The U.S. Mint can be a treasure trove of information. It also actually is a treasure trove in and of its own right. The demand for silver coins just had the strongest month in about 5 years. Strong investor demand and volatility in the equity markets appear to have overcome some of the concerns about rising interest rates when it comes to such strong silver demand.

The demand was driven by Silver American Eagle coins sales at 5.001 million ounces. This was the highest sell-through in ounces since more than 5.1 million ounces sold back in January of 2017.

Gold ounce sales were strong with 181,500 ounces sold, its strongest month since June of last year. That said, the total number of gold coins was 427,500 and that indicates many small coins in the mix.

The price of silver was volatile in January as risk-on turned into full blown caution mode over the second half of January. A lot of this is still of course around just much traders and speculators are expecting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to fight inflation. Precious metals are sometimes viewed as a hedge against volatility and sometimes a hedge against inflation, but in some markets they become a source of funds just like any other non-Treasury asset.

Collectors Dashboard had featured the launch of the silver coins in honor of the Negro Baseball Leagues and in the first week of reporting it sold 891 gold proofs, 739 gold coins uncirculated and 19,992 silver dollars with privy mark. The mintage allowance is for up to 400,000 coins total.

While some gold bugs or silver bugs may have been surprised about the strong demand before rates start being raised, the Silver Institute had already warned in December that the industrial demand for silver was set to reach new highs (524 million ounces) in 2021 — with physical silver investment forecast to rise 32% in 2021.