Will the United States Mint’s 2015 sales of American Eagle silver bullion coins eclipse the record set in 2014 of more than 44 million coins?

While first-quarter 2015 sales have been similar to those during the same period in calendar year 2014, some entities, including industry trade organization The Silver Institute, are already speculating about another record in 2015.

During 2014, the U.S. Mint recorded sales of 44,006,000 American Eagle silver bullion coins, and sales of 13,879,000 silver American Eagles for the first full three months of 2014.

So far in 2015, through March 25, the U.S. Mint has recorded sales of 11,307,000 of the silver bullion coins to its authorized purchasers — 5.53 million sold in January, 3,022,000 coins sold in February, and the third month’s count, through March 25, is 2,855,000 coins sold.

Even if no more sales are registered during the remainder of March, total sales recorded thus far would average a bit more than 3.802 million coins sold each month.

Maintaining that sales pace over each of the remaining nine months of the calendar year would push the 2015 total to more than 45.628 million — 3 percent higher than 2014.

American Eagle silver bullion coin sales have traditionally slowed during the months of June, July and August, before increasing again in September, October and November. December sales can go either way.

The American Eagle silver bullion coins are currently being struck without Mint mark at the West Point Mint.

The U.S. Mint does not sell the American Eagle bullion coins directly to the public. Instead, the Mint sells the coins through a network of authorized purchasers who offer a two-way market for the coins.

The authorized purchasers acquire the coins for the closing PM spot price of the metal as established by the London Bullion Market Association on a given day plus a premium of $2 per coin. Minimum orders by authorized purchasers are 25,000 coins.

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