It appears the death of silver and gold bullion at the Perth and US Mints has been exaggerated. In what is the first real positive piece of news so far in 2018, there have been some great leaps in sales over the last two months. Gold has proven particularly popular in Perth, and has stabilised in the US, but silver has seen some solid gains all over. Why? Well the fall in the spot price has no doubt been the overwhelming influence on buyers, and with gold dipping below $1200 and silver back below $15, stackers and high-finance are seeing opportunities.

We’ve seen it all before, of course. Neither metal has managed a sustained break out (either up or down) for long, and we see no reason to suspect it will do so any time soon. Regardless, positive news for a change. We almost forgot what that looked like…

It had to happen, but we didn’t suspect it would be so positive. American SIlver Eagle sales have rocketed up from historic lows to relatively good levels over the last couple of months. July saw sales of just 885k, itself a rise on May and June, but August enjoyed a jump to 1.53m, the best for three years. The good news carried on into September with a huge jump to almost 3m ounces – numbers not seen since 2015. Year to date totals are still down 23% in comparison to 2017, but the trend is positive.

Silver sales at the Perth Mint are just 10% shy of the same year to date period of 2017, buoyed by a September that reached 1.3m/oz’s. Outside of 2015 when the Kangaroo debuted, it’s a best ever number. Traditionally, September has always been a better than average month as the mint debuts its all new annual designs, something that just doesn’t happen at the US Mint. We should see if the quantity sold stabilises at this new level, or falls back. If it falls back, how hard.

Gold Eagle sales at the United States Mint continue to show a muted level of recovery. Certainly breaking no records, they have at least maintained the levels attained since the rise in May and almost double those of the same period last year We’re a long way off the circa 100,0oo ounce numbers from 2015/16, but stability seems to be the order of the day over the last five months to date. As for year to date sales, they remain down at 197,500 ounces, in comparison to 232,000 ounces last year.

The Perth Mint is doing okay, however. August gold sales at almost 39k/oz were the highest since we started tracking in 2013, and September is competitive with the best. Year to date numbers as a result, are neck and neck with the same period in 2017. A good recovery and no doubt closely tied with the softening in the spot price to below $1,200.