The Elusive 1982 1 oz MS69 Panda

The 1982 1oz is one of the key coins for panda collectors.  It was the first coin in the panda series, had a very low mintage of only 13,532, and excellent quality coins are very difficult to find.

In the early years, Pandas were regarded as commodity bullion, much like Krugerrands.  Little attention was paid to maintaining numismatic coin quality in the minting process or in the hands of dealers and bullion buyers.  As a result, the majority of 82 pandas have scratches, marks, poor strike and other defects that result in poor grades.  It is also likely that many were melted in the 1990s when gold prices were low, and again today as callous cash-for-gold outfits send these poor old pandas to the refinery.

In 6 years of active panda trading, I have received MS69 from PCGS/NGC on a 1982 1oz only twice!  PCGS and NGC statistics show that only about 15% of the graded population are MS69.  For modern coins this is quite low.  It is likely that most of the poor quality coins in collector and dealer hands will not ever be sent to NGC or PCGS because the low grade would make the endeavor unprofitable.  This means that MS69 may be an even smaller portion of the surviving population.

• Popular as the first coin in the panda series
• Low mintage
• Coins melted since 1982
• Most coins are poor quality:  MS69 is scarce

For the serious panda collector, this is a rare opportunity to acquire the elusive 1982 1oz in MS69!

Update

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