Owner Comments:
In 2007, platinum tested new heights, briefly breaking through the $1,000-per-ounce price barrier. The year 2008 was even more volatile. The metal’s value surged well past $2,000 per ounce and then tumbled back to $800 per ounce by the end of the year. This extreme volatility in its value was a reflection of global economics—the downturn in the stock market that year caused an aggressive flight to tangible assets. Sales doubled or tripled for almost all of the bullion versions of the silver, gold, and platinum American eagles in 2008 from their 2007 numbers. Curiously, the exact opposite is true of the collector versions of these coins. The Proof and Uncirculated versions sold directly by the Mint to collectors almost all sold at half the level in 2008 that they had sold in 2007. This is very well illustrated by the 2007 and 2008 $100 platinum eagle one-ounce coins. Sales of the bullion coins were 7,202 in 2007 and 21,800 units in 2008, while the Proof version declined from 8,363 in 2007 to only 4,769 in 2008. There is a likely explanation. Investors sought exposure to precious metals, causing the surge of interest in bullion. Collectors, meanwhile, buying coins with discretionary money, were much more sensitive to price. In 2003, the price for the 1/2-ounce $50 platinum eagle Proof was $587. In 2007, the Mint offered the $50 platinum eagle Proof coin for $810, a leap of $223 in five years. When the next year’s Proof coin went on sale on May 5, 2008, its price was $1,175, an increase of $365 in just one year. This aggressive pricing on collectibles in an uncertain economy discouraged collectors from buying. There is also one more consideration. Of all the Proof American eagles, the single-lowest mintage has always been the $50 platinum eagle 1/2-ounce coin. In every year since its first offering in 1997, the 1/2-ounce Proof platinum eagle has been the lowest-selling issue, except in 2003 when 87 more units were sold than its platinum 1/4-ounce compatriot. In 2008, when collectors were skittish or unwilling to buy Proof platinum coins at platinum’s new-found dizzying heights, the $50 platinum eagle was most affected. Being the lowest-mintage Proof American eagle in nearly every year meant that it found a new low of just 4,020 coins in 2008, the lowest mintage figure of a Proof American eagle in any weight or metal. With so few to go around, this coin is already seldom-found in the marketplace and is widely thought to be a major key issue.
Garrett, Jeff; Schechter, Scott; Bressett, Kenneth; Bowers, Q. David (2011-03-04). 100 Greatest US Modern Coins (Kindle Locations 1893-1912). Whitman Publishing. Kindle Edition.