Silver Eagles jump

This article was originally printed in the latest issue of Numismatic News.
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The U.S. Mint sold 20 percent more silver American Eagle bullion coins in 2010 than in 2009, but 9 percent fewer gold American Eagle coins.

The silver Eagle saw 34,662,500 of the one-ounce coins sold to the world’s bullion investors through the Mint’s Authorized Purchaser network. This is 5,896,000 more than the 28,766,500 coins sold in 2009.

For gold, if just the one-ounce coins are considered, the drop is 13 percent. The 2010 sales were 1,143,000 pieces, down 172,500 from 2009’s 1,315,500.

For the half-ounce size, sales fell from 2009’s 110,000 to 46,000 this year, down 58 percent.

The quarter-ounce size saw a decline of 48,000 coins from 2009’s 110,000 to 62,000 in 2010, or 44 percent.

Showing an increase was the tenth-ounce size. Sales of these rose by 44 percent from 270,000 to 390,000.

Overall, the U.S. Mint sold 1,805,500 gold Eagle bullion coins in the four sizes in 2009 and this declined to 1,641,000 coins in 2010.

The number of ounces of gold sold by the U.S. MInt when all four weights of coins are added together dropped 14 percent from 1,425,000 troy ounces in 2009 to 1,220,500 troy ounces in 2010.