Here are the current NGC census for Silver American Eagles certified MS70. 1986: 1,250 1987: 373 1988: 283 1989: 354 1990: 173 1991: 167 1992: 296 1993: 141 1994: 176 1995: 468 1996: 132 1997: 494 1998: 287 1999: 90 2000: 205 2001: 491 2002: 2,061 2003: 2,169 2004: 2,132 2005: 4,064 2006: 6,124 2006W: 10,078 2007: 5,276 2007W: 25,910 2008: 9,376 2008W: 30,242 2009: 13,400 2010: 48,856 2011: 92,035 2011W: 17,336 2012: 121,100 2012W: 12,679 2013: 104,514 2013W: 9,100 Remember that any of these numbers can change at any time.
Thanks for these numbers. Is the dramatic increase after 2009 due to: Better quality Mint production? More ASEs being sold? More ASEs being submitted for grading? More ASEs being submitted to NGC for grading? Relaxed grading standards at NGC? Just curious. They are becoming less and less of a rarity, that is for sure.
#3 and #4 are positively correct. In fact, the whole demand for MS70 Silver Eagles is because of the increased interest in certifying Silver eagles as a whole, this began as early as 2001.
i think there was just more made starting that year. more people got into collecting the series, which lead to more being submitted.
I've got updated MS70 stats for ya! '86: 1273; '87: 420; '88: 294; '89: 385; '90: 175; '91: 173; '92: 307; '93: 146; '94: 177; '95: 470; '96: 136; '97: 494; '98: 294; '99: 91; '00: 210; '01: 493; '02: 2097; '03: 2195; '04: 2224; '05: 4136; '06: 6191; '06W: 10214; '07: 5402; '07W: 26244; '08: 9476; '08W: 30587; '09: 13488; '10: 48955; '11: 92210; '11W: 17469; '12: 121263; '12W: 12738; '13: 119148; '13W: 11489; '14: 88504 (14W Coming Soon!)
More and more of these are submitted every year leading to greater census numbers. Best chance to get a 70 is soon after release. As time goes on, it is much harder to get a 70 submitting an earlier year ASE.
A lot of these ASE's come in as bulk submissions from the big bullion dealers. PCGS had a picture on facebook a few weeks ago showing stacks of monster boxes that were submitted for grading/first strike designation. Literally, tens of thousands of coins. The submitters designate a minimum grade of say MS69 and anything below that goes back in the tubes and get sold as rolls.
I heard from a local coin dealer TPG take only a few coins out of some of the tubes, and then determine a grade for the whole monster box. I don't know if that is accurate or not since this particular dealer does not purchase monster boxes, nor does he spend much time submitting coins for grading since he's not a big fan of slabs.
Part of me can believe this due to the labor involved in grading all of the coins in a monster box; however, it doesn't make sense if you're staking your company's integrity on the accuracy of grading.
