Owner Comments:
The 2004 Silver Eagle showed a slight mintage increase from the prior year but stayed within the 8 million range. As standard, this silver bullion version of the coin was sold to collectors and precious metals investors through the US Mint’s network of authorized bullion dealers.
The US Mint also offered a collectible proof version of the coin, which featured a high quality cameo finish. The 2004 Proof Silver Eagle was offered beginning on April 27, 2004 with a maximum authorized mintage of 850,000 coins, an increase of 100,000 from the prior year level. The coins were priced at $27.95, representing an increase of $3.95 per coin. At the time, this represented the third pricing increase for the proof Silver Eagles since first offered in 1986. The other pricing increases occurred in 1987 and 1998.
Certified coin collectors will find that perfect graded proof coins in both NGC PF 70 Ultra Cameo and PCGS PR70DCAM are much more attainable than earlier years of the series. The minting process had started to produce high quality coins with more consistency. Once again, perfect graded bullion coins are available in NGC MS 70, but have not been graded as such by PCGS.
The overall average price of silver during 2004 was $6.67 per ounce. On two occasions during the year, the price enjoyed brief spikes above the $8.00 level.