2016 ATB silver bullion sales second best all time
- Published: Sep 13, 2016, 11 AM
Sales by the United States Mint of America the Beautiful 5-ounce silver bullion quarter dollars in 2016 are second only to 2011, with one coin still to be released before year’s end.
Through Sept. 13, sales for the first four 2016 America the Beautiful 5-ounce silver bullion coins reached 246,100 coins or 1,230,500 ounces. 2011 sales for the first four issues of 2011 reached 416,400 coins or 2,082,000 ounces. Total 2011 sales reached 465,100 coins, or 2,325,500 ounces of silver.
Two 2011 issues tie for the highest sales for an individual 5-ounce silver bullion coin: the Gettysburg National Military Park and Glacier National Park coins each recorded sales of 126,700 coins, amounting to 633,500 ounces of silver for each issue.
Connect with Coin World:
The latest 5-ounce silver bullion coin to be offered for sale by the U.S. Mint to its authorized purchasers is the 2016 Theodore Roosevelt National Park quarter dollar released Aug. 29. Sales through Sept. 13 totaled 30,000 coins, or 150,000 ounces.
Story behind the bullion
The America the Beautiful 5-ounce silver bullion quarter program runs alongside the America the Beautiful circulating quarter dollar program, which has issued five coins per year since 2010.
The 56-coin circulating and bullion quarter programs will continue through 2021, when one last edition will be issued.
The circulating quarters and bullion coins share the same obverse and reverse designs. Each issue commemorates a location or site that is under the management of the U.S. National Park Service, one in each of the 50 states plus the five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. The release order is determined by the date each site was named to its official status.
The U.S. Mint also produces an Uncirculated version of the 5-ounce coins, bearing the P Mint mark of the Philadelphia Mint and a post-strike finish. The Uncirculated versions are sold by the Mint directly to the public at a numismatic premium above the intrinsic value of the precious metal each coin contains.
RELATED: Designs for 2017 America the Beautiful quarter dollars unveiled
The U.S. Mint's American Eagle silver bullion coin program often gets more attention, but the America the Beautiful 5-ounce coins contribute signifcantly to the Mint's overall bullion sales.
What's still on the way in 2016?
Still to be released is the 2016 Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument) coin.
The 5-ounce silver bullion quarter dollars are not sold directly to the public by the U.S. Mint. Instead, the Mint sells the coins to authorized purchasers who buy the coins from the Mint based on the closing London PM spot price of the metal per troy ounce plus a premium of $9.75 per coin.
The coins may then be sold to other dealers, investors and the public at a markup.
MORE RELATED ARTICLES
