Mint News Blog

News, Information, and Commentary on US Mint Products

Friday, March 5, 2010

2009 Silver Eagle Final Mintage


The US Mint recently provided the final mintage for the 2009 American Silver Eagle bullion coin. Figures had previously been available for the number of coins sold during the year. This amount differs from the mintage, since annual sales totals usually include coins minted across multiple years.

The final 2009 Silver Eagle mintage came in at 30,459,000.

This figure represents a new record high, surpassing the previous record of 20,583,000 for 2008 Silver Eagles. The lowest mintage for a Silver Eagle bullion coin occurred for the 1996 Silver Eagle at 3,603,386 coins. Mintage figures for all years are included below.

American Silver Eagle Bullion Coin Mintages
1986 5,393,005
1987 11,442,335
1988 5,004,646
1989 5,203,327
1990 5,840,210
1991 7,191,066
1992 5,540,068
1993 6,763,762
1994 4,227,319
1995 4,672,051
1996 3,603,386
1997 4,295,004
1998 4,847,549
1999 7,408,640
2000 9,239,132
2001 9,001,711
2002 10,539,026
2003 8,495,008
2004 8,882,754
2005 8,891,025
2006 10,676,522
2007 9,028,036
2008 20,583,000
2009 30,459,000

So far during 2010, the US Mint has sold 6,067,500 Silver Eagle bullion coins. This includes the final inventory of 367,500 coins dated 2009, with the remainder representing 2010 coins.

The final mintage for one ounce 2009 Gold Eagle bullion coins has not yet been finalized. In fact, the US Mint is still continuing to sell the remaining inventory of 2009 coins. When the 2010-dated coins first went on sale, the US Mint had 51,000 of the prior year coins still within inventory.

Since most people prefer the newly dated coins, the Mint has been requiring authorized purchasers to buy one 2009-dated coin for every three 2010-dated coins ordered. There should be around 5,000 of the one ounce 2009 Gold Eagles left to go.

The final mintages for the fractional 2009 Gold Eagles were previously available, as these coins sold out in December. The mintages are 110,000 for the one-half ounce, 110,000 for the one-quarter ounce, and 270,000 for the one-tenth ounce.

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62 Comments:

At March 5, 2010 at 7:18 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it seem to make sense that the 367,500 silver and 51,000 gold blanks that were used for bullion coins that had to be "spilled over" into 2010 could have been used to make the 2009 collector proof versions? I find it hard to believe that the sales of the bullion versions to "satisfy public demand" would have been affected in the slightest had this been done.

It sounds more to me like the Mint overestimated public demand for the 2009 bullion coins, and now faithful collectors of the series since 1986 have a gaping hole in their collections.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 7:32 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Overestimated? That's generous. Of course I'm thinking from a negative aspect, a better description might be continuing misplanning. But you are indeed correct, the blanks could have been converted into collector versions and the Mint would have regained some sense of credibilty. Ah, but why should the Mint and it's leaders wake up at this late point in the game? It could have been so simple and face saving. The downward spiral to oblivion continues. Sad.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 10:05 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's the US Mint. What would you expect.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 10:59 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

what's sad is by the time we are able to buy them dealer has jacked up price so we couldnt make money on the Bullion coin. the us mint didnt mis-calculate public demand they mis-calculated dealer demand.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 12:32 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The mint has said the reason they didn't make the 2009 proof silver eagle is because it would have been a lower mintage coin and they didn't want to see prices skyrocket in the aftermarket.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 1:07 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

why would the mint care about aftermarket prices? They are not in the aftermarket.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 1:13 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

1990 american eagle silver dollar final mintage is 5,840,110. not 5,840,210. check mint report.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 1:45 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chill out, it was a typo. The way you said that, it was as if an additional 100 coins would make a difference in value.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 2:43 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is that what the Mint really thinks? There have been silver proof mintages less than 400,000 a couple of times (not to mention the limited edition reverse proof (250,000)), and numerous gold mintages less than 50,000. I don't buy that.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 5:39 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

To comments above, remember the gov't is all about control and regulation by definition. Why wouldn't some gov't employees want to control the aftermarket. Its probably on the drawing board right now if not already in a regulation. This is not a slam but a compliment on their ability to try and control everything. The mint is still part of the gov't last I heard. Don't they control General Motors now. Touche'

 
At March 5, 2010 at 9:48 PM , Blogger Lasloo said...

