Sales were slow for US Mint silver and gold bullion coins in November compared to earlier months in 2011. Levels retreated for all but one offering, the smallest coin.
American Silver Eagles, with sales 1.384 million coins, ended with their lowest sales level since July 2008 while American Gold Eagles plunged in November with sales of 41,000 ounces, their lowest since June 2008. The contrast between how the bullion coins performed against the previous month of October was extreme. Silver Eagle sales in November plunged 54.8% from October while Gold Eagles dropped 18% over the same time.
Silver Eagle bullion coins stopped a little shy of 38 million by ending the eleven month period at 37.8595 million. Earlier in the year it looked like the silver coins would overtake 40 million in annual sales, but now it is not so sure.
Eleven-month sales for the 22-karat Gold Eagle bullion coins reached 934,500 ounces. The level is not bad, but it is still very far behind 2010's annual sales of 1.22205 million ounces.
A detailed look on how both series of coins performed in November versus past months in 2011 follows:
| Month | One ( oz. / # ) |
Half ( oz. / # ) |
Quarter ( oz. / # ) |
Tenth ( oz. / # ) |
Total ( oz. / # ) |
| January | 130,500 130,500 |
500 1,000 |
500 2,000 |
2,000 20,000 |
133,500 153,500 |
| February | 72,500 72,500 |
6,000 12,000 |
4,000 16,000 |
10,000 100,000 |
92,500 200,500 |
| March | 60,500 60,500 |
4,000 8,000 |
5,000 20,000 |
4,000 40,000 |
73,500 128,500 |
| April | 94,500 94,500 |
6,000 12,000 |
3,500 14,000 |
4,000 40,000 |
108,000 160,500 |
| May | 93,500 93,500 |
11,000 22,000 |
1,000 4,000 |
1,500 15,000 |
107,000 134,500 |
| June | 56,000 56,000 |
0 0 |
2,000 8,000 |
3,500 35,000 |
61,500 99,000 |
| July | 61,500 61,500 |
1,500 3,000 |
0 0 |
1,500 15,000 |
64,500 79,500 |
| August | 103,500 103,500 |
1,500 3,000 |
1,500 6,000 |
5,500 55,000 |
112,000 167,500 |
| September | 87,500 87,500 |
500 1,000 |
500 2,000 |
2,500 25,000 |
91,000 115,500 |
| October | 46,000 46,000 |
1,500 3,000 |
1,500 6,000 |
1,000 10,000 |
50,000 65,000 |
| November 2011 | 38,500 38,500 |
0 0 |
1,000 4,000 |
1,500 15,000 |
41,000 57,500 |
| December | |||||
| Total | 844,500 844,500 |
32,500 65,000 |
20,500 82,000 |
37,000 370,000 |
948,500 1,375,500 |
(See this CoinNews.net sales article for more analysis.)
| Month | One ( oz. / #coins ) |
| January | 6,422,000 6,422,000 |
| February | 3,240,000 3,240,000 |
| March | 2,767,000 2,767,000 |
| April | 2,819,000 2,819,000 |
| May | 3,653,500 3,653,500 |
| June | 3,402,000 3,402,000 |
| July | 2,968,000 2,968,000 |
| August | 3,679,500 3,679,500 |
| September | 4,460,500 4,460,500 |
| October | 3,064,000 3,064,000 |
| November 2011 | 1,384,000 1,384,000 |
| December | |
| Total | 37,859,500 37,859,500 |
(See this Silver Coins Today sales article for more analysis.)
(As a side note, Silver Eagle sales picked up in early December, with another milestone as the coins crossed 38 million by December 5.)
As for other gold bullion coins sales for the month of November, the 24-karat Gold Buffalo tacked on 8,500. The bullion coins have been sliding since August's 28,000 jolt, and reaching the 209,000 coins sold in 2010 appears slim. Those declines and how they have performed since their introduction in 2006 may be compared in the following table:
| 2006 Gold Buffalo | 2007 Gold Buffalo | 2008 Gold Buffalo | 2009 Gold Buffalo | 2010 Gold Buffalo | 2011 Gold Buffalo | |
| January | 0 | 14,000 | 21,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 0 | 37,500 | 6,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 0 | 28,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 0 | 38,000 |
| April | 0 | 6,500 | 13,000 | 0 | 56,500 | 20,500 |
| May | 0 | 4,500 | 5,500 | 0 | 70,500 | 15,500 |
| June | 99,500 | 5,500 | 5,500 | 0 | 33,500 | 5,500 |
| July | 117,500 | 5,500 | 9,500 | 0 | 23,000 | 12,000 |
| August | 22,000 | 13,000 | 34,500 | 0 | 15,500 | 28,000 |
| September | 33,500 | 8,500 | 36,000 | 0 | 10,000 | 13,000 |
| October | 21,500 | 5,000 | 0 | 116,500 | - | 12,500 |
| November | 10,000 | 15,500 | 25,500 | 67,500 | - | 8,500 |
| December | 19,000 | 24,000 | 0 | 16,000 | - | |
| Total | 323,000 | 167,500 | 172,000 | 200,000 | 209,000 | 153,500 |
Also in the US Mint's bullion arsenal in 2011 are the five bullion 2011 America the Beautiful Silver Coins. The first two five-ounce silver bullion coins have sold out earlier this year, hitting their maximum published mintages of 126,700 each. Those were the coins honoring Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania and Glacier National Park in Montana. The third one, for Olympic National Park in Washington stands at 83,300 and was released in May while the fourth, the Vicksburg National Military Park bullion coin for Mississippi, is at 32,500, after being released in June. The final 2011-dated five ounce bullion coin honoring Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma launched in July and hit 24,700 in sales as of Monday, December 5, 2011. Cumulative sales total 393,900.
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