US Mint Gold Coin Sales in 2010

The year 2010 is turning out to be yet another profitable year for US Mint gold coins. The demands for the coins are at levels last seen in 1999. In fact, the demand is at a level that is threatening to wipe out the gold reserve of the US Mint.

This increase in demand for gold bullion coins coincides with the decline in the value of the dollar. In early 2010, Reuters quoted US Mint spokesperson as saying, “Many investors, both retail and institutional, have sought gold as a safe-haven asset in times of economic uncertainty. Sales of the American Eagle coins increased by 214 percent in the month over April during a time when concerns about sovereign debt in the euro zone raised fears of a larger macro-economic effect.”

US Mint Gold Coins: Fact and Figures for May 2010

In May 2010, the sale of the coin broke all previous records of sales figure for a single month. Regarding this, a US Mint spokesperson said to Reuters, “In January 1999, the U.S. mint sold 208,500 gold 1-ounce coins, with only five other months exceeding May’s gold coin sales since the program was launched in 1986. While in 2010 the U.S. Mint has sold only 1-ounce gold coins, in past years it has sold other coin sizes as well. Comparing only American Eagle gold 1-ounce coins, the biggest monthly sale occurred in October 1986 with 609,500 coins sold.”

In May 2010, the US Mint managed to make record shipping of 190,000 one-ounce gold American Eagles. In June of the same year, the Mint introduced the 22-carat 2010 American Eagle Gold Bullion Fraction Coins and they too managed to attain a sales figure of 310,000 within the first five days of their production. These numbers, although high, fell short of the 2009 sales figure of 345,000 within the first day of going on sale.

This high demand has led to a temporary halt in the production of such coins by the Mint. The official website says, “Production of United States Mint American Eagle Gold Proof and Uncirculated Coins has been temporarily suspended because of unprecedented demand for American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins.” The reproduction will start once they have sufficient numbers of gold bullion blanks.

In August 2010, the US and Western Europe are still facing huge government budget deficits and investors are not showing much faith in the world’s major currencies.

US Gold Mint: July 2010 Sees High Demand for the One Ounce Gold Eagles

The sale of US Gold Mint bullion coins continued at a high through July 2010. If considered individually, the demand for gold bullions saw a marked shift towards the one ounce coins. This tilt in demand seems to be the after-effect of the previous month’s initial popularity of fractional weight coins.

US Gold Mint: The Bullion Metal Options
July witnessed some new introductions in the US Gold Mint bullion collection:
Silver bullions: In the month of July, the US Gold Mint also offered the one ounce American Silver Eagle. This was the only silver bullion option. However, later in the year, a new five ounce series of silver bullion (whose design has been replicated from the National Park Quarters series) is expected to debut.

Gold bullions: The US Gold Mint offered the 22K American gold Eagle coins in different sizes:
• one ounce
• one-half ounce
• one-quarter ounce
• one-tenth ounce

The 24K American Gold Buffalo was brought out in just one size.
Platinum bullions: The US Gold Mint’s bullion lineup is yet to see the American Platinum Eagle. This coin has not been seen in the bullion format since 2008, but the US mint is all set to release it in August 2010. No price has been fixed on the coin as yet, although NumisMaster.com has speculated an approximately 30% mark-up from the present platinum price.
The following table summarizes the sales figures of the US Mint bullions till July 2010:

JULY 2010 BULLION COIN SALES

Coins July 2010 YTD 2010
American Gold Buffalo 1 oz 23, 000 183, 500
American Silver Eagle 1 oz 2, 981, 000 21, 149, 500
American Gold Eagle 1/10 oz 30, 000 310, 000
American Gold Eagle 1/4 oz 2, 000 46, 000
American Gold Eagle 1/2 oz 2, 000 33, 000
American Gold Eagle 1 oz 147, 500 766, 000

The overall gold bullion sales amounted to 175,000 ounces for the month July. Although this figure was 10,000 ounces lower than the previous month’s level, it was well above the 86,000oz sold during the same period last year. The sales mix shows a heavy inclination towards one ounce Gold Eagles. The rise in demand for the Gold eagles followed the heavy demand for fractional weight coins. For the month of July, the fractional weight gold coins accounted for 2.6% of the complete gold bullion sales, whereas in June, the same accounted for approximately 30% of the sales by weight.

Know the Different Types of Gold Coins

Gold coins were used as currency in the olden times. However, their use as currency was put to an end after the period of the Great Depression, in Twentieth Century. At present, different types of gold coins are purchased by collectors and investors. Investors usually prefer bullion coins for investment purposes.

Major Types of Gold Coins
The two popular types of gold coins found across the world are:

American Gold Eagle

One of the most popular types of gold coins is the American Gold Eagle. This type of bullion coin was first produced in 1986, by the US Mint. Minted in 22-karat gold, these coins bear an image of Lady Liberty on one side and a Family of Eagles on the other side.

They are certified by the US government in terms of their weight, purity and content. The advantage of these coins is that they can be easily converted into cash. The American Gold Eagle coins can be bought in four different gradations:
• One-ounce with a face value of $ 50.
• Half-ounce with a face value of $25.
• Quarter-ounce with a $10 face value.
• Tenth-ounce with a face value of $5.

