"W" Designation

[SILVRDOLLER11]

Do you know the date the "W" designation was first put into use? Also the ending date?

Approximately how many coins it was applied to?

Thank You

[Matt G]

Thank you for your question. I have copied the link to a news release from 2002 that describes this. We do not have a specific timeline for when this was discontinued but it went away by 2003. 

https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/787/

...With this growing emphasis on quality, two distinguishing designations have been introduced by NGC to segregate these coins not only by grade but by their appeal to individual tastes too. These designations are the letter ‘W’ to indicate a “white” or entirely untoned coin and the NGC star, applied to coins of outstanding appearance. These follow a coin’s numerical grade on the NGC grading label.

The letter ‘W’on the label of an NGC certified silver, nickel or clad coin identifies the piece as having no toning whatsoever. In common marketplace parlance, such pieces are described as being “white” and there are a number of collectors who desire to own nothing else. For that reason, NGC introduced the ‘W’ to distinguish such coins

[SILVRDOLLER11]

I found the announcement discontinuing the "w" effective 8/1/2002 but I haven't been able to find the actual date it started.  I believe somewhere around 2/1999