October 2022 RCM New Releases

I wonder if there will be as much of a rush for this 'Unexplained Phenomena' as there was for the 'Falcon Lake'. Personally, I had never heard of the 'The Yukon Encounter' prior to reading about it in the October Flyer

Thanks @vonigohcr for posting the list.

Does anyone like the design of "The Magic of the Season"? I think the design is average. Probably not a coin I must collect.

My favourite is "Canada's Unexplained Phenomena: The Yukon Encounter". However, with a mintage of 7500, I can probably get it later at auction for half of the price.

@vonigohcr: Thanks for posting the release info!

None of the releases truly entices me - that's nothing new, unfortunately!

"It is odd that this was not part of yesterday's announcement but maybe the RCM wanted the separate press. Interestingly no announced single pair card/unc set. It would have enlivened a somewhat mundane release."

Separate release so the collection could be released to everyone at once instead of Mastersclub having first access?

Or have they made a coin with a potentially popular theme available to a larger audience?

Thanks for catching my error. Yes the years were reversed but now corrected.




If that was the case, why not double the mintage to 10,000 or make it unlimited.

Increasing the mintage only dilutes the value of the coin. We see the Mint doing it to other coins. The most recent example is the 2022 Black Gold Otter coin where the they increased the mintage from 4500 to 6500 from the previous year. Due to the increased mintage every dealer has it in stock at issue price. Because supply outstrips demand, you can easily find it for below issue price.

Soon you will be able to get that coin and the new UFO coin at 50% discount at auctions.

As a collector I would hate to see my collection devalued because of increased mintage. Bullion value is not something I look forward to.

There is some truth in that but if you look at the coins whose market value has either matched issue price or appreciated there are usually two attributes in play:
1) Either the design is outstanding or the subject matter is compelling.
2) The mintage or availability is low. Availability is often tied to mintage but not always when looking at the RCM's model of small 1st runs for newly released coins.

Examples of this are:
- 2008/2009 Gold $300 Moon Mask series... generally resells at a premium over bullion (Bullion has appreciated over issue price) but mintage in the 500 range.
- 2007 Silver Loon baby series... Mintages 1,911 -> 3,200 included a compelling package of trinkets for new parents.
- 2008/2009 $20 Hockey Mask series... Mintages 95->748... All sell at a premium over issue... Hockey is very popular in Canada and mintages are low.
- Many of the recent $200 Gold coins are sub 300 mintage... they are not that easy to find and often carry a premium over issue price.

It seems that a "magic" number for silver is <2,000 and for gold <300 and that will provide a scarcity floor for a compelling coin to retain value... Higher mintages, in general, leave the coin very available and only very compelling coins will carry a premium.

The current trend of RCM issuing Silver in the 5,000->10,000 range guarantees a Franklin Mint level of value appreciation. It is also why NCLT Silver Dollars from the '70s and '80s are mostly available below issue price as their mintages were in the hundreds of thousands ranging to over half a million in some years. The first NCLT SD that has any real appreciated value beyond issue is the 2002 Queen Mother... Topical as it was the year of her death and mintage was the first SD less than 10,000 in an era where mintages exceeding 100,000 were common

This is the same in the circulating side of the hobby... Scarcity, especially at higher grades, is what leads market pricing. NCLT are all presumed to be PR-69/PR-70 but the jump in price between a MS-60 and a MS-65 within a given coin and year, especially in the silver series pre1968 is driven directly by the relative availability of the date since designs tend not to change year over year.