Free Republic

Demand for gold coins has surged following the record price plunge in gold last week. Demand is so high that the U.S. Mint Runs Out of Smallest American Eagle Gold Coin. The U.S. Mint ran out its smallest American Eagle gold coin after demand surged following the biggest drop in futures prices in 33 years. Sales of the coins weighing a 10th of an ounce were suspended after demand more than doubled in 2013 from a year earlier, the Mint said today in a statement. Total sales of American Eagles in April have almost tripled from a month earlier, according...

The United States Mint has a gold problem. As demand for precious metal in the futures indexes and in physical gold bullion coins increases as the dollar weakens, there's been a run on the Mint. Don't worry, there's no shortage of gold. It's just that the Mint doesn't have the resources to make it into coins due to outsourcing and budget cuts decades ago. The problem lies in manufacturing the blanks. The blank planchets are not made at the Mint, which hasn't had the production capacity for this stage of the minting process since the budget cuts of 1981. The...