2008 Silver Eagle

[bigjarofwasps]

Hi Guys,

Was reading in a magazine earlier, that it looks like the 2008 Silver Eagle, might become more valuable than the 1996 Eagle. It appears that the US mint couldn`t get enough blanks to mint them, then the sky high price of silver means that they can`t keep up with demand, and fewer have been minted thus far. We`ll have to wait and see whether they mint more than the 1996 example, but as it stands now, it might be worth picking up a few, and puting them away for a later date?

BJOW. :rolleyes:

[bigjarofwasps]

"As you can see virtually all older dates of silver eagles have appreciated nicely. Notice that the 1996 is by far the highest priced of the regular issue silver eagles. This is because the 1996 is the LOWEST MINTAGE. It is important to you to buy your silver eagles during the current year (buy your 2008 dates in 2008) as only during a mintages current year are the coins readily available and that is often when the price is the lowest. While there is no way to accurately predict when a certain mintage will be low until the following year, there are indications that 2008 may be an exceptionally low mintage year. Rising silver prices in the 2008 presale for the 2008 silver eagles caused a severe reduction in initial sales. If this trend continues, not only will 2008 silver eagles continue to rise in intrinsic bullion value, there is also a good chance that the total mintage of 2008 eagles will be quite low. The message is clear."

1986 to 2005.... http://silvereaglecoins.net/Coin-Mintages

[Guest Niblet]

If I were to go to a coin dealer and buy one today,,how much would I pay? Is there anywhere else besides a coin dealer to get one?

Thanks!

[bigjarofwasps]

If I were to go to a coin dealer and buy one today,,how much would I pay? Is there anywhere else besides a coin dealer to get one?

Thanks!

Have just been surfing Ebay, trying to answer just that question. The best `buy it now` price I`ve found is ?13.99, but I suppose you might get lucky if you where to put a bid on one, and get it cheap? But thats Ebay for you!

Only time will tell whether they`ve been a good investiment or not. But given the current trend with silver prices, etc, with a bit of luck they`ll be another year along the same lines as the 1996 coin. :jumping:

[Guest Niblet]

thank you sir!

[bigjarofwasps]

thank you sir!

Niblet, if your interested, I`ve picked one up on Ebay for ?10.

[bigjarofwasps]

Monday, June 9, 2008

2008 Silver Eagle Shortage Saga Continues

For much of 2008, there has been an ongoing shortage of 2008 American Silver Eagles. Demand for the coins has been intense, leading the Mint to briefly suspend distribution and ultimately ration the quantities supplied to authorized dealers. This post will take you through the major developments of the past few weeks...

A little over two weeks ago, the problem went mainstream when the Wall Street Journal covered the story:

The government rationed food during World War II and gasoline in the 1970s. Now, it's imposing quotas on another precious commodity: 2008 dollar coins known as silver eagles.

Following the exposure generated by the article, Michael DiRenzo, the Executive Director of the Silver Institute, wrote a letter to US Mint Director Edmund Moy, urging him to stabilize the program and requesting a meeting. From the letter:

Reports that the U.S. Mint is limiting the amount of coins its authorized buyers are allowed to purchase concerns the Institute, primarily because at the end of the supply chain awaits a customer, who is being inconvenienced and possibly shut out of the purchase of these coins.

We strongly believe there are immediate remedies at your disposal to increase the production and delivery of blanks to the Mint for production that would provide the coins in sufficient supply to the authorized dealers and ultimately to the customers. We further believe the Mint should be looking at methods to streamline the current process and offer safeguards through planning and a concerted shift in current strategy for the second half of 2008, and beyond.

The US Mint responded to the letter with a brief statement explaining the "exponential" demand for the coins along with indication that the Mint would attempt to increase its silver acquisition efforts to meet demand. From the statement:

By law, the United States Mint's American Eagle silver bullion coins must meet exacting specifications and must be composed of newly mined silver acquired from domestic sources. The United States Mint will continue to make every effort to increase its acquisition of silver bullion blanks that meet these specifications and requirements to address continuing high demand in the silver bullion coin market.

