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Before the
Thanksgiving turkey was even thawed out, the US Mint announced
that they would produce no more 2007-dated Eagle coins, in order
to free up production capacity to crank out the new 2008-dated
gold, silver and platinum products for January. Although this is
a normal year-end occurrence, we can’t remember the Mint
previously slamming on the brakes six weeks before year’s end.
And it was all the more keenly felt coming in the middle of one
of the strongest precious metals rallies experienced in decades.
Distributors, dealers, and investors were all taken by surprise.
So at this point, the Mint has no more gold 1-ounce or
tenth-ounce Eagles, no silver Eagles, and no more platinum
Eagles to sell until the first week in January. We have all
sizes of the gold Eagles, but premiums are starting to rise.
Eagle product shortages will probably increase through December
until the 2008 coins are released in the first week of the new
year.
Interestingly, if the mintage figures on the US Mint’s website
are to be believed, only some 20,000 quarter-ounce gold Eagles
were sold this year through the end of November. The previous
record low mintage for this size Eagle, since the beginning of
the program in 1986, was 1991’s mintage of 36,000 coins.
Something to think about.
Just as silver Eagles are now in short supply, the Royal
Canadian Mint is running weeks behind in their release of silver
Maple Leaf coins. The RCM pre-released their 2008 dated gold and
silver Maples in November, and so far there is no shortage of
the gold products in the various sizes.
The silver Maples are now distributed in a new square yellow
plastic box that looks like part of a Lego set, containing 20
tubes, each of which holds 25 coins. It’s actually a pretty cool
item, and we have been selling quite a few of the silver Maples,
albeit with some delays in delivery.
Moving on to the Pamp Suisse gold and palladium bars, the Pamp
company is having some production glitches which is causing
delays in delivery of their product at this time. Interestingly,
Pamp supplies a variety of gold bullion products all over the
world, particularly the various gram-denominated gold bars for
the Indian and Asian markets. Business is booming for Pamp,
leading to intermittent shortages cropping up in the US
pipeline.
Austrian Philharmonic gold bullion coins dated 2007 are no
longer available in the US, and the next US delivery of those
coins will probably be 2008-dated product early in January. For
some reason, this normally only mildly popular bullion item had
become a hot ticket during the month of November in the US
market, and available dealer and distributor supplies were
quickly drained. Supplies will not reappear until sometime in
January of 2008.
Even the lowly and common gold Krugerrand is becoming harder to
find in quantity. The recent dip in gold prices has virtually
ended the parade of sellers who were happy to be receiving over
$800 each for their long-held coins. The unique thing about the
Krugerrand market is that the floating supply depends on willing
sellers, whereas the newer bullion coins can be purchased
thorough normal distribution channels at will. So, this week’s
gold price correction has shrunk the available supplies of
Krugerrands substantially, and premiums have risen accordingly.
As always, we are filling all orders that we confirm, and in a
timely manner. If we don’t have an item in stock, or cannot
obtain it through normal channels, then it is not our policy to
take orders on the chance that we will fill it ‘someday.’ Our
only serious glitches have been with the Pamp bars, which have
been slower to arrive than we anticipated. We appreciate your
patience and understanding if your Pamp order is a few days late
getting filled.
As many of you have noticed, we have suspended sale of the
complete Lunar Series I 1-ounce gold coin sets. Simply put, we
don’t have the Dragons to complete the sets. We have raised our
bids on Dragons to 50% over gold value, and would take 100 coins
at that level, but so far we are not finding many.
But we do have one piece of good news in the Lunar Series I gold
coins: we are now selling, and bringing back quantity discounts,
on our last consignment of 1-ounce coins for the nine animals
which did not reach their production limit of 30,000 pieces: the
1996 Rat, 1997 Ox, 1998 Tiger, 1999 Rabbit, 2003 Goat, 2004
Monkey, 2005 Rooster, 2006 Dog, and 2007 Pig.
At this time, we have over 200 coins available for each year’s
issue. They will be in our hands later in December. The Perth
Mint has yet to announce final mintage figures while they are
still delivering the last round of order, but we are given to
believe that some of the remaining nine 1-ounce issues have been
produced in quantities substantially below the 30,000 coin
ceiling.>br>
So if you are looking for a bullion coin with the potential for
future collector value, the Australian Lunar 1-ounce coins at
today’s levels (barely more expensive than buying new Eagles or
Maples) have to be the most enticing gold buy available.
We encourage you to take a look at our Lunar gold 1-ounce page
and the new quantity prices which are available while supplies
last.
And when we get word of the final Lunar Series I mintage
figures, we will post them here immediately.
