Will investors and collectors be able to purchase American Palladium Eagle coins? That question moves one step closer to getting answered next week.
Congress authorized Palladium Eagles with the passage of the American Eagle Palladium Bullion Coin Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-303). However, before the U.S. Mint can produce the .9995 pure palladium coins, it had to undertake a market study to determine their feasibility.
The purpose of the study according to the authorizing legislation was to insure "adequate demand for palladium bullion coins produced by the United States Mint to ensure that such coins could be minted and issued at no net cost to taxpayers."
Congress, by law, must also see the results of the study. To that end, the U.S. Mint contracted with CPM Group to complete it. U.S. Mint officials received the results of the research last year. Since then, those results have undergone review and analysis. A final report is apparently now complete:
"The study is due to be delivered to Congress next week," stated U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White.
That report will go to the Senate Banking Committee and House Committee on Financial Services.
Assuming the study indicates sufficient demand and producing Palladium Eagles results in no net cost to taxpayers, bullion versions would appear within a year. A maximum 12-month period from delivery of the report to Congress to the release of the coins was another stipulation of the authorizing legislation.
If American Palladium Eagle coins become reality, the obverse of each will showcase Adolph A. Weinman’s “Winged Liberty” design. It originally appeared on the circulating 1916-1945 Mercury dime. Reverses would depict Weinman’s 1907 American Institute of Architects medal design.
The authorizing legislation only requires American Palladium Eagle bullion coins. However, the Secretary of the Treasury also has the authority to produce collector Palladium Eagles.
Of note, if the U.S. Mint strikes American Palladium Eagle proof or uncirculated coins for collectors, the authorizing legislation requests that the surface treatment of each year’s issues differ in some material way from that of the preceding year.
