2011 "25TH ANNIVERSARY SET" Silver Eagle Grades from PCGS

This is how the real grading service PCGS graded my shipment of 5 sets (without First Strike crap):

2011 uncirculated..............................69/69/69/69/69
2011-S uncirculated..........................69/69/69/69/70
2011-W burnished uncirculated.......68/70/70/70/70
2011-W proof (DCAM).......................69/69/69/69/70
2011-P reverse proof........................68/68/69/69/69

So, as you can see, PCGS is much more strict than NGC! If I had submitted them to NGC the 69s would have received 70s (with NGC) and the 68s would have received 69s (with NGC). These were eligible for "FIRST STRIKE" but I wanted the coins graded with uniform special "25th ANNIVERSARY SET" labels to create uniform sets. As you can see, the burnished coin prevents me from building a matched set in 69. However, I am pleased that 4 of the burnished coins received "TRUE" MS70 grades.

-True Money!

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Permalink Reply by Clair Alan Hardesty on January 25, 2012 at 1:20pm

I know that the 5 limit turned out to disappoint many people but I still think that the mint was justified in setting it to start with. Using the 2006 set as a guide, 250,000 set limit & 10 set household limit took over two months to sell out with a $100 price tag. Even if you make adjustments for mintage, household limit, popularity, price, etc. and include a big fudge factor it seems reasonable that the mint could have expected the 2011 set to take over two weeks to sell out, allowing plenty of time for all interested to get one. I don't think we can blame the mint for the unusual number of non-numismatic buyers that went after these sets since this appears to be the first time that this has happened. It was clear to me by looking at many of the early sales on EBay that a lot of sellers did not have a clue what they were selling, knowing only that people wanted it. I don't think that the mint has ever been "attacked" like this before and I think it would have been unreasonable to expect them to anticipate such an occurrence. Basically, the cat is out of the bag now and we should expect that future limited offerings will be sought as much by non-numismatic flippers as by end collectors or even coin dealers. Also, in addition to the volume dealers, who we all know have been circumventing household limits by using employees and/or "mercenaries" it is clear that many of the new to the mint flippers also did everything possible to get as many sets as they could, in many cases blatantly violating the rules (and mostly getting caught at it). Some seemed genuinely pissed that using a second CC or another shipping address on the same CC did not work. Yes, there is much room for improvement at the mint/PBGS and there is work to be done before the improved ordering hardware and software comes on line but the experience on the 25th anniversary sets was, I think, a total surprise to all. Even the numbers of sets already graded is amazing compared to past experience (and the ignorance of many seeking to have coins graded shows again just how many non coin types were involved in this sale). It looks like somewhere between one third and one half of all sets sold have already been graded by one of the four top companies (PCGS, NGC, ANACS, & IGC) which is something I cannot recall ever seeing before. Add to that the number of opened, ungraded sets already sold and the initial turnover is stunning.

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Permalink Reply by Louis on January 25, 2012 at 1:29pm

I think a lot of the graded sets were submitted by dealers like MCM, who do a big business in graded coins.

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 25, 2012 at 1:40pm

I feel the Silver Eagle program is a totally different animal than it was in 2006!! I believe there would have been more 2006 Sets graded but people were a little slow in finding out the criteria to have them graded(Mint Sealed)...And so when the 2011 sets came out everyone was well aware of what they needed to do. I still think the 25th Anniversary Set Proof Eagle, W Eagle, and Bullion Eagle will end up being pretty major "key coins" in the future.

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Permalink Reply by Louis on January 26, 2012 at 6:41pm

Gary, A lot of 2006 sets were graded. I don't know the exact numbers off the top of my head, but I am pretty sure there are more graded than raw sets out there. Criteria have been well established for years. I think collectors had no problem understanding they had to submit sealed sets. They also weighed way less, which I think encouraged submissions. But as with the 2011 sets, most were probably submitted by dealers, who always submit the bulk of modern graded coins.

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 26, 2012 at 8:49pm

It would be interesting if someone could throw out some stats on the number of PCGS NGC ANACS and i guess ICG 2006 Anniversary Graded Sets!

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 29, 2012 at 12:58am

Here are NGC totals so far

2011 25th Anniversary Bullion-------->26087

2011 25th Anniversary S -------------->27310

2011 25th Anniversary W-------------->26090

2011 25th Anniversary W Proof------->26059

2011 25th Anniversary Reverse Proof-->27503

I understand that the S and Reverse Proof totals should and would be more, but wouldnt the totals of the other 3 be the same? Even if you sent these in and they didnt receive the 69 or 70 wouldnt you still want them graded? I would think a 2011 25th Anniversary Bullion coin graded a 68 or even 67 would be worth more than just a regular non graded bullion eagle!! By now there has to be alot of sets that have had coins swapped out and people are trying to sell them as 25th Anniversary Sets!!

Is there any sets graded by NGC or PCGS that dont have an actual Numerical Grade but are designated 25th Anniversary Set? Also is there any Non Early Release NGC 25th Anniversary Sets? I have not seen either, yet?

TM..u are a member of PCGS...could you post just the total numbers graded by PCGS of the 25th Anniversary Sets!! Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 29, 2012 at 1:03am

2006 20th Anniversary Sets Totals--------NGC

2006 W 20th Anniversary---------------->40593

2006 W Proof Anniversary--------------->36686

2006 W Reverse Proof Anniversary--->48627

These numbers are a little confusing here as well! I get the Reverse Proof Totals but the W and the W Proof seem a little off!

TM...could you post PCGS totals for these as well!! Thank You Sir

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Permalink Reply by Louis on January 29, 2012 at 4:11pm

I am not sure but the above numbers may not jive for the following reason. The reverse proof coin could be submitted on its own because it could only come from a set, but the proof and W had to be submitted in an unopened set box. My rough guestimate is that about 70%, if not more, of 2006 sets were graded.