By CoinWeek Staff Reports …..
2024 American Silver Eagle Day Starts Official Sales Period
At noon today, 2024 American Silver Eagle Day kicked off. Each year in January, the United States Mint releases its first American Silver Eagle coins of the year. Lining up to order the coins were collectors, coin dealers, and bulk buyers. The Silver Eagle is the most popular numismatic product offered by the U.S. Mint and an entire industry has been built to support the secondary market for the coins.
The United States Mint is offering the Proof version of the 2024 American Silver Eagle in two different offerings: the standalone version of the coin (Item 24EA) is listed at $80 USD, while the same coin packaged in the Mint’s Congratulation’s Set (Item 24RF) is listed at $82. Collectors will receive the exact same 2024-W American Silver Eagle Proof coin from both ordering options. The standalone coin is offered without a pre-defined mintage limit. The United States Mint will produce no more than 55,000 Congratulations Sets and has set a household ordering limit of three.
The True Silver Eagle Market Takes Shape Later
The Mint expects extraordinarily high web traffic when the coins release, and as of 15 minutes before the noon launch, visitors to the United States Mint’s website were greeted with the following screen notifying them that they had entered a virtual waiting room:
Upon entering the Mint’s web store, visitors were given a finite amount of time to complete their purchase.
From this point, a 30-day window opens up for submitters to ship their coins to the third-party grading services to be graded under the requirements of each service’s special label programs.
PCGS First Strike
PCGS was the first company to introduce a special designation for coins submitted for grading within the first 30 days of the product’s official release. Click here to learn about the PCGS First Strike program.
NGC Releases Designations
NGC offers a variety of designations, to designate that a coin has been graded within the 30-day of launch window. In addition, NGC offers a special label for coins submitted on the First Day of Issue. Like the PCGS First Strike program, NGC’s programs have proven to be popular with marketers and collectors. Learn more here.
CACG First Delivery
CACG launched in 2023 as a full-service grading evolution of the CAC stickering service, which launched in 2007. The CAC stickering service offered very limited service for modern coins. The CACG company, in contrast, grades modern and vintage U.S. coins and has introduced programs similar to those at PCGS and NGC. CACG designates coins submitted within 30 days of release as First Delivery.
Once submitted for grading, coin marketing companies and resellers begin to list their anticipated stock of 2024 American Silver Eagle Proofs in PR70DCAM and PR69DCAM.
After the 30-day submission window closes, submitters switch their focus to novelty insert labels. Novelty labels not only convey the same information that is found on a standard grading company insert label but also provide a theme that can add to a collector’s enjoyment of the coin. These themes can range from patriotic to historic, or can provide an added value – such as a hand-signed label from a United States Mint official, coin designer, or industry figure.
Taken as a whole, secondary market buyers and sellers play a significant role in cultivating and growing the market for United States Mint products.
2024 Marks the 38th Year of the American Silver Eagle Program
With the release of the 2024 American Silver Eagle Proof, the United States Mint’s silver bullion coin program enters its 38th year. With each passing year, the program grows in complexity, but it still remains a series that can be completed by determined collectors. The 2024 Proof coin is not expected to be a key date in the series, but until coins are examined by collectors and experts, it remains to be seen whether this issue will reveal anything interesting that might drive future demand and prices skyward.
Looking forward, 2026 will be the 40th Anniversary of the program. CoinWeek expects the United States Mint to mark that anniversary with a series of limited edition coin products and special releases. Expect news on those plans to develop within the next 12 to 18 months.
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