US Mint Sales: Numismatic Gold Coins Mostly Slower

Sales of the US Mint’s gold numismatic products continue at a muted pace, following the rapid series of suspensions and price increases that have occurred over the past few months.

Since mid-July, the prices for most of the US Mint’s numismatic gold coins have had their prices increased proportionally by $350 per ounce. The gold commemorative coins saw an even larger increase on a proportional basis as prices were boosted from $454.95 to $558.60 for the coins containing 0.2418 troy ounces of gold. Early in the succession of price increases, buyers often seemed to order heavily ahead of increases. Now, after so many increases and the US Mint’s recent practice of suspending sales days before the price increases, the pace of orders has fallen.

In the most recent period, sales of the 2011 Proof Gold Eagles slowed for the more expensive one ounce, half ounce, and 4 coin set options. The 2011-W Uncirculated Gold Eagle added just 32 coins, and the 2011 Proof Gold Buffalo added 191. Commemorative gold coins saw some interest for the proof version of the Medal of Honor design, which sold 212. The Lucy Hayes First Spouse Gold Coin, which was only available for a single day during the last reporting period added 636 units across proof and uncirculated versions.

The 2010-P Mount Hood National Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin saw sales reach 1,194. This is an increase from the prior week, following the US Mint’s removal of the household ordering limit.

The full US Mint numismatic product sales report appears below. The figures are compiled through September 12, 2011. 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. Products with sales followed by an asterisk (*) are no longer available from the United States Mint. Currently available US Mint products can be found online at http://catalog.usmint.gov/