1995-W $1 Silver Eagle, DCAM (Proof)

Ron Guth:

The 1995-W Silver Eagle is the key date of the series and was once the topic of numerous headlines as PR70DCAM examples of this date crossed the auction block at stupendous numbers. The first of these headlines occurred in early 2013, when a PCGS PR70DCAM sold for $86,655 in a Great Collections auction. Later that year, a second PCGS PR70DCAM sold for $55,550. As the population expanded, the price began a steady march downward. In fact, if one looks at the APR for this date, every new sale sold for less than the previous -- without exception. In 2017, the price finally stabilized in the $15,000 to $16,000 range - still an impressive price for a Silver Eagle.

The lesson here is that the laws of supply and demand are immutable -- if the supply increases and demand remains the same, the price must come down. Conversely, if demand increases and the supply remains the same, the price must go up. In this case, it is probable that the supply of PCGS PR70DCAM 1995-W Eagles will increase over time, albeit slowly. Hopefully, demand will increase at the same pace.

Jaime Hernandez: The 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle has the lowest mintage in the entire Proof Silver Eagle series. The 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle was produced to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Silver Eagle Program.

The coin was only offered in a 10th Anniversary special five-piece coin set. Each set contained a $5, $10 $25 and $50 Proof Gold Eagle from 1995. As a free bonus, customers were allowed to receive a free coin with their order. Surprisingly, the coin was the newly introduced 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle.

The 10th Anniversary Set was priced at $999 each, either for all four Proof Gold Eagles or all four Proof Gold Eagles along with the free 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle as a bonus. All customers had to do was indicate that they wanted to receive the free coin on their order form and they would receive the 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle.

The 1995-W Proof Silver Eagle became the key date coin to the entire Proof Silver Eagle series. The coin ended up surpassing the values of every single coin in the 1995 Gold Proof Set, including all of the gold coins combined.