Per the comment,
"The mint has said the reason they didn't make the 2009 proof silver eagle is because it would have been a lower mintage coin and they didn't want to see prices skyrocket in the aftermarket."

I'm trying to find a reference to something like the above either through my coin magazines or searching on the internet. If you get a chance, can you reference the above statement. I'm not saying it didn't happen, just want to see the whole quote in context... especially if they said anything more in that statement regarding future plans for future numismatic silver eagles.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 10:31 PM , Anonymous Falcon said...

It's a shame they didn't even try to make a 2009 Silver Eagle. With production down they must have had extra time to make some. There was nothing in the law that said they couldn't make collector Silver Eagles and bullion Eagles.
I have two sets of the 20th anniversary Silver Eagles and the reverse proofs are beautiful. They made the sets in 2006 so they are actually 21st anniversary. I am thankful they only did the reverse once.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 10:37 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was stated in coin world that

"the reason they decided not to produce the proof and W coins is that, had they done so, it would have been very limited in quantity."

Meaning they did not want to produce a low mintage coin that would have skyrocket in price and not everyone could obtain.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 10:39 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

So try coin world right around October 25th of 2009, that is the reference.

 
At March 5, 2010 at 11:00 PM , Blogger Lasloo said...

Ahhh... per October 26, 2009 CoinWorld,

"that quantity would be far from sufficient to meet the demand of al collectors who desire continuity and accordingly, would be a detriment to many of them"

"Only if we had minted and issued some of these coins - but in quantities insufficient to meet collector demand - would those who could not acquire one have suffered a loss in the continuity of their collection"

But, while I know you think they're spinning... in no way do they actually mention anything close to worrying about after-market prices of a limited and small mintage. Instead, the argument is that they sincerely do want to meet collector demand and felt that in this case, they wouldn't be able to.. and thus leaving some collectors out in the cold.
One could counter-argue that collectors wouldn't technically be left out... instead, that one would be forced to obtain one after-market, and because of high prices, they wouldn't be able to get one.
But still, the concern is that your traditional non-dealer collectors will be cheated regardless of whether or not the after-market rises or not.
This is essentially what they've done in the past as well. Remember the low mintage of the LP1. After realizing they mis-estimated the demand, they overcompensated with more-than-enough supply with the next three pennies.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 12:14 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"that quantity would be far from sufficient to meet the demand of al collectors who desire continuity and accordingly, would be a detriment to many of them"

Actually the 1995 W has a mintage of only 30,000 so most collectors don't have continuity already. The next lowest is 374,000, so the mint could have probably done 250,000 and still made people happy since it is so much more than 30,000.

I would bet had you asked collectors if the mint should be releasing only 250,000 2009 proof silver eagles or no proof silver eagles the vast majority would have said to release the 250,000.

Anyway what's done is done but I don't think continuity is an excuse as I said above. Since the mint has not done a 2009 proof maybe they need to design a new series and just do bullion silver eagles.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 12:19 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

PS By making no 2009 proof silver eagles all collectors lost continuity. 100% of them.

Since only 30,000 really have continuity then that amount would keep it with a 250,000 release.

On a date set possibly 40% or more would keep it.

So the mint picked the worst case for collectors.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 5:47 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not buying the mint's excuse for the 2009 proof eagles. I've got a theory that makes more sense to me. The first thing I noticed about the 2009 proof platinum eagle was how granular the frosted devices were compared to previous issues. My theory is the mint tried to use this granular finish on the silver & gold proof eagles and it wasn't acceptable because these coins have much smaller details (skirt lines, rays, stars, etc). It's just a guess, but it makes sense to me. We'll know for sure if we ever see the finish on 2010 proof gold or silver.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 3:06 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think its senseless crying over spilled milk here. It is time to move on. Maybe I am out of line but thats how I feel.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 4:28 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Michael, I know you did a blog on the UHR's but I would recommend doing one on the 08 buffalos as well. The blog sites and many of my friends are astonished at the prices these things are selling at. They are going up almost 3% - 5% a week. Have never seen coins go up so fast. $5 FS are going north of $5k. The 1/4 oz's are selling for more than the 1/2 oz's.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 5:58 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Reading all the comments, I'm struck by one thing...
nobody is discussing the real story here.

2007 9,028,036
2008 20,583,000
2009 30,459,000

Why?
Who is buying?
Do you have friends or family that are accumulating?
Are you buying? If not, why?

