Lots of "Struck at West Point" eagles on ebay are listed as "burnished". People have no idea what they're selling or buying. NGC 1) 2012 W is burnished 2) 2012 "Struck at West Point" is not PCGS 1) 2012 W is burnished 2) 2012 (W) is not I understand they need to separate West Point from SF, thus "struck at SF" labels, but what's with the West Point?
For years, the uncirculated silver eagle's that are typically sold only to volume dealers in the green monster boxes have been struck at West Point, but since they started producing the burnished eagle's in 2006, it is necessary to distinguish between the two. Chris
It's the same as a "First Strike™" Label which is just a different "way" of marketing their bullion coins. Folks that know already understand that if it doesn't have a "W" on the backside it was still minted at West Point.
Chris, I'm guessing he understands that and I read it a different way. I think the OP is just stating that people selling coins on eBay don't properly distinguish between the bullion coin and the burnished coin in their listing.
If you are correct, he must be making this observation from the standpoint of a "buyer". Then again, the OP stated that buyers don't know what they're doing either. So, who is confused? You? Me? Or, the OP? Chris
You are correct. I have seen lots of "Struck at West Point Mint" TPG labeled bullion regular eagles (no W mint mark) offered for sale as "burnished" rare coins. Sellers are confused by the label: -2012 "Struck at WP mint" NGC -2012 "(W)" PGCS They somehow think these are burnished even though they are not. TPG's should label those regular coins just 2012 Eagle, it's obvious they are made at West Point. I am not confused, I never buy by some label. I know enough to simply check for the mint mark. But ebay sellers ask big money for regular bullion thinking they are burnished, and buyers bid big money having no idea either, just being fooled by seller's description and TPG confusing labels.
Here's an example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Burnished-R...07183?pt=US_Bullion_Coins&hash=item258affc24f
Same topic, "confusion" but for a different reason by the seller. I don't know if PCGS has started putting grades on their Genuine slabs but NGC and ANACS have for quite a while. An eBay seller sees XF DETAILS on a slab and starts the coin at close (or higher) to the published XF value. We know it's overpriced but there's a lot out there that don't. Or worse, the seller knows the difference so starts it at 75% of catalog. This is truly unethical. BUT the uninformed think they are getting a REAL bargain.
Kanga, I wouldn't call that unethical. I would call that unprofessional. What the TPG's is technically not a grade. BTW, here's a link to a coin up for auction at Heritage. PCGS VF Details, so they do the same thing as NGC and ANACS. http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1198&lotNo=10343
I actually sent him a eBay message told him that coin is not burnished and he said he will update the listing. It's still listed as "super rare" but it no longer says "burnished." I suppose that's a small victory. I honestly think the seller didn't know.
