Fewer than 100 surplus Enhanced Reverse Proof 2019-S American Eagles silver dollars held in inventory by the U.S. Mint from canceled orders sold out almost immediately Aug. 5 when the bureau prematurely offered the coins on its website without advance notice.

U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said Aug. 6 that additional returned products were to be offered in the coming days as the coins became available after quality inspection.

The surplus inventory sold out before tens of thousands of cell phone and email alerts were sent out to customers who had asked to be notified when additional product became available after they were shut out of the original product introduction.

The Enhanced Reverse Proof 2019-S American Eagle silver dollar, limited to a product release of 30,000, originally was put on sale Nov. 14, 2019, at $65.95 each. The offering included a release of the coins at the Whitman Baltimore Expo.

A household order restriction of one coin was in place.

After the sellout online at the website, prices for the coins jumped on the secondary market.

Sales glitch explained

White released a statement Aug. 5 on behalf of the U.S. Mint explaining the sales glitch.

“Due to high demand for the American Eagle 2019 One Ounce Silver Enhanced Reverse Proof Coin (product 19XE), the United States Mint wanted to ensure that all sellable inventory was made available to the public for sale,” according to the statement. “A total of 97 units recently became available due to order cancellations. As transactions were cancelled, the product was inventoried and inspected per Mint standard processes.

“Today the Mint was working to move the inventory in our system to prepare it for sale. During that process, an error was made and the product was made available for sale via the Mint’s website and immediately sold out.

“All 97 coins were sold this morning. Our ‘Remind Me’ features automatically activated and we notified 43,127 people via SMS [cell phone alerts], and 30,907 people via email about the availability of this product. We expect another small number of units to become available for sale in the coming days. They will be placed on the Mint’s website as they become available.”

Struck at the San Francisco Mint, the Enhanced Reverse Proof American Eagle silver dollars exhibit mirrored design elements against frosted fields instead of the frosted devices against mirrored fields encountered on standard Proof issues.

Secondary market

The coins continue to sell for a premium in the secondary market. For example, sellers at eBay list a number of recent completed sales of certified examples of the Reverse Proof Eagles, including one example graded Proof 70 by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. that realized $1,812.50 in a July, 12, 2020, auction.

The initial offering of the coin in November 2019 was snapped up quickly by Mint customers. It “sold out” within 20 minutes. The rapid sellout led to criticism from Mint customers, especially those who were unable to successfully place orders.

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