US Mint Sales: 2012 Proof Set Debut and Silver Prices Spur Buying

U.S. Mint numismatic product sales improved last week with the release of the 2012 Proof Set while lower silver prices this week have spurred sales of the bureau’s silver bullion coins.

In the debuting category, starting sales were reported for the 2012 Proof Set which launched on Monday, May 14. Demand was strong with 243,494 units sold in one week. But that was a bit slower than the start of last year’s set which came in at 253,144. To see how this year’s debut compared to proof sets released since 2007, read this CoinNews.net article.

As expected, the 2012 Proof Set was the Mint’s best selling numismatic product.

U.S. Mint Top Numismatic Products of the Week

1. 2012 Proof Set (+243,494)
2. 2012 Proof Silver Eagles (+10,490 to 367,276)
3. 2012 Presidential $1 Coin Proof Set (+5,922 to 158,877)
4. 2012 Presidential $1 Coin Uncirculated Set (+4,424 to 25,420)
5. 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Uncirculated Set (+1,771 to 18,376)
6. 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set (+1,729 to 107,893)
7. 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set (+1,619 to 88,887)
8. 2012 Native American (P) $1 Coin rolls (+1,276 to 12,273)
9. 2012 Native American (D) $1 Coin rolls (+1,194 to 12,166)
10. Star-Spangled Banner Silver Dollar Proof (+1,149 to 86,279)

The 2012 Proof Set also brought more collector eyes to other U.S. Mint collector products as 55 improved over their prior weekly sales as compared to 23 in the previous sales report.

Sales Totals Reduced for Several U.S. Mint Products

It has been many weeks since the U.S. Mint reported reduced sales for any of its products. Four were reported in this week’s sales report:

• Infantry Soldier Silver Dollar Defenders of Freedom Set (-2,709 down to 43,727)
• Chester Arthur Coin Cover (-425 down to 14,007)
• 9/11-W Silver Medals (-33 down to 98,464)
• Eliza Johnson First Spouse Gold Uncirculated Coin (-3 down to 2,892)

Typically such declinations are the result of customer returns, cancellations or accounting corrections. Sizeable cuts around the level of the Defenders of Freedom Set are fairly rare.

Next week’s sales report should be a bit less robust as distance from the release of the 2012 Proof Set increases. It will offer the debuting sales figures for newly released Kennedy half dollars and the 100-coin bags of Native American dollars.

US Mint Sales: Bullion Coin Products – Silver Coins Surge

Bullion demand has remained steady over the last few days for U.S. Mint gold bullion coins while rising sharply for silver bullion coins.

Through to last Friday, it appeared that bullion Silver Eagle sales for May, which were at 510,000, could track in as the slowest month since early 2008. But demand this week has spiked as silver prices headed toward $27 an ounce. U.S. Mint distributors ordered 475,000 on Monday; 150,000 on Tuesday; and then 275,000 on Wednesday. That more than doubled this month’s sales which are now at 1,410,000.

The following table offers the latest U.S. Mint bullion coin sales figures:

*The effective date for US Mint sales of one-ounce and under bullion coins is Wednesday, May 16, 2012. These totals are for sales in calendar year 2012. The as of date for the five-ounce bullion coins is Monday, April 9, 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 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 May 14, 2012. Visit the United States Mint website at http://www.usmint.gov/ for more information on any of the above products.