Proof Julia Grant First Spouse Gold Coin Sold Out

Collectors can no longer purchase the proof version of the Julia Grant First Spouse Gold Coin. The United States Mint on Friday indicated that the 24-karat gold coin had sold out and it was moved to the U.S. Mint’s "No Longer Available" section of the website.

Introduced on June 23, 2011 in both proof and uncirculated options, the uncirculated version remains on sale for $991 at http://www.usmint.gov/catalog. Also still available are all the other 2011-dated First Spouse Gold Coin products which honor former Presidential First Ladies:

• Eliza Johnson,
• Lucy Hayes, and
• Lucretia Garfield.

Based on the latest sales figures published by the United States Mint, the Julia Grant proof issue has been the most purchased of the 2011 coins with sales of 3,968 as of March 26, 2012. But for a perspective, that is actually the lowest sell-out figure for a proof First Spouse Gold Coin since the series debuted in 2007 alongside the Presidential $1 Coin Program. Also, the proofs have tended to be more popular than the uncirculated coins. As an example, the companion Julia Grant uncirculated coin has sales of 2,580. Sales overall have been incredibly low for First Spouse Gold Coins since 2008, which is likely to make them more valuable years down the road.

A maximum mintage of 15,000 was stated across both Julia’s coins when they were released. Final mintages will obviously be well below that total even with the uncirculated coin still available. The U.S. Mint produces the coins based on collector demand which is generally known relatively quickly after release, and it is likely that the Mint stopped producing them after 7,000-7,500 in total were struck.