Allocations of gold and silver American Eagle bullion coins ended June 15 as the U.S. Mint notified its network of authorized purchasers that its system of rationing was no longer needed.
Supplies on hand and production capacity are now sufficient to take care of the ongoing program.
“Demand has begun to decline,” noted Mint spokesman Tom Jurkowsky.
The Mint’s allocation system was made necessary when demand outstripped available supply of silver American Eagles April 21, 2008, and gold American Eagles Aug. 25, 2008.
The Mint does not produce its own gold and silver blanks and its suppliers could not keep up.
Allocations were placed into two pools based on whether authorized purchasers had bought any of the coins in the prior three years for the first and what percentage of overall sales they accounted for for the second. These allocations were done on Monday of each week.
In response to the shortage of American Eagles, the percentage premiums over bullion value that were paid for American Eagles soared and waiting times for delivery lengthened.
Currently, waits have basically been eliminated and the premiums have returned to pre-shortage levels.
