The entire authorized mintage of 500,000 silver dollars for the 2001 American Buffalo commemorative coin program was reported by the U.S. Mint as being sold out within two weeks of the June 7 launch.
That represents the fastest sell-out of a commemorative coin since the modern era started in 1982.
It is the fourth commemorative issue to sell out its congressionally authorized mintage before the end of the pre-issue discount period.
The other three issues are the 1986 Statue of Liberty $5 half eagle, the 1992 White House Bicentennial silver dollar and the dual-dated 1743-1993 (issued in 1994) Thomas Jefferson 250th anniversary silver dollar.
The U.S. Mint began sales of the single Proof American Buffalo silver dollar, single Uncirculated dollar, two-coin set and limited-edition Coin and Currency set (which includes the Uncirculated dollar) by telephone, fax and mail on June 7, and opened Internet sales over its Web site beginning June 11. By June 12, all 50,000 Coin and Currency sets were reported sold out.
As of June 22, the Mint did not have a preliminary breakdown of sales by ordering option.
The popularity of the silver dollar could possibly be tracked to the enabling legislation resurrecting the designs of sculptor James Earle Fraser, originally used for the Indian Head 5-cent coin (also called Buffalo nickels), issued from 1913 to 1938.
The 500,000 maximum authorized mintage of Proof and Uncirculated 1986 Statue of Liberty $5 gold half eagles also sold out within the pre-issue ordering period. The Mint reported a final mintage of 95,248 of the Uncirculated and 404,013 of the Proof gold Statue of Liberty coins. The remaining coins to bring the total to 500,000 represent coins returned because of striking flaws or other damage.
The 500,000 1992 White House silver dollars authorized were reported to have sold out within the first four weeks of the pre-issue ordering period.
The 1994 Jefferson program authorized 600,000 silver dollars, which sold out within the final days of the six-week pre-issue discount period. The program included a Coinage and Currency set that was supposed to be limited to an issue of 50,000 sets, but because that information was left off of sales brochures, sales of the sets totaled 167,703.
The final mintages for the Jefferson program indicate 266,927 of the Uncirculated coins (which includes the 167,703 from the Coinage and Currency set) along with 332,891 Proofs. The remaining coins to bring the total to 600,000 represent coins returned because of flaws or damage.
