Sales of the United States Mint’s available bullion coins were mixed for July 2011. Compared to the previous month, gold bullion sales rose while silver bullion sales fell.
Available gold bullion coins included the 22 karat American Gold Eagle in one ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce, and tenth ounce sizes, and the 24 karat American Gold Buffalo in one ounce size only. Silver bullion products included the one ounce American Silver Eagle and the five ounce America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins. For the latter product, three different designs remained available featuring Olympic National Park, Vicksburg National Military Park, and Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
The breakdown of US Mint bullion sales appears below. The first number column represents the total sales for the month of July 2011. The second number column represents the total sales for the year to date through July 31, 2011.
July 2011 US Mint Bullion Coin Sales
| July 2011 | YTD 2011 | |
| American Gold Eagle 1 oz | 61,500 | 569,000 |
| American Gold Eagle 1/2 oz | 3,000 | 58,000 |
| American Gold Eagle 1/4 oz | 0 | 64,000 |
| American Gold Eagle 1/10 oz | 15,000 | 265,000 |
| American Silver Eagle 1 oz | 2,968,000 | 25,271,500 |
| America the Beautiful Silver 5 oz | 23,700 | 376,800 |
| American Gold Buffalo 1 oz | 12,000 | 91,500 |
For the month, sales of gold bullion across all options reached 76,500, with the most popular choice being the one ounce Gold Eagle. Sales showed an increase from the prior month total of 67,000 ounces, however sales were down significantly from the year ago period of July 2010 when sales reached 175,000 ounces.
Silver bullion sales reached 3,086,500 for July 2011, compared to 3,497,000 in the prior month and 2,981,000 in the year ago period. During the month, the US Mint suspended production of the popular Silver Eagle bullion coins at the San Francisco Mint. Production continues at the West Point Mint. For many years, the bullion versions of the coins had been struck exclusively at West Point, but this year the additional facility was used to increase the number of coins available for sale. The total number of coins struck at the San Francisco Mint during 2011 was 2,305,000, although production may be restarted later in the year.
The US Mint released the final design for the 2011 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins this month, but it failed to spur significant additional interest in the large sized coins. For a breakdown of year to date sales for each design released by the Mint, refer to this previous Coin Update News article.
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