Now, I may be thinking of something else, but weren't there three unc. silver eagles this year: a regular strike, a W, and a burnished W?
yes. same with last year. there is the proof (easliy spotted) and then there is the uncirculated coin that is sold by the min with the burnished dies and the W, and lastly there is the uncircualted coin sold through the dealer network that is not a burnished die, and has no mint mark. can get confusing, at least for me, but im starting to wrap my head around it.
there is only 1 unciruclated coin bearing the W mint mark yes. I dont have the coins in front of me, so i dont know if the non-burnished uncirculated coin with no mint mark was minted at the W facility or another facility.
The business strike silver eagle is most likely minted at West Point, however, at various times throughout there 21 year history, they have been minted at other mints. It all depends on production schedules. The reason that the silver eagle does not have a mint mark on it in the first place is to prevent a rarity. For example, say one year there were 50,000 silver eagles minted in Denver with a D mintmark. They would immediately become highly sought after coin and very valuable. There may have been 50,000 silver eagles minted at the Denver mint but with no mint marks on the coins, no one will ever be able to tell the difference.
What were the differences between a regular uncirculated eagles with the matte finish and the burnished eagles (with a matte finish)? I assume the dies were burnished or polished with the later. But, the frosting takes away any evidence of it right?
If you put the business strike unc side by side with an unc W mint marked coin, they would be virtually indistinguishable. Try it at home. I put 10 2007 unc and 10 2007 unc W coins on a table and mixed them all up with my eyes closed. Then I tried to pick out the 2007 unc Ws and I only got 4 out of 10. The only way to tell them apart is to turn them over and look for the mint mark. Try it at home and see how you do.
I think "burnished die" is a term that Shopathome coined. No pun intented They must have to use the term 100 times per airing.
And this is why the US Mint sucks. God forbid they create a non-error with some actual rarity. I just can't get into any recent mint offerings given the rate at which they're pumping this stuff out the door.
