Owner Comments:
Mintage 20,583,000
Minted at West Point without mintmark
On a whim during my travels, I stopped into a local coin shop that I had never seen before and saw this gorgeous American Silver Eagle. With an excellent sharp strike, satiny original mint luster on the obverse/reverse, smooth textured and creamy fields, and overall exceptional eye appeal and price, it was a find ! So I snatched it up ! There was only a light superficial contact mark on the right obverse field which probably kept it from achieving MS-70 status. No hairlines, milk spots, scuff marks or other flaws (except that one minuscule contact mark) can be seen in the fields at 7x magnification.
I was caught off guard with finding this coin, not having done my research beforehand. With so many 2008 bullion strikes in existence, this issue is one of the most affordable in the series. Had I known at the time of purchasing it of the huge mintage of this issue, I probably would have held out for an MS-70 and paid only a small premium. Oh well. Live and learn I say.
Numismatic News: 2008 saw a soaring demand for American Silver Eagles with production nearly doubling from 2007. The US Mint struggled to keep up with production, at one point suspending (then rationing) orders. The Mint even stopped orders for the Proof version, diverting all silver blanks to production of regular bullion strikes.
2008 average silver price: $14.99/ ounce