New Silver Eagle SF Mint Two-Coin Set

Assuming that the boxes with the fully assembled sets, minus the COA arrive in Plainfield at the same time from San Francisco, but Amida is correct, first orders do not mean first strikings, but whichever box arrives first will be first in, first out. Generally, there aren't "better" or "worse" strikings with modern proof coins, dies are changed so frequently you would need a very high power magnifier to tell the difference between the first coin and the last coin struck of any die pair. If you truly believe in "early strikes" put several individual orders in at different times during the order period.

For proof and especially reverse proof coins, any given die pair is probably not for any more than one to a few thousand coins at the very most. For an extreme example, the die for the 2009 UHRDE gold coin lasted for an average of around 300 coins. Very many die pairs will have have been exhausted minting this set and the number will be different for the proof and reverse proof coins (which wear out die sets faster). For the 2011 set, the RP die pair might have lasted around 1000 coins and the bullion die perhaps around 10,000 to maybe as many as 50,000. Die sets for circulation strikes last the longest but because of high mintages that may still only be a day or less. This is a major reason that FS and ER have no meaning, by the time any coin if offered for sale, many die sets have been used up and any early/late die state association has been scrambled. This is especially true for coin sets where the die have different lifetimes for different strike types. A month down the road you might be at the start of a new die pair or at the end of one, but many will have gone before. Also, with this set, since it appears that all orders will have been taken before any are shipped, there is another complete scramble as orders are fulfilled.

The die for uncirculated SAEs last somewhat more than twice as much as normal proof die because uncirculated coins are struck at lower forces and only struck once. Proof SAEs (and RPs) are struck twice, and the metal is harder for the second strike because striking hardens the metal. The ultra high relief Saint Gaudens double Eagle proofs from 1907 were struck as many as nine times and were annealed (softened by heat treating) between strikes. The repeated annealing and striking also had the effect of driving the copper into the coin, making the surface metal almost 24K by the time the coins were finished. For modern proofs, the second strike happens immediately after the first, the coin does not leave the press between strikes.

Welll I decided to go ahead and order 2 sets for myself. I do want to keep my entire set intact and this is the only way to accomplish this goal. The way that I figure it is that I'm missing only two coin set (gold and silver) that was put out a number of years ago. I've been on the lookout for that set but can't seem to either find it at all or at an affordable price. So I'll keep on looking for it.

still have to take into account the very last week of sales thats the week I'm sure alot of us are interested in

I really do wonder how close the count really is to reality since the counter does say an approximation.

Eagle not even to mention how absurd it is that it costs 15 dollars for an extra line of printing on a label

Should be interesting to see what the last couple of days bring.