Owner Comments:
Mintage 3,603,386
Minted at Philadelphia without mintmark
This MS-69 is truly a find with no spotting whatsoever. The obverse and reverse have an attractive sharp strike on all the prime focal areas, full original mint blast white luster, smooth creamy and finely textured fields, and exceptional eye appeal. No scuffs, hairlines or other defects except for an absolutely minuscule contact mark on the obverse rim (just to the left of the date) which apparently threw it out of the coveted MS-70 category (which was prohibitively expensive in 1996).
Numismatic News: To help explain the MS-70 prohibitively expensive price-tag, one only has to look at the low mintage which, in 1996, represented the lowest mintage for the entire series. Demand for the American Silver Eagle reached a low in 1996. This is because the coins are produced in quantities to satisfy public demand. This diminished demand resulted in 1996 having the lowest bullion strike mintage for the entire series. Today, the coin enjoys a premium because of its relative scarcity. Simple supply and demand applies to coins too.
The 1996 bullion strike was ranked number 80 of in the book "100 Greatest US Modern Coins (fourth edition)"