While gold bars and coins are now offered almost daily, the offerings for Silver Eagles and Canadian Maple Leaf Silver Coins have been less frequent.
To purchase silver coins from Costco, you must be a Costco member, which comes with an annual membership fee.
For investors that also like to maximize credit card rewards and other rebates, buying silver coins from Costco’s website can be a good way to bank up extra points and rebates. Some chose to maximize the potential rewards by upgrading to the Executive Membership, which provides for 2% cash back in the form of a rebate from Costco.
While it’s not publicly disclosed who handles the fulfillment, logic would suggest that one of the US Mint’s Authorized distributors are involved, such as APMEX or A-Mark.
The combined availability of PAMP gold bars and US Mint Wholesale products leads many industry insiders to speculate in favor of APMEX, due to the strategic investment MKS PAMP purchased in September 2023.
The level of sales volume Costco’s channels likely provides the warehouse retailer with deep discount on American Silver Eagles and other bullion coins that aren’t available to other precious metals dealers.
This also provides a relief valve for precious metals wholesalers who have been accumulating secondary market silver eagles due to other investors that are selling and looking for quick cash.
Selling newly minted American Silver Eagles at a discount also helps to raise investor awareness and encourages mainstream adoption of using precious metals as a store of value.
While recent news that Costco is selling precious metals has been making the rounds, some users on social media are coming to the realization that precious metals are also available for sale on Walmart.com.
Precious metal have been available through the Walmart Marketplace since early 2023. The products purchased through the Walmart Marketplace are offered for sale and fulfilled by well known bullion dealers, including APMEX (Seller Page) and Bullion Exchanges (Seller Page).
While this helps to make precious metals more accessible to more people, consumers should be wary about purchasing their precious metals through Walmart as the premiums are often higher than buying direct from the dealer, even taking into account the higher premiums that come with using a credit or debit card for purchase.
Similar to other marketplace platforms like eBay and Amazon, third-party sellers on the Walmart Marketplace pay fees for their product listings to be available. The fees vary depending on the category and the fees are passed along to buyers with the increase in prices.
The Walmart Marketplace is part of the Walmart website that allow third-party sellers to list their products alongside the retailers traditional offerings.
Various product listing on FindBullionPrices.com show prices for precious metals from Walmart.com alongside other traditional bullion dealer prices.
A quick comparison of tubes of 2023 Silver Eagles (20 coins) shows that the lowest price dealer is Bullion Exchanges with a $4.26 per coin premium over silver spot price. The price for Walmart, which is sold and shipped by Bullion Exchanges has a per coin premium of $4.44 per coin. While the same product via the eBay platform is sold with a per coin premium of $4.55.
The US Mint is one of the largest producers of coins and also happens to be one of the oldest continually operating minting operations in the world. However, this year a variety of production problems have struck the mint related to the production of bullion coins leading to tremendous volatility with Silver Eagle premiums in recent months.
Some investors have continued buying Silver Eagles, hoping that their dollar-cost average, along with rising commodities prices will offset the rising cost. Other investors are seeking out alternatives and buying bullion coins from other government mints.
Results from a recent third-party audit have shown that the Mint’s production techniques remain some of the most efficient because of regular and ongoing continuous improvements for the last 75 years.
Although newer processes exist for manufacturing large volumes of small parts (such as injection molding), the Mint’s ability to produce the quantity and quality of metal stampings are far more economically cost effective.
Silver Eagle Production Costs
The Mint does no longer operates refineries and provides limited assay services. Instead, the US Mint purchases raw materials for coins either in large rolls of sheets of metal strips or as ready-to-strike planchets from a select few approved suppliers such as Sunshine Minting, Coins’N’Things and other precious metals producers.
Prior to minting, the blanks are sent through a furnace in a process to soften the material, referred to as “annealing”. The blanks are then rinsed and cleaned before the “upsetting” step. The upsetting step raises the edges or rim of the blank to turn it into a planchet. The planchet is then ready to be struck into a coin.
In addition to wages, each of these steps in the production process cost the Mint resources, such as electricity, water, tools, dies and other materials. It is established by law that the Mint must charge a premium to cover the cost of production of each silver coin to prevent the program from operating at a loss.
