American Silver Eagle Coins are US government-guaranteed one troy ounce silver bullion coins made with .999 fine silver by the US Mint. They have been doing this since the year 1986.
Here we will cover in detail American Silver Eagle Coin prices before and after the 2008 Financial Crisis to today.
To begin, let us establish the silver bullion product we are speaking about in detail here.
The following Silver Eagle Coin video made by us here at SD Bullion, within this short clip you can see these most popular silver bullion coins up close and in further detail.
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Silver bullion coins authorized by the US Congress in 1985. The American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin Program’s legislation requires the US Secretary to sell the coins to the public they deem sufficient to meet demand at a price equal to the market value of the bullion, plus the cost of minting, marketing and distributing such coins (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery and promotional and overhead expenses).
Often the US Mint has stoppages in production due to US Mint shortages in silver planchets as well the natural spike and dive nature of the silver price and the silver bullion buying public's demand.
How have Silver Eagle Prices Performed?
Below you can look back at recent Silver Eagle Coin Value Chart history.
In the following Silver Eagle Prices charts, we use high volume silver bullion dealer premiums to illustrates at what price premium above the fluctuating silver spot price that 1 oz American Silver Eagle Coin have and are currently selling at.
Silver Eagle Coin Price Chart: Online Silver Dealer Direct Buying
You can see that it is during times of excessive silver bullion demand that 1 oz American Silver Eagle Coins (still the most popular silver bullion product by a large margin) typically perform with outsized price premiums above the fluctuating silver spot price. The fall of 2008 and the fall of 2015 being the most prominent examples of this phenomenon.
The following Silver Eagle price chart uses higher Silver Eagle Price conduits like eBay (on average more expensive than simply buying directly from bullion dealers, although perhaps arguably safer given how many questionable bad actors the precious metals industry often has).
Silver Eagle Coin Price Chart: eBay as Middleman
How are Silver Eagle Prices Determined?
If you want to better understand American Silver Eagle Coin prices, you first must fully understand how their foundation silver value is derived via the ongoing silver spot price (mostly dictated by COMEX silver derivative futures contracts), as well constant US Mint price premiums charged over the fluctuating silver spot plus silver bullion dealer premiums.
American Silver Eagle Coins are bought by an exclusive network of silver bullion dealers and finally sold to the retail silver bullion buying public. They are to date, far and away from the most popular silver bullion product in the silver bullion industry based on annual capital flow and silver bullion sales data.
Silver bullion dealers place orders for Silver Eagle Coins with minimum 25,000 orders of the ounce one silver coins, with purchases above the minimum 25k threshold allowed in 500 Silver Eagle coin increments.
American Silver Eagle Coins are packaged in semi-clear plastic US Mint tubes with 20 of the one-ounce silver coins in each. A quantity of 25 twenty-coin-holding mint tubes (equaling a total of 500 coins per case) are all placed within a molded plastic shipping container, commonly referred informally within the silver bullion industry as a Silver Eagle “Monster Box.”
US Mint Silver Eagle Price Premiums: Recent History
Before the 2008 Financial Crisis, the US Mint sold 1 oz American Silver Eagle Coins to its exclusive silver bullion dealer network at the fluctuating silver spot price +$1.25 USD oz.
So for example, beginning year spot prices for silver in 2003 were $4.74 oz. Thus the US Mint was selling minimum lots of 25,000 total 1 oz American Silver Eagle Coins at $5.99 per coin.
On October 14, 2008, the prices of 1 oz American Silver Eagle coins for authorized silver bullion dealer buyers was increased from the then fluctuating silver spot price plus $1.25 oz to $1.40 per coin.
During the peak of the 2008 Financial Crisis during later fall 2008 silver prices in terms of spot had dipped just below $9 USD oz while almost nonexistent supplies of American Silver Coins available were on average selling at an 80% premium over the then silver spot price (i.e. about $16.20 per coin as the time).
On February 9, 2009, the US Mint again changed prices higher for bulk 1 oz American Silver Eagle Coin orders going from the then fluctuating silver spot price plus $1.40 oz to $1.50 per coin.
On October 1, 2010, the United States Mint increased for the final time to date, the then Silver Eagle Coin bulk order price premium charged to their network of silver bullion dealers of 1 oz American Silver Eagles, going from silver spot + $1.50 oz USD to silver spot + $2.00 oz USD per coin.
The typical reasons for the rampant increases in American Silver Eagle Coin price premiums charged by the US Mint were to meet the program’s statutory requirement to operate at no net cost to the US taxpayer.
Anyone who has ever taken the time to actually read annual reports of the US Mint would realize the mint typically tries to bolster its bullion and collector coin profits in order to offset the loses it takes producing debased circulating cupro-nickel coins we carry around in our pockets for day-to-day commerce.
Today it is impossible to get a brand newly issued 2019 American Silver Eagle coin for much less than the current silver spot price plus about $2.29 oz USD. Selling in bulk US Mint cases of 500 coins, silver bullion dealers making a gross profit of a mere 29¢ oz per coin sold. The high volume silver bullion industry works on razor-thin profit margins. Once one subtracts overhead costs for websites, brick and mortar stores, and employee costs, it hard to make much profit at the moment selling American Silver Eagle Coins even in high volumes.
Yet if the recent past is prologue to our future, any real crisis or new monetary adventure by our monetary authorities will likely be met with increased demand for 1 oz American Silver Eagle coins and we could again see a day where the price of these most popular silver bullion coins sharply even outperforms it underlying silver spot price foundation.
Thanks for visiting us here at SD Bullion.
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