2011 Silver Eagle MS70

History

Congress authorized the American Silver Eagle under Title II of Public Law 99-61, the Liberty Coin Act, approved July 9, 1985, and the first coins followed in 1986. For the program's 25th year the Mint assembled a five-piece set, continuing a pattern set in 1995, when a special 1995-W proof marked the tenth anniversary, and in 2006, when the W mintmark uncirculated coin and the first reverse proof appeared. Sales opened at noon Eastern Time on October 27, 2011 at $299.95 per set, with a limit of five sets per household for the first week and a warning that orders entered before the official on-sale time would not be honored. Production was held to 100,000 sets, and the entire run sold out within several hours on the opening day.

Details

The obverse carries Adolph A. Weinman's design and the reverse that of John Mercanti, then chief engraver of the Mint. Each coin weighs 31.103 grams, one troy ounce, in 99.9 percent silver, measures 40.6 mm across and 2.98 mm thick, has a reeded edge and a face value of one dollar. Of the five coins in the anniversary set, four carry mintmarks: two W, one P and one S. The coin described by a plain 2011 date is the bullion-finish piece struck without a mintmark, and with 100,000 sets produced, no more than that number of no-mintmark coins carry set provenance.

Features

Weinman's walking Liberty, adapted from the half dollar he designed for 1916 through 1947, shows Liberty striding in a Phrygian cap with the folds of the flag around her, branches in one arm and the other hand extended. Mercanti's reverse, created for the series in 1986, presents a heraldic eagle below thirteen small stars for the original colonies, with the nation's name, denomination, weight and purity in the surrounding inscriptions. That heraldic reverse, now called Type 1, ran through 2021, when Emily Damstra's landing eagle replaced it, so a 2011 coin is a Type 1. Nothing on the no-mintmark set coin distinguishes it from the mass-produced 2011 bullion Eagle, and its premium rests on the Mint packaging and on a grading service's attribution.

Notable facts

• First Strike is a designation applied by PCGS rather than by the Mint, covering coins issued within the first 30 days of a Mint release.
• PCGS requires First Strike submissions to arrive in the original unopened Mint shipping box, postmarked on or before the cutoff date set for that issue.
• PCGS treats coins from the 25th Anniversary Set as separate CoinFacts entries from the ordinary 2011 issues.
• The 2011-S uncirculated Silver Eagle was sold only in the 25th Anniversary Set, unlike the no-mintmark coin that accompanied it.
• PCGS reports most graded 2011-S examples falling between MS68 and MS70.