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So I get this letter in the mail today from the US Mint ....

6 posts in this topic

 

So I get this letter in the mail today from the US Mint (actually a Survey Contractor hired by the US Mint) to complete a survey online so the U.S. Mint can see how they are doing in offerings as well as quality control and customer service.

 

I thought, sure I will play along and if it seems counter productive or a waste of my time I will just close the web page and concern myself no further. After a few minutes into it they asked the question about how satisfied I was as a collector of the current offerings that the mint has to offer. They even gave me a large text entry field to really tell them what I thought about the current direction of the mint and my lack of desire to ever again collect these coins that they produce with a mintage of 34,000,000 plus.

 

I did not criticize their current practices without offering up suggestion however, instead I suggested they quit producing a series like the ASE without a realistic cap on mintage that would serve as an actual collectors piece or possibly even focus on some limited mintage re-releases of the Peace Dollar or Morgan Dollar or any of the classic and long ago discontinued coins that a great many collectors enjoy.

 

I would personally love to see the U.S. Mint release for late 2014 or early 2015 a modern struck Morgan Dollar with a limited mintage of say .... 250,000 How I would love to see the mint issue a modern strike of the Seated Liberty Quarter, once again in limited mintage. How would you like to see a single year 2015 Peace Dollar with a mintage limited to 750,000 maybe released once every 3 to 5 years?

 

They could rotate through the classic series with an emphasis on limited mintage. As it stands now I see that the only effect on mintage number is the price of the coin based on the material used (gold and platinum to be precise) to produce it. Problem with that approach is that it essentially creates an uneven playing field where the mintage number is based on your personal economic means. If you a fortunate to have large amounts of disposable income then you can have a limited mintage modern but if you are economically restrained you will have to settle for nothing, or far worse, a 34,000,000 mintage ASE!

 

No one may agree with my perspective or the suggestions I offered, but it seems to me that something has to change at the U.S. Mint because it is actually somewhat embarrassing that my countries mint routinely produces a coin for collectors with the outrageous mintage that it does.

 

Just my 2c

 

 

 

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I agree with the limited release concept but the problem I have like with most things is that even with a limited release they seem to cater to the big dealers and most would end up in their hands regardless.

 

As far as the idea of resurrecting a morgan or peace dollar I have to disagree. Collecting an old series like the morgan is collecting pieces that have history. To throw in some newly minted morgan would take away from the series.

 

If I had a suggestion for the mint it would just be to simplify. Stop with so many different collectibles and go back to maybe 2-3 commemoratives a year and a proof set.

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I think overall my biggest complaint is just the high mintage.

 

I don't disagree with your point on the Morgan or Peace Dollar or any other classic series. I am certain that others will get that same letter, if not already, and I hoped that others might start giving it some thought, just as you are doing, as to what they would suggest to the mint and actually take that little bit of time to tell them something.

 

I don't see why they couldn't, at the very least, offer a low mintage and reasonably affordable coin once or twice a year that could be obtained only through the mint and only 1 or 2 per address or something similar. That might fix the dealer aspect.

 

I wonder just what the biggest complaints others have with the U.S. Mint's current offerings. I can only hope that others would also place the extraordinarily high mintage as a chief complaint too.

 

 

 

 

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The 34,000,000 mintage is bullion. It's not meant to be collectable, but has turned into that.

 

Last year, after I got my first coin from the U.S. Mint, I got the same survey. At the time, I was so new to collecting, I had no idea what to offer in feedback.

 

I wouldn't want to see the classics brought back either. However, I'd like to see them use the same artistic flair those designers used to offer better modern commems.

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I wouldn't want to see the classics brought back either. However, I'd like to see them use the same artistic flair those designers used to offer better modern commems.

 

(thumbs u

 

 

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