Prices of America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins

January 10, 2011 by · 2 Comments 

Grand Canyon America the Beautiful Silver Bullion CoinLimited mintages and extremely limited availability has helped drive prices of the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins through the roof.

It has been barely a month since the US Mint Authorized Purchasers were allowed to place their initial orders for the three-inch, five ounce .999 fine silver coins. These first orders were taken on December 10, 2010, ending a short delay in their release which had been planned for the 6th of the month. The release was postponed by the US Mint in response to concerns over reports of excessive premiums being charged.

As a bullion product, the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins are not sold directly by the US Mint to the public. Instead, they are channeled through its network of Authorized Purchasers. This network was expected to offer the bullion pieces to other coin dealers and resellers for a small premium above the current spot price of the precious metals contained within them. Unfortunately, this process, which has worked well for the Mint for decades with its other bullion products, found pre-sale premiums in excess of $120 per America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin. Accordingly, the US Mint delayed the launch until it could review the situation and initiate new conditions for those AP’s wanting to sell them.

With nine of the eleven Authorized Purchasers for silver bullion accepting the updated terms, the entire mintage of 165,000 of the five 2010-dated coins were sold by the end of December. However, many of the AP’s are still attempting to figure out the logistics of selling directly to the public for the first time — one of the new requirements when buying the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins directly from the Mint. Many are not yet wanting to commit to a date as to when they will be available. Accordingly, relatively few of the five-ounce coins have apparently been sold.

Examples of America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin Prices

As most Authorized Purchasers appear to be in a waiting pattern — one AP (http://atb.cntofma.com/) is indicating order requests will "begin in early 2nd Quarter 2011," finding America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin buying opportunities has proven to be extremely difficult. And when they are available, buyers must be prepared — if they want them now — to pay enormous premiums. Higher, in fact, than the prices that were advertised and caused the delayed initial release back in December.

Based on the conditions put in place by the Mint and the average cost of silver at the time when the Authorized Purchaser’s ordered their inventory of the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins, the AP’s are expected to be selling each individual coin for a price in the $160-$170 range. Secondary market prices are much more.

The Home Shopping Network (http://www.hsn.com/) is currently advertising 5-coin sets of the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins in MS69 for $4,799.95 each.

The Cable Shopping Network (http://www.shopcsntv.com/) is also offering 5-coin sets. ANACS graded MS69 sets are currently listed for $3,999.99. ANACS Brilliant Uncirculated sets are shown with prices of $3,499.99.

Less expensive prices have been listed on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/). A look at auction results over the last month has provided some very interesting information. Now, obviously, some sellers were offering coins in advance of actually obtaining them, but it still does not invalidate the intent of the buyers to pay high prices to get them.

With dozens of successful auctions offered over the last 30 days, the average price paid for a single 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin is over $380. That equates to a seller profit of over $200 from the price they should have initially paid for the strike from an AP.

The lowest price found for a single strike was for a Yellowstone Silver Bullion Coin which sold for $250.

From that point, successful auctions jumped to $299 and over for any other America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin.

Looking at it from the other end, the highest price paid for a single coin was for one honoring Yosemite National Park which garnered an amazing $699. The seller threw in free shipping for the deal, which is not surprising seeing as how they probably realized a profit over $500.

As mentioned before, the average across all of the coins sold was at $380-plus. Looking at the designs individually, buyers seem more interested in the first three 2010 coins than they are the last two. The Hot Springs coin averaged $388.80, the Yellowstone was at $389.67, the Yosemite rose to $414.86 with the Grand Canyon dropping to $350.46 and finally the Mount Hood coming in at $356.79 across all the auctions reviewed.

Those looking to obtain all five of the 2010-dated strikes in a single auction were willing to pony up even more cash. While that is surprising in itself, it was also of interest to note that more of the 5-coin sets were offered than any of the single strikes. The average price paid for a complete set of the coins came in at $2,237, or $447.40 per coin in the set.

The best deal found was a set for $1,499.99 with some buyers paying up to $2,550. That top price equates to $510 per coin.

