Introduced in 1986, the silver eagle is the largest U.S. silver dollar in our history. No previous U.S. Mint coin has contained so much silver, even the hefty U.S. Trade Dollar used overseas in the 19th century.
Most U.S. silver eagle collectors own the regular Brilliant Uncirculated issues, whose mintages tended to be fairly substantial. But the most beautiful and coveted form of U.S. silver eagles are the spectacularly minted proofs. Superbly struck with individual care by the San Francisco Mint, each silver eagle proof features deeply etched and elegantly frosted engravings. And the backgrounds on the coins have a dazzling mirror-like look for a stunning contrast.
Besides their distinctive beauty, silver eagle proofs are also vastly scarcer than the regular BU issues. The first three 1986, 1987 and 1988 silver eagle proofs had mintages as low as 557,370 compared to Brilliant Uncirculated annual productions for these dates of up to 11.4 million.
The 1986 proof is especially prized as the first in the ongoing series. The 1987 proof is 13 times scarcer than that year’s BU issue. And the 1988 proof had the lowest mintage of all three dates.
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