The premium that the Mint charges at a wholesale level to the Authorized Purchasers includes the production costs reflect the amount of work the Mint does to produce, package and distribute each coin.
The West Point Mint is currently the only facility that produces Silver Eagle bullion coins.
Authorized Purchasers
Only companies that meet very stringent criteria are allowed to buy Silver Eagle coins wholesale directly from the mint. There are just ten companies in the US that are “Authorized Purchasers” of the US Mint. The criteria and process to become an AP is arduous and requires a significant amount of financial capital.
Some of the Authorized Purchasers are companies that are familiar to precious metals investors as they include wholesalers and one major online bullion dealer. Others include financial and banking institutions that provide an array of investment solutions.
The US Mint provides reports that show the monthly sales of bullion coins. The sales reports are effectively mintage reports since the Mint only manufactures coins based on pre-sales from Authorized Purchasers.
The largest mintage year for 1 oz Silver Eagle coins was 2015. That year, the Mint produced more than 47 million coins. This indicates that the West Point Mint is capable of producing nearly 4 million coins per month.
Yet, sales reports for the first few months of this year indicate that the mint has been producing only 900,000 coins per month, the equivalent to just 1,800 monster boxes. This is drastically lower than current demand and restricts the supply of current year coins.
Since restarting operations following pandemic shutdowns in 2020, the Mint has issued several press releases indicating difficulty sourcing suitable blank planchets from providers like Sunshine Minting, Coins’n’Things and other suppliers. This led to the cancellation of the 2022 Morgan Silver Dollar and Peace Silver Dollar commemorative issues from being produced. The fate of this and other coin programs remains unknown.
Coincidentally, the providers of blank planchets are owned by the same companies that are also Authorized Purchasers. This creates what is effectively closed-looped for the production and distribution of silver bullion coins, with the US Mint providing manufacturing services at a fixed cost. The control of the wholesale market is controlled by less than a dozen companies, with several of those companies also being primary suppliers of the raw materials and blank planchets.
As the future of the economy continues to be filled with uncertainty, many investors are driven to precious metals as a safe-haven.
Across the market, it is apparent that premiums on 1 oz silver coins from other sovereign mints have remained lower than Eagles throughout the recent financial crisis. Some investors perceive retail premiums on Silver Eagle coins to be artificially high.
There has been many posts on Reddit and other social media forums in recent months questioning the current Silver Eagle premiums. Some have speculated that suppliers may be intentionally restricting the supply of blanks as a mechanism to increase wholesale profits among the Authorized Purchasers.
The notion of wearable wealth has been around for centuries. There is ample evidence unearthed from the valley of the kings that gold was treasured by ancient royal families.
Gold earrings bearing the cartouche hallmark of pharaoh Seti II discovered in tomb KV56 in 1908, on display in the Cairo Museum.
Many artifacts made from gold have been discovered by archaeologists from ancients lost civilizations in all corners of the globe dating back thousands of years. From Ancient Egypt in North Africa, to the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas throughout Central and South America.
Even in the United States, relics recovered from various cultures that lived throughout the American Southwest have been found to have used refined gold for jewelry and various clothing adornments.
While common throughout Asia to own high karat gold jewelry as a store of wealth, the gold jewelry in the west is typically designed and sold as a fashion accessory and is often made from 10k, 14k or at best 18k gold.
Karat
Purity
10k
41.7%
14k
58.30%
18k
75%
22k
91.7%
Most common jewelry karats and their gold purity levels.
Investors today have a variety of low premium options when looking to buy 24k gold jewelry.
One of the first to make a splash with investors a few years ago was Mené. The company is a subsidiary of Goldmoney, Inc that was founded in 2017.
In order to help fuel their growth, the company provided investors with a variety of new customer discount codes and incentives that allowed some to buy gold close to melt value.
Mené still offers a variety of modern inspired fashion bracelets, rings, necklaces, chains and pendants crafted from 24k pure gold and platinum at a fixed premium that is around 30% above melt value. When shopping for investment-grade jewelry, Mené has a track record of being a dependable choice.
Nebü 24k Gold Jewelry
Traditional online bullion dealers now offer jewelry in a variety of karat and alloy blends.
