... The US Mint DID mint those. There were a number of 'look alike' silver rounds minted from many sources that the US Mint did not coin. I had forgotten about those, I went to the website and discovered I was in error. Because the US Mint made them they 'may' even carry a premium over the spot silver price. I am sure no coin expert.... I stand corrected.

As far as stopping production because demand was too HIGH makes you wonder. I wonder if they were being bought (EXCHANGED) for (non-precious metal) dollars and in a sense were doing what gold and silver certificates were once doing (being exchanged for a set amount of gold/silver). What is a foreign country said, "Send us 2 billion dollars worth?" It would overwelm the mint and deplete gold/silver stocks. But they could say "Limit 2 per customer." I dunno.... Who knows.. AIG may had gotten the gold already