US Mint Sales: Chaco Culture Quarters Debut, Arthur $1 Coins Start Hot

After several slumbering weeks, United States Mint sales were awakened with the release of Chaco Culture quarters and Chester Arthur $1 coins. The debuting products substantially lifted unit sales for the bureau, despite the Easter holiday break.

New products claimed five of six top numismatic selling spots for the U.S. Mint, but it was Chester Arthur dollars stealing the show with rolls holding positions one and two. Sales flew by past Presidential $1 coin performances from the last year.

Sales Debut for Chester Arthur $1 Coins

Released Thursday, April 5, buyers ordered a total of 60,824 rolls of Chester Arthur dollars with 31,533 of those filled with Philadelphia minted $1 coins and 29,291 containing Denver struck $1 coins. The opening pace raced past last year’s debuting Presidential coin rolls as sales starts for those were:

• 37,180 for 2011 James Garfield $1 coins,
• 38,981 for 2011 Rutherford B. Hayes $1 coins,
• 40,199 for 2011 Ulysses S. Grant $1 rolls, and
• 45,734 for 2011 Andrew Johnson $1 rolls

250-coin boxes and 500-coin boxes of Arthur $1’s were also released Thursday, but the latest U.S. Mint sales report failed to include their starting figures.

Editor’s Update: Updated sales figures were released by the U.S. Mint Wednesday morning that provide debuting numbers for Arthur $1 boxes. These include sales of:

• 1,254 for the $250-box (P),
• 1,216 for the $250-box (D),
• 721 for the $500-box (P), and
• 736 for the $500-box (D)

Chaco Culture Quarters Sales Debut

Rolls and bags of Chaco Culture quarters were launched Monday, April 2. Featuring a reverse design honoring Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, debut sales of 100-coin bags totaled 4,620 with 2,322 from Philadelphia and 2,288 from Denver.

Containing a roll of 40 Chaco Culture quarters from Philadelphia Mint and another roll of 40 Chaco Culture quarters from Denver, the two-roll sets opened with sales of 16,338. These levels were a bit higher than the immediate previous release of 2012 El Yunque quarter products but down from other prior releases. For comparisons, click here to jump to the bottom of this article for summaries.

Each of the Chaco Culture quarter products appear on the U.S. Mint’s numismatic best seller list.

U.S. Mint Top Numismatic Products of the Week

1. Chester Arthur Presidential (P) $1 Coin Rolls (+31,533)
2. Chester Arthur Presidential (D) $1 Coin Rolls (+29,291)
3. 2012 Chaco Culture Two-Roll Set (+16,338)
4. Star-Spangled Banner Silver Dollar Proof (+4,834 to 79,623)
5. 2012 Chaco Culture Quarters 100-coin bag (P) (+2,332)
6. 2012 Chaco Culture Quarters 100-coin bag (D) (+2,288)
7. Star-Spangled Banner Silver Dollar Uncirculated (+1,853 to 30,668)
8. 2011-W Uncirculated Silver Eagle (+1,483 to 282,173)
9. 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set (+1,473 to 79,297)
10. 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set (+1,440 to 98,241)

For the first time since February 16, a commemorative coin product has fallen from the #1 spot on the Mint’s best selling list. Overall, 54 products improved over prior weekly sales as compared to the 43 out-performers noted previously.

Next week’s sales report will reflect even higher unit sales with Monday’s release of the Chester Arthur $1 Coin Cover and, more significantly, Thursday’s scheduled release of the 2012-W Proof American Silver Eagle.

US Mint Sales: Bullion Coins

U.S. Mint bullion coins have been extremely sluggish over the past seven days. The following table offers the latest bullion product sales figures:

*The as of date for US Mint sales of 1-ounce and under bullion coins is Tuesday, April 10, 2012. These totals are for this year alone. The as of date for the 5-ounce bullion coins is Monday, April 9, 2012. These totals are for all the coins sold by design, and include sales from 2011. (Check this site’s gold coin sales and silver coin sales pages for always updated figures for popular U.S. Mint products.)

The following are the latest tallies for US Mint numismatic clad, gold and silver products:

US Mint Sales: Numismatic Products

*NLA – No Longer Available.

The collector coin sales figures above have an "as of date" of April 9, 2012. Visit the CoinNews.net page US Coins or the United States Mint website at http://www.usmint.gov/ for more information on any of the above products.

The following table provides a break out of debut sales performances of past America the Beautiful Quarters.

*The Mount Hood opening United States Mint sales figures are suspect given erroneous order cancellations that occurred at the time.