Does anyone know when the mint "officially" changed from the purple to the blue box for Silver Eagle proofs? Someone told me it was '93 but I've seen '93's, '94's and '95's in both purple and blue boxes. Did these get mixed and matched? Thank you
The last year the mint used purple packaging was 1993. In 1993, some coins were packaged with the purple outer box, while others had a dark blue outer box. The mint used dark blue exclusively from 1994 until 2000, and has used royal blue since 2001. Yes, boxes are frequently mixed and matched.
They do get mixed and matched - but not by the mint. It happens when a dealer sells a coin without the original packaging, but he saves the box. The later he sells another and the buyer wants a box - so he puts the coin he has in the box he saved. It also happens when someone sends one of the coins in for grading. Now the coin is in a slab and the box is no longer needed. So then they sell the empty boxes on ebay, somebody buys them and they put coins they have without boxes into the boxes they bought on ebay. Then they sell the coins in the boxes. So it's really easy to get a coin in the wrong color box - but you won't get one from the mint.
Is for some people I'm sure. It seems that most people who buy the proofs want them either graded or in their original box. I'm sure there's some that don't really care much though. "In original box" seems to be a selling point on eBay at least. I sold an extra 2006 I had on eBay and it being in the original box got me more money than I paid for it (oddly, it was still 2006, and the Mint still had them for sale for less than it went for! I suspect bidder competitveness had something to do with that too, but it being in the original box got it its first bid pretty quickly.)
I only have one concern and its for the unsuspecting newbie. An unscrupulous seller will take a beautiful non-proof Eagle that they paid a non-proof price for, pop it in a round coin case, buy a bunch of original Mint Proof boxes with their COA cards assemble it all together sell it on eBay and cheat a new collector.
Welcome to Coin Talk. This thread is 14 years old. You would probably get more replies if you started a new thread. We have a saying in this hobby "Buy the book before the coin". If someone can't tell the difference between a non-proof and proof Silver Eagle they really shouldn't be buying a coin. Sadly, some people do buy coins without doing any research. All we collectors can do about it is report the item if we see someone doing the wrong thing.
For a normal date ASE...there isn't much difference in value between a business strike and proof. They look a lot different, but I don't see a lot of value in "cheating" someone here. Plus, frankly, if someone wants to buy a coin and hasn't done the minimal research to tell a business strike from a proof...then they have only themselves to blame if this happens to them.
First, welcome to the neighborhood, George! I agree with both, TM & Cam.......and, yes, this thread is 14 years old.
