenth ounce unc platinum coin in his shop

gold goes way quicker

[michael]

wow

 

thanks everyone for the great information

 

delta i can see you know yout stuff and i really apprecaite yours and everyones responses as i started to get an interest in proof platinum fractionals the smallest ones tenth ounce from 2000 back to 1997

 

you are absolutely correct in what you have experioenced i have been seeing and i always wondered

about this

 

my experiences are the same as they are not easy to/impossible to find raw and those i do find usually have some mark on them that otherwise they are perfect but with the mark the coin will never get a proof 70 grade let alone 69 maybe 67-68

 

lower mintages also

 

what surprised me when i googled about platinum is how extremely hard the metal is compaired to gold and also an extremely high melting point i was shocked by both these charactistics

 

must be difficult for the usa federal mint to work with this hard, extremely high temp melting point metal must also be extremely hard to separate any metals from platinum to make it pure

 

i called around in the smaller city 400k people where i live and no one works with platinum except one jeweler in town in a smaller shop as it is just too difficult to work with due to the high melting point and other factors

 

 

 

 

[delta]

Hi Michael, Perhaps the most significant physical property of platinum for numismatists is its extremely heavy weight, heavier than other precious metals, and heavier than all other metals except a couple others not used in coins because they are rare and much more difficult to work with. One of the implications of the heaviness is that by simply weighing (and measuring) a platinum coin, you can determine if it is truly composed of platinum, thus you're able to easily recognize counterfeits that are non-platinum or might have been platinum plated. Another implication of the heaviness is that together with consideration of the high value of the metal, platinum is the most concentrated form of metallic wealth in existence.

 

wow thanks everyone for the great information

delta i can see you know yout stuff and i really apprecaite yours and everyones responses as i started to get an interest in proof platinum fractionals the smallest ones tenth ounce from 2000 back to 1997

you are absolutely correct in what you have experioenced i have been seeing and i always wondered about this

my experiences are the same as they are not easy to/impossible to find raw and those i do find usually have some mark on them that otherwise they are perfect but with the mark the coin will never get a proof 70 grade let alone 69 maybe 67-68

lower mintages also

what surprised me when i googled about platinum is how extremely hard the metal is compaired to gold and also an extremely high melting point i was shocked by both these charactistics

must be difficult for the usa federal mint to work with this hard, extremely high temp melting point metal must also be extremely hard to separate any metals from platinum to make it pure

i called around in the smaller city 400k people where i live and no one works with platinum except one jeweler in town in a smaller shop as it is just too difficult to work with due to the high melting point and other factors

[delta]

In my note quoted below, I probably should have added another numismatically significant property of platinum ---- it is almost completely chemically non-reactive under normal conditions, even less reactive than gold. That's one of the reasons platinum is excellent for other related applications as jewelry and dentistry. But just so there's no misunderstanding in terms of chemistry, I should add that we all probably realize it can be extremely potent as a catalyst in various chemical reactions without the platinum itself ending up changed.

 

Hi Michael, Perhaps the most significant physical property of platinum for numismatists is its extremely heavy weight, heavier than other precious metals, and heavier than all other metals except a couple others not used in coins because they are rare and much more difficult to work with. One of the implications of the heaviness is that by simply weighing (and measuring) a platinum coin, you can determine if it is truly composed of platinum, thus you're able to easily recognize counterfeits that are non-platinum or might have been platinum plated. Another implication of the heaviness is that together with consideration of the high value of the metal, platinum is the most concentrated form of metallic wealth in existence.

 

wow thanks everyone for the great information

delta i can see you know yout stuff and i really apprecaite yours and everyones responses as i started to get an interest in proof platinum fractionals the smallest ones tenth ounce from 2000 back to 1997

you are absolutely correct in what you have experioenced i have been seeing and i always wondered about this

my experiences are the same as they are not easy to/impossible to find raw and those i do find usually have some mark on them that otherwise they are perfect but with the mark the coin will never get a proof 70 grade let alone 69 maybe 67-68

lower mintages also

what surprised me when i googled about platinum is how extremely hard the metal is compaired to gold and also an extremely high melting point i was shocked by both these charactistics

must be difficult for the usa federal mint to work with this hard, extremely high temp melting point metal must also be extremely hard to separate any metals from platinum to make it pure

i called around in the smaller city 400k people where i live and no one works with platinum except one jeweler in town in a smaller shop as it is just too difficult to work with due to the high melting point and other factors

[michael]

wow thanks delta never knew these facts

 

and i am really getting interested in platinum

 

one more question that i cant find anywhere

 

how rare is platinum compaired to gold??

 

i think there are many internet sites that can tell you currently how much gold is above ground as of today and what i want to know is

 

if say there is a block of all the gold above ground known in thw world today it is like 32x32x32 feet

 

is all the known above ground platinum half the size of the gold block?/ 1/10 the size?

