Following a dizzying sell off in precious metals prices, Dolley Madison First Spouse Gold Coins are now back on sale at the US Mint.

The uncirculated version of the coin had been suspended on March 3, 2008 and the proof version had been suspended on March 18, 2008.  Sales had been suspended due to the rising value of gold, which had soared above $1,000 per ounce.  With gold now back around $950 per ounce sales have resumed at the same initial offering price levels of $509.95 and $529.95 for uncirculated and proof versions, respectively.

The most recent Mint Statistics show sales of 10,400 of the uncirculated coins and 16,268 of the proof coins.

As of this morning, sales of the proof version of the Dolley Madison First Spouse Gold Coin have been suspended at the US Mint. This follows the previous suspension of the uncirculated version of the coin on March 3, 2008.

The US Mint’s product page currently shows the following message:

Due to the increasing market value of gold, the Dolley Madison Gold Proof Coins are temporarily unavailable while pricing for this option can be adjusted; therefore, no orders can be taken at this time.

This suspension follows more than two weeks of the odd, mismatched pricing between the Dolley Madison and Elizabeth Monroe coins. When the Elizabeth Monroe coins were released on February 28, 2008, they were priced at $619.95 and $599.95 for proof and uncirculated versions of the coin. The previous issue in the series honoring Dolley Madison remained on sale for $529.95 and $509.95. This led to the curious case of two coins from the same series with the same one-half ounce gold content having two vastly different prices at the same time.

When sales of the Dolley Madison coins resume, they will likely be repriced in line with the Elizabeth Monroe coin prices. That is, unless the price of gold experiences another significant run.

Dolley Madison Coins For Sale

The U.S. Mint has recently suspended sales of the uncirculated version of the Dolley Madison First Spouse Gold Coins. The suspension follows another recent increase in the price of gold. Oddly, the proof version of the coin still remains available for sale, however, I think a suspension of this version may soon follow.

The U.S. Mint’s website is currently carrying the following message on the product page:

Due to the increasing market value of gold, the Dolley Madison Gold Uncirculated Coins are temporarily unavailable while pricing for this option can be adjusted; therefore, no orders can be taken at this time.

It does not appear that this is a sell out, as sales have not reached the maximum level set by the Mint of 40,000. As of February 28, 2008, the Mint had sold 10,019 of the Uncirculated Coins and 15,040 of the Proof Coins according to this report from Numismatic News.

I think it is likely that the prices for the Dolley Madison coins will be adjusted to the levels of the recently released Elizabeth Monroe coins and then go back on sale. For other Mint products suspended in the past, the suspension and repricing process has taken at least two weeks.