I am collecting PCGS Pr69dcam
ATB Quarters in year by year 5 coin sets. Some are labeled First Day of Issue, which is self explanatory. Others say First Strike which is defined on the back of the holder as being struck within the first 30 days of issue. One First Strike year is labeled Limited Edition. I have no idea what that means. Finally, some do not say anything at all. To me, they are all exceptionally nice, regardless of appellation.
So, what is the big deal? It is easy to understand in theory that newer dies might tend to give the crispest strikes, but differentiating between day one and day two, or day 30 and everything else really seems to be elevating form over substance. I cannot see that the market much cares because the price differences are inconsequential.
As, for die wear, I collect primarily 19th century classic coins. Die wear of these coins can become noticeable quite rapidly, and is described by terms such as late die state and early die state. Because of rapid die wear, most issues except for the lowest mintages required multiple die replacements giving rise to multiple die varieties of the same date/mint mark issue.
With annual mintages of around 500,000, if modern dies are no more durable than 19th century dies, there would have have to be multiple die replacements to complete an issue, and the FDOI or other appellation would be meaningless. Are modern dies so indestructible that they can kick out a half million proof quality coins? Or does the mint use a whole bunch of dies at the same time, thereby making an early issue appellation much less impressive?
So, why does PCGS bother to call out FDOI and First Strike appellations?
It's got to have something to do with money (for the
TPG) by attempting to create new levels of value. Cynical, huh? and is there anything about my Limited Edition coins that makes them in any way special?
Posted 09/26/2018 01:23 am
