By Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….
In its fifth week of production, the United States Mint allocated another one million American Silver Eagles for distribution to Mint-authorized dealers, according to an announcement by Mint officials on Monday, February 8. Year-to-date allocations now total 8,045,500 one-ounce coins.
Allocated ounces for the month of January totaled six million. The 2016 Silver Eagle was released on January 11, with an initial allotment of four million ounces. One million ounces were allotted for the week of January 19, and another one million were allocated the following week, on January 25.
February 1 saw the allocation of 1,045,500 ounces of the silver coin.
High demand for the 2016 Silver Eagle is anticipated because this year is the program’s 30th anniversary and a special issue is being minted. A new law authorizes the Treasury to strike 30th anniversary Silver Eagle coins with commemorative edge lettering.
So far, retail sales for the 2016 American Silver Eagle look to be on track for yet another record-setting year. 5,954,500 ounces were sold in January (according to U.S. Mint sales figures), and 1,768,000 have been sold in the first week of February. Compare these numbers to 5,530,000 sold in January of 2015 and 3,022,000 sold in the entire month of February last year. 47 million ounces (coins) were sold over the course of 2015, while 44,006,000 were sold in 2014 and 42,675,000 were sold in 2013.
Weekly allocations are distributed via the Mint’s network of authorized dealers. This network consists of a group of sellers (including coin dealers, precious metals traders, financial companies and various other sellers) approved by the U.S. Mint to distribute bullion product.
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