US Mint Sales: Bullion Gold Eagles Top 700K, Silver Eagles Top 20M

Demand picked up last week for American numismatic coins as compared to the prior United States Mint sales report which showed just four products registered week-over-week gains.

The latest round of numbers have all but ten U.S. Mint products surpassing prior sales, with seven of those coming from smaller Presidential $1 coin offerings.

The bigger dollar items that fell lower were three of the eight First Spouse Gold Coins — both Jane Pierce Fillmore $5 gold coins retreated, as did the proof Margaret Taylor. Prices for all coins in the series were adjusted lower by $25 late Wednesday afternoon, which should help lift their numbers this week.

There is no clear answer as to why weekly sales improved. The bottom may have been reached in the seasonal summer doldrums. What seems more likely is the introduction of the 2010 US Mint Uncirculated Coin Set. Coin collectors likely piled on a few more products to their shopping carts as they ordered what is traditionally the second most popular annual set. The 2010 Mint Set was released on Thursday, July 15, with 200,764 orders placed. (For more and a look at the last several years of sales for the sets, read 2010 US Mint Sets Open to Sales Topping 200,000.

If 2010 Mint Sets raised interest in other collectible products, the same would seem likely this week as what will be this year’s most popular annual set, the 14-coin 2010 US Proof, launching today at noon Eastern Time for $31.95.

Following the new set, America the Beautiful Quarters™ Sets were the biggest unit gainers of the week. The silver quarters set advanced 5,098 versus the prior weekly gain of 3,801, and the clad quarters set added 4,408 compared to 3,795.

In bullion coins, one-half ounce and one-forth ounce 2010 Fractional American Gold Eagles were added to the July sales board for the first time, with respective additions of 1,000 and 2,000. The one-tenth ounce advanced their July tally to 30,000 — up 10K — to 310,000 for the year.

One-ounce Gold Eagles rallied 33,000 since last Thursday’s report to 85,000 for the month. It now seems more likely that they will pass June’s monthly level of 97,000. The coins topped the 700,000 milestone for year to date sales.

In terms of ounces of Gold Eagles the Mint has sold in 2010, the number stands at 762,000, which is 53.5 percent of the total hit in 2009.

Bullion American Silver Eagles surged 459,000 since last Thursday, but that was lower than the prior weekly increase of over 600,000. More impressively, the eagles have passed 20 million for the year. Less than 8.7 million more are needed to break the annual all-time record set in 2009.

The following sales tables provide a breakout of the most recent U.S. Mint coin sales figures.

US Mint Collector Coin Sales

(Data compare previous to current Mint sales reports)

*NLA – No Longer Available.

The collector coin sales figures above have an "as of date" of July 18, 2010.