Even though August is typically one of the slower months for bullion sales, the United States Mint recorded the highest monthly sales totals for American Gold Eagles and American Silver Eagles since January. The higher sales were achieved as the market price of gold reached a fresh all time high of $1,917 before selling off sharply and rebounding.
During the month of August 2011, the Mint recorded sales of 112,000 troy ounces of American Gold Eagles, across the available one ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce, and tenth ounce options. This compares sales of 64,500 ounces in the prior month, and 41,500 in the year ago period.
Meanwhile, monthly sales for the one ounce American Silver Eagles reached 3,679,500. This compares to sales of 2,968,000 in the prior month and 2,451,000 in the year ago period. For the year to date, Silver Eagle bullion coin sales have now reached 28,951,000. This is quickly approaching last year’s record annual sales total of 34,662,500.
August 2011 US Mint Bullion Coin Sales
| August 2011 | YTD 2011 | |
| American Gold Eagle 1 oz | 103,500 | 672,500 |
| American Gold Eagle 1/2 oz | 3,000 | 61,000 |
| American Gold Eagle 1/4 oz | 6,000 | 70,000 |
| American Gold Eagle 1/10 oz | 55,000 | 320,000 |
| American Silver Eagle 1 oz | 3,679,500 | 28,951,000 |
| America the Beautiful Silver 5 oz | 4,100 | 380,900 |
| American Gold Buffalo 1 oz | 28,000 | 119,500 |
Sales of the one ounce 24 karat Gold Buffalo bullion coins were also higher during August, with sales of 28,000. This is the second highest monthly total for this year, behind the 38,000 coins sold in March, when the coins were first made available for sale.
The one slow spot in the United States Mint’s bullion product line up was the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins. Sales were a mere 4,100 for the month, which accounted for less than one percent of overall silver bullion sales. See a breakdown of sales for the five ounce silver coins by design.
The disparity may be explained by the fact that the US Mint filled its Subscription orders this month. In addition, all the 2010 5 oz ATB have sold out, with the exception of the Mount Hood which was recently released. The 5 oz ATB do not have a Subscription system, so this large factor contributed positively to the other silver sizes in terms of sales increases, but not to the 5 oz.
The US Mint’s bullion coins are distributed through a group of authorizing purchasers, who place bulk orders based on the market price of the metals plus a fixed or percentage mark up.
It sounds like you are referring to some of the US Mint’s numismatic products, which are sold directly to consumers through their retail channels or subscriptions. We have a separate weekly report on numismatic product sales that can be found here: http://news.coinupdate.com/category/us-mint-sales-reports/
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