Monday Morning Brief for May 16, 2022: Too much or just right?

Monday Morning Brief for May 16, 2022: Too much or just right?

By William T. Gibbs , Coin World, Published: May 16, 2022, 7 AM

In our May 30 issue, we publish a Letter to the Editor from Chris Sahar that appears to be critical of both the U.S. Mint and Coin World’s news coverage of one of the Mint’s numismatic products.

Readers of Coin World recognize that a significant fraction of our news coverage deals with the design, production, and sales of new Mint products. Rarely does a week go by when we do not report on the availability (or lack thereof) of a current Mint coin, medal or set.

We focus so much of our coverage on the release of new U.S. Mint products because so many of you avidly collect those products. Senior editor Paul Gilkes spends much of his time on the job gathering information from the Mint and other sources for upcoming products or products that were released earlier in the year.

Doing that is not easy. The United States Mint is a federal bureaucracy, after all, and keeping secrets is something that all government agencies do. Mint officials are sometimes reluctant to answer our questions and on occasion refuse to provide the needed information (efforts to pry from the Mint’s clutches the identities of participants in the controversial Authorized Bulk Purchase Program has been especially frustrating). (Please note that we are not being critical of the fine folks in the corporate communications arm of the Mint; they can only answer our questions when the responsible departments provide them with requested information.)

The referenced letter from Chris Sahar suggests that too much is being made of the Mint’s decision to not strike any more Proof 2022-S American Women silver quarter dollars; the same coins are offered in other sets, he notes. That’s fair.

He also suggests that our reporting of the Mint’s statement will encourage dealers holding quantities of the American Women Silver Quarters Proof set to raise their prices. That is possible, certainly, but we at Coin World are not in the business of not publishing the news. Readers wondered whether the Mint would produce more of the sets (the product listing says there are no mintage or product limits, after all), and our questions to the Mint were in response.

As long as you, the readers, demand information, we strive to obtain it for you.

 The original article can be found at  https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/monday-morning-brief-for-may-16-2022-too-much-or-just-right