The cost to purchase UHR $20 Gold Double Eagles and First Spouse Gold Coins just went up. Thanks to rising gold prices over the last several days, the US Mint adjusted higher UHRs by $50 and the First Lady coins by $25.
The Mint gold pricing policy is to average recent gold prices and compare the result against a coin pricing grid. (See pricing grid for First Spouse Coins as an example.) As the London gold average shifts up or down by $50 increments, the US Mint readjusts coin prices using its guide.
The gold average moved to $952.16 during the last several days, which was right above $950 an ounce and the threshold to trigger the following changes:
- UHRs were set to $1,339.00
- Uncirculated First Spouse Coins were moved to $641.00, and
- Proof First Spouse Coins are at $654.00.
These are the same prices the coins were set at on Wednesday, June 3, when gold averaged above the $950 barrier. They didn’t last long. Prices were decreased on Wednesday, June 17, where they remained until this morning.
The following are the figures the Mint used to arrive at an average:
|
London Fix Gold
|
||
| AM | PM | |
| 9/2/2009 – Wednesday | 955.00 | 964.75 |
| 9/1/2009 – Tuesday | 949.75 | 955.00 |
| 8/31/2009 – Monday | London Holiday | |
| 8/28/2009 – Friday | 950.75 | 955.50 |
| 8/27/2009 – Thursday | 943.50 | 943.00 |
While the Mint pricing policy states changes would occur on Thursdays, in practice it has adjusted prices around noon on Wednesdays with very little downtime in the ability to order coins. When the Mint first turned to the new policy, it froze coin ordering on Wednesday and reopened sales with updated prices Thursday morning.
The London gold-fixing is a benchmark for gold traded directly between big institutions. As the time of this writing, New York spot gold prices have shot up over $21 to $978.70 an ounce. A sustained price above $1,000 would be needed for gold coin prices to shift higher again.
