US Mint Sales: Vicksburg 5 Oz Silver Coin Debuts, Gold Eagles Robust

Newly released sales figures show elevated interest in United States Mint products following the entrance of the 2011-P Vicksburg National Military Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin and the 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set. (Jump to the latest Mint sales figures.)

And despite higher prices, American Gold Eagles rallied. Each of the collector coins garnered improved weekly sales, perhaps generated by bullish sentiment toward gold and expectations of rising coin prices. Proof Gold Eagles rose 1,562 across all product options as compared to the previous weekly increase of 991. The uncirculated Gold Eagle climbed 173 against 77 and has since sold out around a level (last reported at 8,810) which would mark the lowest of any American Gold Eagle in history — be it proof, bullion or uncirculated.

Debuting sales for the 2011-P Vicksburg National Military Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin came in at 7,861 from its launch on January 12 through to January 17. Vicksburg’s opening sales total is the lowest in the series to date with the eight previous coins starting quicker.

Factors contributing to slower sales could be the holiday break and competition with another debuting, more popular and less expensive product, the 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set. Its debut sales were 61,181 between January 10 and January 17. The ATB set did seem to attract a few more buyers for other products featuring America the Beautiful Quarters. Three appeared in the Mint’s best-selling list, including the new silver proof set which ranked #1.

U.S. Mint Top Ten Numismatic Products of the Week

1. 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set (+61,181)
2. 2011-P Vicksburg 5 oz Silver Uncirculated Coin (+7,861)
3. 2011-W Uncirculated Silver Eagle (+4,775 to 238,240)
4. 2011 Proof Set (+3,513 to 1,056,425)
5. 2011 Mint Set (+1,346 to 512,420)
6. 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set (+940 to 140,612)
7. 2011 Presidential $1 Proof Set (+907 to 281,594)
8. 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set (+891 to 136,086)
9. 2011 Proof American Eagle Gold 4-Coin Set (+684 to 17,279)
10. 2011-P Olympic National Park 5 Oz. Silver Coin (+678 to 11,938)

For numismatic products, 48 improved over their prior weekly sales as compared to the modest 10 out-performers noted previously.

US Mint Sales: Bullion Coins

Demand for bullion Gold Eagles remains high. Sales of the one ounce size have reached 67,500, a monthly amount that has not been seen since September. Rising the most in the last seven days has been the half ounce size with a pick-up of 29,000, bringing its January total to 46,000. The monthly level is the best since December 2009. Combining all Gold Eagles, US Mint authorized purchasers in January have ordered 106,000 ounces which equates to a unit total of 220,500. The ounce total is the highest since August and the unit total the most since June 2010.

Bullion Silver Eagles were pushed over the 5 million monthly mark on Tuesday for only the second time in the series 26-year history. The last occurrence was one year ago when sales reached the monthly record of 6.422 million.

The latest US Mint sales figures for bullion coins are available in the following tables:

*The as of date for US Mint sales of 1-ounce and under bullion coins is Wednesday, January 18, 2012. These totals are for this year alone. The as of date for the 5-ounce bullion coins is Tuesday, January 17, 2012. These totals are for all the coins sold by design, and include sales from 2011.

The following are the latest tallies for US Mint numismatic products:

US Mint Sales: Numismatic Products

*NLA – No Longer Available.

The collector coin sales figures above have an "as of date" of January 17, 2012. Visit the United States Mint website at http://www.usmint.gov/ for more information on any of the above products.