American Silver Eagle Coin PCGS PR-70 DCAM

If you want a PR70, or a graded one in general, really anywhere is the best place to buy them. Cheapest places I think are via precious metal dealers (APMEX, MCM, etc.) But you can always score great deals on ebay.

If you want a proof ASE, no grade, then the cheapest option is the direct from the mint. Of course, if silver prices tumble (which they may...forecasts and all), you might over-spend a little bit (regardless of graded or raw)

When they're released...I'm not sure. I think historically it's been mid-January. And this supports that conjecture: "The U.S. Mint plans to sell 2015-dated gold bullion coins beginning Jan. 5 and silver coins a week later, the agency said." http://www.kitco.com/news/2014-12-0...-Jan-12.html

You can expect to start seeing slabbed examples on the market within a couple weeks of release - the bigger dealers are going to move fast to be first to market. Buying that early is probably going to cost you a premium which time might not justify, though.

If I may make a suggestion, if you just want a slabbed proof ASE, buy one that is a few years old. I purchased two TPG proof ASE a few months ago for 2014 and 2013. Both were PR70 coins and looked magnificent. Now both are covered with milk spots. Unless you need a 2015, I suggest getting one a few years old so you can be sure it will not have / develop milk spots.

@Buddy - I was overly excited when I purchased mine. They were the first ASE proofs I had ever purchased. Both were PCGS 70's with gold foil labels [I know, waste of money, - but I liked the presentation and at the time they were proudly displayed on my desk (I've found graded coins make a great conversation piece)]. I had visions of purchasing one every year and slowly building a set. Then I slowly stated noticing the spots... First on the 13, and then they began to develop around October on the 14.

I still think I will buy one graded ASE proof every year, I am just going to start a few years back to prevent this from happening again. From reading other posts on this forum, it appears that if an ASE is spot free after 3 or 4 years, it will not develop spots.

Chemicals used in preparation process of the dies (I heard it was some kind of Flux, but this isn't confirmed) causes a small amount of silver to dissolve. Milk spots are the result of foreign materials in the silver that now (because the silver was dissolved) have nothing left to cling to, and can become visible over time.

They are thought to be caused by incomplete rinsing of the chemicals used to clean the planchets, and they can show up on raw coins. But stories seem to indicate that they really start showing up AFTER slabbing. After all there are a lot of MS and PF 70 and 69 ASE's out there with milkspots and the TPG's would not have graded them that high if the spots had been present at the time of grading. So they must have developed over time in the slab. Having to pay off under their grade guarantee is the reason they first dropped coverage of the ASE's for milkspotting and eventually today's exception that eliminates coverage for any coin that turns/goes bad in the holder after slabbing.

The TPG say milk spots have no effect on grading. There seems to be multiple answers on this. When I called pcgs they told me spots don't effect grading it's how the coin was struck and need a magnifier to see it.

HSN is preselling them at 200.00 a pop... All I can say is wow... that is way over priced.

I like watching HSN and Art & Coin show, so I can laugh at what they sell that stuff for.