Silver Eagle Bullion Coins Surge to Record After Sales Suspension

United States Mint sales of American Silver Eagle bullion coins capped an all-time record this week after returning from a temporary sales suspension.

January U.S. Mint sales of 2013 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins topped 7.4 million, a new all-time monthly record

Authorized U.S. Mint distributors ordered 1,413,000 to lift sales for the month to 7,420,000 bullion coins as of January 30, 2013. No other month in the Eagle’s 27-history is higher. The record notably happened even with another day left in January and more than a week lost due to suspended sales.

January tends to be a superb month for the American Silver Eagle — investors and collectors alike seek newly dated bullion coins early. As examples, January 2012 sales tallied to 6,107,000 and January 2011, the previous all-time monthly record holder, totaled to 6,422,000.

This year’s 2013-dated silver coins launched on January 7, 2013. Sales surged out of the gate with a record one-day haul of 3,937,000. Less than two weeks later the U.S. Mint’s inventory ran low at 6,107,000 coins and the bureau on January 17, 2013 stopped selling Silver Eagles to rebuild supplies.

Because of unprecedented demand and low inventories, U.S. Mint distributors can no longer order as many of the bullion coins as they would like. Until demand retreats or supplies increase to U.S. Mint desired levels, the bureau is rationing how many silver coins it sells. A similar allocation process is now in use by the Royal Canadian Mint as it too is experiencing high demand for its popular Silver Maple Leaf.

A next major milestone for the bullion American Silver Eagle is a new annual sales record. The current record happened in 2011 when annual sales reached 39,868,500 bullion coins.