Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

If I were going to put about $2000 into 2008 gold fractionals, what's the opinion of the better prospect for appreciation - the Prosperity Set, fractional buff proofs, or unc. buff fractionals (other than the $25 unc.)? My thinking is that the buffs have a better shot at appreciation than the unc. Eagles . . . and also I'm still hoping to get a couple of those unc. 1/4 Eagles from the mint, so I'm looking at buffalo coins.

All I'm asking is for opinions . . . not advice, per se. Just wondering what others would do in similar circumstances . . .

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

Can't go too wrong with any of them, but I would go with the $50 unc. buffalo. It's just a very low mintage for a one ounce coin. Great long-term hold.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

looking at the mintages released from the mint, Unc. (aside from the 1/10oz) is the way to go.
1) Buff. fractionals were only minted in 2008
2) They were on sale from July to December
3) The highest mintage is 12,644 for the 1/10oz Unc. Buff.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

Since you are just looking at the Buffalos or the Prosperity set, I would vote for the Prosperity set, and the reason being is it is not only a fractional of a one year coin (Buff 1/2), but it also has a final year fractional coin (GAE W 1/2) to go along with it. Right now, the GAE fractionals have the lower mintage than any other option. Of course they are not a closed option like the Buffalos because they continue to sell the GAE W's so that could change, but I strongly doubt if they will catch up to the Buff's.

The Prosperity set is not a closed set yet so the mintage numbers will continue to rise, but once the new Mint pricing strategy sets in, and the new High Relief Gold Double Eagle sales kick in, I think the increase in the Prosperity set numbers will slow down.

Like Hernan said, you almost can't go wrong with any of them.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

Hernan, isn't the mintage of the Buffalo W Uncirc increased by the Celebration Buffalo's? I know the Celebrations are made by the West Point Mint, because I bought one and the authentication card so states. However, I don't remember now if the actual coin has a W mint mark on it. If I can remember when I get home tonight I will check and post.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

No it is not. The celebration coin does not have the W mintmark.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

Everything I've read says that the Celebration Buffalo does NOT have the "w" mintmark.

The fact that none of them are "wrong" choices just makes it harder to figure out which of the choices might be more right than others . . .

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

latest mint stats:

http://numismaster.com/images/upload...lemint0120.jpg
http://numismaster.com/images/upload...igmint0120.jpg

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

The $50 buff will surely settle with the lowest mintage of the uncs, and all are discontinued. One-year only. I cant think of a 1-ounce type by the US mint with that kinda sub-10K mintage. Long term hold with big potential.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

You are right. I just checked my Celebration coin and there is no W mint mark on the coin itself even though the Certificate of Authenticity clearly states it was made at West Point Mint. -- What a waste of money.

I have to agree then, the one ounce Buffalo W Uncirculated would be the coin to get.

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

I'd think the 8-8-08 Double Prosperity set would be a nice one to pick up, since both are stamped with a " W" mm, and they're both fractionals, not to be made anymore ....

Re: Prosperity Sets, or Other Fracs?
 

Source: mintnewsblog@blogspot.com

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 313px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; HEIGHT: 144px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0 str=""><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 63pt" width=84><COL style="WIDTH: 65pt" span=2 width=86><TBODY><TR style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="WIDTH: 193pt; HEIGHT: 12.75pt" width=256 colSpan=3 height=17>2008-W Unc Gold Eagle Sales Figures</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17>




</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: right">Individual</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: right">Total</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17>1 oz</TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="5727">5,727 </TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="8073" fmla="=B3+$B$7">8,073 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17>1/2 oz</TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="1783">1,783 </TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="8995" fmla="=B4+$B$7+4866">8,995* </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17>1/4 oz</TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="2911">2,911 </TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="5257" fmla="=B5+$B$7">5,257 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17>1/10 oz</TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="7261">7,261 </TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="9607" fmla="=B6+$B$7">9,607 </TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17>4 Coin Set</TD><TD class=xl24 style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" num="2346">2,34</TD><TD class=xl24>


6


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

my comments:
Even though the 1-ouncer continues for '09, the '08 sets an extremely low target.
Finding firm mintage #'s for the '06 and '07 AGE unc's remain elusive, but the best I've come up with thus far is that for the 1-ouncer there were 19,975 06's & 24,902 07's minted. Do the math!