Mail Bag – Should I Collect Presidential Silver Medals?

Today’s Mail Bag question is one that I get quite often from fellow collectors are readers of USCoinNews.com. Is a coin, or in the case of today’s question a medal, worth collecting? The question comes from Bella (who apparently is a fellow Coloradan) and deals with the relatively new Presidential Silver Medals.

Hi,

Warm greetings from (redacted city in Colorado)

I have a basic question that I want your opinion on. I’ve been interested in collecting the new presidential silver medals offered by the mint. But they seems sort of expensive and I was wanting to know if they are worth collecting. I have never collected anything other than coins and not sure if this is a good medal to start collecting.

Thanks,

Bella

Like so many Numismatic items, the question of the value or worth of the time and money spent to collect them really comes down to personal choice and desires. My first and high level answer is yes, collect these medals if they appeal to you and these are a great way to get into non-coin coin collecting. If, however, you are looking for investment medals, these may not be the best option.

The Presidential Silver Medals, for those readers not familiar with them, are a relatively new series of 99.999% pure silver medals offered by the United States Mint. The series was started in 2018 and eventually will have one medal for every President of the United States. To date, there are seven of them available for the first seven Presidents.

Bella, I personally love these medals and I began collecting them late last year. But I do have to disagree with you regarding the price. At $46 per one ounce silver medal, I think this is a bit of a deal when you compare it to some of the other silver coins or medals offered by the Mint. As it stands right now, you could have the entire set of Medals available today for under $350.

If your primary motivation is to have these medals is for investment, there are probably better options out there. The Mint has no mintage limit on these medals and there is no household purchase limit. That means, in theory, the Mint could be producing these medals for years if not decades after they are introduced. Barring a massive spike in the spot price of silver, I seriously doubt they will garner much value over their issue price.

Ultimately Bella, the beauty of our hobby is the individuality of our collections and interests. What appeals to me may not to you and vise-versa – or we may love the same thing as we do in these medals. There is no wrong answer and there is no “wrong” thing to collect. If you like ’em, collect ’em! I, for one, will continue to collect these medals as I love them.

Thanks for writing in Bella!

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