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The era of modern US commemorative coinage began
in 1982 and continues to the present. Commemoratives were also issued
by the Mint from 1892-1954 and are often called the Early
Commemoratives.
What motivates people to buy commemoratives from the Mint? No doubt
some buyers are moved by the subject matter. After all, many of us got
a few goose bumps on the 100th anniversary of mankind's first powered
flight. Some collectors, however, may order commemoratives from the
Mint in the hope they are making a smart investment for the future.
Should modern US commemoratives be viewed as wise investments? I did
some research to find out what type of Return on Investment (ROI) they
generate. I started out with the 32 clad coinage commemoratives issued
during the modern era. All of them happen to be half dollars. Since
clads contain no precious metals content, the ROI was fairly easy to
compute because the rise and fall of gold and silver prices have no
direct influence on their value.
Mostly, the results were much what I expected: Modern commemoratives
are a poor choice for an investment vehicle. Of the 32 dates studied,
only eight had calculated annual ROI's above 5.0%. A total of ten dates
displayed negative return rates.
The average ROI of the entire population of clad commems came to 4.0%.
That's really not all THAT bad, but still lags far behind what
a collector might expect to enjoy with the purchase of truly rare,
collectible United States coins. [To get started on that subject, visit
our Rare Coin Values Index].
If you look closer at the
table, you'll notice what really helped the average ROI was the
spectacular performance of a small handful of dates. Now this I did not
expect to see. The 2011 United States Army commemoratives really jump
out. Perhaps they'll recede in value as time goes on, but at the
moment, their ROI's would make any portfolio manager jealous.
If any readers would like to take a stab at explaining why those few
clad commem dates have done so well, please contact me. I may publish
your thoughts later.
And what of the gold and silver based commemoratives? Are they poor
numismatic investments as well. I did a spot check of eight such coins.
After negating the bullion influence, I found they too exhibit poor
returns. However, as with their clad cousins, a small few of them did
really well. Time permitting, I will post a full analysis of the
precious metal commemoratives.
| US Commemorative Clad
Coinage Rate of Return |
| Commemorative Type |
Face Value |
Unc. Or Proof? |
Issue Price |
Value 2014 MS-65 |
Value 2014 PF-65 |
Yearly ROI Since Issued |
| 1986-D Statue of Liberty -- Ellis
Island |
.50 |
Unc. |
$5.00 |
$2.00 |
-- |
-3.2% |
| 1986-S Statue of Libery -- Ellis
Island |
.50 |
Proof |
$6.50 |
-- |
$3.00 |
-2.7% |
| 1989-D Bicentennial of Congress |
.50 |
Unc. |
$5.00 |
$6.00 |
-- |
0.7% |
| 1989-S Bicentennial of Congress |
.50 |
Proof |
$7.00 |
-- |
$5.00 |
-1.3% |
| 1991-D Mount Rushmore 50th Anniv |
.50 |
Unc. |
$6.00 |
$12.00 |
-- |
3.1% |
| 1991-S Mount Rushmore 50th Anniv |
.50 |
Proof |
$8.50 |
-- |
$9.00 |
0.2% |
| 1992-P Games of XXV Olympiad 0.50 |
.50 |
Unc. |
$6.00 |
$5.00 |
-- |
-0.8% |
| 1992-S Games of XXV Olympiad 0.50 |
.50 |
Proof |
$8.50 |
-- |
$5.00 |
-2.4% |
| 1992-D Columbus Discovery
Quincentennial |
.50 |
Unc. |
$6.50 |
$9.00 |
-- |
1.5% |
| 1992-S Columbus Discovery
Quincentennial |
.50 |
Proof |
$8.50 |
-- |
$8.00 |
-0.3% |
| 1993-P WWII 50th Anniversary |
.50 |
Unc. |
$8.00 |
$13.00 |
-- |
2.3% |
| 1993-P WWII 50th Anniversary |
.50 |
Proof |
$9.00 |
-- |
$13.00 |
1.8% |
| 1994-D World Cup Soccer |
.50 |
Unc. |
$8.75 |
$7.00 |
-- |
-1.1% |
| 1994-P World Cup Soccer |
.50 |
Proof |
$9.75 |
-- |
$7.00 |
-1.6% |
| 1995-S Civil War Battlefields |
.50 |
Unc. |
$9.50 |
$32.00 |
-- |
6.6% |
| 1995-S Civil War Battlefields |
.50 |
Proof |
$10.75 |
-- |
$27.00 |
5.0% |
| 1995-S Basketball XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Unc. |
$10.50 |
$14.00 |
-- |
1.5% |
| 1995-S Basketball XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Proof |
$11.50 |
-- |
$13.00 |
0.6% |
| 1995-S Baseball XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Unc. |
$10.50 |
$17.00 |
-- |
2.6% |
| 1995-S Baseball XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Proof |
$11.50 |
-- |
$25.00 |
4.2% |
| 1996-S Swimming XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Unc. |
$10.50 |
$125.00 |
-- |
14.8% |
| 1996-S Swimming XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Proof |
$11.50 |
-- |
$27.00 |
4.9% |
| 1996-S Soccer XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Unc. |
$10.50 |
$115.00 |
-- |
14.2% |
| 1996-S Soccer XXVI Olympiad |
.50 |
Proof |
$11.50 |
-- |
$75.00 |
11.0% |
| 2003-P First Flight Centennial |
.50 |
Unc. |
$9.75 |
$13.00 |
-- |
2.6% |
| 2003-P First Flight Centennial |
.50 |
Proof |
$12.50 |
-- |
$14.00 |
1.0% |
| 2008-S Bald Eagle |
.50 |
Unc. |
$7.95 |
$12.00 |
-- |
7.1% |
| 2008-S Bald Eagle |
.50 |
Proof |
$9.95 |
-- |
$14.00 |
5.9% |
| 2011-D United States Army |
.50 |
Unc. |
$15.95 |
$55.00 |
-- |
51.1% |
| 2011-S United States Army |
.50 |
Proof |
$17.95 |
-- |
$32.00 |
21.3% |
| 2013-D 5-Star Generals |
.50 |
Unc. |
$16.95 |
$15.00 |
-- |
-11.5% |
| 2013-S 5-Star Generals |
.50 |
Proof |
$17.95 |
-- |
$16.00 |
-10.9% |
| Average Annual ROI |
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4.0% |
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