Star Privy Silver Eagles Entice Young Collectors
The United States Mint and a video game studio are collaborating to issue the second-ever silver American Eagle with a privy mark to help nurture a new generation of coin collectors.
The first privy eagles were the 2020-W proof V75 privy mark coins issued to mark the 75th anniversary of World War II. Those coins have a mintage of 75,000, one of the lowest of the series.
The new 2024 silver American Eagle bullion coin features a limited mintage of 500,000 coins and a privy mark with a five-pointed star in the right obverse field. Some collector coins in this series have lower mintages, but it’s a very low number for a bullion release.
The video game company behind these coins is called Nice Gang, a mobile gaming studio that was founded by a group of veterans in collectibles, entertainment, and gaming that includes Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) founder Mark Salzberg.
Latest Collaboration
The privy mark coins follow the mint’s recent initiative with DC Comics to issue superhero-themed coins and medals starting next year. Both efforts were designed in large part to help attract a new generation of collectors.
According Nice Gang, their first immersive mobile game, Eighth Era, is free-to-play and aimed at younger players. It will reward them with physical collectibles, including colored medals in NGC holders.
They will also include limited-mintage silver bullion coins with unique privy marks, including silver American Eagles with a star privy mark. There are reportedly also plans for another privy mark silver Eagles with an eagle privy.
Details on the New Silver Eagles
50,000 of the total mintage of the new privy mark silver Eagles will be available to players of the Eight Era video game.
The mint released the coins earlier this month. The coining facility’s authorized bullion sellers are distributing the pieces (apart from those that players of the game win).
Since the mint has not provided any details on the new coins, the available details are those that were provided by two companies—Bullion Exchanges (a New York bullion company) and CollectPure (an online numismatic marketplace).
The Philadelphia Mint will strike the pieces. Monster boxes of 500 coins will have white straps around them rather than yellow ones. The latter is used for coins struck at the West Point Mint, where most bullion pieces are made.
Collect Pure says the five-pointed star privy mark indicates that the coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint.
Examples of the 2024-P silver American Eagle star privy mark coin graded by NGC are currently being pre-sold by several bullion dealers on eBay and on their own websites.
At the time of writing, coins that are graded MS-69 or slabbed Gem BU were being sold for about $70, while MS-70 pieces were selling briskly for $100 on October 9 and more the next day. These coins were also labeled as being one of the first 50,000 coins that were issued.