Year-End Bullion Product Report
Before the Thanksgiving turkey was even thawed out, the US Mint
announced that they would produce no more 2007-dated Eagle
coins, in order to free up production capacity to crank out the
new 2008-dated gold, silver and platinum products for January.
Although this is a normal year-end occurrence, we can’t remember
the Mint previously slamming on the brakes six weeks before
year’s end. And it was all the more keenly felt coming in the
middle of one of the strongest precious metals rallies
experienced in decades. Distributors, dealers, and investors
were all taken by surprise.
So at this point, the Mint has no more gold 1-ounce or
tenth-ounce Eagles, no silver Eagles, and no more platinum
Eagles to sell until the first week in January. We have all
sizes of the gold Eagles, but premiums are starting to rise.
Eagle product shortages will probably increase through December
until the 2008 coins are released in the first week of the new
year.
Interestingly, if the mintage figures on the US Mint’s website
are to be believed, only some 20,000 quarter-ounce gold Eagles
were sold this year through the end of November. The previous
record low mintage for this size Eagle, since the beginning of
the program in 1986, was 1991’s mintage of 36,000 coins.
Something to think about.
Just as silver Eagles are now in short supply, the Royal
Canadian Mint is running weeks behind in their release of silver
Maple Leaf coins. The RCM pre-released their 2008 dated gold and
silver Maples in November, and so far there is no shortage of
the gold products in the various sizes. The silver Maples are
now distributed in a new yellow plastic box that looks like part
of a Lego set, with 20 tubes of 25 coin per tubes. It’s actually
a pretty cool item, and we have been selling quite a few of the
silver Maples, albeit with some delays in delivery.
Moving on to the Pamp Suisse gold and palladium bars, the Pamp
company is having some production glitches which is causing
delays in delivery of their product at this time. Interestingly,
Pamp supplies a variety of gold bullion products all over the
world, particularly the various gram-denominated gold bars for
the Indian and Asian markets. Business is booming for Pamp,
leading to intermittent shortages cropping up in the US
pipeline.
Austrian Philharmonic gold bullion coins dated 2007 are no
longer available in the US, and the next US delivery of those
coins will probably be 2008-dated product early in January. For
some reason, this normally only mildly popular bullion item had
become a hot ticket during the month of November in the US
market, and available dealer and distributor supplies were
quickly drained. Supplies will not reappear until sometime in
January of 2008.
Even the lowly and common gold Krugerrand is becoming harder to
find in quantity. The recent dip in gold prices has virtually
ended the parade of sellers who were happy to be receiving over
$800 each for their long-held coins. The unique thing about the
Krugerrand market is that the floating supply depends on willing
sellers, whereas the newer bullion coins can be purchased
thorough normal distribution channels at will. So, this week’s
gold price correction has shrunk the available supplies of
Krugerrands substantially, and premiums have risen accordingly.
As always, we are filling all orders that we confirm, and in a
timely manner. If we don’t have an item in stock, or cannot
obtain it through normal channels, then it is not our policy to
take orders on the chance that we will fill it ‘someday.’ Our
only serious glitches have been with the Pamp bars, which have
been slower to arrive than we anticipated. We appreciate your
patience and understanding if your Pamp order is a few days late
getting filled.
As many of you have noticed, we have suspended sale of the
complete Lunar Series I 1-ounce gold coin sets. Simply put, we
don’t have the Dragons to complete the sets. We have raised our
bids on Dragons to 50% over gold value, and would take 100 coins
at that level, but so far we are finding many.
But we do have one piece of good news in the Lunar Series I gold
coins: we are now selling, and bringing back quantity discounts,
on our last consignment of 1-ounce coins for the nine animals
which did not reach their production limit of 30,000 pieces: the
1996 Rat, 1997 Ox, 1998 Tiger, 1999 Rabbit, 2003 Goat, 2004
Monkey, 2005 Rooster, 2006 Dog, and 2007 Pig.
At this time, we have over 200 coins available for each year’s
issue. They will be in our hands later in December. The Perth
Mint has yet to announce final mintage figures while they are
still delivering the last round of order, but we are given to
believe that some of the remaining nine 1-ounce issues have been
produced in quantities substantially below the 30,000 coin
ceiling.>br>
So if you are looking for a bullion coin with the potential for
future collector value, the Australian Lunar 1-ounce coins at
today’s levels (barely more expensive than buying new Eagles or
Maples) have to be the most enticing gold buy available.
We encourage you to take a look at our Lunar gold 1-ounce page
and the new quantity prices which are available while supplies
last.
And when we get word of the final Lunar Series I mintage
figures, we will post them here immediately.
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