The US Mint released figures on the 2009 American Eagle Silver Coins that were not much of a surprise to collectors and investors. That is not to say that they were dis-appointing, in fact, far from it!
According to the Mint, 30,459,000 of the 2009-dated bullion coins were purchased. This massive number smashes the previous record holder created just the year before with the 2008-dated coins. For that year 20,583,000 were sold, which at the time was impressive in and of itself.
But move ahead one year, a year in which economic trouble for the nation meant investors were looking for a hedge in their portfolio, and a reason for the astonishing 2009 sales become apparent. So many people were looking to buy silver Eagles that the Mint was forced to stop selling them at different stages during the year. The Mint also had a rationing system set up for most of the year likely resulting in far fewer coins sold than could have been if they would have been able to produce them un-throttled.
Unfortunately, however, the Mint could just not keep up with demand, owing mostly to a shortage of silver blanks. Keep in mind, this does not mean a shortage of silver, just a shortage of the blanks from which the Mint produces the coins.
One thing that did help the 2009 numbers create that record, though, was the larger window of availability that the Mint had in place for the 2009 strikes. As is typical with most years, the Mint started offering the 2009 coins for sale in December of 2008 so that the authorized purchasers could order them to have in stock for the first of the year.
However, once December of 2009 rolled around, the Mint was unable to start offering the 2010 coins because it was too busy trying to keep up with demand for the 2009 issues which it sold until almost mid-January of this year. As such, the 2009 Silver Eagles were available for much longer than we would typically find in a normal year.
For more information on the coins, see our Silver Eagle Bullion Coin page.
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