2005 Silver Eagle First Strikes - Do I have a pile of junk or mint errors?

I just happen to have a new case of 2005 Silver Eagles. When I
opened one of the tubes to look at the coins, I noticed that each coin
appears to have an extra lip all the way around the outside of the coin
as if the planchet was just a hair too big for the die and this is
where the extra silver went. This extra lip is on the obverse side of
the coin and rises up above the top of the coin as opposed to outward
from the sides of the coin even though the coins seem a bit big for the
tube. For those coins that were face down in the plastic tube, they
clearly scraped bits of the plastic right off the tube and the pieces
are sitting or stuck to the coins. In addition, the obverse of the
coin on both the fields and devices, there are numerous tiny holes in
the outer layer of the coins surface. At first, I thought that these
were nicks, but they are not. They are definitely spots where silver
is missing from the top layer and you can see the shiny silver beneath.
The actual finish on the coins are much smoother looking than I'm
used too and yet appear almost matte like. If you try to rock the
coins back and forth in the light to see the luster shine move around
the coin, it doesn't happen. The shine just seems to glare at you as
it moves across the coin making the coin appear to have been cleaned.
To me, this is very unusual.
I opened a second tube from the opposite side of the case and
found the exact same thing. I can only presume that the rest of the
case is the same. The big question of the day is... Do I have a pile
of junk coins or might these be considered mint/planchet/die errors and
worth hanging on to?
The case's number is under a 1000. In fact it is under 750, so it
is a fairly early strike set. I'm wondering if anyone else has
experienced the same type of strikes I seem to have? I'm also
wondering if any experts out there have some ideas or suggestions with
regard to these coins. Of all the silver eagles I've collected, I've
seen none such as these.
I'd love to hear from anyone out there and I'd be very happy to
take a high res photo or two if anyone wishes to see (photo size is
approx 2.5MBs, so make sure your email can hangle it).
Thanks, Stargazur

Stargazur wrote:
I just happen to have a new case of 2005 Silver Eagles. When I
opened one of the tubes to look at the coins, I noticed that each coin
appears to have an extra lip all the way around the outside of the
coin as if the planchet was just a hair too big for the die and this
is where the extra silver went.

The trick is getting some group like CONECA to recognize it, and then
get it into a slab labeled as such. If you do that, you got mint error.
Otherwise, you just have a pile of crappy silver.

--
Bob

Stargazer, I know someone that just took delivery of several tubes of
2005 eagles today. I took a look at them and they look simlar to what
you describe. The coins are actually thicker than normal so much so
that the green lid on the top of the tube does not go all the way down
and fit properly. I would have to have only 19 coins in the tube to
have a proper fitting of the lid. Comparing 2002 and 2005 it looks
like the 2005 has a taller rim and maybe was struck harder than normal.
I too also noticed the matt like finish when comparing the 2002 to
the 2005. The detail also looks better on the 2002 than these new
2005. VERY STRANGE!!!! Any info or conjecture would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Thanks everyone for the comments and information sources (CONECA)
so far. I've taken possession of two more rolls (tubes) of Eagles from
a different source and they too show the same characteristics as I
described earlier. I find it difficult to believe the U.S. Mint would
put out a bad specimen of a coin in a large mass, I know it has
happened in the past, but this just seems way out of place. I do plan
to document with photos and send a a coin off to a CONECA
representative to see what they have to say.
The coins do appear to have a thicker (wider) rim so they don't
fit correctly into the plastic tubes. One of the first things I
notices when opening my case was that a couple of the tubes had covers
loosely sitting in place. All the others sit up way high and barely
fit in place.
I did weigh some of the coins. They all come in at 31.3 to 31.4
grams which is about 0.2 - 0.3 grams heavier than what the mint says at
31.101 grams. I made sure my scale was calibrated. It is a "digital
pocket balance" by RiteWeight (model G-SA-TT-120B) and has been
extremely accurate to date. Of course, I checked out some 2004 eagles
I have and they came in at various wieghts between 31.1 to 31.3 grams,
so this doesn't seem to mean anything I guess. I don't have the proper
tools to measure the exact width of the reeded rim, but you can
actually see at certain points of the coin where it rises above the top
of the coin. This also occurs on the reverse side of the coin and
appears to be exactly opposite the obverse.
I'm also still curious to know about the little pot marks where it
looks like there is missing silver. These are not nicks or ding marks.
Thanks again,
Stargazur