Silver News

American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins Surpass 100 Million Ounces in Sales

The U.S. Mint’s American Eagle Silver bullion coinage program has topped 100 million ounces in sales, according to Mint statistics.

Since the program began in 1986 more than 100,705,500 American Eagle Silver one-ounce coins have been sold through year end 2001. Last year’s sales were the fourth best in the program’s history.

Based on US$4.35 per ounce — the average annual ‘London Fix’ price of silver over the program’s 17 years — sales of American Eagle Silver coins have grossed $517,332,230 since the program began. Sales hit $38,399,625 in 2001 alone. Silver for the Eagle has come from the U.S. Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC), an arm of the Defense Logistics Agency. In early 2001, the DNSC delivered its remaining stockpile of silver to the U.S. Mint for its coinage programs, effectively depleting the silver stockpile. The Mint will be purchasing silver for this program from the open market in the near future. The U.S. Mint is a significant user of silver, representing about 1 percent of global silver demand annually.

American Eagles are the only bullion coins whose weight, content and purity are guaranteed by the U.S. government. Investors can buy them with assurance that the coins contain the stated amount of precious metal. In addition, long-term savers can include American Eagles in their Individual Retirement Accounts. They can be bought at most major coin and precious metals dealers, as well as brokerage houses, participating banks or directly from the Mint. For more information: www.usmint.gov.

Other popular silver bullion coins include Canada’s Maple Leaf, Australia’s Silver Kookaburra, Britain’s Silver Britannia, China’s Silver Panda and Mexico’s Silver Libertad.

Silver News - Second Quarter 2002