The numismatic landscape for US Mint 2009-dated coins has remained on the sleepy side of sales since mid-December. The attention-grabbing action surrounds the new 2010 products.

2010-dated Gold and Silver Eagles made waves in January. The eagles swaggered last month toting prolific numbers. But then sales appeared to dive into nothingness as not a single sale was added to Mint registers for nearly a week.

The silence was shattered on Wednesday afternoon. Silver Eagles jumped up 500,000. Gold Eagles picked up 14,500. The additions are hardly spectacular, but they are decent … and far from ugly zeros. Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Mint has closed out the month of January, publishing strong sales figures for its precious metals bullion coins.

American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin demand hit a record pace. Interest in American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins was elevated, reaching the top ten in all-time January sales. The numbers are more than interesting considering several factors, including New York gold prices falling 1.1 percent in January and silver prices plunging 3.9 percent.

Silver Eagle sales tallied up to an amazing 3,592,500, making it the best January ever for the one ounce silver coins. In comparison, only two months in the history of the program have ever seen numbers topping the 3 million mark. The most recent was March of last year with 3,132,000. The all-time leading month is December 1986 at 3,696,000 — the first full month in which the coins were available under the new American Eagle Bullion program. Read the rest of this entry »

The amount of money coin collectors have been spending on numismatic coins has fallen since the middle of December, as a holding pattern is apparent by those who have already made their 2009-dated purchases and are awaiting the US Mint’s new offerings. The latest weekly sales report from the United States Mint is the least impressive in a very long time.

Only three collector products showed improvements over the prior week:

• Two First Spouse Gold Coins — the Anna Harrison proof gained 20 versus 17 and the Letitia Tyler proof advanced 21 compared to 16
• The 2009 DC & US Territories Quarters Proof Set rose 8,968. Last week the US Mint had cut their previous total down by 6,809.

In a bigger picture of faltering demand for gold products, only 240 First Spouse Gold Coins were purchased compared to the prior weekly grab of 733. The proof American Buffalo tally advanced another 421, but that is down greatly from the modest 749 increase reported last week. Tumbling bullion prices have not been beneficial to sales, but the US Mint did cut gold coin prices on Wednesday which should increase their appeal in the market. Read the rest of this entry »

US Mint American Silver Eagle sales have already scored their best ever January. Who would have thought? After all, there is still a full week left in the month. On top of that, the bullion coins are rationed, they were unavailable for seven days, and U.S. silver futures tumbled 8.1 percent last week (6.7 percent in London).

Yet, January 2010 is now in the history books. It is the best starting month of a year for the series that dates back to 1986. Despite all the aforementioned obstacles, authorized buyers scooped up 3,090,500 Silver Eagles from the United States Mint as of Friday, Jan. 22.

January is a traditionally strong month for these always popular coins, with over one million in sales registered in all but two years since 1999. Making this year’s three million plus start all the more impressive is the fact that even reaching the two million mark would have been historical. That happened only once before in Jan. 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

In what has become almost a weekly routine of late, the United States Mint again reported unimpressive sales according to their latest figures. A few bright spots did emerge, however.

The most impressive gains come not from a numismatic item, but from the US Mint’s bullion coins. Recall that the bullion 2009 American Silver Eagles sold out on January 12th, with 2010-dated coins not appearing for sale until this last Tuesday. The situation left authorized purchasers with no silver bullion options for almost a full week.

They made up for this lack of availability and then some. In less than two days, Mint records show an astounding 2,480,000 were purchased. Put another way, in less than 48 hours the Mint sold over 8.6% of the total number of Silver Eagles it had sold in all of 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

US Mint numismatic coin sales dipped, marking the third general weekly decline in four weeks. The excitement level of the 2009-dated coins is waning as eyes begin to turn toward upcoming series, like the America the Beautiful Quarters products, 2010 Lincoln cent and 2010 silver dollars — especially the Boy Scout commemoratives.

