Good point but .999 silver shouldnt incur any duties. If I get dinged, just dispute it. I have done it many times.
Being that the US Post Office just raised some of their rates this week (I don't know if these rate hikes include international services), but $15 is not any worse than shipping rates to the US from our neighbor to the north, Canada. Either way, with mintage numbers so low on the "P" version and the collector interest so high on them these days, I think it's better to get directly from the US Mint (as folks here are doing) than wait for secondary market with free shipping. One other point I should mention: the ATB silver proof quarters annual sets have actually been low mintages for quarters sets. You may want to pick up a set for each year. I just got my 2014 set and they are stunning. Keep in mind, there's a silver and separately a clad ATB annual quarters set...I get the silver proof set not the clad. The silver set is also available for 10% discount as a subscription. .
The US Mint uses UPS not the post office, so recent postage increases will have no effect on their shipping rates. I agree with buying direct if for no other reason than to get coins that have not been cherry picked by the large dealers that send thousands off for grading then sell the rejects as "raw".
So Canadian can subscribe? I though we were not allow to. Oh and Canadian currency sucking pretty bad lately . Make buying silver more $$$
If the Gov. can't tell me when these are coming, I can't budget for them. I am loosing interest fast. My wife really likes stuff from Perth. ATB's may be loosing us, Shame. -bw
The sense I have is that these coins are a good investment. They are becoming very popular now (I am a member on a number of coin forums and I've seen lots of chatter about this series lately) in spite of the fact that they were frowned upon by some collectors early on. I only discovered this series in 2013 as I am just over a year into stacking. I believe a couple of the 2013 collector version broke sales records at the US Mint for selling out in record time....certainly records were shattered in comparison to previous years of this series.
As this thread is the latest one on the 5 oz ATB series, I just thought those who collect or are thinking of collecting this series that you have an opportunity to get all 2012 "P" issues for what may be a real bargain..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/281263377243?lpid=82 I am not associated at all with the seller, I simply came across this listing today.
The 2015 design candidates are out if anyone is interested. The Homestead selection doesn't seem too popular but some of the other designs are really good. http://agaunews.com/?p=8860