Silver Eagles Labeling

[Davids5104]

Silver eagles have an appeal to me.... I am contempting collecting them, but before I jump in, some comments on my understanding and a few questions..... there are only 2 things I know about them..... You only buy MS69 or MS70. Most are affordable at MS70 so stick with them.

 

My question is this... The labels that NGC places on them seem like rubbish to me. First strike, first day, early release, etc.

 

I can look up the definition of what these labels mean, but they offer no impactful change to the coin or quality in my eyes. Other than me congratulating the seller of these coins on the terribly exciting nature of their label, what does this label offer?

 

I use Coin Manage software to document my coin collection for value and acquisition cost but most of these labels are not options. First strike is an option but not the others that appear. So is First strike the only label variety that matters? I also have treasury secretary MOY and mercanti present, are those special?

 

Thanks all.....

[19Lyds]

The labels only have meaning if you collect labels. They add no numismatic value to the coin which, if cracked out of the slab, is still a coin but the slab then becomes junk.

 

It is tantamount to purchasing a Television set simply because it comes in pretty packaging.

[bstrauss3]

The signed labels are an attempt to cross numismatics with philography (the hobby of collecting autographs).

 

Unclear whether it really adds any value - the baseball HOF coins being an example. Once TPG used real signatures, the other facsimile sigs... why would I spend one extra cent for a fake sig? A real one? Maybe...

 

In THEORY the "First Strike" or "ANA Show Release" label makes the coin traceable to an event or the beginning of the releases for a coin. To quote the immortal Yogi "In theory, theory and practice are the same, in practice they are not". People bought the Kennedy at one of the mint releases, flew into Chicago on the red eye and submitted on day 2 before the mint opened sales at 11am. I was sitting there at NGC at 10:45am doing my submissions (NOT a K50c).

 

I'm also not sure what the 1st 30 days means.

 

In Jan 2014 the mint sold 4.7m ASEs

In Jan 2015 they sold 4.6m ASEs

 

Sure, not all of them went to the TPGs, but sales were heavily front loaded - likely to meet the target release date for 'first' whatever grading.

 

The problem is that there's nothing special about those first 30 days. It's not as if the die is in it's new state at the beginning and by November it's a worn out piece of trash - they use each die for only a few 1000 coins. So even those 1st 30 days of sales aren't all from brand new dies.

[cpm9ball]

Silver eagles have an appeal to me.... I am contempting collecting them, but before I jump in, some comments on my understanding and a few questions..... there are only 2 things I know about them..... You only buy MS69 or MS70. Most are affordable at MS70 so stick with them.

 

My question is this... The labels that NGC places on them seem like rubbish to me. First strike, first day, early release, etc.

 

I can look up the definition of what these labels mean, but they offer no impactful change to the coin or quality in my eyes. Other than me congratulating the seller of these coins on the terribly exciting nature of their label, what does this label offer?

 

I use Coin Manage software to document my coin collection for value and acquisition cost but most of these labels are not options. First strike is an option but not the others that appear. So is First strike the only label variety that matters? I also have treasury secretary MOY and mercanti present, are those special?

 

Thanks all.....

 

Specialty labels like Early Releases (NGC does not use First Strike any more), First Day of Issue, etc. are just another way for dealers like Coin Vault to justify their ridiculously high prices. As already stated, the label adds no value to the coin.

 

Also, coins graded MS70 are not always affordable. It depends on availability. More importantly, is the fact that if YOU can't tell the difference between an MS70 and an MS69, then you would be better off buying the MS69. Sometimes, the only difference between the two grades can be a tiny pinprick on the surface. You can save yourself a bunch of money this way.

 

Chris