Coin Collecting For Dummies by Neil S. Berman & Ron Guth

Author:Neil S. Berman & Ron Guth [Berman, Neil S.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2008-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 13-3: The Hawaiian half dollar.

The Age of Abuse (1934–1954): Commemoratives Out of Control

As fundraisers, commemorative coins were pretty straightforward. If you were a member of a group trying to raise money, you could go to Congress with an idea for a commemorative coin. If Congress felt that your proposal had merit, it would approve a law directing the U.S. Mint to make the coins on your group’s behalf. You could then presell the coins by subscription, take delivery of the coins, and begin marketing them to the general public, or sell the entire batch to a single dealer or distributor, who would, in turn, sell them to the public. Your group’s profit would be the difference between what the U.S. Mint charged you (usually face value) and what you sold the coin for. If, for example you sold a commemorative half dollar for $1, your profit would be 50¢ on each coin.

However, if your group could convince Congress to do any of the following, you could vastly increase your profits:

Allow coins to be made at all three mints (Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco), creating three different coins to sell to collectors, potentially tripling your earnings.

Continue making your commemorative coin year after year, increasing your profit potential dramatically.

Create rarities by reducing the mintages to low levels, thus being able to charge more for the coins and increasing your profits dramatically. You could also create a rarity, and then sell the entire mintage to a single buyer, locking in a nice profit and leaving all the work to someone else. If the single buyer wanted, he could raise the price to whatever level the public would pay.

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