2016 Silver Eagles And 2017? Commemoratives

Thanks for the updates TJB very interesting / informative.

This is suspenseful.

Interesting. Seems really odd to me to have two such disparate topics be part of the same bill, but that's why I keep my nose out of politics.

How was the Saratoga release forum?

Good information. Thanks for letting us know. I can't really see that a lettered edge eagle is any big deal, other than the errors that are likely to crop up.

Very interesting.


Okay, everyone, grab your Red Book. Tell me what I am missing.


Also, I agree with jack jeckel, why is this part of a transportation bill? This country is run by ignoramuses.

Yeah, it seemed really strange to me, but not at all strange at the same time, that it would be part of a transportation bill. But that's politics.

As for the coin forum, CelticKnot, it was pretty good. It was run by Ron Harrigal, the Mint's Quality Manager, which made for an interesting time. I came armed with the remnants of $100 boxes of P and D Kennedy dollars and I wanted to ask why there is such a huge difference in the condition of the P and D dollars and quarters (Denver's on average being higher quality than Philly's). When I found out that he was the quality manager, I didn't wait for the forum to start, I went right up and asked him about it face to face. I was mildly amused when someone later asked the same question during the open forum, and then someone who came in late asked the same question a 3rd time! It was great. But the answer was the same each time... They are aware of the differences in quality, it is a known issue and they are investigating why there is a quality differential. In other words, don't hold your breath.

Besides the two big issues I reported in this topic, there were a couple other smaller newsy items that he released, but I didn't keep notes and I actually can't remember what they were at this time. I did ask if they had and solid numbers for the mintage of the 2016 reissuance of the 1916 classic coins in gold, but he did not answer it with any concrete numbers.

The release ceremony was decent, but I arrived just before it started with my wife and kids, so we were escorted to the overflow gym where they were displaying a live video of the ceremony in the school's auditorium across the hall (which was extremely small and already full). The local bank was set up in the back of the gym for the coin exchange, so a LOT of the people sitting in the gym just got in line early and watched the video feed from there. I did learn a lot about the park and history behind the British surrender at Saratoga, so it was well worth going. I would recommend anyone reading this if they have a chance to go to a release ceremony near them that they should go to at least one. This was my second, I had gone to the White Mountain New Hampshire ceremony at Plymouth State University in 2013. The logistics of the actual event were better for the NH quarter release, but I'm local to NY so I personally enjoyed it more since my family was with me this time. Plymouth State's auditorium was huge in comparison and the building was much nicer than the Schuylerville High School, no offense to Schuylerville.

If anyone is interested in watching, our local ABC affiliate covered the event and produced a short piece on it for the Tuesday night news, http://news10.com/2015/11/17/heads-...rolling-out/.

I keep my ear to the ground on these things, so I'll let you all know if I hear anything new on this.

My belief is Congress wouldn't let ambiguity delay bullion silver Eagle production since so many interests depend on the new coins being available at the start of the new year. Collector silver Eagles can be delayed and even canceled, but the bullion must flow.

Then again, should something change, might we suddenly see non-anniversary and anniversary silver Eagle varieties?

And the Mint will market/sell them as such.