Who Are the U.S. Mint's Authorized Purchasers of Silver and Gold Eagles?

[Smaulgld]

The U.S. Mint sells American Gold and Silver Eagles through a small network of "Authorized Purchasers who get a special price per coin over the spot price of silver or gold. They then resell them to other dealers who sell them to the public.


Who are these Authorized Purchasers?


I tried to get a current list of Authorized Purchasers from the U.S. Mint.


Here is how it went:


https://smaulgld.com/who-are-the-u-s...r-eagle-coins/

[Bern]

Nice post. I've tried looking for that list myself a few times. I never bothered contacting the Mint because I assumed I would get unhelpful, canned responses. Looks like I was right.

[Brian4Liberty]

The U.S. Mint sells American Gold and Silver Eagles through a small network of "Authorized Purchasers who get a special price per coin over the spot price of silver or gold. They then resell them to other dealers who sell them to the public.

How do we know that the list is "small"?

It would be interesting to find out from the Mint what it takes to become an authorized purchaser? My impression was always that it was based upon minimum order requirements.

[Zippyjuan]

How to become an authorized purchaser: http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/index...AmericanEagles

Congressionally authorized, American Eagle Bullion Coins are minted by the United States Mint. They are intended to provide investors with a convenient and cost-effective way to invest in precious metals. Since their launch, American Eagles have become the world's number one bullion coin investment products.

The United States Mint does not sell its bullion coins directly to the public. Instead, we distribute the coins in bulk, through a network of official distributors called "Authorized Purchasers" who, in turn, sell them to secondary retailers.

To become a United States Mint Authorized Purchaser of gold, silver, or platinum bullion coins, your firm must meet certain financial and professional criteria.

Criteria is based on metal type. See if your firm qualifies for bulk purchasing of:

Gold and platinum bullion coins http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/Gold-...quirements.pdf
Silver bullion coinshttp://www.usmint.gov/consumer/SilverAPRequirements.pdf


Premiums and Minimums

Prices for American Eagles are based on the prevailing price of platinum, gold, and silver, plus a modest premium to cover minting, distribution, and marketing costs. Prices may change on a daily basis, as the platinum, gold, and silver markets fluctuate.

Silver Eagles

United States Mint's Authorized Purchasers are charged the price of silver plus $2.00 per coin premium.
Minimum ordering requirement: 25,000 coins

Gold Eagles

Premiums are as follows:
1 ounce: 3%
1/2 ounce: 5%
1/4 ounce: 7%
1/10 ounce: 9%
Minimum ordering requirement: 1,000 ounces

Platinum Eagles

A 4% premium is charged for the 1 ounce coin.
Minimum ordering requirement: 1,000 ounces.
For further information, call the United States Mint Bullion Program at (202) 354-6829. Or write:

United States Mint
Sales and Marketing
ATTN: Bullion Program
801 9th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20220

At $15 an ounce plus the $2 per coin minimum, an order for one ounce silver coins would cost $450,000.
Gold one ounce minimium: 1000 ounces x $1100 an ounce x 1.04 (premium): $114,400.

2010 list of Authorized Purchasers:

A-Mark Precious Metals (Los Angeles) Gold, Silver, Platinum
Coins ‘N Things (Massachusetts) Gold, Silver, Platinum
MTB (New York) Gold, Silver Platinum
Scotia Mocatta (New York) Gold, Silver, Platinum
American Precious Metals Exchange, Inc. (Oklahaoma) Silver
Dillon Gage Incorporated of Dallas (Texas) Silver
Prudential Securities Inc. (New York) Gold, Silver, Platinum
The Gold Center (Illinois) Silver
Jack Hunt Coin Broker (New York) Silver
Commerzbank (New York) Gold, Silver
Fidelitrade (Delaware) Silver

http://mintnewsblog.com/2010/12/us-m...urchaser-list/

APMEX says they have been added to the list. http://www.apmex.com/pressreleases/3...-from-u-s-mint

[Bern]

zippy - that's a list of retail shops that sell to the public. What Smaulgld is looking for is a list of wholesalers that are authorized to buy directly from the mint (and then resell to the retail shops).

