US Mint Sales: Gold Coins Jump as Gold Prices Hit 2010 Highs

The latest United States Mint sales report reveals that gold coins, silver eagles and silver proof sets were the hottest products last week. Most other US Mint offerings moved along almost sluggishly.

Bullion American Gold Eagles edged up to 349,000 for the year, and closed April with 60,500 sold. More excitement was found with bullion American Buffalo Gold Coins. They hit 56,500 in their two-day April debut — pulling 48,500 on the first day alone. They are already sitting at 70,000, which is 21.7% of the number sold in their initial 2006 year, 41.8% of their 2007 total, 40.7% of the sales in 2008 and 35.0% of the 2009 level.

First Spouse Gold Coins nearly doubled their prior weekly gains. 785 were ordered compared to 404. While collectors are less sensitive to daily gold fluctuations when buying numismatic coins, they are not blind to them either. Record 2010 gold highs and the fact that the spouse series just missed out on price increases last week certainly helped the one-half ounce gold pieces — they broke away from a two-week declining sales trend.

As of this writing, gold has just reached another high for the year and is making a run for $1,200 an ounce. But prices also increased for the 24 karat coins on Wednesday to their highest levels ever. The place to expect the better numbers this week should be the coins that are most sensitive to gold’s daily moves — the bullion Buffalos and Eagles.

Bullion American Silver Eagles had their own rallying cry. 337,500 were sold in the final two days of April and 405,000 during the first five days of May. Unlike gold, silver prices have plunged in recent days. They tumbled $1.31 in the last two days alone. On a positive note, eagle sales could benefit should a "buy on the dip" mentality emerge.

Better demand was seen for silver proof sets. All other Mint proof and uncirculated sets stepped back. The 2009 US Mint Silver Proof Set advanced 1,531 compared to last week’s 1,305. It was their best surge since March. They also topped 680,000. The 2009 DC and Territories Quarters Silver Proof Set climbed 539 compared to 481.

Finally, and in another milestone, two-roll sets of the 2010 Lincoln cents passed the 100,000 barrier.

The following tables contain the latest US Mint coin sales figures:

US Mint Collector Coin Sales

(Data compare previous to current Mint sales reports)

NLA – No Longer Available.

Notable links for sales related articles from sister CoinNews’ sites follow:

• First Spouse Gold Coins Jump Before Price Increase – FirstSpouseCoins.us
  Buyers, no doubt, recognized the increasing gold value of the 24-karat half ounce coins when the London Fix gold price grew… The Letitia Tyler coins will be the next to leave the U.S. Mint’s availability list when the 2010 Jane Pierce coins arrive in June…

• Few Boy Scouts Commemoratives Left – SilverCoinsToday.com
  Only a few 2010 Boy Scouts of America Silver Dollars remain available from the US Mint, and a total sell out could happen any day — although it looks like it may take several at least given the latest pace numbers. Just 11,391 were left as of Sunday…

The collector coin sales figures above have an "as of date" of May 2, 2010.