 

and i saw somewhere that half the platinum being mined every year gets disappipated by industrial uses??

 

 

 

delta!!!

 

thanks again for your great informative replies (thumbs u

[delta]

Hi again Michael, Thanks for being so appreciative. According to the website

 

howstuffworks

 

all the gold ever mined would constitute a cube 82 feet on a side, which is over 550,000 cubic feet. By comparison, the same website says that all the platinum ever mined would make a cube about 20 feet on a side, thus 8000 cubic feet.

 

Of course those are guesstimates. I played around with some of the mining stats myself, and believe their platinum guesstimate is in the ballpark.

 

But then, as you correctly noted, a large percentage of platinum production is used up, and there aren't large stockpiles available ---- probably less than the amount of a year's usual consumption is available at any time.

 

wow thanks delta never knew these facts

and i am really getting interested in platinum

one more question that i cant find anywhere

how rare is platinum compaired to gold??

i think there are many internet sites that can tell you currently how much gold is above ground as of today and what i want to know is

if say there is a block of all the gold above ground known in thw world today it is like 32x32x32 feet

is all the known above ground platinum half the size of the gold block?/ 1/10 the size?

and i saw somewhere that half the platinum being mined every year gets disappipated by industrial uses??delta!!!

thanks again for your great informative replies (thumbs u

[delta]

Yet another $100 drop in the US mint's price of the 2011 American Platinum Eagle was indicated today on their website. The one ounce 0.9995 Pt coin is now $1792, a full $300 bucks less than what it cost last May when first released.

[ultra-crepidarian]

... i am really getting interested in platinum ...

 

I too am a buyer of Platinum Eagles. I am slowly working on a short set of 2006W - 2008W MS - Platinum Burnished Coins. These coins have a small domestic collection base and must be considered a potential value play.

 

The last coin I purchased was a 2008 W P$100 PCGS MS 70. I paid about $2,150 for the coin and it has a mintage of less than 3000 coins! Compare that to the 2008-W Uncirculated $50 Gold Buffalo (Burnished Coin) with a mintage of 9074 and a market price of about $3,500.

 

The low mintage of the (2006W-2008W Burnished Coins) makes them a potential sleeper short set if the taste for platinum coins every catches on (perhaps with Asian collectors?).

 

2006 W Eagle P$10 MS 70 (mintage 3,544)

2006 W Eagle P$25 MS 70 (mintage 2,676)

2006 W Eagle P$50 MS 70 (mintage 2,577)

2006 W Eagle P$100 MS 70 (mintage 3,068)

 

2007 W Eagle P$10 MS 70 (mintage 5,556)

2007 W Eagle P$25 MS 70 (mintage 3,690)

2007 W Eagle P$50 MS 70 (mintage 3,635)

2007 W Eagle P$100 MS 70 (mintage 4,177)

 

2008 W Eagle P$10 MS 70 (mintage 3,706)

2008 W Eagle P$25 MS 70 (mintage 2,481)

2008 W Eagle P$50 MS 70 (mintage 2,253)

2008 W Eagle P$100 MS 70 (mintage 2,876)

 

 

[Eric.Jordan-migration]

I collect fractional platinum eagles with the changing reverses. The only bullion issue platinum that I collect with the eagle flying over the sun on the reverse is my 2005 half as a matte finish type coin and I am looking for a 1997 inaugural reverse proof issue in NGC 70 but cant find one. Most of the common date platinum eagles with the eagle over the sun reverse are hard for dealers to sell like the above post indicate because many platinum collectors collect by type not date kind of like commemorative collectors do.

 

2004 and 2008 proofs bring nice premiums and have crazy low mintages as do the 2006 legislative and 2008 executive reverse mint state platinum eagles. Some consider them serious sleepers. Mintages running in the 2200 range for mint state and 4000s for proofs are tough numbers and that kind of rarity is attractive to some of us. I never thought as a kid that I would own coins with mintages that look like this with designs that I like this much.

 

Eric Jordan

 

PS: This is an example of the $50 platinum eagle type set I am trying to finish:

 

Master Type Listing for all $50 Platinum Eagles:

 

Cameo Proofs Mintage

1997 Cameo Proof -Eagle Over The Sun... 15,431

1998 Cameo Proof –New England Coast... 13,836

1999 Cameo Proof – Wetlands... 11,103

2000 Cameo Proof – Heartland... 11,049

2001 Cameo Proof – South West... 8,254

2002 Cameo Proof – North West... 8,772

2003 Cameo Proof – Patriotic Vigilance... 7,131

2004 Cameo Proof – Seated America... 5,063

2005 Cameo Proof – Plenty... 5,942

2006 Cameo Proof – Legislative ... 7,649

2007 Cameo Proof – Presidential... 22,873

2008 Cameo Proof – Judicial... 4,020

 

Reverse Proofs

1997-2003 Reverse Proof “Bullion” – Eagle Over The Sun... 158,349

2007 Reverse Proof “Anniversary” – Presidential... 16,873

 

Mint State Finish Issues

2004 –2008 Mint State “Bullion” – Eagle Over the Sun... 52,852

2006 Mint State “w” – Legislative... 2,577

2007 Mint State “w” – Presidential... 3,635

2008 Mint State “w” – Judicial... 2,253

 

Total = 18 type coins.

