On January 3, 2011, the United States Mint will begin accepting orders for 2011-dated American Gold and Silver Eagles from authorized purchasers. The start of sales for the popular bullion coins will take place earlier than the prior year, when a delay in production had pushed the initial ordering date to January 19.
The United States Mint's group of authorized purchasers will be able to buy the bullion coins from the US Mint based on the market price of the precious metals plus a mark up. For the one ounce Gold Eagle, the mark up is 3%, and the minimum ordering requirement is 1,000 ounces. For the Silver Eagle, the mark up is $2.00 per coin, and the minimum ordering requirement is 25,000 ounces.
After purchasing in bulk quantities, these primary distributors resell the coins to other bullion dealers, coin dealers, and/or the public. The United States Mint utilizes the authorized purchaser network in order to ensure that bullion coins are distributed effectively and efficiently to the public.
The US Mint does have quantities of 2010-dated Gold and Silver Eagles still available. These coins will remain on sale until the inventory has been depleted. If any inventory remains on January 3, 2011, the 2010-dated coins will be sold on a ratio basis to authorized purchasers ordering 2011-dated coins.
The 2011 Silver Eagle features Adolph A. Weinman's Walking Liberty design used for the half dollar minted from 1916 to 1947, along with a heraldic eagle designed by John Mercanti on the reverse. Each coin contains one troy ounce of 99.9% pure silver and carries a nominal face value of $1.
The 2011 Gold Eagle features Augustus Saint-Gaudens' design from the double eagle minted from 1907 to 1933, with a family of eagles designed by Miley Busiek on the reverse. The coins are struck in 22 karat gold and contain their stated bullion weight in gold. Four different weights are available including one ounce, one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, and one-tenth ounce sizes. The legal tender denominations are $50, $25, $10, and $5, respectively. Initially, only one ounce 2011-dated Gold Eagles will be available, with fractional weight coins to follow at a later date.
Related posts:
Since Gold/siver has increased greatly in spot price since 1996 why are the legal denominations still $1 for silver and $50,$25,$10,$5 for gold ?
Those are the denominations specified by law:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode31/usc_sec_31_00005112—-000-.html
to change would require an act of Congress.
So many different prices. The Goverment’s price is ? $28/oz ? ,Congress price is as stated/denomination, then you have spot price.I guess the early Eagles (pre 1933) were closer to spot price , is congress due for a change for each denomination ? Is it inflation that has givening a huge difference between Spot price and legal tender ? In my readings China is on the path of currency backed by metal prices. Thanks