During the same week, US Citizen Bix Weir wrote an open letter to US Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson and US Mint Director Edmund Moy. The letter claimed that the US Mint's rationing of Silver Eagle coins was illegal and demanded that the rationing end immediately. The letter cited US law law which stipulates that Silver Eagles must be minted and issued in "quantities sufficient to meet public demand." From the letter:

The law is clear that the silver coins must be supplied to the US public in "quantities sufficient to meet public demand" EVEN IF it means the US Mint drives up the price of silver bullion on the open market in order to obtain the silver needed to produce the US Silver Eagles. That rise in price should, theoretically, decrease the current voracious demand for US Silver Eagles and allow for the true price discovery of silver bullion. That's how our freely traded markets are supposed to function in order to determine the ?fair market value? of any asset.

So far, I have not seen any response from Hank Paulson, Edmund Moy, or the US Mint regarding this letter or its claims.

At the end of last week, the US Mint sent a memorandum to authorized purchasers of American Silver Eagles. The Mint is expecting that their next incoming shipment of silver blanks will be less than half the amount shipped the previous week. From the letter:

The quantities [silver blank vendors] will ship to us during the week of June 9 are expected to be less than half the quantities they shipped to us during the week of June 2. Our vendors, however, expect to be able to make incremental increases in supplies each week thereafter. In the mean time, the significant reduction in the number of blanks they supply to us will, of course, directly affect the quantity of coins we can make available for allocation to our Authorized Purchasers.

This latest development does not seem particularly encouraging. It appears that despite the Mint's efforts to increase acquisition of silver for the program, the supply available to them is decreasing. Will these problems persist and if so, what will be the result?

I think we will definitely see further outcry from individuals and interested organizations along with some additional mainstream news reporting. There might be more scrutiny over the Mint's silver acquisition process which seems to be at the root of the problem. Investors and coin collectors looking to invest in silver may re-visit old methods such as junk silver or silver bars. Alternately, other government issued silver bullion coins such as the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf may start to see an increase in popularity.

[bigjarofwasps]

The 2008 Silver Eagle Transitional Variety

The 2008-W Silver Eagle has been found to have a fascinating variety type! The experts at Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, (usually referred to as "NGC,") have reported that an unknown quantity of U.S. Silver Eagles have been struck using a reverse die meant for the 2007 Silver Eagle. The Silver Eagles in question have all been minted at the West Point Mint, and bear the W Mint mark. These Silver Eagles are not the ones that are sold as bullion coins by dealers; the W mark is only applied to coins which are struck with a "satin finish" and sold as "Uncirculated" via the U.S. Mint's Web site (although dealers do sell them, too, on the secondary market.)

The diagnostics to determine whether or not your Silver Eagle has the 2007 reverse type are pretty simple to detect. The easiest difference to find is in the shape of the U in UNITED. On the 2007 dies, this letter has a straight-line U without a "spur." On the 2008 reverse dies, the letter U does have a "spur", which looks like the little added stroke usually seen on the lower-case U, which appears on the bottom right side of the letter.

[mariner]

The US Mint seems to be renown for making little `mistakes` like this. I sometimes wonder if its all just a money making scam, or a genuine error on their behalf?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0MZj-kFwvc

Anyone else got any views on this?

Going back onto the value aspect, found this on UTUBE which I thought might be of interest..?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-15Ch4psiM

Edited September 10, 2008 by mariner

[bigjarofwasps]

The ongoing supply shortage of 2008 silver American Eagles got the attention of the Silver Institute, when its executive director, Michael DiRienzo, wrote a letter to Mint Director Ed Moy asking that steps be taken to increase the number being struck.

"It's clear that the Mint misjudged the strength of the current silver market, and we are encouraging the Mint to take immediate steps to increase its production of these popular investment coins and plan accordingly for the balance of 2008 and for 2009," DiRienzo wrote.

The Mint issued a statement in response:

"Since the introduction of the 2008 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin Program, the United States Mint has issued a record number of coins (about 9.65 million), as demand for them has increased exponentially. That number is almost as high as the United States Mint's production for the entire year of 2007 (about 9.8 million).

"By law, the United States Mint's American Eagle silver bullion coins must meet exacting specifications and must be composed of newly mined silver acquired from domestic sources. The United States Mint will continue to make every effort to increase its acquisition of silver bullion blanks that meet these specifications and requirements to address continuing high demand in the silver bullion coin market."

The Silver Institute notes that over 165 million silver American Eagles have been produced since they were introduced in 1986.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Silver Institute is a nonprofit international silver industry association founded in 1971

[bigjarofwasps]

May's silver American Eagle bullion total of 1,516,000 has been replaced by the numbers from the first week of June. The 425,000 figure is a respectable weekly number. Unfortunately, the Mint's silver blank suppliers cut by half the number they can supply weekly to the Mint. Sooner or later, this drop will show up in the numbers and it is probably likely that the June monthly total will be significantly fewer.

