2014 American Eagle Silver Coins, Ordering Limits on Release

Ending a month-long drought, bullion sales of American Eagle silver coins begin Monday, January 13, 2014. United States Mint authorized distributors have not been able to get bullion Silver Eagles since the 2013-dated strikes sold out with the last batch gone on December 13. The US Mint stopped making last year’s coins even earlier than that so it could strike and build stockpiles of new 2014 American Eagle silver coins.

Pent-up demand for the bullion coins is expected to be very high. As such, the US Mint set expectations by sending a memo to its distributors noting that about 3.5 million will be available for an initial allocation. That number may seem sufficient to many, but will likely fall short of satisfying the appetite of investors and collectors.

Editor’s Update: The United States Mint confirmed on January 13, 2014 that opening day sales reached 3,180,500 coins and the first weekly allocation was limited to 3,575,000 coins.

When 2013 Silver Eagles debuted last year on January 7, 2013, a staggering 3,937,000 were ordered. Eleven days later, the US Mint had to temporarily suspend sales of the silver coins as the number jumped to 6,007,000, depleting inventories. Sales resumed on the 28th of January under a rationing or allocation program. The January total still hit 7.42 million, notching an all-time monthly record.

The rationing system remained in place for the rest of 2013 but did not prevent demand from catapulting the year to the top of the charts. By the time availability ended last month, 2013 American Eagle silver coins had scored sales of 42,675,000 for a new annual record.

According to the US Mint and as expected, its allocation system will continue in 2014. It also said that quantities in the following week will be "much lower" than the 3.5 million available on Monday.

Bullion American Eagle silver coins are produced at one of two US Mint facilities — either the West Point Mint or the San Francisco Mint. San Francisco joined West Point in Silver Eagle production in 2011 to help address demand. The collaboration between the two plants has continued ever since. Production is not the bottleneck, getting enough silver blanks to make the Silver Eagles is the problem.

No mintmark appears on the bullion coins, making it impossible to look at them and tell the Mint facility of origin. However, a unique "banding" of the production location is found on every Green Monster Box that holds 500 of the silver coins.

For authorized distributors, orders they place on Monday, January 13, 2014, will be available for pickup at the West Point Mint on Thursday, January 16, 2014. These orders will include Silver Eagles from both West Point and San Francisco.

Bullion and coin dealers are already accepting 2014 Silver Eagle presale orders from consumers.

American Eagle silver coins debuted in 1986 and are struck from one ounce of 99.9% pure silver. Adolph A. Weinman’s "Walking Liberty" is shown on the obverse of each coin with John Mercanti’s eagle and shield design on the reverse.