This report was revised on November 23 at 10:30 a.m. to incorporate overnight revisions to the Mint’s report, and to correct any existing errors. Revised or added text is in red. LBMA bullion prices were left as they were as of the time of the original blog post.
During the week ending November 20, 2016, the U.S. Mint’s authorized purchasers (APs) bought 826,000 American Eagle silver bullion coins, well down from 1,525,000 pieces bought during the previous period. Sales of ASEs for the month of November total 2,721,000 coins.
This year, one-ounce Silver Eagles have sold 37,121,500 pieces. We are 89% of the way through 2016, and sales for these issues are at 79% of last year’s total of 47 million ounces. To reach that total, Silver Eagle sales for 2016 would need to average nearly 1.65 million each week for the remaining 6 weeks of the year.
Authorized Purchasers ordered 6,000 Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument) 5-ounce silver bullion coins last week, adding to their inaugural week’s figure of 24,800. Theodore Roosevelt National Park silver bullion coins likewise ticked upward by another 6,000 units, bringing their total to 41,200; while Harpers Ferry National Historical Park coins added another 1,200 units, for a total of 38,000. Combined sales for 2016’s five 5-ounce bullion coins have reached 290,000 units, for a total of 1,450,000 ounces of silver. 2016 has the second-largest annual mintage ever for 5-ounce America the Beautiful bullion coins (2011 ranks first, with the extremely high total mintage of 465,100).
Total figures for all silver bullion (ASE and ATB) sold by the Mint—
- last week: 892,000 ounces.
- in 2016: 38,571,500 ounces.
The value of an ounce of silver is down just a hair from this time last week, having dropped by $0.24 an ounce to $16.76. Silver’s average last week, Monday through Friday, was $16.94 per ounce, down from the previous week’s average of $18.53. (Charts of the six-week averages for all precious metals are located at the bottom of the page.)
American Eagle gold bullion coin sales have reached a total of 904,500 ounces across 1-ounce, 1/2-ounce, 1/4-ounce, and 1/10-ounce options. Last week saw 30,500 ounces of bullion Gold Eagles sold, down from 37,500 ounces sold the previous week; in addition, the number of 1/10-ounce Gold Eagles sold in September was adjusted upward by 5,000 coins, adding an additional 500 ounces to the year-to-date total.
American Buffalo 1-ounce gold bullion coin sales have reached 198,000 pieces; 5,000 units were sold during this period, compared to 10,000 the previous week. In 2015, the Mint sold 801,500 ounces of Gold Eagles and 220,500 ounces of Gold Buffalo bullion coins, for a total of 1,022,000 ounces. The Mint has now exceeded the 2015 total by 80,500 ounces.
Total amount of all gold bullion (AGE and AGB) sold by the Mint—
- last week: 35,500 ounces.
- in 2016: 1,102,500 ounces.
Gold’s value is down $14.70 an ounce from this time last week. Gold is now appraised at $1,212.25, according to the London Bullion Market Association. Gold’s average last week, Monday through Friday, was $1,221.50, down from the previous week’s average of $1,270.15.
The sales total for the 2016 American Eagle one-ounce platinum bullion coins is 20,000 units. Platinum is down $7.00 compared to this time last week, when it was priced at $936.00 per ounce; platinum is now appraised at $929.00 per ounce. Platinum’s average last week, Monday through Friday, was $932.80, compared to the previous week’s $994.00.
Bullion issues are sold by the U.S. Mint to a network of authorized buyers, who then make the coins available to the public. This year marks the 30th anniversary of American Eagle bullion coins, which were introduced in 1986. ❑
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Qui Transtulit Sustinet says
November 23, 2016 at 1:08 amEvery Silver bullion five ounce ATB still offered by the Mint to authorized purchasers (or better yet, all current year issues) deserves to have their individual YTD figures listed, not just an inadequate statement that orders “ticked upward by another xxxx units” since the last report.
Coin Update says
November 23, 2016 at 8:52 amThat would be easy enough to implement, @Qui Transtulit Sustinet. I’ll see what I can do with next week’s report. In the meantime, here are the specific figures for all five ATB 5-oz. coins. (Note that, during the night, the Mint added an additional 1,200 units to its report, bringing the total sold this year to 290,000. The additional sales were added to Harpers Ferry, which was previously listed at 36,800.)
Shawnee — 105,000
Cumberland Gap — 75,000
Harpers Ferry — 38,000
T. Roosevelt — 41,200
Ft. Moultrie/Sumter — 30,800
Qui Transtulit Sustinet says
November 23, 2016 at 3:56 pmThanks for the quick response and much improved running tabulation on silver bullion five ounce ATB’s.