21 April 2009 - 7:42First Spouse Gold Coin Ruminations

The First Spouse Gold Coin series has now been in release for over two years. Over the course of this period there have been a total of nine coins released, four of which currently remain on sale. The five coins which are no longer available, included three designs which attained the maximum authorized mintage and two which did not.

The three coins which reached the 40,000 sales mark were the first three releases of the series. Generally, each release after that, has shown a steady decline in sales from the prior issue. (The trend is slightly broken by Andrew Jackson’s Liberty.)

Why the apparent diminishing interest in the series?

Some have argued that the First Spouse Gold Coin Program was poorly conceived. With regards to the theme, some have expressed the opinion that it was created with a motive of political correctness to balance the new program featuring the nation’s presidents. With regards to the format, some have expressed the opinion that the series would have been more popular if the coins were minted in $5 half eagle size used for most modern gold commemoratives, or even silver.

Another possibility is that the series was poorly or unfortunately timed. The legislation was passed in 2005, when the price of gold was around $500. Since then, gold has risen to about $900. This makes the series twice as expensive and out of reach for many collectors. Add this to the current economic situation, which includes job losses and uncertainty about savings and investments, and the impact is magnified. Did the First Spouse Gold Coin series wane with the economy?

Whatever the reasons, there remains a long road ahead for the series. Four more coins will be released in 2009. After that, First Spouses will continued to be honored until at least 2016. Maybe there will be a resurgence of interest when the economy recovers or when modern First Ladies are finally in the spotlight.