Hundreds of people lined up at dawn Tuesday for a chance to buy one of 500 50th Anniversary Kennedy Half-Dollar Gold Proof Sets at the Denver Mint.
Some were there for the pleasure of owning a coin commemorating the March 1964 release of a silver 50-cent piece bearing the likeness of President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated four months earlier.
But many were being paid by coin and bullion dealers trying to get around the one-per-customer rule implemented for the coveted $1,240 coin that contains three-quarters of a troy ounce of .9999 fine, 24-karat gold.
People were lured by cash to the line from as far away as Colorado Springs. Others were promised a chance at a “casting call.”
Across from the Mint, workers at a table looked through a list of names, handing out sandwiches and crisp $100 bills to those who successfully purchased coins.
One man said he had been offered $100 for the work but wasn’t successful. A woman flashed $400 in her purse as she waited for a cab.
Robert Higgins, co-president of The Argent Group, a Delaware-based bullion company, said his company hired about 100 people from Fort Carson to stand in line and buy coins.
He said people were put up in the Hilton and paid $300 — even the 18 who weren’t able to snag a proof set.
The company also paid about 150 people from Fort Dix in New Jersey to stand in line at the Philadelphia Mint, he said.
“We’ve got three more days to go,” Higgins said.
U.S. Mint spokesman Mike White said the one-coin limit is intended to make sure the sets are available to as many people as possible, but he said the dealer workarounds are being used in other locations, too.
“Is it right what they are doing? I would say no,” White said. “Is it illegal? No, it’s not illegal.”
Although the coins, struck at the U.S. Mint in West Point, N.Y., will be made until there is no more demand, limited numbers are being sold over the counter at mints in Denver, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. In addition to the 500 sold Tuesday at each mint, an additional 100 will be sold Wednesday and Thursday — and possibly Monday.
An additional 2,500 will be offered during the 2014 American Numismatic Association’s
Chicago World’s Fair of Money, which opened Tuesday.
The coins also are available on the Web, but Tuesday’s crush of interest made potential purchasers of the proof sets — no more than five per customer online — wait in a virtual queue.
The price for the proof sets is based on the average price of gold each week, White said. “So there is a possibility the price could go up or down … depending on what gold does.”
In Denver, as a woman who said she represented an East Coast coin dealer handed out preloaded Visa cards to people hired through temporary agencies or recruited “on the street,” some who showed up at a 5 a.m. “casting call” for extras were confused to find themselves lined up to buy coins.
Denver photographer Annie Bade showed up thinking she was needed as an extra — and got $200 after purchasing a coin.
“This is people with money using people without money to get more money for the people with money,” she said.
Denver Mint spokeswoman Jennifer DeBroekert said tickets — akin to those handed out in lotteries for sports and concert tickets — were handed out on a first-come, first-served basis.
“Once they get that ticket, we really can’t control what they do with that ticket,” said DeBroekert.
“Once it belongs to them, we have no say with what they do with that coin.”
However, many of those in line were there for the coin and in memory of Kennedy.
Isabel Vigil, 66, of Lakewood — who was there with her husband, Sam, who celebrated his 69th birthday Tuesday — said she already owns a 1964 silver half dollar.
“I was in high school when he was assassinated,” she said. “I felt he was a great president who loved his country.”
Mary Greimann,
who was there to buy a Kennedy coin because her husband, Hal, is a coin collector and dealer, said the proof set has special significance.
“I think, to a lot of people who grew up during the Kennedy years, it is a special coin,” she said.
Georgetown residents Mike and Anne Stapleton lined up at 6 a.m. with their three kids — 2-month-old Grace, Caleb, 4, and Jacob, 6.
Mike Stapleton, a fan of the 1964 half dollar, which was 90 percent silver, said he plans to resell the anniversary set.
“We need the money for back to school,” he said.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ howardpankratz
Staff writer Thad Moore contributed to this report.