US Mint Beats American Eagle Sales Record with 40.2 Million Ounces

Bloomberg reported that the US Mint has now sold nearly 40.2 million ounces worth of American Eagle silver coins this year, more than the previous all-time high of 39.9 million ounces. That amount was achieved in 2011.

As quoted in the market news:

Authorized purchasers bought the full weekly allocation of 500,000 coins, boosting the total this year above the previous all-time high of almost 39.9 million ounces in 2011, the mint said yesterday in an e-mail. In January, sales reached an all-time monthly high of 7.498 million ounces.

Silver futures have gained 14 percent to $20.778 an ounce from $18.17 on June 28, when the metal touched the lowest since Aug. 24, 2010. The mint plans to issue its last weekly allocation of 2013 coins on Dec. 9. Sales of bars, jewelry and coins surged from Australia to China andIndia as silver and gold futures slumped into bear markets in April.

‘The retail demand has remained very strong especially for silver,’ Scott Carter, the chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Lear Capital, a precious-metal dealer, said in a telephone interview. ‘The lower prices and uncertainty because of the government shutdown made silver very attractive’ for coin buyers, he said.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.