Proof Silver Eagles Possible… With Change in Law

There might be a chance for proof versions of the American Silver Eagle after all.

Shortly after my post on the dimming prospects of the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle, US Mint Director Edmund Moy delivered testimony to the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology on "The State of U.S. Coins and Currency". Within the testimony, Director Moy mentioned that the subcommittee was considering amending the existing law to allow the Mint to produce collectible uncirculated and proof versions of the Silver Eagle, even if full demand for bullion coins was not being met.

It was revealed that the US Mint has already, in fact, provided drafting assistance for the amendment to the law. If it could be enacted soon, the Mint could begin production of Proof and uncirculated Silver Eagles in September at a rate of 200,000 coins per month. This would allow total production of 830,000 coins before the end of the year.

Frankly, after two years of stalled production, a change in law is not really the solution I was expecting. Two years should have provided the US Mint with sufficient time to either find additional precious metals blank suppliers, or set up their own production of precious metals blanks in-house. During the course of the subcommittee meeting, the US Mint Director was questioned on these two options and did not provide satisfactory responses. If the US Mint sought to change the law to legitimize the fact that they cannot satisfy bullion demand, then they could have taken this step two years ago.

As it stands, the US Mint claims that there is plenty of gold, silver, and platinum in raw material form, they just can not get it fabricated into planchets fast enough. This is another tough statement to accept without scrutiny. As covered in prior posts, other world mints quickly managed to adapt to the increased level of demand for precious metals. The US Mint has apparently been staring down the same bottleneck for two years.

During the course of the questioning, Director Moy was asked about the possibility of producing back dated 2009 Proof Silver Eagles, to fill the gap left by last year's cancellation. He stated that this was not allowed.