The 1994 Silver American Eagles were not a banner year for the series of coins as both the bullion and proof versions showed significant declines in their mintage.
Silver prices may have had some influence on the disappointing numbers as the average price of an ounce of the precious metal jumped $.97 for the year to $5.28. This marked the second year in which silver showed an annual increase since bottoming out in 1992 at $3.95 an ounce.
Investors apparently did not take that huge increase lightly and curbed their bullion Silver Eagle purchases. Coming in at only 4,227,319 sold for the year makes the 1994 bullion Eagles the second lowest mintage in the coins first twenty five years of availability. This drop equates to a loss of 2,536,443 over what they had been in 1993 (or down 37.5%).
The table below shows the number of bullion Silver Eagle coins ordered from the US Mint each month in 1994 by the Mint’s network of authorized purchasers. Keep in mint, these numbers do not directly indicate the year-dated mintage, however, as some of the coins may have been struck in another year.
1994 Bullion Silver Eagles Sold
| January | 480,000 | July | 230,000 | |
| February | 345,000 | August | 375,000 | |
| March | 450,000 | September | 0 | |
| April | 175,000 | October | 225,000 | |
| May | 525,000 | November | 125,000 | |
| June | 100,000 | December | 2,510,500 |
Proof Eagles did not fare any better and showed a decline of 33,745 coming in at 372,168 total (or 8.3% off). This mintage qualifies the 1994 strikes as the lowest ever for the proof coins in their first twenty five years of availability.
With such lowest mintages across the board on these strikes, both the proof and bullion coins are known to garner significant premiums for those interested in obtaining them.
Other than their low mintage, however, the strikes remained identical in specifications to those of the previous years. The proof coins were still struck at the US Mint’s facility in Philadelphia (after being moved there the previous year) and show the appropriate ‘P’ mintmark. Production of the bullion coins remained in San Francisco, although as is typical with bullion strikes, no mintmark is evident on them.
The 1994 Proof Silver Eagles were sold by the Mint for $23 a piece.
1994 Silver Eagle Mintages
| Bullion Mintage: | 4,227,319 |
| Proof Mintage: | 372,168 |
1994 Silver Eagle Specifications
| Weight: | 31.101 grams (1.000 ounces) |
| Diameter: | 1.598 inches (40.60 mm) |
| Thickness: | 0.117 inches (2.98 mm) |
| Composition: | 99.93% silver, 0.07% copper |
1994 Silver Eagle Design
| Mint Mark: | Bullion – None, Proof – ‘S’ |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| Obverse Designer: | Adolph A. Weinman |
| Reverse Designer: | John Mercanti |
1994 Silver Eagles on eBay