Sales of Infantry Soldier Dollar Products Spike as ATB Silver Coins Fall

There were no new collector products added to the latest United States Mint sales report, which might have played a role in the reduced (overall) buying activity. Sales of the commemorative Infantry Soldier Silver Dollar products spiked, but most of the other Mint offerings waned. Plus, recent temporary suspensions led six silver coins into the negative.

For the third week in a row, Infantry Soldier Silver Dollars topped the first three spots on the sales chart. Shockingly, 36,685 in total sold compared to 24,554 in the previous report. Most of them were the individual proof Infantry dollars, at 19,338, and another 9,356 were the Defenders of Freedom Sets. The uncirculated silver dollars trailed closely with 7,991. The commemoratives launched on February 16.

Although the US Mint released the gold and silver Star-Spangled Banner Commemorative Coins on Monday, March 5, the Mint did not announce their opening sales numbers. Those are expected out next week. There are five items in the Star-Spangled Banner coin program, and some of them will likely take over the top spots in next week’s report.

The temporary suspension of the 2011 Uncirculated Silver Eagles and the five America the Beautiful 5 Oz Silver Uncirculated Coins hurt their total sales numbers. Each one of them lost as orders were either cancelled or returned during the blackout. Sales of these items stopped on February 23 when their melt values crept to close to the US Mint’s prices. The US Mint resumed the coins’ availability on Tuesday, March 6, when the price of silver steadied in the precious metals market.

With each new month, buying activity picks up in the bullion coin market, and March was no different. The biggest movers and shakers were the Silver Eagles. They started March with 695,000 by Wednesday. The one ounce Gold Eagles were next, as their total climbed to 16,000 during the first week. The Gold Buffalo coins rounded out the top three with a figure of 12,000.

All available sales on US Mint numismatic coin products are below. The first three columns of the table provide weekly United States Mint sales increases between the listed time periods, offering a sense of recent trends. The final column provides the latest United States Mint sales totals as of Monday, March 5, 2012.

Bullion coin tables are found toward the bottom, with the most recent sales as of Thursday, March 8, except for the five ounce bullion coins. According to the US Mint, their numbers were last updated on February 27, 2012. (NLA = No Longer Available.) Check out the US coins section of the site for more information on the products.

Table of Sales for US Mint Numismatic Coin Products

*Includes 2011-dated coins.