 

 

[delta]

Hi Eric, If you were to guess, how many serious American Platinum Eagle collectors do you suppose there are? Even if you divide up the answer by separating them into various different categories, such as with the following examples:

 

1. Try to collect everything, every date, size, and type.

2. Collect only a single series, say 1/10 oz proofs.

3. Have a type collection.

4. Just keep the ones they happen to like, as you seem to be doing.

 

Thanks!

 

 

I collect fractional platinum eagles with the changing reverses. The only bullion issue platinum that I collect with the eagle flying over the sun on the reverse is my 2005 half as a matte finish type coin and I am looking for a 1997 inaugural reverse proof issue in NGC 70 but cant find one. Most of the common date platinum eagles with the eagle over the sun reverse are hard for dealers to sell like the above post indicate because many platinum collectors collect by type not date kind of like commemorative collectors do. 2004 and 2008 proofs bring nice premiums and have crazy low mintages as do the 2006 legislative and 2008 executive reverse mint state platinum eagles. Some consider them serious sleepers. Mintages running in the 2200 range for mint state and 4000s for proofs are tough numbers and that kind of rarity is attractive to some of us. I never thought as a kid that I would own coins with mintages that look like this with designs that I like this much. Eric Jordan

[Eric.Jordan-migration]

Delta its hard to know the answer to that question.

 

I can say that there are many more collectors of complete denominations of proofs than anything else. Very few collect everything in proof and mint state because the cost is so ugly.

 

 

Eric

 

 

 

Hi Eric, If you were to guess, how many serious American Platinum Eagle collectors do you suppose there are? Even if you divide up the answer by separating them into various different categories, such as with the following examples:

 

1. Try to collect everything, every date, size, and type.

2. Collect only a single series, say 1/10 oz proofs.

3. Have a type collection.

4. Just keep the ones they happen to like, as you seem to be doing.

 

Thanks!

 

 

I collect fractional platinum eagles with the changing reverses. The only bullion issue platinum that I collect with the eagle flying over the sun on the reverse is my 2005 half as a matte finish type coin and I am looking for a 1997 inaugural reverse proof issue in NGC 70 but cant find one. Most of the common date platinum eagles with the eagle over the sun reverse are hard for dealers to sell like the above post indicate because many platinum collectors collect by type not date kind of like commemorative collectors do. 2004 and 2008 proofs bring nice premiums and have crazy low mintages as do the 2006 legislative and 2008 executive reverse mint state platinum eagles. Some consider them serious sleepers. Mintages running in the 2200 range for mint state and 4000s for proofs are tough numbers and that kind of rarity is attractive to some of us. I never thought as a kid that I would own coins with mintages that look like this with designs that I like this much. Eric Jordan

[ComicConnoisseur]

I have a friend who won`t go near Platinum coins because he fears radioactivety.

Any info on this or is it an old wives tale?

[delta]

I have a friend who won`t go near Platinum coins because he fears radioactivety.

Any info on this or is it an old wives tale?

 

Platinum like many other metals including silver, gold, and palladium has both radioactive and stable isotopes, but there is absolutely no danger of radiation harm to humans from handling platinum coins, or hiding them under your pillow. There are three good reasons for that:

 

1. The single natural radioactive platinum isotype is present in extremely tiny amounts in natural platinum.

2. The radioactive platinum isotype is very stable anyway, and does not emit a normally harmful form of radiation.

3. The slight background radiation we are all always exposed to is so much greater, so many billions and billions of times greater, any platinum radiation will not be detectable. Just for purposes of comparison, a single dental x-ray, or one airport screening will expose you to more radiation than maybe a million years of playing with your stash of platinum coins. Please use clean white cotton gloves anyway.

[delta]

Probably everybody with an interest in Platinum already knows the US mint reduced the price of the 2011 one ounce coin to $1692 this week. If you bought one earlier for a higher amount, that's dismal news, but if you didn't buy, perhaps due to not wanting to spend that much, and if you can now scrape together the funds, it might be the right time to make the plunge. Platinum is the heaviest metal used in coinage, and this year's design is especially attractive.