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Message:: [QUOTE="tcore, post: 103845, member: 2949"]I had not heard much about First Strikes before and what qualifies them.  I don't own any First Strike designated coins either.  Given what was presented in the threads you mentioned, I would have to agree with you that the First Strike designation is merely a marketing ploy.  It doesn't mean that I wouldn't necessarily buy a First Strike coin, but I wouldn't pay any more for it than a non-First Strike coin.  It sounds from your example given of coins being opened in January 2006 with a 2005 production tag on them that more than half of all coins produced would qualify for First Strike designation.  That's not right.  If there was some way to prove that certain coins came from a new set of dies, that sounds like the only legitimate application of "First Strike".  But there's not, so the TPG's should get rid of that designation. Something else mentioned in some of the threads you posted...I can understand paying more for some of these autographed coin slabs (though I haven't done it).  That seems like a legitimate added value and if people deem that having someone's autograph is worth something, so be it.  The autograph market is huge and people pay for just the pen on paper signatures, so there's no reason that they shouldn't pay for an autograph on a slab as long as they want to and they know what they're getting.[/QUOTE]