When my daughter was born, I bought for her a "full" set of coins for her birth year: 2007. Got them directly from the US Mint. The Proof Coins are in the cardboard sleeve packaging and includes 14 coins in two holders. I understand the "Proof Sets" are in a category by themselves and have a fairly "fixed" value that can be readily found (looks like about $18 total for these 14 coins). I also got a 2007 American Eagle 1 oz silver coin and 1/10 oz Gold "$5" coin. These last two are also in the original packaging: plastic capsule for the coin, in a "velvet" box, inside a cardboard sleeve. These also are listed as "Uncirculated" rather than "Proof". Is there some variability in the quality/grading of coins packaged and sold this way by the Mint? Or can they be assumed to be perfect? Would these be graded as "MSxx" or "BUxx" or something else? I also think I read somewhere that the 2007 gold Eagles are valued a little higher than similar years for some reason, but cannot find again where I read that. Thank you. rob
MS, and while they would likely grade high, never simply assume "perfect" (by which I can only assume you mean 70s). "Proof" and "uncirculated" examples are the result of different manufacturing processes.
Welcome to the forum Rob, and like Books just mentioned, the issues that you speak of are manufactured using two different processes. Nothing that the mint sells could be considered perfect but in the eyes of some of the grading companies certain coins grade a '70 which would indicate to most that the coins are indeed 'perfect' and flawless. If you put enough magnification on such coins designated, you will see that they are not. Stuff sold by the mint will grade up most times between MS(PF)-67 to '70 with the majority of coins falling in the MS(PF)-69 range.
Yes indeed, coins that are this new still in their packaging will look "perfect", but there is a rather significant price difference between an actual perfect "70" graded coin over a "69". The Proof coins would be designated "PF-xx" and the Uncirculated coins a "MS-xx" as "BU" is a generalized term rather than an actual grade. I think the $5 gold piece you mention is a lower mintage and they must have been doing the "burnished" finish that year. I'm not 100% on that, one of the gold folks can help you there!
