While collectors have recently focused on the collectible proof version of the coin, the American Silver Eagle bullion coins have been breaking records.

The annual sales total for the one ounce silver bullion coins has now reached 32,790,500 based on the latest figures posted on the US Mint’s website. With another month of sales left to go, this will beat the previous record sales of 28,766,500 reached in 2009 by a comfortable margin.

This will be the third year in a row that a new annual record sales total has been set. The sales for 2008 had reached 19,583,500, which at the time beat the previous high of 10,475,500 set in 2002.

1986-2010 Silver Eagle Bullion Coin Sales

*through November 30, 2010

The Silver Eagles sales total for November 2010 will set a record for the highest monthly sales at 4,160,000 ounces. This breaks the previous high of 3,696,000 set all the way back in December 1986.

This monthly sales for November 2010 actually exceed the total annual sales for two years of the program. In 1996 and 1997, sales had reached only 3,466,000 and 3,636,000, respectively.

Silver Eagle 2010 Monthly Sales

To the US Mint’s credit, the recent surge in silver bullion sales has not yet resulted in a suspension or reimplementation of the allocation program (a.k.a.) rationing. American Silver Eagle bullion coins were last subject to allocation at the authorized purchaser level from December 2009 to mid-September 2010.

What could have been an opportunity for the US Mint to win back their customer’s favor and earn some much needed goodwill is turning into another disaster. Approximately 2,200 orders placed for the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle have been deleted in error.

The deleted orders were placed between Friday, November 19 at 12:00 Noon ET and Sunday, November 21 at 7:30 PM ET. In addition to the 2,200 orders deleted for Proof Silver Eagles, another 500 orders for other products may have been deleted.

The US Mint has been contacting the 2,700 customers who have been affected and asking them to resubmit their orders by phone. The resubmitted orders will receive priority processing and free expedited shipping.

According to a statement provided by the Mint, orders placed after November 21 at 7:30 PM are believed to have been processed correctly, and no telephone orders placed during the entire period were impacted. The orders were deleted because the computer system had become overloaded from a high volume of orders.

Earlier this week, I suggested that the opening sales figures provided by the Mint may have been understated. The latest news explains at least part of the discrepancy.

The constant problems with one of the US Mint’s most high profile offerings have certainly been testing the patience of collectors.

Initially, the problems were due to the lack of sufficient silver planchet supplies to satisfy both bullion and collector coin demand. This resulted in the early conclusion of sales for the 2008 Proof Silver Eagle, the cancellation of the 2009 release, amidst sporadic suspensions and rationing of the bullion coins. More recently, the problems have involved communications and order processing for the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle with 100,000 email notifications sent in error and 2,700 orders deleted in error.

Beyond the Proof Silver Eagle, there have been several other areas of dissatisfaction. Product prices were increased virtually across the board this year, even for annual sets which saw the number of coins reduced. America the Beautiful Quarters have been extremely difficult to collect from circulation, and production has been restarted for issues with previously low mintages. The creation of “new products” has simply involved remixing previously available coins and pricing them at a higher mark up. And, there is still no information on the release of the America the Beautiful Silver bullion coins.

Opening sales figures are available for the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle through the US Mint’s latest numismatic sales report. According to the numbers provided by the US Mint, through November 21 sales have reached 273,212.

As stated in the sales report, this represents a relatively underwhelming start for the long awaited offering. Based on irregularities with some of the other numbers in this week’s report, I think it is possible that the figures for the proof Silver Eagle have been under-reported.

For some points of comparison, this year’s silver commemorative coins debuted with sales of 214,673 for the Boy Scouts coins and 98,358 for the American Veterans Disabled for Life coins. The last proof Silver Eagle issued in 2008, debuted with sales figures of 185,232. These coins were released under normal circumstances before the price of silver began its ascent, bullion sales surged, and collector coins were interrupted.

The 2010 Proof Silver Eagle figures top each of these amounts, but not as dramatically as seen for the 2010 Proof Gold Eagles. Opening sales figures for the gold coins came in 300% to 500% above the corresponding levels for the 2008 releases, for each product option. There was every reason to expect the Silver Eagles to experience a similar surge in orders for the opening.

Of course it is possible that the higher pricing, frustration over the incorrect email notifications, and curtailed speculative buying may have kept sales from running too high, but there are other numbers in the sales report that seem suspect.

The Mount Hood National Forest Quarter bags and rolls figures are down about two-thirds from the corresponding numbers for the other releases of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The table below shows the opening sales figures for each release so far.

The 100,000 email notifications that were incorrectly sent last week were “primarily for Mount Hood quarters bags and rolls and the 2010 American Eagle Silver Proof Coin.” Both of these products have reported sales figures much lower than expected. I suspect that somehow subscription orders were not reflected in the weekly sales report. I will provide any updates as I receive them.