The U.S. Mint's first-day sales Jan. 23 to its authorized purchasers of 20,000 2017 American Eagle platinum bullion coins already matches the bureau’s 2016 allocation.

U.S. Mint officials announced before the 1-ounce .9995 platinum $100 coins were put on sale that there would be an initial offering of the platinum coins on an allocation basis, with additional coins offered based on demand. U.S. Mint officials have not disclosed how many of the 2017 American Eagle platinum bullion coins will be produced.

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The U.S. Mint allocated a maximum 20,000 of the coins in 2016 when they were put on sale in July. Sales reached 19,000 on the first day the coins were offered, but it took several weeks before the remaining 1,000 coins were sold.

The Mint sold 14,000 American Eagle 1-ounce platinum bullion coins in 2014, the first time since 2008 that any platinum bulion coins were offered by the Mint. No American Eagle platinum bullion coins were offered by the U.S. Mint in 2015.

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Bullion coins struck by the U.S. Mint are not sold directly to the public. Instead, they are sold to a network of authorized purchasers who offer a two-way marklet buying and selling the coins. The authorized purchasers buy the coins from the Mint based on the closing London PM spot per troy ounce of the metal plus a small premium. The coins are then sold into the secondary market to other dealers and the public at separate markups.