Collecting American Palladium Eagles

American Palladium Eagles were first released in 2017. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.

More and more collectors are building sets of American Eagle bullion coins. American Silver Eagles have been popular collectibles since their debut in 1986, with countless people building date sets, variety sets, and other types of collections anchored around these iconic one-ounce silver coins. Then there are the American Gold Eagles, which were also first released in 1986; they enjoy their own following with collectors, though often pricing many collectors out due to the sheer price of gold as compared to silver. Ditto for the American Platinum Eagles, which hit the scene in 1997 and – though expensive per piece – have long attracted faithful collectors.

Then came the American Palladium Eagle, a coin that appeared in 2017 and boasts one ounce of palladium. The palladium coins, carrying a rendition of Adolph A. Weinman’s Winged Liberty (“Mercury”) head on the obverse and solemn eagle on the reverse, have a face value of $25. The beauty of collecting the Palladium Eagle isn’t just in the magnificent design work that evokes vibes of a classic, bygone era. These coins also give collectors a chance to get in on (nearly) the ground floor of a sought-after series that is poised to only continue growing in the years to come.

Catching up on the Silver Eagle or Gold Eagle series can be daunting for many collectors, and the same goes for someone wanting to build a collection of the slightly younger but still large run of Platinum Eagles. But Palladium Eagles? At present, there’s still just a handful of different issues the collector would need to acquire to catch up with the United States Mint and their current offerings of these palladium coins.

The palladium series debuted in 2017 with a single bullion issue, then a proof in 2018, followed by a reverse proof in 2019. In 2020, the bullion issue returned and was chased by a proof in 2021, then a reverse proof came along in 2022. The bullion finish returned in 2023, and only the future knows if a similar bullion-proof-reverse proof sequence will continue or if production changes will mean more finishes being offered during the same year down the pike. The bottom line? You can still give yourself a foundational set of Palladium Eagles now without spending five figures – at least so long as palladium prices hover around $1,000 an ounce.

An added element that collectors may like about the American Palladium Eagle is their mintage. To this point, the Palladium Eagles have seen mintages ranging between only 7,500 and 30,000, making them generally much scarcer than the more widely collected American Silver Eagles and American Gold Eagles. While scarceness may not yet translate to huge premiums above spot, who’s to say there won’t be numismatic price increases in the future if the Palladium Eagle series draws more collectors?

Time will tell…