Awhile back I read an the mints site that they are not making the silver eagle uncirc or proof with a 09 date..am I right?...if so how come on tv this morning they were selling them ...any help
2009 Unc ASEs The mint did make a number of Uncirculated 2009 ASEs. 2009 was the first year that they did not make a proof. Because demand was so high, the mint was unable to obtain enough blank silver planchets and eventually sold out of the uncirculated ASEs. Under law they are required to produce the uncirculated ASEs to meet consumer demand, they are however, not required to produce the proof version. 2009 was the first year since the inception of the ASE(in 1986) that a proof version was not minted.
Estimated Mintage for 2009 ASEs The Mint produced quite a large number of uncirculated ASEs in 2009: 2009 Silver Eagle Mintages Bullion Mintage: 28,766,500 (sold during calendar year, mintage may differ) Proof Mintage: not minted Uncirculated (Burnished) Mintage: not minted Source http://silvereagleguide.com/2009-silver-eagle/
The confusion comes from the fact that the Mint makes TWO versions of Uncirculated silver eagles. One has no mintmark and is the common bullion piece handled by the Mint's distribution network of dealers. They made almost 30 million of them last year. The other type has a W mintmark and they are sold directly to collectors by the Mint. They first started making them in 2006 and last year they did not make any of them. The problem is that many people do not make it clear which of the two types they are talking about. There is also the problem that the Mint tends to use the same terms that we do but they don't have the same meaning. When the Mint speaks of Uncirculated coins, they mean special non-proof coins struck specifically for collectors, not just unworn business strike coins. In fact the run of the mill business strike coins we call uncirculated are referred to inside the Mint as "circulated" coins.
