Silver Eagles Strong in September, Despite Struggle

Collector silver coin sales remained mixed with a touch of unexciting, according to the latest US Mint sale figures. Bullion American Silver Eagles continue to struggle compared to prior 2009 months, but are pulling exceptional numbers for a September. On this, some clarification is needed...

Despite a huge rally in silver prices these last few weeks, there's no question that US Mint authorized dealers are buying less Silver Eagles. The eagles did enjoy a very respectable 500,000 jump during the prior seven days -- the best week of the month, but total September sales are "only" at 1.1 million. With just a week left, 800,000 more would have to leave Mint inventories just to match January, which was the worst sales month for Silver Eagles this year.

HOWEVER, an analysis of historical sales shows September is a weaker month for the coins (much like August eagle sales). In point of fact, if no more were sold, this month would still rank as the second best September ever dating back to the series launch in 1986.

Bullion Silver Eagle Coin Sales: September 1986-2009*

*Sales as of Sept. 23, 2009.

 

As for Collector silver coins and sets, neither greatly improved nor weakened in performance compared to last week's US Mint report. Uncirculated Braille dollars and 2009 Silver Proof Quarters crept up slightly. The remaining silver coin/sets retreated a tad.

2009 Silver Proof Sets had the largest numbers with an increase of 13,258. The sets are less than 3,000 away from topping 500,000. Since the collector coin sale figures were put together on the 20th, they likely already have.

The following two tables have the latest US Mint stats for collector silver coins and sets and bullion silver eagles.

U.S. Mint Collector Silver Coin Sales

(Sales compare previous to current Mint figures)

	Previous Sales	New Sales	Unit Increase	% Increase	Mintage Limit
2008 American Eagle Silver Dollar Proof*	713,353	713,353	0	0.00%	none
2008 American Eagle Silver Dollar Uncirculated*	444,558	444,558	0	0.00%	none
2009 Lincoln Silver Proof*	325,000	325,000	0	0.00%	500,000
2009 Lincoln Silver Uncirculated*	125,000	125,000	0	0.00%
2009 Braille Silver Proof	120,867	121,852	985	0.81%	400,000
2009 Braille Silver Uncirculated	44,812	45,114	302	0.67%
Braille Uncirculated in Easy-Open Capsule	19,851	20,155	304	1.53%
2009 Silver Proof Set	484,018	497,276	13,258	2.74%	none
2009 Quarters Silver Proof Set	234,232	237,298	3,066	1.31%	none
2008 Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set	76,699	77,359	660	0.86%	none
2008 U.S. Mint Silver Proof Set*	774,874	774,874	0	0.0%	none

 

*Coin products with an asterisk are no longer available. Sunday, Sept. 20, is the "as of date" for the US Mint collector coin sales figures shown above.

American Silver Eagle Bullion Coin Sales in September

Aug 2	Aug 9	Aug 16	Aug 23	Aug 30
0	450,000	600,000	1,100,000	-

 

The previous reported sales figures are located at Proof and Uncirculated Silver Coin Demand Retreats. The Silver Coins Today tool page Mint Prices & Sales has been updated with the latest Mint numbers.

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