Bad year for silver Eagles

Will 2017 turn out to be the worst year for silver American Eagle sales since 2008?

It’s a distinct possibility.

Already the financial news media has reported that sales in the third quarter of 2017 are the worst since 2007.

In the third quarter, the United States Mint sold 3,665,000 silver Eagles.

In the first three quarters, the Mint has sold 15,898,500 silver Eagles.

The number for the full year 2016 was 37,701,500.

Full year 2015 saw 47 million sold, a number that stands as the record for annual output.

The Mint would have to sell over 10 million coins a month for the rest of 2017 to equal the 2015 annual record. This is not likely.

It would have to sell nearly 5 million silver Eagles a month to equal the 2009 annual total of 30,459,000.

That, too, probably won’t happen.

If the last three months of 2017 run at the average monthly sales pace set in the first three quarters of the year, 2017 would register sales of 21,198,000.

This would just beat the 2008 sales total of 20,583,000 one-ounce coins.

It would generate the headline of worst silver Eagle sales year since 2008.

Sales in 2007 were just 9,028,036. The bad third quarter of 2017 cannot take the whole year down to 2007 levels.

Gold sales are remarkably weak as well. In the first nine months of the year, 171,000 one-ounce gold American Eagles were sold.

In all of 2016, 817,500 were sold.

The current number is just 21 percent of the 2016 number.

For 2017 one-ounce gold Eagle sales to rise to equal 2016, buyers would have to take another 646,500 coins, or 215,500 a month, for the rest of 2017.

Not likely.

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