US Mint Sales: Silver Eagles Break Monthly Record, Proofs Settle

The latest numismatic US Mint sales figures are a tad on the humdrum side after throwing out the newly released 2011 Proof Set and seeing the settling numbers of recently sold out Proof American Eagles.

US Mint Bullion coin sales, however, are a different story. Bullion American Silver Eagles have reached a new monthly record at 4.588 million, rising 1,181,000 within the last week. Dipping precious metals prices has been one factor spurring demand. And silver falling by more than $1 Thursday morning could excite sales further, lifting the new monthly record much higher during the remaining days in January. The previous monthly record of 4.26 million was only recently set in November.

Bullion American Gold Eagles are at 75,500 ounces in January. 30,500 more of the 1-ounce coins dropped out of the US Mint inventory during the previous seven days. Buyers need to scoop up another 9,500 ounces to match the level from last January.

Turning to numismatic or collector coin sales, recently sold out proof American Gold Eagles have settled at even numbers, indicating future sales adjustments could be over. The 1/2-ounce is at 10,000, showing no increase or decrease for a second straight week. The four-coin set retreated 1,187 to 35,000. What may hurt the all done with adjustments hypothesis is the fact that still for sale 1/4-ounce and 1/10-ounce Gold Eagles also shifted to even levels of 10,000 and 20,000, respectively.

The proof American Silver Eagle has remained unchanged for a second consecutive week, sitting at 860,000.

In a quick recap, debuting sales figures for the 2011 Proof Set came in at 253,144. While high, that represents a significantly slower start when compared to the opening performances of past sets. It has been more than a decade since the US Mint released one of its core annual products so early in the year, which means the 2011 Proof Set should be available for quite some time. If history is any judge, the final Proof Set sales figures will easily surpass the one million marker. The 2010 Proof Set, which is still available, was actually the second best numismatic product for the US Mint in this report. It rose 5,378 to 1,045,818.

The following tables show the latest coin sales figures as reported by the US Mint:

US Mint Collector Coin Sales

*NLA – No Longer Available.

The collector coin sales figures above have an "as of date" of January 16, 2011.