Mint Stats: 2012 gold Buffalo sales begin

How many different ways can you slice and dice statistics? With computers, the answer probably approaches infinity. However, on printed pages, keeping two facts straight is often difficult.

Case in point is the Buffalo one-ounce gold bullion coin. No 2012-dated coins were sold by the Mint until March 5. The running total column until last week indicated the sales of 2011 coins sold in 2012. The monthly column is labeled as 2012 to indicate these coins are being sold this year. However, it is just as easy to think that these were 2012-dated coins. The result is confusion.

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So this week, now that 2012 coins are being sold, the running total reverts to just an ongoing sales number of coins sold in 2012. The number of 2012-dated coins sold so far is 5,500, but the number of coins sold this year is 27,500, of which 22,000 are 2011-dated coins.

Bullion Eagle sales continue on the weak side for both gold and silver offerings.

The Defenders of Freedom set sales rose by 9,356, leaving just 17,238 for procrastinating buyers.