Whats all the rave about First Strikes ?

NGC would have you believe they are more valuable than say a last strikes. To begin with a first strike coin is a coin the mint would have produced first. By the sound of it a First Strike coin was just minted ,fell off the press and landed in an NGC,PCGS,etc slab.

According to the US Mint there is no way to tell which coins were first struck.You can tell when the coins were packaged, by the date on the upc code but in fact that does not tell you when a coin was minted.Production of coins is a long process that has many steps of quality control.The US MINT wants to insure that the first coin is exactly as impressive as its last coin minted.

In order to insure this , the Mint frequently changes thier Dies. Coins are constantly monitored for flaws and imperfections. The dyes are changed at specific times regardless of condition also to insure perfection.

The Proof is in the Video put out by thew US Mint on thier official Website

Take the tour its very interesting,also I’ll bet you’ll be buying directly from the mint instead of paying premiums on e-bay , for coins that are still available directly from the Mint.

So to summerise; a” First Strike Coin” that you are paying a premium for is nothing more than a coin that was produced and PACKAGED first even tho thousands of coins were struck prior to that one.

A truly first struck coin which can be produced from the moment the presses start till the last coin is struck would be a coin that is struck on a BRAND NEW DIE that was just set in the press and removed from the press. Carefully taken off the press and set aside for NGC , PCGS etc

I truly doubt this is happening.With all the different products the mint produces and the millions of struck coins they have to track, do you honestly believe they are setting aside coins for a few favorite companies?