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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;900fine, post: 146009, member: 6036&quot;]Great topic.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Let&#039;s remember that the Mint is a manufacturing operation, just like Royal Doulton China. How many PERFECT china pieces do you see ?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Over time, a given manufacturing operation improves its technology and practices, and the product also improves. The US Mint first used collars around the planchet in 1838, and immediately the quality of US coinage improved. This is reflected in higher prices for better pieces before 1838, as there were more manufacturing problems.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>So how does the latest technology affect the quality of the newest US mint product ? How many MS70s (or PR70s) are they cranking out ?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Well, more than I thought.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>NGC publishes all of their Census data, so here&#039;s where we go to find out...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.ngccoin.com/poplookup/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.ngccoin.com/poplookup/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ngccoin.com/poplookup/</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>PCGS, on the other hand, restricts their census to &quot;members only&quot;.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I arbitrarily chose American Silver Eagle Bullion, Ultra Cameo only.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Once I had that page, I selected the whole thing, and cut / paste into an Excel spreadsheet.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>And here is what I found...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Total PR UC made since 1986 : <b>163,129</b></p><p>Number of PR69UC + PR69UC* : <b>125,232</b></p><p>Number of PR70UC : <b>35,585</b> (!) - almost 22% of total !!!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In earlier years, there were FAR more PR69s than 70s - in some cases, more than 30:1 ratio. As the years went on, the proportion of PR70s increased (as expected), until...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><b>In 2006, there were more PR70s than 69s !!!</b></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Total PR70s (First strikes + regular) : 9,868</p><p>Total PR69s (First strikes + regular) : 7,726</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I agree with prior posters - PR70 should be the highest possible standard.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>But whether it is rare or not depends on manufacturing quality at the Mint.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>AND, of course... strict standards at the grading services ![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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