The term First Day of Issue is a venerable designation in stamp collecting and most other collectible fields that means pretty much what the words would imply - that the item so marked or packaged was done so on the very first day that the item was available to the public.
Unfortunately, in coin collecting, this isn't the case. For example, coins in Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) holders which were minted in 2007 and marked First Day of Issue might have been placed in those holders just last week! Coins can be sent into PCGS ten years from now and still be marked First Day of Issue!
How can PCGS justify this virtually fraudulent designation? I explain all about it in my article about what the First Day of Issue designation really means. I recommend that you never pay extra because a coin has this designation!
Comments
I am not seeing the article when I click the link.
Thank you for reporting this issue! It has been resolved and the page should load just fine now. =)
I think this is a deceptive practice. Unfortunately, there are many tv coin shows that use this as a selling tatic.
I thought this issue was resolved. Through government intervention? Seems NGC has complied, and PCGS is still useing it. How? beats me! Unless they get hit with contempt of court charges. I’ve caught the late night T.V. coin shows passing through channels. One i stoped on claimed to be the first to use the first strike designation. Didn’t stay on long enough to catch the name of the show. But i thought it was PCGS who came up with it first.
coiny