Hi, I've been considering picking up some bullion pieces and in addition to the Silver Eagles, I was considering some of the silver Maple Leafs. I came across some of the earlier ones from the late 80s and was curious about the finish. Were the planchets on these polished by hand before being struck? The finish in the flat areas on these usually has a vertical orientation but some seem to stray from this.
Also, I've been looking at a number of images, it seems that even ones that are still in the original mint packaging, take on a lot of toning. Were these early packages from the mint made from pvc? Anyways, I was wondering if there were many members who had some of these older ones in their collections and what your thoughts were on these. Thanks