Silver Eagle Sales once again broke sales records in 2011 below is a chart detailing Eagle Sales over the past ten years showing increasing intrest in the bullion program.


The American Silver Eagle Bullion program is just one slice of the US Mints physical market for precious metals. Yet the fact that the U.S. Mint has to institute sales suspensions due to overwhelming demand helps to illustrate just how attractive physical
Silver is to Investors.  In fact, when totaling up all the silver American Eagle bullion ever sold by the US Mint from the program’s inception in 1986 through the end of 2011, the number of ounces is 281,145,500. At silver’s recent modern-day high of roughly  $50 per ounce would total the total dollar amount would  be slightly over $14 billion

The US mint is better prepared now than in 2011 to cope with a surge in demand for silver coins, with a healthy cache of blank coins stocked to make investor and collector pieces such as the Silver Eagle.
 
In a move sure to delight some collectors, the United States Mint has indicated that a San Francisco struck 2012-S Uncirculated Silver Eagle will be released. In addition, the possibility of new annual Silver Eagle Sets has been alluded to by the Mint, although any details at this point are sketchy at best.