Wow! Thomas Jefferson’s First Spouse Coin Takes Down the US Mint

/ Adam Nash

9:18 am (PST): I’ve been trying for fifteen minutes to get into the US Mint website to order the Thomas Jefferson First Spouse gold coin.  Very very slow.  Most pages are not loading – I’m getting about 1 out of 10 browser windows actually serving a page.I tried calling the 800 number, but AT&T is giving me an error that says the call cannot go through.

I think that the demand today is crazy.I did actually get the first spouse coin page once… but it said it won’t be available until 12pm Aug 30th ET… of course, that was 15 minutes ago.  When I try to sign-in to the site, I get a page cannot load error.

I think the lightweight, low-end web infrastructure for the US Mint just gave up the ghost on this one.

 9:23 am PST: I’ve just managed to login… now trying to get back to the TJ first spouse page. Very slow, lots of page failures. But it feels like it’s getting better.

9:25 am PST: I’ve just managed to click “add to cart”. Let’s see if this goes through. My guess is that they started the rollout of the updated site configuration for the ordering at 12pm EST, but it took longer than expected to deploy. I don’t think the US Mint is set up for this type of “wire on” situation.

9:26am PST: I have two browser windows hitting the site now, which is helping. I’ve just clicked checkout. Since I have quick checkout configured, I’m hoping I’m close to home free.

9:29 pm PST: DRAT! The connection timed out. Lost my checkout. Trying to recover. I thought I was home free. Quick Checkout is failing… will try normal checkout.

9:31 am PST: Quick Checkout works again! I’m clicking “place order”… let’s hope this goes through. This is unbelievable.

9:33 am PST: Are you kidding me? The page is still loading. The place order has not completed. Do I stop? Do I try again? This is a surprising amount of suspense for a coin order…

9:34 am PST: The order went through. The coin is showing as backordered, but I have an order number. Crazy. I guess you have to be persistent these days to bag a first spouse coin.

Now, I have real work to do…

11 thoughts on “Wow! Thomas Jefferson’s First Spouse Coin Takes Down the US Mint”

  1. This is the price one pays for a limitee edition being sold over inferior web servers.
    It took me a little over an hour to get a confirmation for the gold proof.
    The uncirculated took about 20-30 minutes.

    For the medal, I have a confirmation print out, but it is not showing up on the Order Historyl

  2. I got through the quick checkout to place my order for the proof Liberty coin at 11:08 Central Time after having the same kind of experience you described above. Then within minutes, everything locked up. I checked back at about 1pm and they had sold out and were just accepting orders for a waiting list. After Dolley comes out, I expect them to increase the mintage.

  3. I think I got mine. Order finally processed at 12:15. I am also picking up more MW proofs and MS still in the box. They are selling at slightly above mint cost and if one really thinks about it – THEY ARE A BARGAIN AT THOSE PRICES. I checked PCGS and NGC grading and noted the following as of 30 August 2007. PCGS had graded:
    MW MS 15.40% are 70, 84.14% are 69s.
    MW Proof 13.92% are 70 and 85.3% are 69s.
    AA uncirculated are 24.35% are 70 and 75.25% are 69s.
    AA proof not listed.

    NGC on the other had is outrageous.
    MW MS 55.24% are 70, 44.52% are 69s.
    MW Proof 55.21% are 70 and 44.41% are 69s.
    AA MS are 51.02% are 70 and 48.83% are 69s.
    AA proof 49.62% are 70 and 49.68% are 69s.

    What are others thoughts on the difference? Will the PCGS bring a premium in the future? And why are these selling so low. They should be bringing a premium. 20,000 coins divided by 50 states is only 400 coins per state and I know foreign investors also jumped in reducing what we really have access to.

    billy

  5. I find that it doesn’t take too much to take down their site… either that, or they have no understanding of a staging area for changes, and they take it down themselves to prepare for new content. Either way, duh.

  6. I don’t think it really matters as to the capacity of the web servers. The demand is very high for these coins and whatever they do will not stop the onslaught demand by the public. I hope in 2008 they up the mintage to 50,000 each instead of the 20,000 for proofs and uncirculated they have currently.

  7. They should really just open up the First Spouse coins for subscriptions, one per household. People with a subscription would get priority for the new coins, that way you reward the persistent buyers.

    Adam

  8. How many reverse 20th ann ase, were expected in 69 and how many in 70 by pcgs in % wise, and were can i go in to pcgs.com to view that, thanks for your help.

  9. I HAVE HAD PROBLEMS GETTING COINS FROM THE MINT.
    CREDIT CARD CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS IF YOU TRY TO ORDER
    TWO GOLD COINS WITH THE SAME CREDIT CARD. WE ARE AUTHORIZE ONE COIN PER HOUSEHOLD.

  10. I just want to know, now that i have my Liberty gold coin, just how fast did they sell out. The secondary market for this, a modern day coin, should be high. I would think for collectors who want the complete a whole set will set the demand up pretty high. Good luck to all that are trying to finish this set at those production numbers.

  11. Just want to let everyone know that I ordered a uc Liberty gold coin online from the us mint on 9/30. After reading the waiting list notice, I said a silent prayer because of all the problems and disappointment others have had trying to get this coin. Well I’m happy to say my coin arrived by Fedex today. I was so happy I hugged the Fedex guy. Give it a try, you may get lucky too!

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