2010 Silver Eagle Coins Mark June Record, Adding Doubts for Proofs

Numbers for the United States Mint’s bullion 2010 American Silver Eagles declined slightly from May but still tallied to their best ever June, raising further concerns that 2010 proof and uncirculated versions will get canceled.

Recently released figures from the U.S. Mint show a total of 3,001,000 One Ounce Silver Eagles sold in June 2010. This compares to a May 2010 total of 3,636,500, or a decline of 635,500.

Normally, a more than half million downward push would raise eyebrows. However, a more detailed look at the history of the Silver Eagles show that in the past, a majority of the months did not even come close to 635,500 in sales. A drop of that number is really only indicative of how well the bullion silver coins are selling this year –they were able to withstand such a decline and still rack up over 3 million in a single month.

In fact, June monthly sales ranked six all-time when looking at all of the months since the eagles were introduced in 1986. It came in behind December 1986, May 2010, January 2010, March 2010 and March 2009 — in that order.

As indicated by the top six list, 2010 is doing extremely well. With only half of the year completed, it already stands as the third best year ever for the Silver Eagles with a total of 18,168,500 sold. It is easily within striking distance of the number two spot currently held by the year 2008 with 19,583,500, or only 1,415,000 more.

Last year’s record sales of 28,766,500 is still over 10 million away, but six more months are left in the year to attain that goal. If numbers hold relatively stable, it should be easy to surpass with only an average of 1,766,333 per remaining month needed.

One thing these enormous numbers might indicate, however, is the likelihood that this year’s collector proof and uncirculated Silver Eagles will be cancelled by the U.S. Mint, just as it had done last year. With such elevated demand in place for the bullion coins, the Mint may be hard pressed again this year to find a supply of silver blanks to be used for the collector strikes. (Read recent SilverCoinsToday.com article 2010 Proof Silver Eagle Production Uncertain for the latest information from the Mint about this problem.)

American Eagle bullion coins were authorized by Congress in 1985 to "provide investors with a convenient and cost effective way to add a small amount of physical platinum, gold, or silver to their investment portfolios."

The Mint does not offer bullion American Eagles directly to the public but instead to a small group of authorized purchasers who in turn resell the coins to investors, dealers and collectors.