every year the mint starts producing the following year's silver eagles in july. they are not allowed to sell any of them until the first day of the calendar year. so they started stockpiling 2009 eagles last july. even though the mint ran out of 2008 eagles and had to ration them, they couldn't sell any of the 2009 eagles yet, so the premiums on all silver eagles jumped last year to $5-6/coin. by january 1, 2009 the mint had stockpiled millions of 2009 eagles, and dumped them on the market as they do every january. this temporarily knocked down the premium, as there was an ample supply of them. but that supply didn't last long, and due to huge investor demand, the mint has had to ration bullion silver (and gold) eagles, and removed all of its other silver and gold coins from sale.

2009 looks like a rerun of 2008, only the mint has run out of coins even earlier than last year, and the premiums over spot could go higher than last year. apmex, like every other dealer, can only hope to buy silver eagles in the secondary market now.