No teeth pulling here

While I did sit in the dentist chair at 7 o'clock this morning, it was only for a routine cleaning. I have been sprung and am back safely in my office chair.

There are always those nervous moments when I wonder if another crown will have to be replaced or a new cavity will be found.

Are gold investors getting a little nervous about sagging sales pace of the gold one-ounce American Eagle coins?

Sales stand at just 17,500 coins in March so far. True, we have half the month yet to go, but if the sales pace continues at this level and sales double by March 31, we will still stand far below the February sales total of 67,500 and the January total of 89,000.

Is something going on, or did all the big money decide to go on spring break with the college kids?

Silver Eagles, on the other hand, see sales move ahead as fast as the Mint can crank out the coins. At this rate a new sales record of over 50 million will be set by the end of the calendar year. We will all be thinking about 60 million next.

The old adage says don't count your chickens before they hatch. There are still nine and a half months to go in 2016. Something might happen to slow down silver Eagle sales. Would I want to bet on that possibility? Naaah.

Silver American Eagles have proven time and again to be following an almost invincible up trend in sales.

Where Americans are stashing all of these silver Eagles, I can't say, but I hope they rest in places with good security. I also hope their owners have kept one or two pieces simply to look at.

These silver Eagle coins sure are pretty. That's the collector in me talking.

Perhaps a few dyed-in-the-wool investors would be won over to collecting if they could simply spend a minute gazing at the beautiful Walking Liberty.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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