Originally Posted by
thetravelabstract
The mandate is to mint coins of each U.S. President and it is not expected to finish with Reagan.
With the current schedule, it should end with Reagan in 2016, unless some of the other former presidents pass away before then. Carter and H. W. Bush are highly probable (both born in 1924) and if they BOTH die before 2016, that would push the program into 2017. The chances of Clinton, W. Bush, Obama, and another yet to be elected president all dying before 2017 seems very unlikely so most likely the program will end in 2016 or 2017.
Originally Posted by
thetravelabstract
It seems there will be plenty of opportunities to buy coins until this happens.
You can buy several of the issued presidents now @ $35.95/roll. If you want them at face, you have to rely on what the mint has made and cannot dispose of.
Many of the presidents were never available under the direct ship program. Others, like Buchanan, were available for such a short time that you could only order them once under the 10 day limit before they were sold out. Lincolns were only available for about a month. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison lasted for so long because many more were made of the early issues. The mint has throttled back on the quantities so it's possible once the Madisons are sold out we may not see any more available via Direct Ship.
With this in mind, I don't believe there will be "plenty of opportunities" any longer and suspect the end may be much sooner than you think.