Sales of U.S. Mint American Eagle gold and silver coins rebounded sharply in August after timid showings in the previous month, but levels remained significantly lower from a year ago.
Demand for bullion jumped in the final week of August as gold surged 4.5% and silver soared 12.6%.
August sales of American Eagle silver coins tallied to 2,870,000, or 26.0% higher than July’s 2,278,000. Although down 22.0% from the same time a year ago, last month was the second best August in the Eagle’s 26-year history. Year-to-date sales for the 99.9% pure silver coins stand at 22,540,000. That does represent the weakest January through August since 2009, but — and this is a big but — only years 2010 and 2011 were better.
August sales of American Eagle gold coins advanced 39,000 ounces, up 27.9% from the 30,500 ounces delivered by the U.S. Mint in July but also down 65.2% from a year ago. For the year-to-date, the 22-karat gold coins reached 413,000 ounces, marking the lowest total through the first eight months of a year since 2008.
In American Buffalo gold coins, August sales rebounded to 9,000 ounces. That more than doubled the previous period’s 4,000 ounces. July keeps its distinction as the slowest sales month on record for the 24-karat gold coins that debuted in 2006.
Demand continues to improve for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins. Extending a streak of higher monthly sales to four, investors in August snapped up 19,400 of the 99.9% pure silver coins. No new issues were released last month, but the Acadia bullion coin launching in late July did account for a sizable portion of the total.
Sales breakdowns for the ATB five ounce silver coins were:
- 2012-P El Yunque National Forest 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins — up 3,500 to 16,700
- 2012-P Chaco Culture National Historical Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins — up 9,600 to 17,000
- 2012-P Acadia National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins — up 5,200 to 15,100
- 2011-P Olympic National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins — up 400 to 85,900
- 2011-P Vicksburg National Military Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins — up 400 to 39,500
- 2011-P Chickasaw National Recreation Area 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins — up 300 to 29,700
Below is a breakdown showing the number of U.S. Mint bullion coins sold each month and their totals so far for 2012.
| January-August and YTD 2012 US Mint Bullion Coin Sales | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2012 | Feb 2012 | Mar 2012 | Apr 2012 | May 2012 | Jun 2012 | Jul 2012 | Aug 2012 | YTD 2012 | |
| Gold Eagle (1 oz) | 84,500 | 20,000 | 57,500 | 19,000 | 49,000 | 55,000 | 28,500 | 34,000 | 347,500 |
| Gold Eagle (1/2 oz) | 49,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 59,000 |
| Gold Eagle (1/4 oz) | 38,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 58,000 |
| Gold Eagle (1/10 oz) | 85,000 | 5,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 215,000 |
| Gold Buffalo (1 oz) | 13,500 | 7,000 | 26,000 | 9,000 | 9,500 | 10,000 | 4,000 | 9,000 | 88,000 |
| ATB 5 oz. Silver Coins | 5,700 | 300 | 1,800 | 200 | 5,600 | 7,900 | 18,700 | 19,400 | 59,600 |
| Silver Eagle | 6.107M | 1.49M | 2.542M | 1.52M | 2.875M | 2.858M | 2.278M | 2.87M | 22.54M |
All sales figures above are in number of coins sold, not the amount of ounces.
With the price of metals going up at what spot price will the mint raise prices on silver products?
James if you are going to buy silver products from the mint I would do it soon. Need a crystal ball to tell you the spot price.
Whenever they want. Seriously, the Mint does not have a Coin Pricing Grid like they do for Gold and Platinum coins (which are based on the London Fixed price for the metals). Best guess would be to look at the tipping point the last time they adjusted up/down.Can’t remember exactly what the mark-up tip point was but it was in the 20% range? Now it is about 22% with a 5 oz coin purchase (giving the Mint a $45 mark-up). The math: For a 5 ounce purchase (rounding) at $205 with silver at $32 a Troy ounce and a 22%… Read more »
I don’t know why they don’t just go ahead and publish a silver pricing grid. They must be using some kind of guideline or something to tell them when it’s time to raise/lower prices and by how much. Oh, wait a minute – this is the US Mint; they probably figure it out by hand with paper and pencil every single time like they’ve been doing since 1792.
As this writing Silver is at $33.89. If you are thinging of buying Silver products do it soon as the mints profit margin has fallen below 20%!! A price increase will happen soon if Silver prices hold above this level.
Why buy only from the US mint when: eBay, Gainesville Coin and APMEX stand ready to deliver far more options at decent and competitive prices? The US Mint is the last place to buy silver or gold in this current economic market.
In the first place you can’t buy bullion from the mint – you must buy from a dealer or other secondary market such as you mentioned. You can buy collector coins from the mint but you pay a premium for the type of finish and packaging. If you can anticipate rarity and demand a direct from the mint coin can pay off big (like the 1995 W SAE). Otherwise, of course, for investment purposes you want to buy silver, palladium, gold, platinum wherever you can get it cheapest and that’s definitely not at the US Mint.