US Mint Sales: Proof Gold Eagles Selling Quickly

As the end of the year approaches, the greatest area of strength in the US Mint's numismatic product line up is the 2010 Proof American Gold Eagle. While sales of the Proof Silver Eagle ratcheted downward in recent weeks, the gold coins have showed continued strong interest from collectors. Another area of focus for this week's numismatic product sales report are the recently released America the Beautiful Quarters sets.

The 2010 Proof Gold Eagles went on sale October 7. In less than a month, the individual one ounce option has sold out of the maximum 25,000 product limit. To date, the individual one-half ounce coin has sold 10,131, representing 67.54% of the 15,000 limit. The one-quarter ounce coin has sold 7,930, or 49.56% of the 16,000 limit. And the one-tenth ounce coin has sold 17,871, or 66.19% of the 27,000 limit. The 4 Coin Set is the product option closest to selling out, with sales of 31,846, or 81.66% of the 39,000 limit. If the current pace of sales is sustained, this option may only last another month.

Meanwhile, the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle added only 38,066 in the latest week, bringing total sales to date to 834,879. These one ounce coins are offered without a stated product limit, although the sales level has already exceeded last year's total mintage.

In mid-November, the US Mint released three new product types for the America the Beautiful Quarters program. Each of these products contained coins already available through other products that were packaged and branded differently. So far, the uncirculated coin set has sold 17,350, the circulating coin set has sold 11,384, and the three coin set featuring Hot Springs National Park has sold 13,589.

As opposed to the separately packaged proof sets released earlier in the year, these latest items are shaping up to be fringe products with relatively low sales levels. It will be interesting to see if the US Mint continues to offer these products in the coming years despite the subdued collector interest.

The full US Mint numismatic product sales report appears below. Figures are compiled as of December 19, 2010. The first number column represents total sales through the reporting date, and the second number column represents the change in sales since the last report. Figures which are followed by an asterisk (*) are no longer available for sale from the United States Mint. Available US Mint products can be found online at http://catalog.usmint.gov/

• Sales Conclude This Week for US Mint 2010 Annual Sets
• US Mint Begins, Suspends Sales of 2011-P Gettysburg 5 oz Silver Uncirculated Coins
• US Mint Begins Sales of 2011 Proof Silver Eagles