The U.S. Mint was set to begin releasing the 2010 "America the Beautiful" five-ounce silver bullion coins

So many in the coin-collecting community were clamoring to get their hands on one of 165,000 of the 0.999-fine silver bullion coins that some dealers were reportedly being offered "double spot value" during the weekend.

The bullion coins sport a symbolic face value of a quarter dollar, a diameter of three inches and bear no mint mark. The value of the bullion coin is based on the commodity it contains.

The large-format coins—so called when coins are five ounces or larger—are the first of their kind for the U.S. government

This is the first time the U.S. government is issuing a coin larger than one ounce since 1915.

And while most five-ounce coins are 2¾ inch, these are three inches in diameter—not uniform to the rest of the world.

The 2010 America the Beautiful program was launched earlier this year and is set to continue through 2021 unless extended by the Treasury secretary after nine years. It calls for the creation of 56 coins, one for each state, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories, to honor national parks and sites. It follows the Statehood Quarters Program, which attracted 150 million Americans to coin collecting.

The Mint will make 33,000 bullion coins for each of the five coins issued in 2010 in honor of Hot Springs National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park and Mount Hood National Forest.

Coin collectors were anticipating 100,000 bullion coins for each design.

The Mint also announced it would make a numismatic version of the 2010 designs—27,000 coins for each of the five 2010 coins—available for purchase directly from the U.S. Mint during the first quarter of 2011. The Mint will strike all of the coins by the end of the year, as required by law.

A Mint spokesman said the numismatic version of the coin "will have a different finish," not a proof finish, and bear the "P" mint mark for the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia.

Both versions, the bullion and numismatic, are investment-grade coins with weight, content and purity guaranteed by the government.

"Our production level is a function of the amount of silver blanks we can obtain from suppliers," said U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White. The Mint has ramped up supply to sell 32.9 million ounces of American Eagle bullion coins so far this year. Previous levels were eight million to 10 million ounces annually.

Je rectifie, ce n'est pas la US mint qui vend au double du spot, ce sont les vendeurs pro. La pièce est vendue avec une prime "normale" par la US mint quand elle est dispo sur le site. Ce sont les vendeurs pro qui font les prix en fonction de l'offre et de la demande.

Un lien pour les vendeurs ?