The 2003 PR-70 explosion: 825 coins made (1.9% of submitted coins)

RGL

A little number crunching on a record year for PCGS awarding PR-70 DCAMs on 2003 issues. Many records obliterated by large margins.

According to latest pop report, 43,076 coins submitted, 825 or 1.9 percent have received PR-70 DCAM grades, setting several series records.

FYI, not counting discounts on bulk submissions, grading fees on the 43,076 proofs total $539,880.

Here's the break out on the PR-70 DCAM numbers on 2003 issues:

Cent: 24 (0.8% of 2,871 coins). Record: 50, 1993-S.

Five Cents: 62 (2.1% of 2,979 coins). New record. Prior record: 34, 1989-S.

Dime: Clad: 23 (2.7% of 863 coins). Record: 41, 1979-S Ty. 2.
Modern silver: 98 (4.5% of 2,187 coins). New record. Prior record: 19, 1992-S and 1997-S.

Quarter Dollar: Clad/all issues: 165 (1.6% of 10,437 coins). New record. Prior record: 53, 1984-S.
Modern silver/all issues: 185 (1.5% of 12,027 coins). New record. Prior record: 39, (all issues) 2002-S.

Individual Statehood issues: Clad: Arkansas, 46. New record. Prior record: 10, 1999-S Connecticut.
Silver: Missouri, 51. New record. Prior record: 11, 2002-S Ohio.

Half Dollar: Clad: 4 (0.5% of 797 coins). Record: 128, 1983-S.
Modern silver: 34 (1.5% of 2,282 coins). Record: 60, 1992-S.

Dollar: 33 (1.1% of 2,952 coins). New record. Prior record: 10, 2002-S.

Silver Eagle: 134 (3.0% of 4,352 coins). New record. Prior record: 38, 2001-W.

First Flight Commemorative: 1 (1.9% of 53 coins). Modern commem record: 49, 2002-W West Point $1.

Gold Eagles: $5: 10 (3.1% of 324 coins) New record. Prior record: 9, 2002-W.
$10: 21 (6.6% of 318 coins) New record. Prior record: 9, 2002-W.
$25: 15 (4.7% of 317 coins) New record. Prior record: 10, 2002-W.
$50: 16 (5.0% of 317 coins) New record. Prior record: 5, 2002-W.

Some very interesting numbers in there. I have my own theory on the boom of perfection, but will withhold mine and welcome the Forum's insightful observations on the huge number -- historically, at least -- of PR-70 DCAMs.

Russ

Yep, the mint suddenly and miraculously got it's act together after several years of producing junk.

Russ, NCNE

JohnZ

A friend of mine at MIT has a digital microscope, and I looked at several 70 coins under it at 100X. Trust me, at that magnification, there is no such thing as perfection.

tlhoy

<< <i>Yep, the mint suddenly and miraculously got it's act together after several years of producing junk.

Russ, NCNE >>


Yes but look at all the errors.

RGL

Geesh, is this any way for a guy to spend his vacation? Oh well for the second week, off to Vegas for five days beginning Monday.

redcents

Yes, but the real question is who's got the 1964 & 1998 Lincolns in PR70DCAM?

cladking

Generally the quality of the coins coming from the mint has been increasing for the last
few years. It is likely that this also applies to collectors products. There was very little
attention paid to quality in previous years and now collectors are demanding better. It
would hardly be surprising if all the quality has increased and will continue an increase.

The mint has always done a pretty good job with their resources but there is still a great
deal of room for improvement in quality of coins if they are compared to foreign mints.

redcents

p.s. the real challenge will be to produce MS70 Lincolns

coinlieutenant

Cladking,

Do you REALLY think that the quality control has improved at the mint and that is why more 70's have been made? I hope you are joking or were just making a statement with no correlation to the original question/inquiry of the thead...

coinlt

mgoodm3

Graders are getting older, just can't see those nicks as well as they used to.

cladking

I believe the average quality of the coins made for circulation has been improving the
last few years and that the minimal acceptable quality for these coins has been im-
proving almost steadily since 1966. I am no sufficiently familiar with the ultra modern
collector coins to really have an opinion on them though this does seem to be the concensus
of many of the statements made on these boards.

Certainly I recognize that there can be other reasons for the increase in the number of
higher grades and at least one of the services announced in advance that there would be
more PR-70's being made.

ClausUrch

The graders are getting better at darts!
Seriously, I would be interested to find out if this increase in MS70's is across the board for all newly submitted moderns or just 2003. Does anyone have any data for how many 1990 to 1999 MS70's have been graded lately relative to how many have been submitted???

Russ

Claus,

The only data I have is proof Kennedys. Using 1.01.03 as a demarcation point, there have been 110 new PR70's graded for all years, excluding the 2003 coins. There were 1488, and there now are 1598, an increase of 7.4%. Considering the fact that prior to Hall's assumption of the reigns there were three graded in three years, this is rather significant.

Russ, NCNE

RGL

To follow up on Russ' point. Since June 1, 2002, the number of PR-70 Jeffs for all years has climbed from 233 to 337, an increase of 104 or 45 percent.

There also has been a noticeable jump in many of the once-scarce 1968-75 PR-69 DCAM Jeffs since 6-1-02:

1968-S: +40 to 90
1969-S: +11 to 31
1970-S: +5 to 29
1971-S: +14 to 17
1972-S: +23 to 36
1973-S: +136 to 166
1974-S: +155 to 208
1975-S: +296 to 347

RGL

ttt for the night crew ... c'mon, I put some work into this!

numonebuyer

Thanks for the report.

Numonebuyer

drainbamage

Maybe they have improved quality..... maybe not.... I am under the dark cloud that it would be too easy to purchase PF69DC, crack them out and send them in to cause part of this. The market has been too sweet for people not to try such things.

As another thought....

The state quarters could have much to do with this. It is copper-nickel alloy and any improvement that is made will help all coins except the penny. The detail on some of those quarters is rather complicated and I am sure the job of pulling out all the detail possible is a learning experience for the mint.

I do worry about the penny. I never liked the zinc core and always wished someone would of thought of something better. It stands alone.

Android

This is all about PCGS giving out more 70's, not better quality at the mint or anything else. The number 70 was not part of PCGS's vocabulary for many years. David Hall said that roughly 2% of PR coins submitted (or minted) should achieve 70, so voila, it is happening as promised. A little more for series A, and a little less for series B. PR70's are simply not a "myth" anymore according to PCGS.