Through June 30, 2010, the United States Mint has sold 18,168,500 ounces of silver bullion and 833,500 ounces of gold bullion. If the current pace is maintained for the rest of the year, US Mint silver bullion sales will break another record and gold will be within the top four annual sales totals.
The United States Mint currently offers the one ounce American Silver Eagle. This has been the US Mint’s only silver bullion coin option since its debut in 1986. Annual sales totals have ranged from a low of 3,466,000 ounces sold in 1996 to a high of 28,766,500 ounces sold in 2009.
This year’s mid-year total sales of 18,168,500 suggests that a new record high for annual sales will be extremely likely. Monthly sales figures have been relatively steady with four months above the 3 million level. It should be noted that this is not necessarily indicative of steady demand, as sales of the coins are currently subject to an allocation program, which rations the available supply amongst the US Mint’s authorized purchasers.
Later this year, the US Mint will be releasing a new series of America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins. These coins will contain 5 ounces of silver and feature designs which are duplicates of the current quarter program. It’s still uncertain just how many of these new silver bullion coins the US Mint will produce and whether this will have a meaningful impact on overall silver bullion sales.
On the gold bullion side, the US Mint current offers the American Gold Eagle and the American Gold Buffalo. The first is a 22 karat gold coin available in one ounce, one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, and one-tenth ounce sizes. The latter is a 24 karat gold coin available in one ounce size only.
The mid-year gold bullion sales total of 833,500 ounces is made up of the following:
- 618,500 American Gold Eagle 1 oz
- 31,000 American Gold Eagle 1/2 oz
- 44,000 American Gold Eagle 1/4 oz.
- 280,000 American Gold Eagle 1/10 oz.
- 160,500 American Gold Buffalo 1 oz.
According to the latest information I have read, the one ounce bullion coins are not subject to allocation, however the fractional weight gold bullion coins are subject to allocation. These coins available to authorized purchasers starting on June 10, 2010.
The highest annual US Mint gold bullion sales was achieved in 1999 when 2,055,500 ounces were sold. This is followed by 1998 at 1,839,500 ounces, 1986 at 1,787,750 ounces, and 2009 with 1,625,500 ounces. The lowest annual gold bullion sales total occurred in 2002 when only 164,500 ounces of gold were sold for the entire year. The US Mint actually sold more gold bullion than this last month when 185,000 ounces were sold.
Commodity Online
“We’re not going into a double dip. We’re going into a depression. I’m convinced of that,” claims renowned Market Forecaster Ian Gordon. Using his sharpest tools, Gordon has determined that the biggest market crash in our lifetime is coming sooner than most expect. But he is using a three-pronged strategy to limit the damage and even make money in the dark times ahead. You will learn why Gordon believes gold, and gold equities in particular, will perform when nothing else does in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report.
The Gold Report: Today we are talking with Ian Gordon, president of Longwave Analytics. Your market analysis model, known as the Longwave Principle, is a modified version of the Kondratieff cycle. Could you give us an overview of how it works?
Ian Gordon: I think that I’ve actually embellished it quite a lot. I’ve done far more than I think Kondratieff ever envisioned. For instance, breaking the cycle into four seasons—I don’t think that’s original. But I think those season breaks are very appropriate.
Spring is the birth or rebirth of the economy. Summer is the time when the economy reaches fruition. Autumn is a period where everyone feels very good because it’s always the season where you have the biggest bull market in stocks, bonds and real estate. Winter is the period when debt is washed out of the system so that it can start refreshed again in the spring. The cycle lasts a lifetime of about 60 or 70 years. I call it a lifetime cycle, because we live only one cycle in a meaningful way. For that reason, it is also very difficult for anyone to recognize where we are in the cycle because we haven’t lived in that period before.
TGR: And that model says we are in the winter of that cycle.
IG: Yes, we’re in winter. The indication of the season change from autumn to winter is the bull stock market peak. We say that peak was effectively reached in 2000, not 2007, because NASDAQ obtained the real speculative peak in the market in March 2000. When that peak is reached, as it was in September 1929, it signals the onset of winter and the deflation/ depression stage of the cycle. That whole winter period is really where debt is expunged from the economy and that process is extremely difficult for creditors and debtors alike.