What makes the burnished Silver Eagles with the "W" mint mark so special and valuable?

Question

What makes the burnished Silver Eagles with the "W" mint mark so special and valuable?

Answer 1

The so-called burnished eagle coins are the uncirculated type that is only available from the mint and have a lower mintage than the uncirculated variety sold in bulk to a network of bullion dealers. Then there is the 2008 one with the 2007 reverse. The lettering was change in 2008 and the U now has a line on it at the bottom of the letter. Some were made with an old reverse die that had the rounded bottom U used on the coins from 2007 and back. The mint said there is only 45,000 of them but I am not so sure they are right. From reading Coin World and Numismatic News weekly coin magazines I find a lot of people are finding the one with the old reverse so there may be more. Dealers are hyping them at $675.00 or so where as the 2008 with the right reverse is only $29.95. It may not be a good investment if more are out there than people think.