For a second week in a row, the United States Mint increased its weekly allocation of American Eagle silver bullion coins. The agency has limited sales of the coins since their return after temporarily selling out in July.
This week’s allocation climbed 7.5% to 1,075,000 coins. Last week’s amount jumped 33.3% to 1 million coins from the prior week’s supply of 750,000 coins. The next weekly allocation will be announced by Oct. 13.
Silver Eagle inventories tend to get claimed quickly. For four straight weeks, authorized distributors for the U.S. Mint ordered all available coins within two days.
Sales of the 1-ounce, .999 fine silver coins at 36,753,500 are on track for an annual record. Last year when sales ended at a record totaling 44,006,000, the coins through Oct. 5, 2014 posted sales of 33,901,000. That’s 7.8% less than the amount claimed this year through the 5th.
The U.S. Mint does not sell American Eagle silver bullion coins directly to the public but through a network of authorized purchasers who buy them in bulk at melt value, plus a premium of $2 per coin. Authorized purchasers consist of major coin and precious metals dealers, brokerage companies, and other participating financial intermediaries.
Pretty good.