American Eagle One Hundred Dollar Platinum 1997 to Date

The American Platinum Eagle began in 1995, when Mint Director Philip N. Diehl, the American Numismatic Association's president David L. Ganz and Jacques Luben of Platinum Guild International set out to get a platinum coin authorized, according to Wikipedia. Congress gave the authority in Public Law 104-208, signed September 30, 1996, which added subsection (k) to 31 U.S.C. 5112. Unlike the gold and silver eagle laws, it fixes no design or size. The Secretary of the Treasury may strike platinum bullion and proof coins in whatever specifications, designs, varieties and denominations the Secretary prescribes.

The first proofs went on sale June 6, 1997, and bullion coins followed that September. Each year's one-ounce coin comes in two main versions. The bullion coin is sold in bulk to the Mint's authorized purchasers, who resell it to the public, so its annual figure is the Mint's sales to those dealers. The proof is sold by the Mint directly to collectors.

The one-ounce coin is the only size still made. Tenth-, quarter- and half-ounce coins were struck alongside it from 1997 through 2008 (see the tenth-ounce, quarter-ounce and half-ounce guides). The bullion coin has had gaps. The Mint sold none from 2009 through 2013, offered it again in 2014, and skipped 2015, when it put its limited supply of platinum blanks into the proof. Sales resumed in 2016.

• Bullion: John Mercanti's close portrait of the Statue of Liberty on the obverse and Thomas D. Rogers's eagle soaring above the rising sun on the reverse, unchanged since 1997, with no mint mark. NGC records the 1997-2008 coins as Philadelphia strikes; the Mint and Coin World place the 2014-2019 coins at West Point.
• Proof: West Point, marked W. Through 2017 the proof kept Mercanti's obverse and changed its reverse; since 2018 the obverse changes and the reverse stays the same.
• Burnished: 2006, 2007 and 2008 only. West Point coins on burnished blanks with a W, carrying the proof reverse of their year. See the 2006, 2007 and 2008 burnished coins.

The proof designs

With the 2010 coin the Mint added a small eagle privy mark to the Preamble to the Constitution proofs, made from an old coin punch found at the Philadelphia Mint.

Bullion figures are the Mint's sales to authorized purchasers; proof and burnished figures are the Mint's sales to collectors. For 1997-2016 they are the figures Wikipedia reproduces as the Mint's audited totals, except the 2011 proof noted below; later ones come from the Mint's sales reports, as printed by Coin World and CoinNews, and the 2014 bullion figure is the one the Mint gave in 2015. A proof still listed in the Mint's weekly report is shown only once its total has held for a full year; "not final" marks one that changed in the year to October 2026. A dash means no coin of that kind was made.

NGC lists a 2024 bullion coin, but no Mint sales figure for 2024 or later bullion was found, and a bullion sales report printed by USCoinNews showed no platinum sold through November 10, 2024 (search). Some figures differ from other references. For the 2011 proof PCGS gives 14,835 (search), the figure used here, and Wikipedia 14,790; NGC gives 16,700 for the 2014 bullion coin. One dealer listing shows 3,881 for the 2015 proof (search). The 2018 proof stayed on sale for years, so older references print lower totals; the Mint's report put it at 16,576 in October 2025 and 19,180 from January 2026. The 2023 and 2024 proofs were still selling in October 2026, at 9,350 and 9,599. The 2025 proof's total moved between 6,454 and 6,474 during 2026, last changing in July. The Mint had sold 6,559 of the 2026 proof by October 18.

• 2007 Frosted FREEDOM. The 2007 proof reverse shows an eagle over a shield, with a banner reading FREEDOM. On the regular coins that word is polished to a mirror inside the frosted banner; on a few pre-production coins it is frosted. A Mint spokesman told Numismatic News in 2011 that 12 one-ounce coins of that kind were made and reached the production stream by mistake, while the Mint was preparing for an internal audit. See the Frosted FREEDOM coin and the regular 2007 proof.
• 2010 to 2015 limits. The Mint capped the 2010 proof at 10,000 coins and the 2015 proof at 4,000, the year it gave all its platinum blanks to the proof.
• 2017 20th anniversary. The 2017 proof brought back the 1997 designs, so it looks like a bullion coin with a W and mirror fields.

Bullion or collector coin. A coin with no mint mark is bullion. A W means a proof or, for 2006-2008, a burnished coin.

Proof or burnished. A proof has mirror fields and frosted devices. A burnished coin has an even satin surface but shares the proof's reverse design for its year.

Which year's proof. Before 2018 look at the reverse: every year from 1998 to 2016 has its own. From 2018 look at the obverse, since the reverse eagle with an olive branch is shared by every proof since then. The 2017 proof is the only one after 1997 with the bullion designs.

• Composition: 99.95% platinum (.9995 fine)
• Weight: 1.0005 troy ounces (31.120 grams), one troy ounce of platinum
• Diameter: 32.70 mm (1.287 inches)
• Edge: reeded
• Face value: $100
• Designers: John Mercanti (obverse, bullion and proofs to 2017) and Thomas D. Rogers (bullion reverse); proof designers by year as in the table above