...
The United States Mint does not sell its bullion coins directly to the public. Instead, we distribute the coins in bulk, through a network of official distributors called "Authorized Purchasers" who, in turn, sell them to secondary retailers.

To become a United States Mint Authorized Purchaser of gold, silver, or platinum bullion coins, your firm must meet certain financial and professional criteria.
...

http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/?action=americanEagles

APMEX, Inc., one of the nation’s largest online precious metals companies, is now an Authorized Purchaser with the United States Mint to purchase gold and platinum bullion coins directly from the United States Mint.

Previously, APMEX was an Authorized Purchaser of the United States Mint silver bullion coins and with this announcement joins a select list of only 10 Authorized Purchasers worldwide that may purchase gold, platinum and silver bullion coins directly from the United States Mint.

The United States Mint has a very specific approval process, with a set of demanding requirements to become Authorized Purchasers of United States Mint gold and platinum bullion coins. APMEX is in the company of esteemed businesses such as Deutsche Bank of Germany, Commerzbank International of Luxembourg, Prudential Securities, HSBC and a few other select companies.
...

http://www.apmex.com/pressreleases/3...-from-u-s-mint

[Zippyjuan]

(note- I have updated my post) .

[Dianne]

The U.S. Mint sells American Gold and Silver Eagles through a small network of "Authorized Purchasers who get a special price per coin over the spot price of silver or gold. They then resell them to other dealers who sell them to the public.


Who are these Authorized Purchasers?


I tried to get a current list of Authorized Purchasers from the U.S. Mint.


Here is how it went:


https://smaulgld.com/who-are-the-u-s...r-eagle-coins/

I would start with Boehner's son-in-law, Obama's brother, McConnell's father-in-law, Michelle's first cousin... It usually goes something like that.

[Smaulgld]

The mint does NOT publish its list of authorized purchasers
the only question i have is why

[Zippyjuan]

This suggests there are eleven of them:

The maximum mintage established by the US Mint for the first year of the series is 33,000 bullion coins for each of the five designs, for a total of 165,000 coins. Each primary distributor will have an allocation of 3,000 coins per design, for a total of 15,000 coins.

http://news.coinupdate.com/keep-amer...asonable-0561/

which matches the number in the list I posted earlier.

[Smaulgld]

How do we know that the list is "small"?

It would be interesting to find out from the Mint what it takes to become an authorized purchaser? My impression was always that it was based upon minimum order requirements.

The requirements to buy are large -there is a link in the OP. The Number of authorized purchasers supposedly is small but they won't provide a list!

[Smaulgld]

This suggests there are eleven of them:



http://news.coinupdate.com/keep-amer...asonable-0561/

which matches the number in the list I posted earlier.

That was from 2010- the US Mint hasn't provided a current complete list. Some I know have been added. Others may no longer be on the list

[Bern]

...
which matches the number in the list I posted earlier.

The Apmex press release is from July 2014 and mentions Deutsche Bank and HSBC - neither of which were on your 2010 list.

[Smaulgld]

The Apmex press release is from July 2014 and mentions Deutsche Bank and HSBC - neither of which were on your 2010 list.

Correct which highlights that the public does NOT know who the US Mint's authorized purchasers are- the ones who get exclusive access to American gold and silver eagles at the best prices.

[Dianne]

The mint does NOT publish its list of authorized purchasers
the only question i have is why

You should be able to get it under a FOIA request (Freedom of Information Act)

[Smaulgld]

You should be able to get it under a FOIA request (Freedom of Information Act)

Agreed the US Mint includes a link on how to file such a request and I posted that link in the original post. I may file one soon. There are many people as a result of this post trying to obtain a list!

[Dianne]

Agreed the US Mint includes a link on how to file such a request and I posted that link in the original post. I may file one soon. There are many people as a result of this post trying to obtain a list!

Go on the net and find a trustworthy FOIA letter. Normally, if it isn't written properly they can blow you off. So you have to caption REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT... or something like that. Send certified mail, return receipt requested; otherwise they will pretend they never received.

[Zippyjuan]

Sometimes a FOIA request must be for a specific document title.