Today, July 1, the U.S. Mint released 2016-W $10 Nancy Reagan First Spouse Gold Coins in collector qualities of proof and uncirculated. They mark the last issues in a 10-year series of coins that honor former first ladies.
Featuring a portrait and design emblematic of Mrs. Reagan, the wife of Ronald Reagan who was the 40th President of the United States, the gold pieces are produced in one-half ounce of 24-karat gold to a purity of .9999 fine.
Designs of Nancy Reagan Gold Coins
First unveiled in February after candidate designs were evaluated, the reverse or tails side of the collector coins show Mrs. Reagan with her arms around two children during her anti-drug campaign to "just say no."
Surrounding the image are inscriptions of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, $10, 1/2 OZ., and .9999 FINE GOLD. Joel Iskowitz designed the scene with Don Everhart executed its sculpting. Their initials appear toward the lower part of the design.
Obverses or heads side offer a portrait of the former first lady, as designed by Benjamin Sowards and sculpted by Joseph Menna.
Surrounding the effigy are inscriptions of NANCY REAGAN, IN GOD WE TRUST, LIBERTY, 2016, 40th, and 1981-1989. This side of the coin also includes initials of the both artists and a "W" mint mark denoting their production at the West Point Mint.
Ordering, Prices and Limits
Nancy Reagan First Spouse Gold Coins are available from the United States Mint online store located here. Place phone orders using 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).
Prices are $865.00 for the proof and $845.00 for the uncirculated. These are subject to change weekly according to the U.S. Mint pricing schedule for gold coins. Current prices are based on an average of LBMA gold that is within the range of $1,300.00 to $1,349.99 an ounce.
No more than 15,000 coins will be issued, with customer demand determining the ratio of proof to uncirculated coins. There is a household ordering limit of 1 coin per collector quality.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Mint released the first 2016-dated spousal coins featuring Patricia Nixon, wife of the 37th U.S. President Richard Nixon, and the second issues of the year honoring Betty Ford, the wife of the 38th U.S. President Gerald R. Ford. Their combined sales as of June 26 were 3,435 coins and 2,986 coins.
In 2007, the First Spouse Gold Coin Program debuted along with a series of clad $1 coins commemorating deceased United States Presidents. The U.S. Mint on Friday also released rolls and bags of circulating quality dollars honoring Ronald Reagan.
Nancy Reagan Bronze Medals
Bronze medal replicas of the Nancy Reagan coins will also be available. They will be released as part of the 2016 Reagan Presidential $1 and First Spouse Medal Set on July 5 and as part of the 2016 First Spouse Bronze Medal Set that goes on sale in August.
Thought Nancy would sell out in couple hours (already about three hours). So, 15,000 limit might not have been wrong. This series has many coins with a low mintage but was ruined from the start. Of course, collecting such a series was cost prohibitive for many of us. Will be interesting to see what happens. At least I got the two I wanted.
You know, we ONLY can buy 2 coins, also people bought platinum proof coin yesterday! It is too close for 2 high value coins for sale in a week. Last thing, today is starting off a long weekend. I expect this gold coin needs to take a month to sell out!
chuck – Glad you got your 2 Nancy gold coins in Proof & Uncirculated versions. I did the same. I don’t know why this series is not as popular as other gold coin series, & like you I basically wonder if this coin will ever sell out. My best guess is that with 4 coins each year (8 if you buy both versions) & being a 10-year series & being pure gold, that the cost was prohibitive for most collectors. I only bought the designs I really liked & the First Ladies I admired most, therefore my collection is incomplete.… Read more »
Seth Riesling, Glad you got your two too. Took your advice and paid for the expedited shipping. They arrived today. Was surprised that only about 2200 sold so far (7/4 report). But as pointed out many might have purchased the platinum coin instead. I did not buy many in this series and this series may never be a complete series since five are already excluded and any future ones. Perhaps, in the future there will be a new law to include missing ones. As to the $1350 price for the platinum coin, see many dealers charge over $1350 just for… Read more »
chuck – Glad you got your 2 Nancy gold coins in hand. I love them both too ! As for platinum metal price, it has increased a lot since the issue date of June 30 for the Proof platinum coin. On the day of issue the premium was about $350 & now in just 6 days the premium doesn’t look so high now. I just didn’t like the design enough to go for it & I wanted both Nancy gold coins more. There will not be any platinum bullion version coins this year. The Mint was supposed to have its… Read more »
Seth Riesling,
Thank you for the information.
No buyer’s remorse here, rather have and did get Nancy.
chuck – The Nancy coin sales are not too bad for first 3.5 days on a Holiday weekend. Considering she just passed away fairly recently, I bet many of her friends here & around the world & the people who worked for her & her beloved “Ronnie” over their life in politics going back to the Governor of California period & the anti-drug campaign people will be purchasing this coin sometime soon. I think also the fact that she helped care for President Reagan dealing with Alzheimers for so long will cause some to buy the coin as a tribute… Read more »
Seth Riesling,
Yes, she was dedicated. Some even make the case she might have been the first woman President. No doubt, she did help in many decisions that were made.
chuck –
You sure are right about Nancy’s opinions & advice to President Reagan on many decisions he made. She was smart & a little more agressive than the president in some good ways & he took her advice into consideration just as advice from his Cabinet officials. If he hadn’t got Alzheimers, she may have run for an elected office back in California & who knows with her strong determination how far she would have gone in the political arena.
It will be interesting to see next week’s Nancy gold coin sales numbers for sure.
Happy collecting!
-NumisDudeTX