US Mint Postpones Silver Coin Release, May Cut Silver Product Prices

Today, June 26, 2013, the United States Mint officially confirmed that it would postpone the release of its latest America the Beautiful silver coin due to a drop in the price of silver.

The U.S. Mint may also, it hinted, trim prices on several silver products that it is already selling.

Anyone visiting the product page for the 2013-P Great Basin National Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin can see that its once stated release date of June 27, 2013 has changed to a short sentence saying: "On sale date to be determined." That happened earlier this week as silver prices plunged, extending deep losses from the last week and the month overall.

Since then, London silver tumbled $1.82 to end at $19.87 an ounce. And from that level, it sank another $1.20 to its current fixing of $18.67 an ounce. That is the lowest price for silver since August 25, 2010, or nearly three years ago.

Collectors have been looking for a response from the U.S. Mint, expecting or at least hoping for some price breaks on silver coins. It may be coming. Today, the Mint said it in a statement:

"Due to the recent decrease in the price of silver, the United States Mint is considering lowering prices on several silver coin products," the Mint noted. "As a result, we have postponed the launch of the 2013 America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin for Great Basin National Park that was scheduled to go on sale June 27. The new prices will go into effect after being published in the Federal Register and after a new on-sale date has been determined."

That is the process the United States Mint has used in the past for re-pricing silver coins, silver sets and other silver products — it decides on new prices, publishes them on the Federal Register and then opens sales. Typically though, those events are preceded with the Mint suspending sales of at least some silver products in response to sharply changed silver prices. Right now, there are no silver coins or other silver products on the Mint’s website that are suspended for re-pricing.

In related news and as a result of tumbling gold and platinum prices, the U.S. Mint today did reduce prices on all of its collector gold coins and its platinum coin. On Wednesdays, the Mint calculates the weekly average of London gold and platinum fixings and compares that to its pricing grid for coins containing the precious metals. The grid called for a $100 price cut per ounce of gold content in a coin and $50 reduction per ounce of platinum in a coin. Many collectors have commented that the U.S. Mint should use a similar pricing methodology for its silver coins and related silver products.