The Mint points out that so far this year, the 10.07 silver one-ounce bullion Eagle's struck already exceeds last year's total for the whole year , which was 9.03 million pieces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Silver_Eagle

[Lapa]

May's silver American Eagle bullion total of 1,516,000 has been replaced by the numbers from the first week of June. The 425,000 figure is a respectable weekly number. Unfortunately, the Mint's silver blank suppliers cut by half the number they can supply weekly to the Mint. Sooner or later, this drop will show up in the numbers and it is probably likely that the June monthly total will be significantly fewer.

The Mint points out that so far this year, the 10.07 silver one-ounce bullion Eagle's struck already exceeds last year's total for the whole year , which was 9.03 million pieces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Silver_Eagle

So, what shortage are we talking about here

Marc

[bigjarofwasps]

So, what shortage are we talking about here

Marc

Marc and there in lies the game, it appears that if the trueth be known there is in fact no shortage, in fact 2008 stands to be a bumper year for eagles if production carries on at its current rate.

[Andwwils]

Silver prices have been on a steady decline over the past year. Right now silver is trading at around 12.00 an ounce. With the high production numbers for 2008 I don't see this years Eagle as being anything more than a bullion coin in the future.

[Schwartzvogel2008]

?12 seems to be the going rate.

I think I`m right in saying that the 2008 Silver Eagle will be in the top most minted Eagle, if not the top. I believe that the mintage is up to about 10 million!!!

[mariner]

This article dated today, would suggest that the US mint has now stopped producing 2008 eagles? Or am I reading it incorrectly?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/clt/854398214.html

[Schwartzvogel2008]

Don`t know what this `dealer` is basing this theory on, can`t seem to find any evidence of this on the internet, however, I did dig out the below, which might shine some light on to how the situation came about.....

"More silver eagles were sold than the mint expected. That led to them running out of planchets. They buy the blanks from companies and do not make their own. The companies did not have a large enough reserve of the blanks to fill the new orders for them from the mint. As the blanks become available the mint will strike more. A blank is just that, a silver circle. A planchet is the same but has the raised rims, the mint puts on the rims then strikes the coin. They will catch up but it may take some time."

Edited September 25, 2008 by Schwartzvogel2008

[bigjarofwasps]

No shortage here I`m afraid, in fact 2008 looks like being a bumper crop!!!!!

Jan - Sep: 12,902,500

[Tim B]

Well, I just picked up two this weekend at a local show and I paid US$18.00 for each. If I wanted what he had left, about twenty or so, he would have sold them for $17.50 each. They have increased in price a bit here, mostly due to silver spot increases, but nothing about shortages here. I think the Eagles were originally around $8.-$9. when I originally started collecting these back in 1986. Not a bad investment, but I always liked the Walking Liberty design and the size of the coin is really nice IMO.

Tim

Edited January 6, 2009 by Tim B

[bigjarofwasps]

Well, I just picked up two this weekend at a local show and I paid US$18.00 for each. If I wanted what he had left, about twenty or so, he would have sold them for $17.50 each. They have increased in price a bit here, mostly due to silver spot increases, but nothing about shortages here. I think the Eagles were originally around $8.-$9. when I originally started collecting these back in 1986. Not a bad investment, but I always liked the Walking Liberty design and the size of the coin is really nice IMO.

Tim

Hi Tim, I`m inclined to agree with you, I think persons unknown, just jumped on the band wagon, when they heard talk of a shortage, and ideas of a repeat of the `96 saga. I`ve got a few `08s in my collection. I bought just in case. But like you say there really nice coins. Am looking forward to the `09!! Gordon.

[Tim B]

Hi Gordon,

Yes, when militaria goes slow, I like to switch back to coins and have been snatching up Morgans while the economy is not good. Was lucky enough to get a few really nice toners recently that should appreciate nicely down the road. Waiting on a few Franklins and Liberty Halfs as well.

I did see one of those Richthofen commemerative coins on Ebay just recently, but it has a hole punched into it where someone had to wear it around their neck.

Always nice to talk coins with someone who appreciates them as much as I do. Anything you are looking for that I may help you find, let me know.

Tim