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CoinWeek's Charles Morgan breaks down the 2016-W West Point Hoard and why the Red Book's official mintage totals need to be updated for 2021.
In 2019, the United States Mint announced that it had put up for bid 183,781 2016-W American Silver Eagles, which it had held as surplus inventory. After selling through its entire stock at an average sale price that was below the coin's original issue price, numbers of the coin have made their way to the certified coin market with the WP Mint Hoard, or West Point Mint Hoard pedigree.
We break down what it all means and pose to our viewers the question as to whether or not the Mint should market numismatic and semi-numismatic coins like the American Silver Eagle beyond the end of the issue's production year.
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hey everybody this is coin week editor
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Charles Morgan and I'm back my second
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stream of the day I wear my glasses this
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time because at the end of the day after
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all this reading I need them so I wanted
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to touch base with you guys I've been
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getting quite a bit of email from
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readers relating to a very interesting
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silver eagle product that is in the
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market right now I don't know if you've
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seen it yet but I'm gonna show you I
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started with the little screen cap of it
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but let me show you again this is the
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2016 W American Silver Eagle this is
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that letter edge commemorative issue
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that the mint put out 2016 to denote the
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30th anniversary of the program now
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what's unusual about this requires a
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little bit of industry backstory and you
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can see that both grading services have
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received submissions of these coins and
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they're handling it a little bit
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differently to describe I'll go left to
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right here the PCGS holder which was
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forwarded to me by our friends at
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bullion shark features the date with the
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day 2019 and in parentheses and then
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below that you see WP mint hoard you
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know with the flag label and I'm sure
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they have a variety of well I've seen a
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variety of labels so I know they have a
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variety of labels on the NGC side you
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see 2016 W Eagle and it says here 2019
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West Point mint hoard 30th anniversary
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letter dejan both of these graded proof
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70 the mint basically at the
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forum this year revealed that they had a
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surplus of silver eagles that they did
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not destroy after the end of the 2016
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calendar year and that they were opening
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bids or they had open bids for the
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remainder which actually totaled a
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hundred and eighty three thousand seven
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hundred and eighty-one pieces so if you
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take the previously published sales
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figure for the date you're looking at
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595 thousand eight hundred and forty
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three coins sold and that's your that's
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a red book figure and with the
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revelation that the mint decided at the
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end of 2019 to sell basically unsold
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stock surplus stock that added one
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hundred and eighty three thousand seven
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hundred and eighty one coins to the
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available products in the market so the
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updated mintage if you will is now seven
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hundred and seventy nine thousand six
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hundred and twenty four coins the 2019
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sales coins that were sold are the exact
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identical coins that were sold in 2016
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in fact they're actually the identical
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coins these are just coins that did not
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sell by the end of that year this is
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basically a production overrun a very
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significant one to which I'm quite
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surprised about because this amounts to
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about a 25 percent overage over what
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demand was for that year now with the
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combined total of seven hundred seventy
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nine thousand six hundred twenty four
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that does not put the 2016 W American
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Silver Eagle you know and the upper tier
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of most highly were the highest produced
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silver eagles it's still sort of a
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relatively modest mintage for the the
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open skew coin but you will see I think
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a number of claims being made
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in the market about the rarity of the
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piece and how its how it's a different
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animal and I'm not really going to
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comment too much on what I think about
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that I think the great thing about
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collecting is collectors collect coins
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in their own unique ways and for some
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people that means you know you you want
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the the story so I'm getting a coin that
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was held in the government's you know
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the warehouses or whatever shipping
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distribution center for three years and
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then sold as part of this you know
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unique opportunity if that's worth a
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premium to you then you know there's
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nothing stopping you from from buying
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that coin we were looking at the prices
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that these coins are selling for they
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are selling for a premium which means
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buyers are willing to pay a premium but
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some retailers are selling them pretty
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much in line with what we have seen the
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Silver Eagles sell for and the and the
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original you know the original packaging
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s sold in 2016 so you're saying that
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that the original points selling for you
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know a hundred to one hundred and thirty
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dollars depending on the quality of the
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image as its photographed on eBay or the
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the traffic at the the auction site or
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the the sellers reputation you know alt
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is a factor and what Silver Eagles sell
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for in the secondary market so like I
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said a majority of the 183 thousand we
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are told went into I arrays according to
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the reporting that we've seen around
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there's some great reporting at coin
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world by legendary journalist Paul Jenks
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who got much of his information directly
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from the mint and he I was at in
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attendance at the mid forum I believe so
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you know so that's that I would look for
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you know the see what the market bears
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up for these coins as the market matures
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of course you know
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graded material when it comes to the
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market does tend to spike a little bit
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in the beginning this does have a unique
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and interesting story and it looks like
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the grading services are keeping the
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populations for these coins in their own
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discrete categories
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and of course that's their call but
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again the coins if raw would be the same
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coins that were sold in 2016 they're
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just sold three years later and be akin
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do you know me me having a store that
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sells a product and I make too many of
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the products and then three years later
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I sell it to a wholesaler for less than
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the issue price in order to get rid of
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it that's literally what the men did I
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think the deal was the average sale
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price of the coin was about 29 or $30 a
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piece which again if you've bought a
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silver eagle directly from them it you
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know is less then you would have to pay
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so how do you feel about this how do you
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feel about the West Point mint horn not
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necessarily the marketing of it but the
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mint actually deciding not to melt down
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these coins leave the mintage as it was
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at the end of 2016
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do you think it's good or bad for the
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market that the mint has now made it
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possible for unsold stock to be sold at
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a later date is that does that make you
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feel comfortable as somebody buying
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coins from the mint many many people at
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the Met do watch some of these streams
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in these videos and so if you can keep
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it respectful and give them good advice
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maybe that will get to the right people
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and we you know we can see some of this
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bear out on the feet and the future
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behavior of the mint and as far as the
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coins themselves you know getting a
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freshly grated coin from three years ago
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you know is your opportunity to you know
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maybe get one that's not faded or have
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milk spots on it I imagine if there were
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any milk spots they would have already
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turned up after three years so if you're
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in the market for a proof 2016 W you
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weren't you weren't on board the first
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time around well you have a chance now
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to get more to get it again and
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hopefully you buy smart and from a
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reputable dealer anyway that does it for
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me for today I appreciate you guys
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tuning in if you don't if you in the
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market for some nice high-end coins
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definitely check out our stream
8:40
previewing the Regency 24 the Regency 36
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sale which is taking place tonight at
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the Venetian but you can buy online if
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you haven't registered
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ready we ran down about 15 coins
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yesterday there's something a tastic
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coins some great buffalo nickels some
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great Indian Head cents great rarities
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in the Indian I mean not immunity since
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we previewed Lincoln cents there's some
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great rarities in the Lincoln State
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category including a 1969 a stubble dye
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and other coins that are certainly going
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to add to your collection if you're in
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the market for upscale material anyway
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for coin week I'm Charles Morgan until
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next time happy collecting