Letter instructions

Dear Senator ,

My name is and I am writing for your help in assuring the production of the American Silver Eagle proof coin. As an investor, a collector, and a numismatist I am outraged at the recent US Mint annoucement jeopardizing a 22 year tradition. I have also written the American Numismatic Society and the American Numismatic Association.

Public Law No. 99-61 [1] states in Title II: "Amends Federal law to direct the Secretary to mint and issue, in quantities sufficient to meet public demand, one dollar silver bullion coins of specified size, weight, and design". The US Mint cited the above legislation, as their reason for not producing the Proof coin this year. The Proof coin is still a bullion coin as defined by: "A bullion coin is a coin struck from precious metal and kept as a store of value or an investment, rather than used in day-to-day commerce." [2] The only distinction is the method of manufacture and their visual appearance. Their belief is that it is mandated to produce the bullion coins in "quantities sufficient to meet public demand" does not include the proof version of the coin. To further back the assertion that the Proof coin is a bullion coin, both finishes have been produced since the creation of the program in 1986. By not even offering the choice for proof finish coins, they are not meeting investor demand and creating a large disruption in the marketplace. As yearly mintage figures show [3], production and sales of the proof eagle has never fallen below 370,000 coins in any year since 1986 and frequently is above 650,000 coins. In fact, in 2007 and 2008, the total mintage is over 1.5M coins combined. In comparison, the bullion program is normally under 10M coins per year, but has risen to over 20M coins in 2008 and 2009. The mint stopped production of 2008 Proof coins in August of 2008 and subsequently the aftermarket price rose significantly vs their original mint pricing. Minting a minimum of 500,000 proof coins should be sufficient to meet the strong investor demand for this coin. Without any production of these coins, the demand will merely flow to other competing products. Lastly, the US Mint has a markup of $1.50 per silver bullion coin versus over $15 per proof silver coin. A 1000% improvement that will help raise over an additional $6.7M for the US Treasury over the bullion product.

In closing, I strongly feel that Congress should clarify the legislation and mandate that the US Mint produce the Proof finish of the American Silver Eagle in sufficient quaities to meet investor demand in 2009 and onward.

Sincerely,
Enter your name above

References:

1. [1]:http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d099:HR00047:@@@D&summ2=m&
2. [2]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullion_coin
3. [3]:http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/american_eagles/index.cfm?action=american_proof#salesTable