You should begin pulling the curtain back to see the man behind it. Collecting is interesting and fun, but preservation is now the name of the game.

Ok, let the flames begin.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 6:14 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The 2008 buffalo gold is the God of coins.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 6:53 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

2006w to 2008w American eagle unc 1/2 and 1/4 oz.gold and 2008w american buffalo gold in proof and unc are still undervalue. the mintage were very low. see prices keep going up until over $10,000.00 a set. example 1. like 2008w AGE unc four pieces set. only 2,851 set. example 2. 2008w AGE unc 1/4 oz gold. total mintage only 8,883 pieces. now you got 2009 AGE one ounce mintage at 1,386,500. see the different.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 7:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

other countries can make up the hole. why the u.s. can't?. the australian issue the last three lunar series I (2008, 2009 & 2010)in 2008.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 7:08 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

08W Buffalos are interesting to watch price wise. Never saw any modern coins perform like that. I thought $50 proof buffalo could match the 06 reverse proof AGE for about $3000. I am wrong. They are sold for much more than that. $6000 or even $7000 for the PCGS FS. Even the raw ones can fetch in at least $4000.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 7:17 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

the general public rush to buy gold and silver bullion coins. thus push the mintage of 2009 bullion american eagle gold at 1,386,500 and silver at 30,459,000 (record high). they are not coin collectors. and they did not know how to buy a collector's items offer from the mint. and the price of gold keep moving up. so as the collector's items go with it. the mintage result for collector's itmes are very low.
2008w AGE 1 oz ----9,057
2008w AGE 1/2 oz---5,209
2008w AGE 1/4 oz---6,032
2008w AGE 1/10 0z--9,806
2008w AGE set -----2,851
2008w AGB 1 oz ----3,025
2008w AGB 1/2 oz---3,237
2008w AGB 1/4 oz---3,900
2008w AGB 1/10 oz-11,380
2008w AGB set -----6,049

 
At March 6, 2010 at 7:23 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

About 08w buffalos, I noticed people are selling and buying the Mint boxes on ebay too. I guess some people collect those boxes even though they don't have the coins? Kind of interesting.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 7:52 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got into the bullion market first about 2 years ago and got interested in the gold coins after. I think their is going to be a lot of people like me who are going to spend money on gold collector coins and bullion then buy new rims on their cars. But this is still the tip of the ice berg. Everyone is looking to see gold between $1300 - $1450 by end of the year and silver to hit close to $25. This is not a gold bug talking, but an investor who thinks we are printing our way out of this mess.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 8:14 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

FOFOA would write...
The system desperately needs a counterweight, and gold is it. The counter is already in place, only the weight is yet to come. And once we have seen the reset in gold as it performs its phase transition from commodity to wealth reserve, it will then chase (hyper)inflation along with the rest of the "non-dollar" world, only it will be the ONE AND ONLY THING that will be immune to the economic mess that will still need to be worked out.


It's not about investing; it's about preservation.

 
At March 6, 2010 at 9:23 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the 08 Eagles are going to be next to go up.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 5:42 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gold people: as a birthday gift, I received a 2008 1-oz. Gold Buffalo in a Red box that is called a Celebration coin? Is it a bullion, collector coin, proof or uncirculated? Anyone know it's mintage? Don't know enough about mint gold coins to tell the difference. Just wondering what it might be worth. Thanks.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 6:32 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous - March 7, 2010 5:42 AM

The celebration buffalo is a bullion buffalo (no 'W' mint mark) the mint put in a fancy red box. They bring a premium, just not as nice as the '08-W.

John

 
At March 7, 2010 at 8:07 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Celebration Buffalo gold coin is a "bullion" version in a fancy box.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 10:23 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes to above, but that fancy red box adds about 200 bucks. Try to find a celebration coin box only on fleabay.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 10:51 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Seems like a lot of interest on these Buffalos. I wonder when it will stop. I do agree with the post above about 08 eagles are going to be next. I am personally not able to purchase a 1 oz buffalo at the pricing that they are going at so I must move on to the eagles.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 11:23 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The celebration box not really that fancy. The best coin box I saw so far is the 888 double prosperity box.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 12:15 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks fellows for the info on my Red Box gold piece. Since it was a gift and my cost to own it was zero, I feel great that it's worth a few bucks. Wish I had a pile of them!

