The purpose of this guide is to make collectors aware that a new variety of the silver eagle burnished coin may have been found. I say may because I have not seen the coin in hand. I have no reason to disbelieve it's existence other than general caution with any new variant. What was once a fairly common occurence is not as common anymore with the strict controls and practices of the U.S.Mint.

 One doesn't have to look far to find many examples of variants in coinage. Take, for example, the many varieties of the early Morgan dollars. There are at least three different known reverses on the 1878 Morgan Silver Dollar , as well as, many other known varieties including the 80 over 79, 8 over 7, the "hot lips" and others.

 A single 2008 W Silver American Eagle (burnished) listed as such just sold (4/20/08) for $238.16. Not bad for a coin that is listed at $25.95 from the mint. I actually had 30 of these coins that were "early release" eligible, some of which I received in late March and some on April 2nd. As luck would have it, I sold them before becoming aware of the potential new variety.

So what are the particulars? The U in United States on the reverse side of the coin does not exhibit a tail in the 2006 and 2007 versions. At least no one has reported finding one at this point. The 2008's apparently were minted with a tail on the right lower end of the U. The seller states " I have found only two out of one-hundred that don't have the tail".

 What could have caused this and what does it mean about value? It is very possible that some of the dies for the reverse 2006 or 2007 were still available to be used. (Nobody wants to waste money on unused expensive dies.) Either not thinking , not caring or by pure accident , the mint starting stamping out 2008's with the 2007 reverse half of the die set, thereby creating a new variety! Makes sense to me. What else could have caused the missing "leg" of the U other than possible incomplete striking.  The photos, however, do not appear to show any evidence of this. But hey, I'm far from an expert.

 As far as ultimate value, who knows? Short term it looks like 10x issue price set the floor. Where the value will go will largely depend upon how many turn up which I suppose will be directly related to how many were struck using the 07 dies, if this is in fact what happened. Will it be 2%, two out of a hundred as the seller stated? It wouldn't appear likely if the 07 dies were used for only a short period, but who knows. Value also will also largely depend upon buyer interest in owning one of these coins which, here again, will depend upon the ultimate population. STAY TUNED!                     PLEASE VOTE!!!!!!!      THANKS, J R

Since this guide was written it has become very obvious there in fact does exist a new variety which has now been certified as a 2008 with reverse 2007. Now the question becomes, how many exist, which of course will help determine price. I suppose at some time the grading companies will issue a population report which will give us some idea of how rare this coin will truly be. I can't imagine there will be a largr population even considering the mintage on the 2008. This coin may very well end up being one of the lowest mintage coins in quite some time. Who knows where the value will go!