As the rest of the 2010 mintage slowly makes its way into the market over the next few months, it will be interesting to see whether the secondary market prices fall closer to the initial price, or if collectors will still be willing to pay significant premiums just to obtain them.

The 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins include the:

The nine AP’s who have purchased bullion coins from the US Mint include:

  • A-Mark Precious Metals, Los Angeles, CA – www.amark.com
  • American Precious Metals Exchange – Oklahoma City, OK – www.apmex.com
  • Coins ‘N Things, Bridgewater, MA – atb.cntofma.com
  • Dillon Gage Inc. Dallas, TX – www.dillongage.com
  • FideliTrade Inc., Wilmington, DE – www.fidelitrade.com
  • The Gold Center, Springfield, IL
  • Jack Hunt Coin Broker, Buffalo, NY – www.jackhunt.com
  • MTB, New York City, NY – www.mtbcoins.com
  • Prudential Securities Inc., New York City, NY

The US Mint will offer numismatic 2010 uncirculated versions in early 2011. The Mint has produced 27,000 of each of the five designs. The collector silver coins feature the same designs but carry the “P” mintmark denoting their production in Philadelphia. The bullion versions are also minted in Philadelphia, but lack the mintmark.


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Comments

2 Responses to “Prices of America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins”
  1. Carl L. Rupp says:
    February 10, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    The price of the proof 5 oz America The Beautiful coins is, as usual, a make the rich richer, by allowing them to gouge the buyers. The US Mint can set any amount they want on these coins, but these 9 buyers are sending these coins by the 10s of thousands to NGC and PCGS, all of which are grading MS69 and MS70 (not one has graded lower and I have proof in the form of a statement by a PGCS employee), then they are putting 100% premiums on the MS70s and 50-100% of the MS69 sets. They are then putting them on eBay, where they are selling for $1300.00 – $1500.00 a set, when the purchaser is only getting about $750.00 worth of silver. The dealers pay approximately $10.00 a coin for grading in bulk, thus they are paying a maximum of $180.00 a coin, from start to return from the grader, and profiting nearly $600.00 a set. The mint states that they did this to make an affordable way for the common investor to buy silver as an investment. As ususal, the US Mint is FOS and is simply following the lawmaker’s argument of how much we can recoup on the national debt through our US Mint program. Yes, I have sat through these hearings, as they are open to the public, and if you cant attend one, you can get a complete copy through the US Government’s Freedom of Information Act. I am going to do everything in my power, posting this information on every numistmatic blog on the internet, hopefully to send a message to our Government that not all Americans are as incompetent as they are in running our country.

  2. M G K says:
    May 8, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    2010 First year of issue ATB 3″5oz Bullion Versions ((Sold Out)) on April 20 2011 Mintage 33K Sets !

    1.MTB of NY $930 shipped

    2.Fidelitrade of DE $930 shipped

    3.The Gold Center of Ill $975 ((In person sale only))

    4.A-Mark of CA $975 shipped ((Slabbed PCGS F/S Choice BU ))

    5.Apmex of OK $860 shipped ((Second Round of sales Slabbed PCGS F/S BU or Better)) $980 Shipped C/C $1,008.75 Shipped

    6.Jack Hunt of NY $949 shipped Air Tites add $14 ((If your Check was lost you could resend it For a PCGS MS-68 Set))

    7.Dillon Gage of TX $937 + $25 wire fee ((Second round of sales included two A.S.E.TX Residents Only $1,037 Shipped
    NGC Gem Bu Sets))$1,159 Shipped

    8.Prudential of NY $862.70 + S/H ((Storage Complicated ordering processes))

    9.Coins-N-Things of MASS $930 + $170 ((For $6 Face Value in 90% Silver 12 Barber Half’s)) $1100 shipped

    10.Scotia Mocatta of NY ((No participation))

    11.Commerzbank of NY ((No participation))

    First day of sale 12/3/2010 Silver Spot $29.00 4/20/2011 Silver Spot $45.00

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