By CoinWeek News Staff ….
The United States Mint did something a little different this week, allocating 1,036,000 ounces of the 2016 American Silver Eagle bullion coin for purchase by authorized dealers.
As confirmed by Mint spokesperson Michael White late last month, the Mint had been allocating an even one million ounces (coins) per week for most of the 2016 issue’s production run.
So far this year, 15,964,000 Silver Eagle bullion coins have been sold to authorized distributors. Said distributors bought 5,954,500 ounces (coins) in January (a partial month, since the 2016 coin debuted on January 11). A drop in sales followed in February, with 4,782,000 silver eagles bought that month. March saw the purchase of 4,106,000 ounces.
1,121,500 Silver Eagle bullion coins have been sold to-date in the month of April.
Compared to 2015, when 3,519,000 ounces were sold, March sales for 2016 were up almost 17%. On March 9 of this year, CoinWeek speculated that, based on trends at the beginning of the month, total March 2016 sales could possibly see a drop of almost 3% from 2015 levels. Nevertheless, such a drop was no barrier to another record-breaking year for the Mint’s flagship bullion coin program, and indeed, the jump in sales during the third month of the 2016 issue’s availability is a quite promising sign.
U.S. Mint officials, of course, are dealing with extremely high demand for the Silver Eagle bullion coin this year since 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the program’s launch by president Ronald Reagan in 1986. If the Mint adheres to a steady allocation of one million ounces per week as they attempt to balance supply with demand, then sales would still be on track beat 2015’s record 47 million ounces (coins).
44,006,000 ounces of the .999 fine silver bullion coin were sold in 2014, which was also a record-breaking year. 2013 saw 42,675,000 ounces (coins) sold; it, too, surpassed the previous year’s sales.
Silver eagle bullion coins are distributed to the consumer through a network of authorized dealers. This network consists of sellers (coin dealers, precious metals traders, financial companies, et al.) approved by the U.S. Mint to distribute bullion product.
