US Mint 2009 Annual Report: Silver Coins Revenue

Silver coins, while certainly not the main focus of the United States Mint 2009 Annual Report, did figure prominently in many of the sales results shown within its pages.

Almost without a doubt, the insatiable appetite for precious metals displayed by investors last year created the biggest impact on US Mint operations. With demand for the American Eagle Silver Bullion coins at record levels for the 2009 calendar year, other product lines were adversely affected.

According to the Mint’s sales report, an amazing 28,766,500 one ounce silver Eagles were sold last year, smashing the previous annual record created just the year before by over 9 million coins.

Owing to that fact, the Mint was forced to make adjustments to other silver products, namely the proof and uncirculated Silver Eagles that it normally strikes. Seeing no other option, the Mint in October cancelled these collector coins, diverting the silver blank planchets that would have been used for them into bullion production. The Mint is required by law to strike bullion coins to meet demand.

With the bullion Silver Eagles a top priority, sales revenue from them rose 21.4% to $372 million — up from $306.4 million in 2008. However, the Mint produces these with an extremely low profit margin of under 2% — the program was created as a low-cost investment option. Consequently, the record sales did little to affect the Mint’s bottom line, adding only $6.1 million as net income.

When it comes to the commemorative silver coins, the Mint did not fare too well either. Even with the blazing hot sales of the Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollars, the Mint recorded revenue at $21.6 million for FY 2009, compared with $37.3 million in the prior year. The Lincoln coins accounted for $16.5 million of that total and raised $4.5 million in surcharges for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The Louis Braille Silver Dollar Program added $6.8 million in revenue, and $1.9 million in surcharges for the National Federation of the Blind.

[Commemorative coins programs are managed on a calendar year basis. FY 2009 figures include results from the American Bald Eagle Recovery and National Emblem Commemorative Coin Program, initiated in calendar year 2008. Truncating program results to fiscal years can result in negative net income even though no single commemorative coin program generated a loss.]

The Mint’s annual report also highlighted several other items relating to silver coins — both past and future.

For the latter, the Mint was required to make some capital improvements in the way of a new coining press and edge-lettering tooling for the Philadelphia facility to prepare for the upcoming American the Beautiful Quarters and coins. Along with the quarters, the Mint is required to strike five-ounce silver bullion versions (America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins) in the same design as the quarters, necessitating the need for the new equipment.

Finally, the Annual Report highlighted the Mint’s receipt of two silver related 2009 Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards at the World’s Money Fair in Berlin, Germany in February 2009. The entries are from a two-year production period and resulted in the Mint’s obtaining a "Most Historically Significant Coin" award for the 2007 Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commemorative Silver Dollar. The Mint received the "Best Contemporary Event Coin" award for its 2007 Little Rock Central High School Desegregation 50th Anniversary Silver Dollar.