2016 W Silver Eagle On Sale Thursday

commems, you are correct that the blanks used for proof coins are highly polished by the mint before being used. The blanks for Uncirculated ASEs are burnished by the mint before use and the blanks for bullion coins are used as they come from the manufacturers. Those preparations do not impart the final appearance to the coins, they only reduce surface errors and lengthen die life. The die used for both proof and uncirculated coins are specially hardened before use, It is the die that impart the final finish to the coins. In general, bullion coins that are struck with new die are very similar in appearance to Uncirculated coins (but they lack a mint mark, and this year they lack the edge lettering) but later die state bullion coins will begin to take on a more brilliant appearance. Die used for Uncirculated coins are retired (or possibly reworked) before the coin finish changes.The same is true of proof die, they are retired before the devices loose their frosted appearance.

This isn't necessarily the case with all proof coins as two of my 2009 Lincoln Silver Dollars show, one from an early die state and one from a late die state:

Foxwoods Man:
Thanks for explaining. I saw the W, I didn't realize that it was not on the coin.

BigSilver, when it comes to collecting coins, and especially ASE's, you have to ask yourself some questions. Do I want my ASE's packaged in the original government packaging or in 3rd party slabs? 3rd parts slabs are nice, but they certainly come at a cost. That cost could have been used to buy more coins. How important are the labels that the 3rd party graders assign? If a coin has to arrive at the 3rd party grader sealed in a box in order to get a special label, is that label really important? I personally view it this way. If that same grader can't tell where two coins were minted just by looking at them, then they are not worthy of having different labels. Some people spend extra money on 3rd party slabs just so the slabs will say which set the coins came from. If that set is so important, I have an idea. Just keep the coins in the original set! I obviously have my opinion, but there is no correct answer. I would suggest deciding what you want to do from the start. That way you won't change your mind half way though and have to sell some coins at a loss.

Foxwoods Man is right. While I like my coins in OGP and raw, the graded, slabbed, and labeled coins often sell for more (sometimes far more) because there are people willing to pay for them. That is why when I bought 5 25th Anniversary sets from the mint, I opened one to enjoy and still have four in still sealed boxes from the mint. If I ever decide to sell them, I can have them slabbed by PCGS with "FIRST STRIKE" 25th Anniversary Set labels and since the percentage of 70s in those sets was very high, I will probably have one or two 70 sets to sell which will more than pay for the cost of having them slabbed and labeled.

To me, it is a scam to charge what the TPGs do simply to insert a "special" label in the slab. PCGS charges $18 for a FIRST STRIKE label and they say it takes an extra 3-5 days to do it. I have only ever had one coin slabbed and I feel that I got scammed on that one. It is an obvious mint error so I submitted it for error attribution (and paid a lot for that service) but PCGS insisted that the coin was minted "as intended". It turns out that their error attribution service is just another label scam because they will only so label coins that have already been designated as errors by someone else. In short, they don't actually determine if a coin is an error, they only confirm that is a known error and charge for the error label.

Slabbing modern coins is really only worth it if you are sure that they will grade as 70s AND you intend to sell them. You can have your modern coins slabbed if you like your coins that way but any coins that grade at 69 or less or otherwise don't qualify for some sort of desirable label won't increase in value over raw coins in OGP.

I don't disagree that slabbed coins with pointless labels sell for more. If I only have a certain amount of money to spend, I just think that it's better spent on coins in OGP rather than coins, slabs and special labels. I end up with more of what I value.

@clairhardesty: Thank you for the input, very informative.

My comment about 70s vs. 69s was a specific reference to the modern coins I have in my personal collection vs. a general statement about all coins in the marketplace. It was made based on my "in hand" examinations of the coins I have received.

RE: submitting your coins for grading HOPING to get 70's back.

This is NOT appropriate for sold out products (2016 Medals) since the price will be out of range to buy 70's from a company.

..but..for select issues that you think MIGHT have potential it sometimes is CHEAPER just to buy a 70.

Example: this 2016 W ASE....sells for $45 plus shipping...say $50

You can now buy a pre-sale PCGS FS or NGC ER 70 grade coin for just $20 total more than the Mint price. You can't grade a coin for that price AND you are not guaranteed a 70 in return...

I did grab some at this price...

Just a thought for you slab collectors