I honestly don't see the point/reason/justification for the 70 insanity. A 69 is so nice in and of itself, to pay the premium for the ability to say 'It's a 70' is IMO, a waste. But that's what's great about this hobby, you collect what you like, and that's that.
True because by the time it gets to the grader it has been removed from whatever it was in when it arrived and is just in a flip.
I don't think a true 70 can exist. I wouldn't doubt that if I took a micro scope to a coin graded Proof 70 I could find something wrong. Just like when they use the terminology of deep cameo or ultra deep cameo on a modern coin. Who Cares!!! The oddity would be finding a coin that you couldn't classify as deep cameo. I recently saw a silver eagle in an MS 70 slab that developed a spot. The spot could have come from someone that breathing while putting the coin in a slab or from the person that took it out of it's original packaging. One thing I wont do is pay big money for a modern coin in proof or mint state 70 slab. Some of those prices are simply nuts. Many years ago I saw an 1995 W silver Eagle proof 70 go for around $75,000.00 when a proof 69 was selling for around $5,000.00. I think that was because there very few graded at that level. That number changed very fast now there are 423 certified by PCGS. Here's the other thing about the 95 W proof sliver eagle. Most are likely still sitting in the original mint packaging with the gold proofs. There were around 35,000 struck and so far PCGS has certified 4,723. I didn't check NGC but, lets just assume that excluding resubmissions about 6,000 to 7,000 have been slabbed. That leaves about 28,000 or 29,000 still out there waiting to be cracked out. Don't put to much weight on whether a coin grades 69 or 70 most people can't really tell the difference.
Modern collectors More likely a milk spot which has nothing to do with anyone handling it You're thinking of the one that went for 87k. That sale was an outlier and significantly over the 2nd highest. Why it was such an outlier who knows but it was the first PCGS one to hit the market in several years which likely played a role. Most people that bought the set didn't care about the ASE and almost no ASE collectors spent that much extra on a set with all that gold just for the ASE. Are there more in sets sure, but there is also likely a larger than normal attrition rate given that the collectors that really wanted it didn't want to buy all the gold and the people that wanted the gold generally didn't care about it
This process makes you wonder...it sure as heck makes ME wonder...how the two TPGs can assembly-line grade the hundreds/thousands and more of all the "perfect" 70s they have ready and holdered for the HSN and other TV coin hawkers and mega-dealers/sellers in addition to keeping up with the normal, hi-quality grading demands.
I agree with GeorgeM, microscopic and not so microscopic flaws that even most of us can see just by the photos. The fact that this coin was struck almost 50 years ago when the U.S. Mint was not the greatest in technology or coin handling (even proofs) indicates that it's a wonder it was graded a 69, much less considered as a "perfect" coin. Many purists agree that there is no "perfect" coin, that there are flaws in each and every coin struck. TPG's apparently consider that a coin with very few microscopic flaws does warrant a grade of 70, otherwise there would never be any coin graded as 70 (perfect).
Agreed. When I buy new coins to go into my NGC Registry type set, I buy PR-69 graded pieces. I have one PR-70 to say I have one. It’s a Jefferson Nickel and it cost me $35.