Posted 01/09/2009 12:25 pm
Since 2000 ALL silver eagles except the 2006 P reverse proof have been struck at West Point.
The bullion coins (what many people incorrectly call P) are only sold to a group of six authorized distributor and they are then resold to dealers ad collectors all over the country. Those are the bullion coins available at a mark up over the spot metal price. You can not buy them directly from the Mint.
The coins with a W mint mark are mainly proof coins and are sold directly to collectors by the mint (2009 W proofs are not available yet.)
In 2006, 7, and 8 the mint also sold an uncirculated version WITH the W mintmark directly to collectors. I'm not sure but I believe the W mintmarked Unc program has been dropped now.
There is additional confusion with the 2000 issue coins because the Mint sold an special set to collectors called the Millennium set that included a burnished Sac dollar and a regular 2000 silver eagle with no mint mark But since the information on COA that came with the set said the silver eagle came from West Point, some of the grading services that slabbed the coins from this set (You had to send the coin in still sealed in the set) as 2000-W even though there is no mint mark and they are no different from the millions of other 2000 silver eagles struck at West Point with no mintmark that year. That is were the listing for 2000-W uncirculated come from.
Then for even more confusion, before 2000 the proof coins were struck at different mints. The proofs were struck in San Francisco in 1986 - 1992, Philadelphia 1993 - 1999, and a special 1995 proof was struck at West Point so there are two different proof coins in 1995.
The bullion coins (what many people incorrectly call P) are only sold to a group of six authorized distributor and they are then resold to dealers ad collectors all over the country. Those are the bullion coins available at a mark up over the spot metal price. You can not buy them directly from the Mint.
The coins with a W mint mark are mainly proof coins and are sold directly to collectors by the mint (2009 W proofs are not available yet.)
In 2006, 7, and 8 the mint also sold an uncirculated version WITH the W mintmark directly to collectors. I'm not sure but I believe the W mintmarked Unc program has been dropped now.
There is additional confusion with the 2000 issue coins because the Mint sold an special set to collectors called the Millennium set that included a burnished Sac dollar and a regular 2000 silver eagle with no mint mark But since the information on COA that came with the set said the silver eagle came from West Point, some of the grading services that slabbed the coins from this set (You had to send the coin in still sealed in the set) as 2000-W even though there is no mint mark and they are no different from the millions of other 2000 silver eagles struck at West Point with no mintmark that year. That is were the listing for 2000-W uncirculated come from.
Then for even more confusion, before 2000 the proof coins were struck at different mints. The proofs were struck in San Francisco in 1986 - 1992, Philadelphia 1993 - 1999, and a special 1995 proof was struck at West Point so there are two different proof coins in 1995.
Edited by Conder101
01/09/2009 12:38 pm
01/09/2009 12:38 pm
