Collection: Silver Eagles 1986 to Date

American Silver Eagles 

When it comes to buying silver from the United States Mint, the American Silver Eagle coin is the top choice of investors and collectors alike. The Liberty Coin Act of 1985 authorized the production of an official silver bullion coin for the US, and by November 1986 the bullion and proof versions of the American Silver Eagle were available for sale from the United States Mint. Learn all about this beautiful coin series and its many variants now!

History of the American Silver Eagle

The first American Silver Eagle coins from the United States Mint were issued with 1986 date marks on the obverse side of the coin. The Silver Eagle program consists only of a 1 Troy oz silver coin with .999 purity and a face value of $1 (USD) backed by the federal government. The US Mint uses images of Lady Liberty and the American bald eagle on the obverse and reverse sides of the coin, respectively. The designs never change and the only variation in the coins is the use of a mint mark on the reverse side of the proof coins.

American Silver Eagle coinage consists of uncirculated, proof, and burnished options. The uncirculated, or bullion, coin has been available every year since 1986. The proof Silver Eagle was also issued immediately in 1986 with the uncirculated coin. The proof coin did have a production interruption in 2009 as the US Mint was forced to suspend collectible coinage production to redirect all silver blanks to the uncirculated program to meet the intense demand for silver at the time. Burnished coins were introduced as a second collectible option in 2006 on the 20th anniversary of the coin program. The burnished coin was suspended in both 2009 and 2010, but has since entered back into production.