Sales of the United States Mint’s American Silver Eagle have just moved into record territory. The most recent available sales figures show a total of 28,885,500 of the one ounce coins sold for the year to date. This edges out the annual record sales achieved in the previous year when 28,766,500 coins were sold.
With nearly two months left in the year, the final total for 2010 seems likely to beat out the old record by a comfortable margin. During the first ten months, average monthly sales have been 2,863,050, suggesting full year sales of around 34 million.
2010 American Silver Eagle Sales (through 11/5/2010)
| January | 3,592,500 |
| February | 2,050,000 |
| March | 3,381,000 |
| April | 2,507,500 |
| May | 3,636,500 |
| June | 3,001,000 |
| July | 2,981,000 |
| August | 2,451,000 |
| September | 1,880,000 |
| October | 3,150,000 |
| November | 255,000 |
| December | – |
| Total | 28,885,500 |
On an historical basis, sales levels for the American Silver Eagle have been immense during the past three years. This has frequently resulted in the US Mint suspending or rationing the available supply of coins. It has also resulted in the cancellation of certain collector versions of the coin.
As an interesting point of reference, the lowest annual sales total for the bullion offering was 3,466,000, achieved in 1996. This year monthly sales exceeded this amount on two separate occasions.
It is not surprising to see such a surge in the purchasing of bullion. There is a growing concern over the Fed’s willingness to continue pumping new money into the economy. While people’s fears of total economic collapse of the dollar may or may not be valid, they are certainly going to continue to drive the demand for silver bullion in the foreseeable future.
Carl