As expected, the two American Eagle products released by the United States Mint yesterday sold out within minutes of being available. However, the good news may be that the Mint’s website did not buckle – dare I say shatter – under the pressure of demand for the two products.
Both the 2021-W American Eagle silver Proof coin and the 2021 Congratulations Set went on sale yesterday at Noon Eastern. I was on the site at the time, primarily to see how the United States Mint’s site handled the pressure of the two American Eagle products being released at the same time. With this being the last proof version of the Type-1 Reverse (the Heraldic or Inaugural design depending on who you talk too), coupled with a low mintage on the silver Proof, demand was going to be high.
In looking at browser data, I estimate that the silver Proof sold out within 8 minutes of it being available. It was at that point that the Mint’s site updated the product page for the coin as being unavailable. Likewise, the Congratulations Set looks to have should out within 12 minutes. These are not scientifically backed numbers by-the-way, simply antidotal observations I made at the time of the release.
Equally, these are not the fastest sellouts of products for the Mint. By most estimations, that claim belongs to the 2019 American Eagle Enhanced Proof which sold out in under 5 minutes. However, the key takeaway from yesterday was that the Mint’s site was up to the task. I never had any issue getting to either of the American Eagle products pages nor elsewhere on the Mint’s site during the release. Further, I have yet to receive one Twitter Direct Message or reply nor a message here on the site of others having issues. While I won’t go as far as to suggest there were not any issues for everyone, it seems that the Mint’s recent changes to bolster its site performance have worked. If you did have issue, leave a comment and let me know.
As for the American Eagle released yesterday, that’s likely the last of them from the Mint barring a lot of them being returned (unlikely given it is the last of this design). There will be no more 2021-W standalone Proofs with the Type-1 Reverse but the Type-2 Reverse will be available later this year. As for the Congratulations Set, which has no mintage limit, it will likely remain unavailable until the Type-2 Reverse is available and can be put into that set.