Anybody else snag a Congratulations set today? I got one. Was the first one I’ve ever bought. Picked up the new dual date with it. Plan on sending to ngc in original box. I heard the congrats ASE sold out in 20 minutes. I don’t collect them all but try to grab the lower mintage ones and had to get a dual date. They say there will be 500k. Maybe maybe not. Maybe those will end up cheaper on the aftermarket but I hope to get a 70 quality one. Most have been so far.
Proof American Silver Eagles. Previous years’ congratulations sets just had a regular W mint coin, this year has a P mint one with a mintage limited to 60k.
Time will tell. The congratulations set this year featured a P mint proof which hasn't been done in quite a while and was limited to 60k mintage. The 2019-S EHRP was 30k mintage and regularly sells for well north of $1200 yet today. The 2026-P proof from congrats set in graded PF70 pre-sales has been selling for nearly $700. But you have to send it in original unopened mint packaging to get graded. I'm not a fan of this but I'm going to do it. I want my dual date graded too. The congratulations set has been hyped on social media for a while. Heard it sold out within 20 minutes. I thought the dual date would last longer with 500k mintage but I see it is also unavailable now as of this evening. Maybe they'll come down in five years on the aftermaket. Maybe not. Good luck to anyone that wants one this year. They should be plentiful but I'm guessing the late night tv sellers have a lot of them. About half the mintage was spoken for before they went on sale with HH order limit of 10. Experience was interesting on the cell phone. I could not log into my account. I was in the waiting room with a 7 minute wait . Then it changed to a 1 hour wait. Then I somehow made it in a few minutes later and got my 10 minutes to place the order as a guest.
You can tell the majority of this forum has abandoned the US Mint. When I joined this forum a thread like this would be pages long by now. I don't blame anyone for turning away. The price increases this year were a punch to the gut. Kind of a shame collectors can't affordably enjoy the 250th with an easy to get, affordable silver eagle but they're gone. I'm bullish on silver in general. It's a steep premium now but they always have been. Melt is currently higher than issue price of proof ASEs I bought from the mint in 2021. They're graded 70s now too. When silver hits $200/oz, maybe in the not so distant future, these issue prices will be meaningless again.
Welcome to CoinTalk and I'm happy you asked, read all about it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Silver_Eagle
Saying this as gently as I can…there is no returning to the previous “normal”. Gold has to stabilize before Silver gets a clue to do so as well. Silver at current high 80s/low 90s will fluctuate indefinitely. I predict maybe next year to begin to see stability in an infancy stage. BUT…as regards ASEs…the Mint will never recede from the cash cow they have created. High prices coupled with high premiums will somehow metamorphise into a new normalcy.