Nebü Gold is an emerging company that creates beautiful 24k pure gold jewelry from ethically mined sources.
The jewelry collections consists of a variety of rings, pendants, cuffs and bracelets inspired by vulnerable and endangered species. Nebü pledges a percentage of proceeds towards environmental and endangered species conservation.
Nebu 24k Gold Bracelet
Gold jewelry from Nebü is available to buy through their website and a variety of online bullion dealers and other retailers including APMEX, Money Metals Exchange, Silver Gold Bull and MintBuilder in the United States. In South Africa, Nebu has partnered with The Scoin Shop.
Precious metals investors are often looking at ways to add more practical options to their physical gold holdings can find plenty of choices that are both fashionable and offered at a low premium over melt value.
SD24k Jewelry by SD Bullion
Notable online bullion dealer SD Bullion also now carries a variety of 24k gold jewelry available alongside other precious metals investments. The pieces in the collection are all crafted using .9999 fine gold that has been refined to 24 karat.
Some of the more popular products include religious pendants such as the 24k gold cross, various bangle cuffs like the twisted barbed-wire bracelet, and the spiral double gold orb ring.
Twenty-four karat investment jewelry is a way to continue to stack gold in a discrete way that is completely wearable and practical for storing wealth.
Gold is often alloyed with other metals to provide strength, rigidity and durability because 24k gold is very malleable. Investors who intend to wear this jewelry should exercise some care to prevent scratches, dings and other wear and tear.
It’s become pretty indisputable that the economy is in the worst state that many Americans can remember since the 2008 financial crisis and the deep recession that followed.
As a result, investors are clamoring for gold and silver bullion like never before. Demand for government issued coins, like the American Silver Eagle and the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf have skyrocketed in recent weeks since the start of the banking crisis.
However, the US Mint continues to be slow and unable to meet demands, which has caused significant increases in recent weeks to a recent high of around 60% over spot price. Some dealers, such as APMEX and JM Bullion are currently showing premiums for silver eagles at over 88% above spot price.
The US Mint outsources the manufacturing of planchets, which are coin blanks that are pressed by the mint to produce the coins. Working only with a handful of select manufacturers that meet the requirements.
Disruptions to both global and domestic supply chains effecting precious metals continue to impact investors and industry.
The raw materials used to mint Silver Eagles must be sourced from domestic silver mines, as prescribed by law.
The Mint has been unable to meet demand since 2021 when more than 28 million coins were sold. While investor demand remained strong in 2022, the Mint was only able to produce around 16 million coins.
So far in 2023, the Mint has reported sales over more than 6 million coins. However, numerous reports state the mint shifted production in late 2022 to start producing coins for the current year, which is the main reason the Mint was able to report 3,949,000 coins sold in January.
Sales reports show only 900,000 coins being sold in each month of February and March which is far below the Mint’s production capacity.
In 2015, the Mint sold 47,000,000 Silver Eagle bullion coins, the highest on record.
Year
1 oz ASE bullion coins
2019
14,863,500 coins
2020
30,089,500 coins
2021
28,275,000 coins
2022
15,963,500 coins
2023 (4 months)
6,199,000 coins
Recent Years Sales and Mintage Totals of 1 oz Silver American Eagle coins
It’s pretty indisputable that the economy is in the worst condition many Americans have seen since the 2008 financial crisis and the deep recession that followed.
This time around, the economy has been wrecked by a record combination of prevailing events.
It began before COVID was even a thing in September 17, 2019.
A few months later, the Biden administration put the entire country into lockdown, effectively shutting down every sector of the economy, aside from companies like Amazon, Walmart and other select corporations deemed “critical”.
Rising inflation began to take hold as the Fed continued to print more money to fund the pandemic with stimulus checks and other government handouts.
To combat the inflation crisis, the Fed responded with multiple steep increases in key interest rates that come faster than has happened decades.
Over the last week, APMEX, JM Bullion, SD Bullion and Money Metals Exchange have announced either increases in minimum order amounts or have added a few days to their shipping policies.
Gold has been trading steadily above $2,008 per troy ounce and silver closed the week at $25.07.
The demand for Silver Eagles have quickly increased because they are seen a trusted store of value over keeping cash with record inflation. Currently, the cheapest Silver Eagles have a premium of over 50% above spot price.
