US Mint Sales: Gettysburg 5 Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin Debuts

The first 2011 America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin debuted quite a bit slower than previous issues, but one reason might have more to do with price and intrinsic value than with being the sixth coin of the series.

The collector Gettysburg coin launched Thursday, September 22. Excited fans of the super-sized .999 fine silver coins captured 9,549 of them in the first five days. As a comparison, the Mount Hood opening figure was 14,759 in four days, but recent events could be dampening current sales.

First off, the price of silver in the precious metals market has been tumbling. The day before the Gettysburg coin’s arrival, the London Fix listed the white metal at $40.25 an ounce, then $37.85 on Thursday, then $32.90 by Friday and down to $28.16 on Monday. Since the coin is composed of five full ounces of the metal, its melt value fell from $201.25 to $140.80. That results in a big premium, because the United States Mint was selling the uncirculated coin for $279.95 prior to its suspension.

Other factors that may be curbing Gettysburg sales a tiny bit is that the US Mint already sold 126,700 of the investor version, without the uncirculated finish and "P" mint mark, to bullion dealers earlier in the year. Then of course, there is the natural tendency for some collectors to only go after the first few strikes in a series and not mess with later ones. This series, after all, is expected to have 56 new designs in all.

In other US Mint sales, the 2011-W American Silver Eagle Uncirculated Coin moved up another 9,033 to hit 194,000, and the 2011 Proof Silver Eagle added 5,950. The biggest mover and shaker, however, was the bullion American Silver Eagle. It catapulted by over two million in one week, which is the result of its declining price and still apparent high demand. The total for September clocked in at 3,325,500 and the year-to-date sales rolled up to 32,276,500.

The following are the latest US Mint product sales figures:

US Mint Sales: Collector Silver Coins

	Previous Sales	New Sales	Unit Increase	% Increase	Mintage Limit
2011 American Silver Eagle Uncirculated	184,967	194,000	9,033	4.88%	none
9/11 Medals – W	99,127	99,941	814	0.82%	161,342 of 2,000,000
9/11 Medals – P	60,897	61,401	504	0.83%
2011-P Gettysburg 5 Ounce Uncirculated Coin		9,549	9,549
2010-P Mount Hood 5 Ounce Uncirculated Coin	21,872	22,452	580	2.65%	22,452 of 27,000
2010-P Grand Canyon 5 Ounce Uncirculated Coin	27,753	27,564	(189)	-0.68%	27,564 of 27,000
2010-P Yosemite 5 Ounce Uncirculated Coin	27,000	27,000	–	0.00%	27,000 of 27,000
2010-P Yellowstone 5 Ounce Uncirculated Coin	27,000	27,000	–	0.00%	27,000 of 27,000
2010-P Hot Springs 5 Ounce Uncirculated Coin	27,000	27,000	–	0.00%	27,000 of 27,000
2011 Medal of Honor Dollar Proof	98,068	98,394	326	0.33%	137,776 of 500,000
2011 Medal of Honor Dollar Uncirculated	39,288	39,382	94	0.24%
2011 US Army Dollar Proof	109,486	109,764	278	0.25%	151,203 of 500,000
2011 US Army Dollar Uncirculated	41,364	41,439	75	0.18%
2011 US Mint Silver Proof Set	458,286	461,584	3,298	0.72%	none
2010 US Mint Silver Proof Set	573,269	573,269	–	0.00%	none
2011 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set™	114,681	115,667	986	0.86%	none
2010 America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set™	266,427	266,900	473	0.18%	none
2011 Proof Silver Eagle	746,731	752,681	5,950	0.80%	none
2010 Proof Silver Eagle	860,000	860,000	0	0%	none

 

Monday, September 26, is the "as of date" for all the US Mint collector coin sales figures shown above.

 

2011 America the Beautiful Bullion Coins Sales

September	1,900
Year-to-Date Total	382,800

 

Monday, September 26, is the "as of date" for the America the Beautiful bullion coin sales.

US Mint Sales: 2011 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins

January*	6,422,000
February	3,240,000
March	2,767,000
April	2,819,000
May	3,653,500
June	3,402,000
July	2,968,000
August	3,679,500
September	3,325,500
Total	32,276,500

 

Monday, September 26, is the "as of date" for the bullion American Silver Eagle. *The sales figures include 469,500 of the 2010-dated Silver Eagles sold this year.

For more information on the products above, visit this site’s silver coins information section.