The elevated level of sales of the US Mint’s bullion gold coins continued till July 2010. The Sales figures of the US Mint’s American Gold Eagle coins for the month of July 2010 are as follows:

July 2010
American Gold Eagle 1/10 oz $30,000
American Gold Eagle 1/4 oz $2,000
American Gold Eagle 1/2 oz $2,000
American Gold Eagle 1 oz $147,500

Canadian Gold Maple Leaf

Another famous type of gold coin is the Canadian gold maple leaf. These gold coins were introduced in 1979 for the first time. The Canadian gold maple leaf coins are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. These gold coins are formed of 99.99% pure gold. These coins feature the image of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on one side. On the reverse side, they bear the image of Canada’s national symbol, the maple leaf. These coins are backed by the Canadian Government, for their purity and weight. The Canadian maple leaf coins can be purchased in following denominations:
• One ounce with 50 Canadian dollar face value.
• Half-ounce with 20 Canadian dollar face value.
• Quarter-ounce with 10 Canadian dollar face value.
• Tenth-ounce with 5 Canadian dollar face value.

The Royal Canadian Mint has issued an exciting new range of finely crafted gold coins in its third release of the 2010 collector products. The new coins include the 25-cent Birds of Canada and the 50-cent Lenticular Dinosaur Exhibit. Also, the half gram pure mint gold coin and 14 Karat ‘gold maple leaf’ have been introduced.

Staggering Price for the 1794 Silver Dollar

The silver dollar was one of the earliest species to be issued from the United States Mint. Though, the Mint came into existence in 1792, red tape and cumbersome legal requirements deterred the official casting in precious metals until 1794. Unconfirmed accounts suggest that total 1,578 coins were struck in the year 1794. The entire lot was minted using a single pair of dies in one day, on October 15, 1794. Consequently, the strikes gradually became less prominent, resulting in the outright rejection of a large number of silver dollars. It is believed that today only 120 to 130 coins are available in acceptable net mintage. Therefore, the 1794 silver dollar is treated as a rare issue.

The Congress mandated that the design for the silver dollar was to feature ‘Liberty’ and commissioned the task to engraver Robert Scot. The obverse of the coin portrays the side view of the face of a young woman with freely flowing hair. This hairstyle is particularly symbolic of ‘freedom.’ The word ‘LIBERTY’ is engraved at the top along the circumference with fifteen stars representing the states. The lower portion contains the year of issue. The reverse side shows a bald eagle with outspread wings, encircled by laurel branches on either side. The eagle is depicted sitting on a rock and looking towards its left. The country’s name is engraved along the circumference.

The then Director of the US Mint, David Rittenhouse distributed some of the pieces as mementos to some VIPs, put some into the common circulation, while retained some of them. The uncirculated silver dollars are very few in number and are available in mint state grade, commanding very high valuations. On May 20, 2010, one such coin was sold under a private treaty sale at a stunning price of $7.85 million. This constitutes the highest value transaction in precious metal coins in the world and surpasses a previous record of $7.59 for a 1933 American Double Eagle (gold). The President of the Rare Coins Wholesalers, Steven L. Contursi sold it to Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation, California, after holding it for last seven years.

Many analysts and experts believe that this particular piece is the first silver dollar ever struck. However, concrete evidence to this effect is not available. The dollar retains its pristine shape, making it more significant than its other counterparts do. The visible file marks were created to make the metal content precise to the face value. Martin Loges of Sunnyvale Foundation, California stated, “Of all the rarities I have seen or heard of, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the single most important of all, the very first silver dollar. This is the coin that has it all.”

How to Buy Rare Gold Coins

Buying gold coins requires preparation and learning. Before you buy your first coin, you should commit yourself to learning as much as you can about coins, so that you can make an informed buying decision.

This won't guarantee that you will make a profit from your investment in rare gold coins, but it will increase your chances greatly.

There are many resources available in print and online to help you educate yourself about rare gold coins.

You should start with The Guidebook of United States Coins, popularly referred to in the industry as the "Redbook." This book lists every coin ever minted by the U.S. mint which will enable you to know what's out there. It also gives brief histories and descriptions of the coins and lists their original mintages.

A couple of notes of caution are in order, however.

First of all, original mintages are not always indicative of current rarity. The key to current rarity is the number of surviving specimens believed to be around today. In some cases, issues with small original mintages have high survival rates, making them relatively less scarce today. Conversely, some issues with very high original mintages have experienced huge attrition rates, primarily due to meltings, and thus are very rare today.

Second, the Redbook lists prices which are not at all reflective of current market value. This is because the Redbook is published annually and the coin market trades actively throughout an entire year. There is simply no way for an annual guidebook to accurately indicate the current price of a rare gold coin.

We will let you in on an important fact now, before you embark on your education process (you will discover this on your own later anyway): you should only buy rare gold coins which have been graded and certified by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). PCGS and NGC are the two leading independent coin grading firms whose standards have been accepted industry-wide for many years. Buying rare gold coins which have been graded by lesser services creates too much risk and should be avoided.

Just as is the case with any major purchase, you need to know what you are acquiring. Make sure that you are getting advice based upon your goals and objectives. There are many ways to acquire gold across that asset class. Therefore you need to make sure you are applying the right tool to the right job. Lower graded, higher population type coins will tend to perform more like asset protection, whereas higher graded rarer issues will tend to grow more over time.

In addition to buying the right coins for you, you should also compare coin dealers. You will want to buy coins from a dealer who is reliable and can provide you with the level of service and education that you desire. Not all dealers provide ongoing client education in the form of newsletters, special reports and periodic, complimentary portfolio updates. Before you decide to buy a rare gold coin from a coin dealer, you may wish to know what your relationship with that dealer is going to be like.

One final note in comparing dealers: you should check to see what each dealer's rating with the Better Business Bureau is before making your final buying decision.

ITM Trading offer expert advice on how to buy gold coins including rare gold coins.