American Silver Eagle 25th Anniversary Sets started arriving at buyer’s doorsteps Wednesday. The sets, which commemorate the 1986 introduction and resulting anniversary of the series, sold out in under five hours — all 100,000 of them.
Many collectors were none too pleased with the outcome, having spent hours trying to order one themselves only to be turned away by a non-responsive United States Mint online ordering system and busy phone lines. But those who were able to make a purchase through the difficulties are smiling happily. Their Eagle collection is enhanced. There are those who will also resell their set(s) for a very tidy profit.
Anniversary Sets Returning to eBay
25th Anniversary Sets are selling for more than a pretty penny in the secondary market. And with some sellers now able to place their sets on eBay after the company halted auctions late last week, going prices are at least double the Mint’s original $299.95 price. As of this writing, one set is up to $635 with 17 active bidders. Another is up to $691 with 9 bids. The United States Mint placed a per household order limit of five. Some eBay sellers are offering all five of theirs with auction listings above $3,100.
25th Anniversary Sets include:
- One 2011 Bullion American Silver Eagle (released individually on January 3)
- One 2011-W Proof American Silver Eagle (released individually on June 30, now priced at $58.95)
- One 2011-W Uncirculated American Silver Eagle (released individually on September 15, now priced at $50.95)
- One 2011-S Uncirculated American Silver Eagle (not sold separately, and not an annually released product)
- One 2011-P Reverse Proof American Silver Eagle (not sold separately, and not an annually released product)
The first three coins, as noted, are annual Mint products and available individually — the bullion coin through various coin dealers and precious metals providers for a bit over the current spot price of silver, and the two collector coins directly from the United States Mint website at http://www.usmint.gov/ or 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). The last two coins are unique to American Silver Eagle 25th Anniversary Sets.
Cant believe all the open box coins that are for sale. only lets 2 coins get the 25th label.
PCGS will recognize all five coins as 25th Anniversary coins if they are submitted in their original, unopened mint packaging. Since the “S” mint and Reverse Proof have only been made for the 25th Anniversary set, they can be sent in from an opened mint package and still receive the 25th Anniversary designation; however, the other coins in the set cannot. In order to have all five coins designated as 25th Anniversary they must be submitted in their unopened mint packaging.
Yes, when I first started collecting coins I too made the mistake of opening a package that should’ve remained sealed. Lesson learned. In this case of the silver anniversary set, that mistake of opening the sealed box could result in missed profits into the hundreds of dollars.
Sorry i am a collector. I opened mine. Those who don’t, can’t see the beautiful box, the coins in their original holders and the very beautiful way to display them. Profit, Profit, Profit, not in my house. These are for me and my family to look at and enjoy. 10 years from now call me to sell them to you, but I very much doubt if I will.
How much would it cost to have all five sets graded by PCGS? I am holding on to mine but I am curious as to how much something like this would costs? The PCGS grading is new to me.
Thanks
So it says 25th Anniversary – big deal. What does it matter if the set contains a 2011 W proof minted in May (yes I believe they started minting 900,000+ coins long before they were officially available end of Jun) or if it was minted in Nov? They’re identical coins no matter when they were minted. The exceptions are the 3 not normally sold directly to collectors – the P and the S coins plus the bullion coin which isn’t sold encapsulated except in this set. Anybody who believes that “25th Anniversary” or “First Strike” adds any real collector value… Read more »
I am new to coin collecting. Please educate me … If you send an un-opened mint package to PCGS for grading, how do you know that those guys don’t swap your perfect set (if they are perpect) with their bad set or they get mix-up with other set ? At least for the opened set you can look closely at your coins with a magnified glass and if your coins come back from PCGS and they look different then you know that your coins have been swapped. However, if you send in the un-opened package, you don’t have a baseline… Read more »
How do you think they get so many perfect sets to sell to the dealers so quickly? If they are sent in unopened, they know that no matter what they send you back, you cannot make a claim even if they are all scratched up. They can just say that’s the way they were when we received them, and you have no recourse.
I am glad to see people are skeptical of sending unopened boxes to the grading companies. Stupid rule. Grading companies make a lot of money because the people that bought 5 sets would need to get all 5 sets graded. A lot of sets will be graded which could increase populations. Maybe they will be rarer in the future in their original box state. Maybe the grading companies need to get bigger holders to put the whole shipping container in it and then they just grade the unopened shipping container. A lot of the shipping containers get damaged somewhat in… Read more »
Thanks Everyone….. Now I don’t know whether to open mine or not. I just got off the phone with the mint and mine are on there way. I got (5) Sets. I’m not sure whether to sell the whole unopened box to someone or to open it and sell them individually. I wouldn’t know a 69 from a 70 as I am too a newbie with coins. I’ve been offered $3200 for the box unopened, but I do not do Ebay and would be worried about the payment such as check, mo, etc., I believe this is one of the… Read more »
(5) Sets just went on Ebay for $3802.00 Unbelievable………….. Can someone tell me what ebay makes on a sale like this???
