That poor sucker

As an American Eagle lover, I find, with great disdain, the policy that in order for the Eagles to be the 20th Anniversary "variety" they must be shipped straight to the grading company without the ability to even look to see if they are worth sending in for grading.

As a dutiful Mint slave, I mean subscriber, I order darn near everything that comes up and is somewhat relevant to coin collecting. I picked up a few of the Silver Eagle 20th Anniversary sets and one of the Gold/Silver combos. Sadly I could not get through to the Mint for the Gold combo so I'll have to do without (I sure as heck am not going to pay the outrageous price that people are askng AND getting).

I was also a lucky early recipient of all of the sets I succesfully ordered, so much so that the grading companies policies sbout certifying these treasures would only be done if they came in a mint sealed box weren't even published yet.

I'm no dummy (perhaps I am) but why all the fuss? I've got the original boxes the coins came in, I've got the certificates of authenticity, so the diffrence is exactly what? The label on the holder makes the coin more valuable? If that's the case we have gotten so far off track that it's scary. The beauty and quality of a coin is what makes or breaks it's intrinsic worth. I feel sorry for the poor sucker who pays a 50% markup only because the sticker inside the holder is different. What has the world come to?