That is something that the two agencies, the US Mint and the USPS, have in common, in that neither of them receive one red cent in taxpayer funding. On the other hand, while the Mint is an official part of the US Government by being part of the Department of the Treasury the Postal Service is a quasi-governmental agency not reporting to any Departmental Secretary.

The above mentioned nations all have some rather big disadvantages, Dazed and Coinfused. The UK is breaking the bank with its ever-expanding ubiquitous welfare system. China has very few natural resources and is choking on unbearable levels of pollution. India is overpopulating itself into massive social disorder and economic chaos. Russia is following the Pied Piper Putin into financial ruin and political disintegration. Brazil is leading the other Latin countries into a state of top to bottom criminal anarchy. Neither Australia nor Canada have enough of a population to exercise any real clout. So far, with this and everything else being taken into account, people still appear to be much happier living here than they would be anywhere else and that’s what makes a country great.

Chris Terp and Major D, my feeling is that the US Mint makes collectable coinage with the entire breadth of the numismatic community in mind while some of the foreign mints aim a lot of their smaller production number offerings toward more specialized or so to speak niche collector markets. As always, there is room for both in the world of coins as the tastes of individual collectors are all over the place.

That’s a perfect way to put it, Major D. The “car” aka coin set has outlived the height of its excitement and attraction potential and now is worth more for the “parts” aka individual coins.

Yet it’s an interesting thing that the sum of the individual coins taken out of the sets and sold separately is greater than the value of the intact set. I guess it’s the automotive parts sales model.

I think, Major D, that’s a reflection of those annual coin sets as such never having done all that well over time in the secondary market. Perhaps when the “heat of the moment” has passed, i.e., the year in which they are released has passed by, interest in them diminishes correspondingly.

Kaiser, an interesting phenomenon is that the price increases haven’t happened for past sets in the resale market. They are stuck in time and do not experience inflationary pricing.

Very true, John. Unfortunately, these days that phenomenon is everwhere we look.

Lederhosen for everyone!