For Lunar Series silver stackers in N. America, I was just notified by APMEX that a 2008 1 kilo Silver Lunar Mouse series 1 finally arrived. Total number of this coin ever minted: only 3,344: http://www.apmex.com/Product/26716?...alEmail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AlertMe Just sharing the news....I am not affiliated in any way with APMEX and I gain nothing.
No, per Perth Mint's guidelines on the lunar series, the kilo coins can be minted until the series ends. What that means to you is this. While it might be scarce today, they could pump out 10,000 of them next week and it wouldn't be scarce any longer.
Looks like the coin above is series 1 which the mintage is final and closed. With series 2 still a few years to go.
Why is this a rare coin? Not exactly the lowest mintage in the series. And I observe that prices for the lunar series 1 kilo have been trending downwards closer to 1000 USD even.
Well if anyone wants to start collecting the kilo lunar series 1, you can look for this seller "brentwoodcoin" on ebay. Have personally dealt with him previously. Good comms and fast shipping (Japan Post!).
Not "rare" but I would define a mintage of around 3,000 or so in a very popular series to be scarce. There are I believe 2 S1 Lunar animal years (of the silver kilo bullion coin variety) with lower mintage than the 2008 Mouse. Kam-L is on the right track when he suggests that the spot price has something to do with it. While spot price is a reflection of investor sentiment in large quantities of metals (paper metal products included of course) this can readily have an effect on prices collectors are willing to pay for coins that are breaching the semi-numi level and of course full on semi-numis (like limited minting proof coins). One could argue that while these consolidated prices on coins may be bad for sellers, on the other hand it could be good for buyers.
Just so you guys know.... I'm the one that purchased it. I love these coin and now I will have the entire SET up to 2014.
There's nothing better than holding a big, ole, chunky kilo coin! Big is beautiful.! Loving all the lunar kilos, regardless of mintage! Just felt the need to share with the world!
Congrats! I own no 1 kilo series 1 coins....not because I wouldn't love to but because I came into stacking just recently and the prices for these 1 kilo S1 coins is out of reach for me. Nonetheless, I like to keep an eye on prices for certain coins and this is one series that I do. Since I couldn't afford it....I might as well pass the info onto members here who might greatly benefit from the info. I'm glad you were able to, ms8172...makes me happy to know that I can help a fellow stacker in this way. I own a series 2 kilo (but not a 2008 Mouse) and were I to find a S2 kilo Mouse on sale at a good price I might have bought it.
didn't I read somewhere that S 2 1 KG coins can be minted until the end of the series i.e a mouse can be minted tomorrow ?
But there's no guarantee whatsoever that a specific lunar animal will get additional mintage. From what some stackers have written, what design gets additional minting depends on whether any new orders from a large dealer get placed. Can anyone who knows with certainty confirm that this is the process? .