Happy Birthday and Congratulations

It’s interesting once in awhile to step back from the usual movers and shakers in the Mint Stats and take a closer look at some of the lesser-talked-about products. Take for instance the three annual miscellaneous offers – the Birth Set, Happy Birthday Set and Congratulations Set.Every week, the numbers inch up from the previous week. The Birth Set and the Happy Birthday Set are outselling 2018 at this time last year by 209 and 1,388 respectively. Where the big difference can be found is the Congratulations set.This time last year, that set had sold 19,264 compared to 25,057 so far in 2019.In fact, this set is the only offering the Mint has where collectors can get the 2019-W Eagle One Ounce Silver Proof individually. Keep in mind; you pay for the packaging, as this set is $59.95 versus the $55.95 price tag on just the Eagle alone.

In other news, the Apollo 11 coins saw a nice boost with the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing on July 20.Just over a thousand more Proof gold $5 sold. But the biggest increase was the Proof silver dollar, increasing by 8,636.

As expected the annual proof sets continue to climb, with the clad proof set at 370,570 and the silver proof set at 277,241. These are both significantly ahead of the 2018 reports at this same time last year.

Not much to report on bullion, however. Gold Eagles increased from 8,000 ounces to 20,000 ounces, and there was no movement in silver.