Gold and Silver Sales at the U.S. Mint December 2013

One Ounce Silver Eagles outsell One Ounce Gold Eagles 22.43 to 1 at the U.S. Mint in December

The Gold/Silver Ratio was 61.09/1 in December

– Retail investors take advantage of lower bullion prices to buy physical silver and gold in large quantities

-2013 Silver Eagles sales of 42,675,000 set all time annual record*.

Total 2013 Gold Bullion Sales at the U.S. Mint: 1,095,000 ounces

Total 2013 Silver Bullion Sales at the U.S. Mint: 43,475,000 ounces

Earlier this year we started tracking the silver to gold sales ratio as measured by the sales of physical gold vs. sales of silver bullion at the U.S. Mint. We track the sales of one ounce American Gold Eagles vs. one ounce American Silver Eagles. We now provide this data from 2008 through December 2013 and compare it to the gold/silver ratio that measures how many ounces of silver it takes to purchase one ounce of gold.

Below are the 2008-2013 U.S. Mint one ounce Gold and Silver Eagles sales in number of ounces and total dollars:

The December 2013 Silver to Gold Sales Ratio: 22.43

In December the U.S. Mint sold 1,200,000 one ounce Silver Eagles down from 2,3000,000 Silver Eagles sold in November and sold 53,500 one ounce Gold Eagles up from 44,000 sold in November equaling a ratio of 22.43 silver eagles sold for each gold eagle sold. The silver to gold ratio was the lowest of the year due to lower December sales of Silver Eagles because the mint suspended sales in early December.

The 2013 Silver to Gold Sales Ratio: 57.397

As of the end of 2013 the U.S. Mint had sold 42,675,000* one ounce Silver Eagles and 743,000 one ounce Gold Eagles for a ratio of silver to gold sales of 57.397:1

In 2013 The U.S. Mint sold about the same dollar amount of silver eagles as gold eagles. In order to sell the approximate dollar amount of silver as gold, the mint sold nearly sixty times more silver eagles than gold eagles.

Sales of silver and gold eagles amounted to about $1 billion each in 2013.

On December 27, 2013 at 5:15PM EST:

Silver was $20.08 per ounce

Silver Price Average in December $19.61 vs. $20.76 in November

Silver Price Average in 2013: $23.83

Gold was $1213.80 per ounce

Gold Price Average in December was $1226.63 vs. $1275.82 November

Gold Price Average in 2013: $1412.05

December Gold/Silver Ratio 61.09/1

*the prior record for most silver one ounce American Eagles sold in one year was 39,868,500 in 2011.

Sources: Kitco and United States Mint

In 2013 the U.S. Mint also sold 239,000 24K gold American Buffalo one ounce coins; 58,000 one half ounce gold American Eagle coins, 122,000 one quarter ounce gold American Eagle coins and 535,000 one tenth ounce gold American Eagle coins (a total of 856,500 ounces of gold American Eagle coins, including the 743,000 one ounce gold American Eagles sold). In total the U.S. Mint sold 1,095,000 ounces of gold in 2013.

In 2013 the U.S. Mint also sold 160,000 silver America the Beautiful five ounce coins for a total of 800,000 ounces sold. In total the U.S. Mint sold 43,475,000 ounces of silver in 2013.

Canadian Silver and Gold Maple Leaf one ounce coins are also headed towards sales records in 2013.