In an effort to maximize revenue from the sale of unsold 2016 to 2018 numismatic products in U.S. Mint inventory, the bureau offered tens of thousands of gold and silver coins by sealed-bid auction to select bulk dealers.

While U.S. Mint officials provided Coin World with sales of each product for which unsold inventory was available, they refuse to disclose how many millions of dollars in revenue the sealed-bid sales generated.

“We will not disclose this information,” Todd Martin, the U.S. Mint’s acting director for corporate communications, said via email July 6. “Making this information public would essentially be setting the market price for these products, which would impact what both buyers and sellers can earn in the secondary market.”

Bureau officials chose to liquidate the excess inventory by auction instead of melting the coins, reclaiming the metal, and scrapping the packaging.

According to a statement provided July 2 to Coin World by U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White, “The United States Mint made some 2016, 2017, and 2018 products available to select bulk dealers on an auction basis. Minimum bids for each of these products were set at a premium over spot price for the metal contained in the product.

“These coins were sold via an auction mechanism because this resulted in a higher return for the Mint. When the Mint melts coins, we pay a charge for the service, so the net benefit to the Mint is less than the metal value of the coins. In this case, by specifying a minimum bid above the metal value, the Mint guaranteed that the net benefit would be higher than the metal value.

“At this point, the Mint has identified no additional excess inventory suitable for this kind of auction. However, based on remaining inventories and when current and future products are removed from sale, the Mint may choose to use this mechanism again in the future.”

The accompanying table illustrates the products the U.S. Mint offered to the select bulk dealers and how many of each product were sold.

The numismatic product with the highest number of previously unsold pieces that were sold by auction was the 30th Anniversary Proof 2016-W American Eagle silver dollar with 192,607 coins, followed by the Proof 2017-W American Eagle silver dollar with 151,447.

The U.S. Mint also offered Uncirculated 2016-W and 2018-W American Eagle silver dollars; Proof 2016-W, 2017-W and 2018-W American Eagle gold coins; Proof 2018-W American Buffalo gold coins; and Uncirculated 2016-W Betty Ford, First Spouse gold coins.

The sales also included 16,586 of the 1792–2017 225th Anniversary four-piece silver medal set featuring examples struck with different finishes at the West Point, Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia Mints.

Numismatic Guaranty Corp. has been grading and encapsulating thousands of the previously unsold Mint products with a grading label indicating “West Point Hoard.”

Mint protocol

In past years, the U.S. Mint has offered continued sales of annual numismatic products in precious metals into the following calendar year. Sales of the previous year’s coins, such as Proof gold and silver American Eagles, often end as soon as the incoming year’s issues are released.

The U.S. Mint has been holding this unsold product in vaults, primarily at the West Point Mint where the bulk of the unsold items were struck.

Some products by law cannot be offered after the end of the calendar year — primarily commemorative coins.

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