American Silver Eagles From West Point Without Mint Marks?

@morgans dad

Okay, so you meant that rusting dies were the main contributor to inferior coins? I don't know how the coins compare, just curious about the specifics. Considering the proximity or the SF Mint to the ocean, I am wondering why their coins would be markedly superior. Equipment differences? Any clarity you can give would be appreciated.

Fox, I too was Heavy into Morgans, I am Re Reading the VAM Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace dollars, by Leroy C. Van Allen. It states EVERY aspect about the New Orleans Facility, and the worker's lack of pride and consideration for Quality, Poor air quality, moisture problems etc....... READ AWAY.... PS, I almost went blind researching Morgan's for decades, The ' VAM ' site had some of the most brilliant people who had done 100 times the research I was doing, They , basically left there too....... With all due respect, The site has changed,Like most sites, the member's make and or invest their time, efforts and inject their knowledge to build that site. People learn and people move on, leaving the site with all ' the member's ' researched knowledge, there for all to see and learn from. Very Knowledgeable hard working dedicated people, doing what they love, for all to see, long after these people have left these sites. .................. There are Still good people with strong passions there, Just NOT the same.... The times, they are a changin...........:)PS, I believe the researching I did, on that site showed, along with discussions on that site and this one, LONG, LONG ago, that the New Orleans facility was a damp, humid, old work place compared to other Mints and the out going products, showed the same, Problematic conditions which directly impacted the quality of the products being discussed................

This discussion that I started has proven to be VERY interesting and educational. Thanks guys for all of the info. I bought a book a while back called "American Silver Eagles" by John Mercanti, the guy that designed the ASE, that probably talks about all of this. I read the first couple of chapters, I guess I should dive in and read the rest, huh?

My opinion (which I'm sure is the one that matters to everyone here) is that if the world's most renowned experts can't tell where a coin was minted simply by looking at the coin itself, then it's the same as any other identical looking coin and should be labeled the same. Labels such as "(W)", "First Strike", "Limited Edition Silver Proof Set", etc. are designed to imply value based on meaningless provenance. If the original packaging means so much, then keep it and don't put the coin in a slab. If the higher quality of strike implied with a "First Strike" means so much, then search through a bunch of coins to find the one that you can tell is better struck than the others. If a coin came from a shipwreck or something like that, then I can understand giving it a special label as it would actually have true historical provenance. The government packaging that a coin was in between the time it was minted and the time it was slabbed does not equate to any meaningful provenance.

I really enjoy my complete ASE collection that is in the original mint packaging (except for the 1995-W proof which is slabbed). I'm very retentive when it comes to the condition of modern coins, so it took years to complete. If I had worried about irrelevant 3rd party grading provenance labels, then my collection wouldn't be complete, nor would it look as good. For me, it's about the coin. I do believe that the 3rd party graders add value when it comes to authentication and an opinion on condition. However, most of what they make their money on now is labeling gimmicks. And before anyone points out that some of these special label slabbed coins sell at a premium, yes, I do understand that. That doesn't make them any more worthy to me. Of course if you do enjoy such things, then by all means do what makes you happy. That's what this hobby is all about.