Description
Collectors have received news of the US Mint’s addition of Palladium to the American Eagle bullion coin with cautious optimism. It has been over 20 years since Platinum Eagles were added in 1997 and the program has been expanded to include the additional metal. Demand for palladium has grown steadily in futures markets, making the metal one of the best performing precious metals prior to the coin’s release and all indications are the demand promises to translate to strong demand for the metal’s 1 oz coin.
The palladium American Eagle coin is minted using .9995 pure palladium and weighs 1 troy oz. The design is delightful to the eye. The obverse features the Roman God Mercury wearing his iconic winged hat. God is the patron of messengers, commerce, travelers and financial gain. The reverse features a perched Eagle laying its beak on an olive branch.
Both the obverse and reverse were designed by one of America’s greatest coin artists, Adolph Weinman. Liberty is depicted as she dons a winged Phrygian cap. The cap is a long-standing symbol of freedom used by coins originating in France and other South and Central American countries. The reverse also features a version of the 1907 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal also by Weinman. The inscriptions “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”, 1 OZ, $25, .9995 and “E PLURIBUS UNUM” appear.
The issuing of the first proof American Palladium Eagle coin in 2018 will keep the new series in the headlines for at least another 12 months, but pundits are uncertain how long the series will remain a hot item, as they were during the autumn of 2017. At the time of going to press, almost all major bullion dealers have already sold out of all BU specimens, which went for between $120 and $150 above the spot. This means that many uncirculated specimens went for $1,000 to $1,200 each around the same time as the release.