 
At March 7, 2010 at 2:23 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ah, just one more question on my 2008 Celebration Goldie please....am I correct that it's mintage is 189,500? Don't have any local coin store around here to ask. Thanks again.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 4:43 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

the mintage for celebration 1 oz american buffalo is 24,558 pc.

the total mintage together with single pc and no box and certificate is 167,500 pc.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 6:51 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The "Celebration" coin itself is identical to it's bullion counterpart. The extra value lies entirely in the red box, red slipcover and COA since there are only 24,558 of those items.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 7:01 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, so if I finally have this right, the "Celebration" Buffalo is a bullion piece which received a "Celebration" designation because the mint took 24,558 coins from the regular run and put them into the special red boxes? Since all bullions are struck from similar dies, etc., the only real difference becomes the cardboard box? Over 192,000 2008 Gold coins are basically all the same, but the box is the only difference. I do hate to appear dense, but somehow that makes little sense. Someone could have coin # 24,559 which looks the same, but couldn't call it a Celebration piece unless they managed to get a box. This sounds like a good reason never to slab a 2008 Buffalo. Once inside the plastic holder, there's no way to prove it was one of the 24,558 coins which were sold with the Celebration designation. It appears the box might have greater emphasis value than the coin. LOL.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 7:11 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

You aren't dense. You have figured out in one blog what many collectors have yet to figure out. Your next lesson will be on "first strike" designations.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 7:13 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree about the 888 box. It is pretty sweet. Even sweeter, is the fact that my "Liberty" Spouse coins fit in the little holes. Makes for a nice display. I think that the '07s were in smaller clamshells, but it was no trouble finding replacements that fit.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 7:17 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have quite a few OGPs of Modern Commems. Maybe I should put them up for sale to the nostalgics and see if I can make a $ ;)

 
At March 7, 2010 at 9:17 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

To commenter 7:01: It is my understanding you could have sent your unopened box received from the mint to a grading co. and then they could certify it as a "celebration coin." I don't cruise ebay or coin sales often so I don't know if there has been any certified like that. It certainly would be a unique slab. I'll bet there aren't more than a handful of those if any at all. Probably would not be much demand as it is a bullion coin. An MS70 celebration coin sure would be unique. Isn't that the only year they did a celebration coin to boot? Someone with connections might be able to get this info from the grading cos.

 
At March 7, 2010 at 9:35 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

There are probably still a few of the 2008 Buffalo Celebration coins left sealed in their original shipping boxes. I opened mine upon receipt way back when, though. I can verify that the coin itself truly is exactly the same as the bullion coin. It even came sealed inside the same perforated plastic that the bullion coins do. I was expecting it to be in a capsule, but no. The packaging was the only difference, so that is the special thing about it.

The thing is though, that ANY bullion coin still in the plastic can be converted into a celebration coin if the empty packaging can be found for sale by itself. I'll bet that is not a big problem, but it is a possibility. There just wouldn't be much point in anyone selling the packaging by itself, though.

 
At March 8, 2010 at 7:43 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is very interesting that the UNC Buffalo's are finally catching up to the Proofs. The 1oz and the 1/4 oz UNC will be the king of buffalos over time with mintages under 10k

 
At March 8, 2010 at 11:07 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually the mint is missing out right now on sales by not selling Celebrations coins with the bullion gold eagles.

They could place a bullion 2010 gold eagle ounce in a box as a Celebration of the decade, mark it up $200 over spot, and many would fall for it.

 
At March 8, 2010 at 11:58 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen the proce for the EMPTY 2008 W Buffalo boxes? $300 for an empty 1 oz box!

I just hope that people aren't buying these boxes, putting in a 2008 bullion buffalo and selling it off as a 2008 W Unc buffalo for 4 times its price to unsuspecting buyers.

 
At March 8, 2010 at 1:54 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Man, if that ever DID happen, I pity the crook who did it when the buyer receives the coin and the all-important "W" mint mark is not there! Sheesh! Lawsuit!

 
At March 8, 2010 at 4:01 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe you could still get it certified with your Mint receipt, red box, red sleeve, inner certificate, and sealed coin? With a Mint receipt, that's pretty much all of the paperwork to back it up - not just the box itself.

Not sure if PCGS or NGC would take it that way, but maybe someone here knows.