Other sovereign government coins with a lower premium are also reliable alternative for investors looking for a lower premiums.
Britannia, Philharmonic and Kangaroo have become the go to silver 1 oz coins that make an excellent store of wealth and are easy to stack and store at home.
According to inventory tracking of APMEX stock, it’s been reported that APMEX sales of silver on Thursday April 6 reach over 135,000 troy ounces, slightly higher than the Thursday following the collapse of SVB bank and the start of the current banking crisis.
Yesterday, estimated sales of #silver at APMEX were the highest I've ever recorded for a Thursday.
Sales were 135,405 ounces, 124% above an average Thursday, just barely passing March 16, the Thursday after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. #silversqueezepic.twitter.com/AKCaL81Rq3
— Michael 🏳️🌈 #silversqueeze (@mikesay98) April 7, 2023
Gold is money. Period. The fiat paper currency that we use for daily transactions is little more than an IOU from the government. Except with inflation, the value of fiat keep getting lower and lower.
The start of the latest banking crisis began with the failure of SVB that was quickly followed by Signature Bank. Regulators attempting to prevent bank runs put up ‘backstop’ to ensure depositors that their funds will be safe and accessible.
The current Orwellian doublespeak flaunted by the mainstream press is driven by regulators trying to convince customers that this time is different. It’s essentially a bank bailout.
The big global banks like JP Morgan and Bank of America have seen an influx in deposits as smaller regional banks continue to request emergency funds from the Fed.
Hot on the heals of this banking crisis, the Federal Reserve has announced that it will rolling out its FedNow instant payment service in July which many see as a precursor to CBDC rollout.
Over the past few weeks investor uncertainty has returned to the stock markets as retail investors pile into precious metals in volume unseen since the start of the pandemic.
Estimates of precious metals sales based on inventory data from APMEX shows record sales of both gold and silver.
Gold sales at APMEX topped 27,000 troy ounces in the past seven days. While sales of silver bullion exceeding over 1 million troy ounces in the same seven day period.
FindBullionPrices.com tracks prices from dozens on online bullion dealers, including APMEX. APMEX is one of the largest and most popular bullion dealers in the country.
As precious metals prices remain relatively low many other online dealers are reporting delays in shipping as order volume continues to rise.
Retail investors looking for deals to add to their stack can often find the best prices when buying random year or secondary market coins.
The secondary market is where previous year gold bullion coins are traded between investors and dealers. These coins may have been stored since the year they were minted or may have traded hands dozens of times. Regardless, these gold coins maintain their intrinsic value and will continue to be a store of wealth for future generations.
Estimated weekly sales of #silver at APMEX (Friday thru Thursday) totaled over 1 MILLION ounces the past seven days.
All seven days saw sales of over 100K ounces (with one over 200K!) which has never happened in the time I've been tracking. #silversqueezepic.twitter.com/pFXK0dyYza
— Michael 🏳️🌈 #silversqueeze (@mikesay98) March 17, 2023
Estimated weekly sales of #gold at APMEX (Friday thru Thursday) totaled over 27,000 ounces the past seven days.
All seven days saw sales of over 2K ounces (with one over 6K!) which has never happened in the time I've been tracking. pic.twitter.com/bokvKmYlET
— Michael 🏳️🌈 #silversqueeze (@mikesay98) March 17, 2023
Stacking physical gold and silver bullion a one way to help protect the financial security of your family in ways far beyond that of trading crypto or ETFs.
First time precious metals buyers are invited to checkout the current Spot Deals page for offers from online dealers to buy silver for spot price. Gold buyers also have the opportunity to buy 1 oz gold bar at spot price.
Unlike other world mints, The United States Mint does not sell its bullion coins directly to the public. Instead, the coins are distributed through a network of official distributors called “authorized purchasers”. The Authorized Purchasers then create a two-way market buying and selling to precious metal wholesalers as well as private investors.
In the United States there are nine authorized purchasers that purchase Gold, Silver, and Platinum Eagles and other bullion items direct from the US Mint. In Europe there are two Authorized Purchasers and in Asia there is one. The Authorized Purchasers act as wholesale distributors for US Mint bullion products.
