Buying first strikes yearly

It's great that you made a profit. But I agree with some of the other comments that the First strike/Early Strike designation are marketing gimmicks and will fall out of favor. I remember the baseball card pandemonium, in the 90's where even kids were buying up "rare" rookie cards to flip at a profit. Same with Beanie Babies.

That being said, it's not my place to tell people what things to collect. I have an ASE date set in a Dansco Album that I kept up until a few years ago (when they started selling too many "special" issues) and I think a date set of MS70 is a cool. However, please be careful about mixing "collection" with "investment". Based on the history of collectables, you don't want to end up with multiple sets that are worth a lot less than your purchase price.

Just my opinion, you're mileage may vary

 

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I can relate to all the concerns expressed here, and I have my own safety nets with my 5 oz ATBs, though I do admit to having bought some slabbed MS69s.

Even with my bullion, though, I can sleep at night knowing they will always be worth at least melt, and should we someday no longer worship silver, I will still have a quarter I can spend.

 

Glad you have made money on this, but people paying for the special labels are collecting just that -- special labels. This has basically become a large exonumia field that is ripe for a big correction.

Another thing that you need to be careful of is buying slabbed ASEs with 70 grades. Many ASEs have developed what are called "milk spots" after having been holdered. These are unsaleable as 70s, so you need to keep an eye on your coins and unload them if problems start showing up. There is nothing that is known that can always prevent or remove these spots, and they're hard to predict. You owe it to yourself to study milk spots if you are collecting ASEs.

 

Just out of curiosity, based on what? And what constitutes a "big correction"?

 

I would actually enjoy watching someone try and convince a cashier that's actually a quarter

 

Or jam it into a candy machine...

 

Sold five of them to Apmex. I guess Apmex are fools too.

 

I would buy non-first strikes as well. I just want them proof 70 from PCGS. I guess I should had clarified better in my OP.

 

Proofs are an entirely different matter.

 

Agreed.

 

It's been hard to find one's which are not labelled "first strike". I mainly look for ms-70. If they are first strike, so be it.

 

He had to come back from the dead to do it. Just like Ed Herlihy.........voice of Kraft cheese........cheesey here as well.

 

A parking meter could make for a nice YouTube video

 

How can someone tell if a coin is "first strike"? Many times the mint produces this year for next year delivery. They are not stored or maintained in any time of strike order. When they are released the last ones struck might be the first ones boxed and shipped. Again, how can this attribute be assigned?

 

Basically, it can't be for the reasons you cited. But that doesn't stop the labeling.

 

If it says so on the TPG label. Of course the TPG has no way of knowing when the coin was actually struck or if they were truly the first ones struck or the last ones struck. All they know is that they received it during the first 30 days after they were released. So the designation really doesn't mean anything. Yet some people will pay a significant premium just because it has those meaningless words on the label.

 

I tried to explain this to the editors at Coin World. It was suggested by me that they do an article on the labels. They would have nothing to do with it. I suppose it is because so many of the dealers and TPG's advertise with them.

 

More than that, it was a smart move by them not to alienate a good chunk of their readers given the popularity. Really though it's pretty self explanatory, the PCGS ones even say it right on the slab that it was delivered within the first 30 days. Everyone is well aware of what it means at this point

 

Everyone except new collectors just coming in with everyone telling them to buy PCGS and NGC slabbed coins. They see that "First Strike" and think it is something special. That's why we keep getting this question.

 

That's not really true. This thread was started by someone who knew exactly what it was, it was everyone else that turned it into the what it is. It just seems to be hard for some to understand that people know what it is and don't care they like it anyway. Again the PCGS label literally says delivered within 30 days on it