 
At March 8, 2010 at 5:27 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

To above commenter. No, that is not enough. The coin could be swapped for another like coin in a wrapper. This sounds petty but the grading service has no way of knowing what coin came with the little red box unless they receive the outside box sealed and sent from the mint to you. This happened with the '06 reverse proof silver set. The proof and mint state coins could be swapped (not that they would) and the grading services would not certify them unless they received the intact sealed box sent from the mint to the buyer.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 4:59 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

prices for 2008w american buffaloes and 2006w to 2008w eagles up again from current high. check it out. CDN newsletter march 5 issue. retail for 4 pc 2008w AGB unc set reach $6,200.00 and proof at $7,500.00. 2006w and 2007w AGE unc 1/2 oz cost $1,300.00 strong.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 6:47 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I find it strange that collectors are still paying such a higher price for the proof Buffalo set than they are for the unc Buffalo set. The final mintages for the proofs, while still very low, are MUCH higher than those of the uncirculated set. Two of the four coins are under 10,000, with the 1 oz. barely over 9,000!

I know the proofs look nicer, but logic would dictate that the lower mintage would override. I still think it will eventually.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 8:41 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

In the grand scheme both mintages of '08 buffs are exceptionally low. Its just a matter of demand. The proofs are the ones in the biggest demand so bigger price. If mintages would have been a lot higher for both then the unc. would be the one in the spotlight. I suspect there may be a lot more speculators/investors paying these prices than just coin collectors. Besides as you say the proof looks prettier especially setting behind the glass showcase in one's drawing room.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 9:02 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't have a drawing or anything but I have bought these coins for their beauty and these 08's will be a true collectors item down the road.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 9:44 AM , Blogger Lasloo said...

As to:
"I know the proofs look nicer, but logic would dictate that the lower mintage would override."

No, logic would not dictate that. In terms of market forces, here is the order of importance:
1) Demand
2) Supply (not Mintage)
3) Quality/Grade

In this case, if demand is based on people wanting a prettier coin, than that wins regardless of supply. Of course, the fluctuations in value is a dance between all 3 precepts, but supply must always be the one rising to meet demand, not the other way around.

Note, also, that mintage and supply are not the same thing. The mintage for the 2009 Uncirculated Mint Set will be totally different from the amount of sets not broken up. And thus, in that case, supply is a lot more important than mintage.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 9:59 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, the supply and mintage for the 2008 UNC Buffs are probably virtually identical, since it's highly doubtful any of THOSE have been melted. I suppose a few COULD have been lost in house fires or something, but who wants to speculate on such morbid possibilities?

I guess the statement I made before about logic dictating that the lower mintage of the UNC coins should override the proofs looking nicer should have been extended to include "since it seems most folks tend to chase the coins with the lowest mintages."

 
At March 9, 2010 at 10:21 AM , Blogger Lasloo said...

Well, the maxim that that most folks tend to chase the coins with the lowest mintages... is similar to the 'i before e' spelling maxim. That is, there a ton of exceptions.

The 1943 steel penny has one of the largest mintages for that time, and yet you still see premiums for them that don't meet that "mintage" expectation.

As to supply vs. mintage regarding the 2008 UNC buffalos... for that one, there are really two types where supply starts being more important than mintage... and that is slabbed ones, and non-slabbed ones. And with the slabbed ones, that gets split into multiple supply lines based on third-party grading service, and the actual grades given to each. From there, as more get graded, there are less UNC Buffaloes left in their original packaging which in the long term, may make that version more valuable IF the demand for the coin remains high.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 10:37 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Its all about demand. We don't hear much about some of last year's gold spouse coins and were't some of them the lowest mintages ever. Why not? Not much demand. Are't some of them lower than '08 buffaloes.

 
At March 9, 2010 at 11:15 AM , Anonymous Brad said...

Some of the First Spouse coins would sell for a BUNDLE if the demand for the series ever picks up, due to the insanely low supply. I think as the series progresses the chances of increased interest are good, so if you have the money to buy some of the 2009 and 2010 coins and hold them for a while, it would likely be a smart move. I'm buying some of each to wait and see what happens. Many of you value Michael's opinions and insight, and HE is a believer in this series. It's something to think about.

 
At March 10, 2010 at 5:05 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sets of Proofs are selling for over $10k now. When will this end, who knows. Their is a lot of big money chasing these things and the dealers are getting in the action as well.

 

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