Since many customers ask us about graded silver eagles and why we don't offer them, we felt the need to explain the "dirty little secret" behind the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the coin collecting community.

First of all, modern silver eagles are minted by the millions (approximately 47 million coins last year) so they will never be considered "rare" by any definition of the term. In addition, the US Mint has actually gotten very good at minting the coins with exceptional quality right out of the mint tube. For example, of the roughly 225,000 2016 silver eagles graded last year by NGC, over 50% of the coins were graded "perfect" MS70, about 29% were graded "nearly perfect" MS69, with the balance receiving lower grades. In other words, a full 80% of all coins submitted to NGC receive the MS70 or MS69 grade!

In general, the MS70 grade retails at about 2 to 3 times the cost of a raw coin while the MS69 grade retails at about 1.5 to 2 times the cost of a raw coin. Unfortunately, these graded coins only have a "one-way-market" from the big national coin dealers to the consumer. The huge price premium initially paid for the coins can NEVER be recovered. If you don't believe us, ask these same national dealers for their "buy-back" prices for MS70 silver eagles from the past few years. You will be shocked to learn that the high premium you initially paid has evaporated and the MS69 coins are worth about the same as raw coins while the perfect MS70 coins might only be worth slightly more than an ungraded coin.

To add insult to injury, the major grading services offer extra cost options such as "Early Release" or "First Strike" labels. In fact, these extra cost labels are just another scam and simply mean that the coins came from the first thirty days of release - which can often include up to one-quarter of the entire annual mintage since there is huge demand for the new coins when they are initially released each year.

Finally, the dirty little secret... many of these graded silver eagles will develop milky white spots inside the slab holder - AFTER the coins are graded and encapsulated. This is due to a chemical reaction between the holder material itself and the coins surfaces (see above photo). For this reason, both PCGS and NGC no longer guarantee the grade on any silver eagle coins. If the coin turns or develops unsightly milk spots - sorry about your bad luck!

For these reasons, the Silver Eagle Coin Company does not offer any graded silver eagles nor do we recommend them period.

Please e-mail us with any questions or comments.