US Mint Foresees Hot Springs Five Ounce Silver Coin Ordering Problems

In preparation for the launch of the 2010-P Hot Springs National Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin on Thursday, April 28, at 12:00 noon Eastern Time, the United States Mint has issued a statement regarding possible ordering problems due to expected high demand.

"Because of the anticipated demand for the coins, we expect that our online ordering management system will be much slower than usual," states the US Mint. "As we have previously indicated to our customers, our online ordering management system is in need of upgrade. Fixing the system is a priority. Unfortunately, we do not anticipate an upgraded system being in place until approximately mid-2012. In the meantime, we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and ask them to be patient during this time."

As with prior product launches of popular items, eager collectors will swarm the US Mint’s web site at http://www.usmint.gov/catalog and phone lines at 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468) the minute the item is released. Most who order, if demand proves to be as high as expected, will be greeted with some variation of an automated message to "try again." Only the lucky or the persistent buyers may succeed in getting through. Once all 27,000 orders are taken, the Mint plans to initiate a waiting list.

Even the waiting list, however, may prove frustrating to some potential Hot Springs silver coin buyers because the US Mint may not be able to announce the sell out/waiting list status prior to placing an order. In its statement, the Mint said,

"The United States Mint will institute a "waiting list" for orders beyond the maximum mintage. We may, however, be unable to post notification of a waiting list status in a timely manner so that the customer knows of this status prior to placing the order. A waiting list means that orders have been accepted for the maximum mintage, but if a product becomes available because of an order cancellation, we will fulfill orders from the waiting list on a first-in, first-served basis. The United States Mint will be unable to provide information about a customer’s position on the waiting list."

The waiting list does not guarantee a Hot Springs silver coin order will be filled. Cancellation or sold-out notices, the Mint said, will be sent within one to two weeks to those customers who placed orders that the Mint was unable to complete.

The US Mint recommends to those who pay by credit card to make sure the card information remains current through the expected shipment time, otherwise the order may be automatically cancelled. A phone call to the Mint at 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468) is the only way to update credit card information after an order has been placed.

$279.95 is the launch price for the Hot Springs Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin, and the order limit is one coin per household during the first week of sales.

The uncirculated Hot Springs silver coin is the collector version of the wildly popular 2010 silver bullion version that was released via the US Mint’s network of Authorized Purchasers last December. Only 33,000 of these were struck, causing a frenzy in the secondary market for it and the other four coins.

The 27,000 uncirculated collector versions will ship in a presentation case accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. They will also bear the "P" mint mark indicating they were produced at the US Mint facility in Philadelphia.