Coronavirus slows West Point Mint up to 18 months
Recent complications due to the coronavirus have slowed production at the West Point Mint, causing the volume of silver and gold coins minted to shrink. Recent reporting from Bloomberg reveals that coin production will be slowed for up to a year and a half.
“We believe that this environment is going to continue to lead to some degree of reduced capacity as West Point struggles to balance employee safety against market demand,” a document obtained from the Mint said. Measures taken to prevent transmission of COVID-19 amongst Mint employees have prevented the factory from operating at full capacity.
Current production prevents gold and silver coins from being made at the same time. To ensure that dealers have access to the coins, the Mint is asking dealers to provide their 10-day and 90-day forecasts for demand for the first time ever. Demand among collectors is expected to increase due to these limitations.
Continued Complications
Earlier in the year, the West Point Mint closed from March 28th to March 31st. This closure was due to a positive case of coronavirus in a mint employee. The San Francisco Mint closed down on March 17th and only reopened on May 4th with increased health and safety protocols, including mandatory face masks and physical barriers per CDC Guidelines. These closures will significantly lower overall bullion production, which reached 18.8 million ounces in 2019.
The U.S. Mint, like many employers, is expected to work with a lowered workforce and in a more restrictive environment until the growth of cases of coronavirus slows.
"The demand from customers for new issues from the US Mint is very high. Combine that with the unexpected step taken by the Mint in shifting production of the 2020 American Silver Eagles from West Point to Philadelphia and a unique opportunity for collectors has been created." said Jack McNamara, Senior Buyer and Partner at RCTV. " We are constantly monitoring the situation at the Mint to ensure that RCTV is able to provide our customers the opportunity to add any new, low mintage issues to their collections. "
Rare Collectibles TV has managed to procure several recent West Point struck coins including:
2020-W American Silver Eagle PF70 Ultra Cameo
Set of 2: 2020-W Jerry West Basketball Commemorative Gold Five Dollar Piece PR70 DCAM & MS70
