The U.S. Mint’s authorized purchasers (AP’s) bought 445,000 of last week’s 3,649,500-ounce allocation of 2016 American Eagle silver bullion coins, leaving 3,204,500 unsold. This is the most unsold Silver Eagles we’ve seen so far this year, enough that the Mint sent out a press release today stating it will no longer limit sales of the issues in weekly allocations.
Sales did increase, however, as AP’s bought 78% more Silver Eagles during this period than the 250,000 ounces reported last week.
One-ounce Silver Eagles have sold 26,945,500 pieces so far this year. The Mint remains on pace to have its biggest sales year ever for silver bullion, and has exceeded 57.3% of last year’s record-breaking total of 47 million ounces of Silver Eagles sold. We are currently 54.8% of the way through 2016.
Despite remaining relatively strong, gold has decreased in value by $23.55 per ounce since this time last week. Gold is now appraised at $1,334.70 according to the London Bullion Market Association. The value of an ounce of silver has also decreased by 75 cents to $19.72.
2016 American Eagle Gold bullion coins have sold a total of 522,500 ounces across 1-ounce, 1/2-ounce, 1/4-ounce, and 1/10-ounce options. Last week saw 12,000 ounces of bullion Gold Eagles sold, up from 9,500 the previous week. 2016 American Buffalo 1-ounce gold bullion coins have sold 118,500 pieces; the Mint sold 3,000 of the issues during this period. In 2015, the Mint sold 801,500 ounces of Gold Eagles and 220,500 Gold Buffalo bullion coins.
The Mint did not sell any Harpers Ferry 5 oz. silver bullion coins to its authorized purchasers last week, and the total for that issue remains at 34,200 coins sold. Combined sales for the 2016’s three 5 oz. bullion coins have hit 214,200 units for a total of 1,071,000 ounces of silver. Combined production of 2016’s issues has officially surpassed the total for all of 2015, which wrapped up at 212,000 units. 2016 now has the second-largest annual mintage ever for 5 oz. America the Beautiful bullion coins behind 2011, which had the extremely high total of 465,100.
The Mint sells its bullion issues 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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