Sales of 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins Hit Max

Sales of 2015 Homestead National Monument of America Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins have likely ended for good. The United States Mint earmarked the coin’s mintage at 35,000 coins, and U.S. Mint distributors ordered the last 600 from that total today.

Struck in versions of investment-grade bullion and collector uncirculated, a combined 65,000 are authorized. The collectible uncirculated coin has sales of 18,198. There is a possibility, however unlikely, that some of the silver planchets targeted for the collector version could shift toward bullion production.

"An announced maximum mintage limit of 30,000 coins has been issued for the America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Homestead Uncirculated Coin," Adam Stump, deputy director of the U.S. Mint’s Office of Corporate Communications, told CoinNews on Mar. 9. "However, based on demand, the U.S. Mint has the flexibility to mint and issue more than the minimum of 35,000 America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Homestead Silver bullion Coins so long as we do not exceed the 65,000 coin limit."

Since sales of the uncirculated coins tend to go into the next year, it seems unlikely that the U.S. Mint would make the call to produce more Homestead bullion coins unless demand for the Homestead uncirculated coin fell sharply and quickly.

Coin News Update: The U.S. Mint on April 1 sent its distributors the following memo: "Authorized Purchasers, this is to inform you that we have now sold out of 2015 America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coins — Homestead. The next release, the 2015 America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coin — Kisatchie, will go on sale on Monday, April 20th 2015."

Both editions are produced at the United States Mint in Philadelphia and from the same coining press, but only the collector option has a "P" mint mark. (See photo comparisons of the two.) The bullion version launched on Feb. 17 and the uncirculated version launched on March 5. The Homestead bullion coin is available from precious metals and coin dealers for about $110, with pricing adjusted daily based on the silver market. The collectible uncirculated coin is available directly from the United States Mint at www.usmint.gov/catalog for a fixed price of $149.95.