The United States Mint’s authorized bullion coin purchasers were scheduled to begin placing orders with the bureau Jan. 6 for 2025 American Eagle gold and silver bullion program coins and the American Buffalo gold bullion coins.

The Mint does not sell the coins prepared for its bullion program directly to most dealers or to the collecting public. The coins are instead sold to a select list of qualified, registered, authorized purchasers who buy the coins in bulk at prices based on the closing market per-ounce price on the day of  purchase for the precious metals each coin contains, plus an added premium.

These purchasers then sell the bullion coins into the secondary market, to dealers as well as collectors and investors for a small markup.

The Mint’s authorized purchasers can be found listed online at the Mint’s website, at https://www.usmint.gov/coins-precious-metal-coins/bullion-authorized-purchasers/.

The current list comprises nine U.S. firms and one in Germany. At one point, the Mint listed at least two Germany-based firms who handled sales into Europe and a lone firm in Japan serving secondary market buyers in the Far East.

Approved purchasers are subject to minimum buying requirements each time they place an order, based on the specific issue being ordered.

Their buying criteria is located on the Mint’s website at https://www.usmint.gov/coins-precious-metal-coins/becoming-an-authorized-bullion-purchaser/.

According to the Mint’s website, “The United States Mint is currently accepting applications for Gold Bullion Authorized Purchasers. American Eagle silver bullion remains on allocation and as such, the application process to be a Silver Bullion Authorized Purchaser remains suspended.”

Under allocation, the Mint makes an established maximum allotment of American Eagle bullion program silver dollars available to the pool of purchasers approved to buy them.

The West Point Mint is currently producing the 2025 American Eagle 1-ounce .999 fine  silver dollar; the American Buffalo 1-ounce .9999 fine gold $50 coins; and the American Eagle 1-ounce .9167 fine gold $50 coin, half-ounce $25 coin, quarter-ounce $10 coin, and tenth-ounce $5 coin.

No information was available from the Mint as of Dec. 31, 2024, as to when a 2025 American Eagle 1-ounce .9995 fine platinum bullion $100 coin may be made available or what its maximum mintage would be.

Also, no information is available as to whether the U.S. Mint plans to offer in its bullion program a 2025 American Eagle .9995 fine 1-ounce palladium $25 coin and if so, when and with what mintage.

For sometime this summer, the U.S. Mint schedule lists a palladium collector coin, the Reverse Proof 2025-W American Eagle palladium $25 coin, but no information is available regarding its planned mintage or specific release date.

All of the U.S. Mint’s bullion issues are currently produced at the West Point Mint, without the production facility’s W Mint mark.

The West Point Mint is primarily responsible for the production of American Eagle bullion silver dollars, but when necessary, depending on demand and production schedules, the Philadelphia Mint and/or San Francisco Mint have occasionally supplemented output to meet demand.

In calendar year 2024, during a period of rising prices across the bullion markets,  the U.S. Mint sold 186,500 American Buffalo gold $50 bullion coins, compared with 387,000 of them in 2023.

American Eagle gold bullion coin sales in 2024 totaled:
292,000 of the 1-ounce $50 coins, (compared to 924,000 in 2023).
23,000 ounces of the half-ounce $25 coins, (compared to 51,000 in 2023).
25,500 ounces of the quarter-ounce $10 coins, (compared to 49,500 in 2023).
63,000 ounces of the tenth-ounce $5 coins, (compared to 67,500 in 2023).

American Eagle silver dollar bullion coin sales in 2024 reached 22,860,000 coins, compared to 24,750,000 in 2023.

No American Eagle platinum bullion $100 coins were sold in 2024, compared to 12,700 sold in 2023.

No American Eagle palladium bullion $25 coins were offered in 2024, nor in 2023.

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