Scraping Out Modern Silver Proof Sets...
Coll3ctor
Posts: 3,343 ✭✭✭
Strange how nobody wants these for $45.00 per set but I can get 25X ($47.00) just for the silver by putting in tubes and selling as pretty "junk silver".
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Comments
It's likely not worth the extra labor and storage to most folks to keep them as sets, which is why they are slightly more liquid and valuable after you have done all the work.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
They've long been in disfavor. You can actually get a higher percentage of greysheet on clad proof sets.
The silver is all the buyers want. The packaging is just unwanted bulk and labor to unpack.
And ya get to keep the change!
K
I have some silver proof sets from that time period. Was buying them back then.... They have been in a box for12-20 years. Sure hope they have not tarnished.
Cheers, RickO
Some of them have tarnished. Bad packaging. You better look.
I just broke apart 30 of them last weekend, actually not too much work. got sick and tired of having a big box of these, now they are in just a few little tubes. I will probably just spend the dollar coins, that may get some interesting looks
Now you got me thinking, with years and years of accumulated silver proof sets, clad proof sets, uncirculated sets, and presidential dollar sets, after harvesting the silver and cherry picking the rest, what is it all really worth?
Is it really just a bunch of heavy bulky boxes to be moved around every few years? Does anybody really want that stuff? I'll probably keep the annual uncirculated dollar sets since they don't make them any more.
(l8-)>>
Just last year I sold over a hundred of these sets to a guy who had absolutely no interest in the packaging and I saved a lot of money on the shipping. Now I have all these empty boxes packed away.
The 95 and the 99 are a bit better.
@ricko I have some silver proof sets from that time period. Was buying them back then.... They have been in a box for12-20 years. Sure hope they have not tarnished.
Cheers, RickO
I hope you have some beautiful rainbow toners in them. So you will be able to make some
Money on them. 😀
Martin
I never bought these when they were issued. I was starting to draw the line with the Mint's overproduction of different products and they ended up on the other side of it.
Still, it's odd that junk silver now includes proof coins. As they say, one man's junk is another man's billion.
On a side note, aren't all of these rarer mintage-wise than the W and S business strikes? I guess mintage alone doesn't mean too much.
I've been there and done that.
Over the years, hundreds of them......
For me once mint technology advanced to the point where every coin produced was a CAM or DCAM proof (around 1973 when dies became chrome plated instead of pickled in an acid dip) the coins became very boring.
Even the proof coins made from 1972 back to 1960 are mostly boring due to the mintage in the millions (there are some exceptions due to varieties, errors, SMS coinage, different appearances, etc.).
The proof and SMS coinage from 1936 to 1972 is a niche area in the hobby that can provide a collector with multiple benefits that include:
Variety (of designs, of appearances [brilliant, satin, CAM/DCAM, toned, untoned, Varieties, errors, etc.];
The ability to obtain and assemble a collection (or collections) that have fantastic eye appeal and Gem or better states of preservation;
The ability to actually find and acquire superior examples of these coins (with the devotion of time and effort, but no so much time and effort that one simply gives up) due to the large number of these coins that were minted (from about 3,600 in 1936 through just over 1,000,000.00 through 1959 and from about 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 from 1960-1972) and due to the fact that some of these coins/sets that have no yet been looked over are still available in the market place; and
The ability to find and acquire superior examples of these coins for prices that can be very modest (compared to the prices of other US coinage).
For yearly proof sets minted after 1972, they just do not have much appeal to me. I can see why many of these sets languish, including silver sets. I can also see why these sets are broken apart and the individual silver coins placed into rolls for sale as bullion while the non silver coins are viewed as pocket change.
You are allowed to recycle empty boxes... lol
I'm told things have changed since 2017...
I bought the silver proof sets from the US Mint every year from 1992 through 2012. I have bought them from time to time over the years, if I can pick them up for a good price. I always keep them in the original packaging.
I've been buying 2 silver proof sets per year since they've been selling them (well, I guess the 90s). Still getting them yet. Bad habit, maybe?
Disheartening to hear how low-value they really are, but I do have a sample of each coin minted over those years ... like the state and national parks quarters ... in silver ... proof. Yet they sit in a safe, mostly untouched.
I pretty much use the same stategy when I am inclined to stack some silver-beats the hell out of the USM prices of $105.and $235.00 for the 'limited' sets!
You inspired me to do the same with more than twice that group that I've become tired of storing any longer.
It felt good, yet a bit strange, to be building rolls of proof silver. It'll feel even stranger selling it eventually as junk silver bullion.
We may not recover Mint issue price until silver hits $35, but the storage issue is solved!