what is the difference between a pf70 2017 S silver eagle and a 2017 pf70 congratulations set silver eagle?
I think regular proof 2017 eagles come with W mint mark. The S's come in the limited edition proof set and the congratulations set. So the difference is from what set it comes from. There's no design difference.
You could get the 2017-S Proof ASE in two ways. The first one was issued with the congratulation's set. It had a 75,000 mintage limit and sold out quickly (mintage: 74,898). Later in the year, they also issued it with the Limited Edition Silver Proof Set. It had a 50,000 mintage limit and sold out quickly (mintage: 48,919). As the congratulation's set sell-out happened extremely quickly, it has also got a higher market value. I'm not sure if there is any difference in quality but someone on this site can probably tell you. I purchased it from the second offering in October 2017.
There's no difference between those two ASEs. The Congratulation Sets are one of those "feeding frenzy" things that defie logic; all based on the packaging. Yes, Really. Although originally there was a very limited supply only in the Congrats Set, but due to be released later in the LEPS - Limited Edition Proof Set. I collected all the past Congratulation Sets, originally to give to friends (kids friends, soccer players, etc) graduating High School. But I never gave any out. But last fall there was a "feeding frenzy" on 2017s which had a special ASE, which was available later in other packaging. But since it was only available "then" people bought it up. Then the prices crashed when there was a large return/cancellation to the Mint. I know because I tried buying some and they sold out in seconds. About a month later I bought from the cancelled order. The secondary market crashed after that cancelled order. That feeding frenzy also then spread to the 2016s Congratulation Sets and previous years. The 2016s in the cardboard packaging went up to 35x it's release price all due to the packaging. Ironically, the coin was available separately. The 2015 shot up (max around $1500), 2014 (max around $1400) and 2013s (max $300) also went up. The prices have been floating downwards since. I also own the Limited Edition Proof Sets. I guess the packaging for those mean nothing for a feeding frenzy.
