First spouse coins have been canceled by the mint.

Is this a surprise? I never really thought it was a good idea to begin with.

Agreed. But the US Mint "only" canceled the four-coin sets and the subscription programs. So the first spouse coins will be issued, I suppose.

Christian

Properly realised there would only be a limited market for them!

Thank goodness; I wonder what finally convinced them?

The coins are not canceled just the 4 coin sets. Production of the coins are mandated by congressional law, they must be made even if no one buys them.

And I in all my non innocense thougt it was because Monica Lewinski asked to be on one of the coins

What are spouse coins?

I think that "first ladies" are the last people who should be on coins. Politicians shouldn't have their images on our coins and their wives certainly don't deserve such recognition. I doubt the current government and monetary system is going to survive long enough to complete the series of presidential dollars. Probably by the time they get to Pierce, you'll need ten of them to buy a can of soda.

You may have heard about those new $1 circulation coins depicting the presidents of the US. (The series just started with George Washington; the Adams dollar comes out this month.) Well, each of those will be "accompanied" by a gold coin depicting that president's spouse ...

Christian

Oh I see, what a bizzare idea

Hence the lack of popularity, and why they are cancelling.

It has nothing to do with lack of popularity. From all account so far they got way more subscriptions than expected. Since they are limited to 40,000 per coin (total both proof & unc.) it appears they decided to cancel subscriptions in order to have them available for general ordering. The coins will still be minted.

Individual product options will be available beginning June 19, 2007 at 12:00 Noon (ET)

http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?...ease&ID=777

Agreed. Liberty looked quite nice on pretty much anything, and following the evolution of her image is fascinating.

So, I found myself wondering the other day if they got into presidents starting with Lincoln because he did so much for liberty, and then after that everyone wanted a piece. I mean, I know Kennedy was assassinated, but what did he do besides Bay of Pigs?

Boo presidents.

I miss Liberty.

I didn't realize there were that many interested in them. I personally think this is one of the most ill-conceived ideas for a coin.

I hear ya. No interest here at all.

I am very interested in getting this baby in the copper medal version.

That one will probably have more interest than most of them.

What they found out is MOST collectors DON'T want to pay for 4 gold coins at one time. The series will be sold as singles and after that fails, hopefully they will cancel the dumbest idea the U.S. Mint and our Congress ever came up with!!! Most First Ladies, in years past, were to be seen and not heard and played almost no role in U.S. history other than the fact they were the Presidents wife! Most Americans couldn't name a half a dozen First Ladies and many of them, especially in the last 20 years, wouldn't be mentioned favorably!

Well maybe collectors don't, but speculators did. They had approx 18,000 subscriptions in the first two days.

Speculating even in a thing you think you know is a very danberous thing
On an investment forum somebody bought several hundred slabbed MS64 double eagles
When gold was way up instead of 40% gain he was left with 10% gain between
buy and sell margins

Also virtually any coin minted by Monnaie de Paris goes cheaper after two years on the secondary
market

So I think it is a question of selling them very shortly after the mint is sold out

See now that I like it has a rather good portrait. Unless I'm reading it wrong did Jefferson not have a wife?

He did, but she was not a First Lady because she died a couple of years before he was elected President. And so ...

Christian

Ah I see, well it's a nice design either way. Perhaps this design should be put on a general circulating $1 coin, certainly would look better than the president ones

nah... makes too much sense. plus the front of a coin has been valuable ad space for most of the 20th century

I think people in this discussion have it wrong. I think the first four coins in this series will be very popular. The mint was more concerned about small groups of people hoarding the coins. Therefore, they are placing limits of 5 coins per type per person. I think this year's coins will sell out quickly and become quite valuable. (If they do, more will be minted next year).

The big question is how many uncircul;ated coins and how many proof coins will they make. The total will be 40,000. If they make significantly more proofs, then the uncirculateds are likely to become quite valuable quite quickly.

-- Peter Planchetwww.peterplanchet.com