Sales were not completely sour. Last week’s rising gold and silver prices were beneficial to most US Mint precious metal products. Momentum picked up for American Eagle Gold and Silver bullion coins, the proof American Buffalo Gold piece, and several First Spouse Gold Coins. Highlights from the most recent United States Mint sales report follow:

• Final sales figures for the UHR $20 Double Eagle Gold coin are now known. During their availability from Jan. 22 to Dec. 31, collectors purchased 115,178 of the 24-karat, .9999 fine gold coins.

• 2009 American Silver Eagle Bullion coins sold out earlier this week. In total, 29,134,000 left US Mint inventories, earning the 2009s first place in annual and overall sales across every other eagle dating back to the series launch in 1986. Companion 2009 Gold Eagle Bullion coins jumped 14,000 during the last seven days, bringing their January sales to 20,000. The Mint will not offer them much longer. Tuesday is the scheduled release for the one-ounce 2010-dated eagles — both gold and silver.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sales of collector coins from the United States Mint appear to have stopped their three week slide, but not by much. According to their latest report, no new drastic drops are apparent. Unfortunately, also equally missing from that data are significant gains.

While not huge in numbers, the First Spouse Gold Coins saw almost across the board improvement, not that this was hard to do after the previous week’s disappointing sales.

Leading the pack was the Margaret Taylor First Spouse Proofs with a 110 unit increase. The only spouse to show a set back was the Letitia Tyler Uncirculated Coin, declining 11 from the week prior to 9 new sold. You may recall that each of these coins are struck from 1/2 ounce, 24-karat gold. That sets their price points of $729 for the proofs and $716 for the uncirculated coins, which is steep for most casual collectors.

2009-dated American Silver Eagle bullion coins are showing consistent demand with 131,000 sold so far in the month of January. Gold Bullion Eagles came in at 6,000. As a reminder, the 2010-dated versions will not be offered by the US Mint until January 19.

A few other striking items from the weekly sales report: Read the rest of this entry »

2,773,500 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins were sold during the final weeks in 2009, according to the latest United States Mint sales data. Last month ranked as the second best December ever for the silver coin series that was introduced in 1986. It was the fourth best month in 2009 — a year that saw a record-breaking 28,766,500 eagles fly out of US Mint inventories.

Annual American Silver Eagle Bullion Coin Sales: 1986-2009

December and yearly numbers would have been more spectacular had the coins not been suspended and rationed throughout 2009 due to unprecedented demand. The coins came off their most recent suspension on Dec. 7, 2009 after sales were silent for nearly two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

If the United States Mint was hoping for strong Christmas week sales from Santa, unfortunately, they were disappointed. For the third straight week figures show significant drops in volume almost across the board for collector coins.

Only a few meager entries managed a positive change, but the overall results are not too rosy. Of course, this time of year one would expect a lack of interest in the hobby with thoughts turning to travel and family and friends. Even those individuals who thought ahead to give coins as gifts had to plan that out weeks ago and place their orders to insure delivery before Christmas.

The only true beacon of light on the US Mint’s sales for the week were American Eagle bullion coins. The 1 oz Gold Eagle versions, which were just made available from the Mint again on December 15th after having been suspended due to demand, are up to 1,303,500 for the year. That was a jump of 47,500 for one week. And this is with an allocation program in place on strikes, meaning the Mint’s authorized purchasers are limited in the amounts they can order.

1 oz Silver Eagles are being rationed as well, but that did not stop their numbers from rising to 28,680,500 for the year, an increase of 281,500 in just the one week.

A few other interesting items from the weekly sales report: Read the rest of this entry »

2009 Fractional American Gold Eagle bullion coins are in the history books with leading sales figures, despite their late launch and quick sell out.

Having only been released on Dec. 3, 2009, the coins in the fractional sizes of one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, and one-tenth ounce weights recorded smashing release day sales — 345,000 were sold for a total of 58,000 ounces of gold.

On the very next day, the United States Mint announced that the supply of the smallest size was depleted, and that the other two sizes were nearly exhausted. It offered the remaining bullion coins in an allocated process, and then suspended sales until the final 2009 inventory was produced from available in house blank supplies.

The Mint started reselling these on Monday, Dec. 14. In just over a week, the mintages of the 1/2 oz and the 1/4 oz weights nearly doubled. All the fractional coins completely sold out. The final sales figures follow: Read the rest of this entry »