2020(P) American Silver Eagle Emergency Production First Day of Issue NGC MS70
During the early years of its production, the American Silver Eagle shifted from one U.S. Mint branch to the next. The first Mint branch to produce the American Silver Eagle was the San Francisco Mint, which struck the coins from 1986 to 1992. From 1993 to 2000, it became the Philadelphia Mint’s exclusive responsibility to produce American Silver Eagles. Beginning in 2001, the West Point Mint assumed full responsibility for the production of the monumental American Silver Eagle series.
However, to protect Mint employees from being exposed to COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic, an emergency closure of the West Point Mint occurred in April of 2020. This closure forced the production of circulation American Silver Eagles to transfer to the Philadelphia Mint for a short period of time. From April 8th to April 20th of 2020, 240,000 American Silver Eagles were struck at the Philadelphia Mint. These limited ASE’s do not depict a mintmark on the coin and will be labelled as “Emergency Production” by NGC and “Emergency Issue” by PCGS.
With a miniscule mintage of only 240,000 coins, these 2020 Emergency Production American Silver Eagles struck at the Philadelphia Mint are among the lowest mintage ASE’s ever produced. Mintages this low are generally only seen with Burnished ASE issues and special release issues such as the 1995-W American Silver Eagle and the 2019-S Enhanced Reverse Proof American Silver Eagle.
After undergoing a deep clean in accordance with CDC standards, the West Point Mint facility has officially resumed production of American Silver Eagles and other coins starting on April 21, 2020. Currently, the West Point is taking every precaution necessary to safely ensure the continued production of their beloved “W” mintmark coins.