To answer a few questions above on Selling and Grading costs: Membership to Grading services is not free. Grading per coin is $30 to $50 in addition, Total costs will very due to: Postage and Insurance to and from Graders (expensive and at your cost). EBay takes a cut with potential additional listing and shipping fees. PayPal takes a cut and must be used. The Postal service / Insurance takes a cut and of course the Grader takes a cut. It is very difficult to make a profit. Coins typically grade between 68 and 70 and you do not know… Read more »
One other Grading cost point: There is an additional Grading cost of $3 per coin (with NGC) for “Modern Special” labels such as a 25th Anniversary and an Early Release label. And you thought the Dealers were making all the money! A true free market system from the Mint to the Collector!
Brian, I called PCGS and checked on the cost to do five sets as i am new to the grading aspect. It’s pricey, about $750
Mike
James
Ebays cut is 9%
Mike
Thank You……. I just got my tracking #. Mine are finally on there way. If anyone wants to buy my sets (Full Box of 25 Coins Unopened) let me know ASAP. We can discuss a price and payment options. I will not ship Internationally. Email me @ J3_Dog@yahoo.com
Also, God Bless Our Troops and All Who Have Served. THANK YOU VETERANS……..
Mike & everyone else, In regards to the $750.00. That’s alot of cash and I really don’t have to worry about it anymore. My wife texted me this morning to let me know that my sons x-box was just delivered from being repaired by UPS. She opened the box and texted me once again to let me know that it was not the x-box but the 5 sets I had orderd. I just laughed to myself at the time and when I got home from work I explained to her what she had happened and she just looked at me… Read more »
Brian,
My sets are due to arrive on Monday, I am contemplating opening the box as sending in 5 sets to be graded is just a lot of cash. Now that you have them open you might want to check each coin as I saw a blog that said there are errors. The reverse on one of the “unique to the set” coins is off of alignment by 15 degrees, if a small percentage is like this, may be more valuable.
Mike
To all,
you can send in the sealed box of 5 sets and only request that 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or all 5 get graded. Even though you bought 5 sets and you send in the sealed box not all 5 need to be graded.
Consider the potential value of grading coins. I’m sending my sealed box of 5 sets in to NGC the same day I receive the box. It’s in transit now. Opening the sealed box would cost me $hundreds, probably $thousands in potential lost profit. Someone pointed out that on Home Shopping Network on 11/12, ANACs graded (not a company as respected as NGC, PCGS) sets were selling for $1500 for a 69 grade and $3000 for a 70 grade. So, Brian, you can tell your wife that if all of the sets had graded a 70 (not very likely at all)… Read more »
Mike,
Even if you only request one or two sets to be graded, you will still have to pay for shipping and insurance both ways!!
Thanks.. RonnieBGood seen like you have alot of knowledgeable in collecting coins. I’m new to the hobby…Thank you for all the infor your… I’ll keep my 5 set unopened and send for grading but which company sure i send to NGC or PCGS ? I like to keep it for my children. Seen Grading make the coins valuable. I also have 2 x 2009 double eagle UHR in original box not Graded yet. And some MS 70 also under magnified glass those 2 coin are same at my MS 70. Can i still send it in for Grading MS 70… Read more »
I’m a collector not a profiteer. Its to bad that the sets are being sold for profit by the luckey ones that could get one.
Monte: Anyone who didn’t get a set, will have to buy one for more than what the Mint sold them for. The Mint made an error by letting 5 sets be ordered by every address. Collectors have one address, con dealers and cable coin stores have lots and lots of employees, who sell to them. All make a profit. That has been the coin collecting business since the first coin was minted. Maybe the mint will institute a new policy of either one per address for limited mintages or if multiples are ordered, a small fee to have each set… Read more »
I received 3 sets, today. I thought the Mint sent me rolls of the new quarters, because I didn’t realize that three sets weighed nine pounds. I’m looking at “The Coin Vault” and one of the hosts just related his experience that his 5 sets weighed 15 pounds. Wow! I want to see a set but I know, opening them is not smart.
have seen the Reverse Proof by it’s self sell for over $400 on eBay. And one guy even paid $3999.99 for 5 sets. Both of these sales were made in the last 30 days, according to eBay, completed auctions, serch results. I have also see the “S” coin go for close to $390 by it’s self. And the other 3 coins go for close to $300 by themselves with the case and COA. If you do the math, that’s over $1000 per five coin set, if you break them up. I would be thrilled to sell my 1 extra set… Read more »
What a shame…people are destroying these sets to get the two key coins graded. This is a limited edition with a run of just 100,000! How bad can they be where they need to be graded or marked “Anniversary”/First strike? I was fortunate enough to get my order in for five sets. I did the unthinkable and opened the mint sealed box to view these beautiful coins. I plan to sell two sets to collectors such as myself who were not as fortunate as me. People ordered these sets and are selling them without opening the boxes…Greedy people not collectors!… Read more »
John, its obvious you don’t need the extra money. For the people that are breaking up the sets that’s going to make a whole set being graded or not graded a lot rarer to the collector.
You guys won’r believe this! I received my 5 sets and 2 of the sets had one coin outside the plastic capsule. The capsule itself was fully closed! It seemed like they just threw the coin inside the box follow by the empty capsule. Has anyone hear of this before?