2021 Burnished Silver Eagles

The Burnished Silver Eagle is the infant in the Silver Eagle Series. Each year since 1986, the U.S. Mint has made a Mint State and Proof Silver Eagle, besides 2009 when no proof coins were issued due to a shortage of silver bullion. However, it wasn’t until 2006 that the U.S. Mint issued the first Burnished Silver Eagle. The Burnished Silver Eagle carries a stunning, satin-like finish. This finish is achieved by rolling the silver blanks in a large vat with thousands of little, metal beads. This is a tedious process, but it produces a stunning silver coin. Believe it or not, it is easy to mix up the appearance of the Burnished and Bullion Strike Silver Eagles. A trained eye can tell that the Burnished Silver Eagle appears to have more of a "matte finish," but, for those with less of a keen eye, just look for the "W" mintmark on the reverse of the coin. The mintmark denotes that the coin is indeed a Burnished Silver Eagle. Since its humble beginnings, the Burnished Silver Eagle has been made every year with the exception of 2009 and 2010, when the U.S. Mint had a shortage of silver blanks. The Mint chose to forgo the Burnished Silver Eagle production in those years.

Will the U.S. Mint Stop Minting The Burnished Silver Eagle?

This is just speculation, but there is a possibility that the U.S. Mint could stop producing the Burnished Silver Eagles after the reverse design changes in 2021. There are a few, solid reasons for this speculation. First, the Burnished Silver Eagle is always the lowest mintage Silver Eagle each year. Typically, the Burnished Silver Eagle Mintages average around a couple hundred thousand coins per year. However, the coin collecting community has seen extremely low mintages the last few years. Mintages were as low as approximately 130,000 coins in both 2017 and 2018. These mintages are minuscule in comparison with the Bullion Strike Silver Eagles that can sometimes have mintages as high as 50,000,000 and the Proof Silver Eagles that have mintages upwards of 1,400,000. One must wonder whether the United States Mint will continue to produce these coins when the demand is just so low. However, one must consider that the Burnished Silver Eagle is released after all of the other Silver Eagles each year. This might be the reason for the apparent lackluster demand. The second reason for our speculation is because the U.S. Mint has recently become more creative with the issuance of new types of Silver Eagle finishes. In 2019, we saw the first ever "Enhanced Reverse Proof Silver Eagle." The United States Mint may elect to release different finished instead of the Burnished or Uncirculated finish.

Are the Burnished Silver Eagles a Buy?

We think that Burnished Silver Eagles may be one of the most overlooked of all Silver Eagles. They exhibit extremely low mintages in comparison to other Modern Coins. In addition to this, they have only been minted for a handful of years. If you have any questions about the Burnished Silver Eagle or any other Modern Rare Coin, feel free to give us a call at 516-739-5822, so one of our numismatic experts can answer any questions you may have.

*These are solely the opinions of Bullion Shark, LLC and are not intended to be used as investment advice. Please consult with an investment advisor before investing.