Silver Eagle Premiums
The rising price of silver is not the only thing driving up the cost of American Silver Eagles. The United States Mint announced this month an increase in the premium per coin charged to the primary distributors of the one ounce .999 fine bullion coins.
Silver Eagles will now carry a premium of $2.00 per coin above the price of silver. The previous premium charged was $1.50 per coin.
A network of authorized purchasers is authorized to purchase the Silver Eagles and other bullion coins directly from the United States Mint in bulk quantities. The authorized purchasers then resell the coins to other dealers and the broader public as well as facilitate a two way market for the coins. This is the way that American Eagle bullion coins have been distributed since the inception of the program in 1986.
The increase in premium was justified by the programs requirement to operate at no net cost to the taxpayer. The increased premium will go towards the cost of minting, marketing, and distributing the coins.
Ultimately, the price increase will be passed along to the public and result in higher prices for Silver Eagles.
2010 Proof Silver Eagle Coins
Following months of uncertainty and the cancellation of last year’s version, the US Mint has announced the availability of the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle! The coins will be available for sale starting on November 19, 2010 at 12:00 Noon ET, with fulfillment of orders beginning on December 1, 2010.
The US Mint has been struggling with the consequences of an increased demand for precious metals bullion coins for a number of years. By law, they are required to produce American Eagle gold and silver bullion coins in quantities sufficient to meet public demand. There is no requirement to issue collector versions of the coins. In times when bullion demand has outweighed silver planchet supplies, the US Mint has sourced all incoming planchets to bullion coins. This led to the cancellation of the 2009 Proof Silver Eagle.
Signs of hope for this year’s offering appeared last month, when the long running rationing program was ended. This implied that the US Mint was meeting full demand for bullion coins. Further the general decline in Silver Eagle bullion coin demand must have freed up some planchet supplies.
The 2010 Proof Silver Eagle will be priced at $45.95 per coin. The US Mint will impose a household ordering limit of 100 coins. A maximum mintage has not been established, but presumably would be determined based on collector demand and the potential impact of bullion demand.
Rationing Ends for 2010 Silver Eagle Bullion Coins
After nine months, the United States Mint has finally ended the allocation program, which served to ration the limited supply of 2010 Silver Eagles amongst authorized purchasers.
The allocation program had first been used by the United States Mint in early 2008. It seemed to be imposed as a temporary solution to periodic sales suspensions which had been implemented when supplies ran short. Instead, the program was used throughout the course of the following two and a half years.
All authorized purchasers were allowed a certain base number of one ounce silver coins per week. Additional quantities above this level were allocated based on past sales performance.
The recently concluded allocation program was put into place following a one week sales suspension in late November 2009. The allocation program continued as the 2010 dated Silver Eagle bullion coins first went on sale January 19, 2010. Thus, for the entire period of offering until now, the 2010 Silver Eagles have been subject to rationing.
Whether the end of rationing will result in 2010 Proof Silver Eagles being issued later this year is not yet known.