Today the Perth Mint announced that it will resume taking orders for gold and silver bullion coins on January 12, 2009. Sales of bullion products have been suspended since November 22, making this a very lengthy suspension for a major world Mint.
Notably, sales will be resumed for a “streamlined range” of gold and silver products. By limiting the number of products which will be offered, they expect to increase production volumes. Products which will be unavailable include fractional and non standard size bullion coins.
This is similar to measures taken by the United States Mint. For the past several months they have been focusing primarily on producing and selling (on an allocated basis) one ounce Gold Eagles and one ounce Silver Eagles. Recently, they announced the delay of all 2009 dated bullion products, except one ounce Gold and Silver Eagles.
Fractional gold coins have been favored by survivalists and investors with smaller budgets. Historically, the US Mint has offered gold in 1/2 ounce, 1/4 ounce, and 1/10 ounce sizes. As world mints hunker down to deal with ever escalating demand, these products might become a thing of the past.
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