The Mint announced today that the 24-karat American Buffalo Proof gold coin will begin sales on Thursday, October 29 at 12:00 pm Eastern Standard time. If gold remains between $1,050 and $1,099.99 per ounce, the coins will be priced at $1,360 each. There is no order limit and no announced mintage limit, apparently the Mint is not suffering any shortage of 24-karat blanks, in contrast to the 22-karat blanks used for the American Eagle coins. Demand seems likely to be high for this coin! This could mean the production figures for this coin will be relatively high, which in turn could limit the secondary market value compared to last year’s more limited mintage.
On a related note, the Mint has already sold 86,000 American Buffalo bullion coins as of today (10-22-09) since they went on sale October 15. That is a very robust figure, particularly in comparison to 2008, when 172,000 coins were sold in the entire year. This is a definite indication of strong demand that seems likely to include the proof coins as well.
