U.S. Mint Sets filled with pocket change and coins from the garden?!

Kurisu

Do I lol or cry?
I only have a few of these vintage mint sets, they are ok but nothing spectacular.
I've acquired some very nice individual coins from mint sets over the years but honestly haven't handled many of the original mint sets.

So I got an amazing deal on these 3 sets at less than $5 each! Ok, well I thought it was a deal lol!

There is some of that nice golden/pink toning but the coins mostly seem to have been taken from the registers in the Mint's cafeterias .
No full steps, waxy alien like toning, green blue red and grey splotches, and a dirty SBA that was clearly picked up off the street lol!

Let's start with the first coin I noticed when I opened the sets...
That appears to be soil, yes, like actual dirt in there lol.

Damage or rim burr near the date on this one?

Tom147

IMO Quality from the mint just wasn't there in the 70's, 80's and early 90's.

WAYNEAS

Nice pictures on some bad looking coins.
Wayne

rip_f

You can only expect to get one or two nice coins from sets of that era. These sets probably hadn't been stored well.
Since you only paid face value for them - break them out and spend them.

heavymetal

Dirt on the SBA could be moon rocks. 😊

tincup

Not too surprising. As posted on other threads regarding 'moderns', the coins in mint sets are degrading at a fast rate. Choice examples are getting hard to find.

SanctionII

When I look through Mint Sets made from 1968 forward into the 1990s most of the coins in those sets are of very low quality and they have developed ugly haze that possibly cannot be removed.

However, every once in a while a very attractive coin shows up in those sets that stands out. It is these higher grade, attractive coins that warrant saving. When I find a mint set containing one of these stand out coins I purchase it, cut out the stand out coin, give it a bath to remove the haze and then place it in a flip or in an album. I then set it aside and enjoy the coin for what it is.

The collectors who do the above will (one day after most if not all of the remaining OGP mint sets are gone), be one of the only source of raw examples of these coins that will satisfy future collectors who do not view post 1964 coins with the distaste that many of the older collectors of today do.

cladking

The '79-D cent and '79 quarter are actually very attractive coins. It's hard to believe but finding a nice '79-D cent is not easy. It needs a bath but should clean up fine. The quarter isn't all that special for a mint set but there are almost no rolls because quality was exceedingly poor. This one is in the top 4% of mint set coins and nearly unimprovable from rolls.

cladking

@SanctionII said:
When I look through Mint Sets made from 1968 forward into the 1990s most of the coins in those sets are of very low quality and they have developed ugly haze that possibly cannot be removed.

However, every once in a while a very attractive coin shows up in those sets that stands out. It is these higher grade, attractive coins that warrant saving. When I find a mint set containing one of these stand out coins I purchase it, cut out the stand out coin, give it a bath to remove the haze and then place it in a flip or in an album. I then set it aside and enjoy the coin for what it is.

The collectors who do the above will (one day after most if not all of the remaining OGP mint sets are gone), be one the only source of raw examples of these coins that will satisfy future collectors who do not view post 1964 coins with the distaste that many of the older collectors of today do.

Generally there will be one decent coin in almost every set but it's not unusual for there to be none.

There are a few very choice sets out there but now days they are tarnished.

I has set aside the best fifteen or twenty of all the sets I've found but have cut most of them up over the past couple years. Sets stored well will clean up 90% of the time but those stored poorly only about half the time.

joeykoins

So, so sorry. How unfortunate. You first think of any variety possibilities. However, in that condition? Sorry buddy.
You were wondering to lol or cry. Well...

dcarr

@Kurisu said:
... a dirty SBA that was clearly picked up off the street lol!

It looks to me like that is burnt rubber, from a counting machine wheel doing a "burnout" on the coin.

ricko

Mint sets from that period seem to have a lot of poor quality coins. When I see them at shows (Gun shows, no coin shows in this area), I look mainly for '64 now and usually do not waste my time with other years. Cheers, RickO

Kurisu

@dcarr said:

@Kurisu said:
... a dirty SBA that was clearly picked up off the street lol!

It looks to me like that is burnt rubber, from a counting machine wheel doing a "burnout" on the coin.

Had not thought of that, I believe you're correct thanks! It almost seems obvious looking at it now...you know things.

CaptHenway

See my comments on the quality of Mint Set coins up through 1981 in this thread:

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/7547191#Comment_7547191

I agree that the 1980-S dollar got jammed in a counting wheel. The Mints used to use machines like them. Now they just count by weight.

cladking

@CaptHenway said:
See my comments on the quality of Mint Set coins up through 1981 in this thread:

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/7547191#Comment_7547191

I agree that the 1980-S dollar got jammed in a counting wheel. The Mints used to use machines like them. Now they just count by weight.

Great thread!

In addition to an average of one nice gemmy or fully Gem coins in a mint set there are usually about four coins that can be considered nice chBU. The others will significant flaws often from being beaten up in the "cement mixer". In every twenty sets you can find a solid Gem. In about 2000 sets you can find a Gem from a brand new die. There will be lots of other very interesting varieties and the like you'll find as well. In 200 sets will be a good variety and in 500 a PL.

The more different things you look for the more things you'll find. There are still some unreported varieties, I believe.

People need to be aware the days of mint sets (raw modern) are rapidly drawing to a close because these sets are tarnishing. The longer they stay in the packaging the less likely they can be cleaned. It is imperative that these sets are properly cared for now because they are running out of future.

Coincidentally the versions of these coins in circulation are rapidly running out of future as well. Clads were designed with a 30 year life expectancy and we're rapidly coming up on 60 years since mintage commenced. There are very few left in circulation and the ones that are are usually heavily worn and culls.

Kurisu

@cladking said:

@CaptHenway said:
See my comments on the quality of Mint Set coins up through 1981 in this thread:

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/7547191#Comment_7547191

I agree that the 1980-S dollar got jammed in a counting wheel. The Mints used to use machines like them. Now they just count by weight.

Great thread!

In addition to an average of one nice gemmy or fully Gem coins in a mint set there are usually about four coins that can be considered nice chBU. The others will significant flaws often from being beaten up in the "cement mixer". In every twenty sets you can find a solid Gem. In about 2000 sets you can find a Gem from a brand new die. There will be lots of other very interesting varieties and the like you'll find as well. In 200 sets will be a good variety and in 500 a PL.

The more different things you look for the more things you'll find. There are still some unreported varieties, I believe.

People need to be aware the days of mint sets (raw modern) are rapidly drawing to a close because these sets are tarnishing. The longer they stay in the packaging the less likely they can be cleaned. It is imperative that these sets are properly cared for now because they are running out of future.

Coincidentally the versions of these coins in circulation are rapidly running out of future as well. Clads were designed with a 30 year life expectancy and we're rapidly coming up on 60 years since mintage commenced. There are very few left in circulation and the ones that are are usually heavily worn and culls.

Appreciated! I'm taking your reply as a check-list reminder
Going to take a really close look at them all this weekend...wish me something you find every 2000 Mint Set searches!!!

krueger

I remember returning some mint sets in the early 80's to the mint because of extremely poor quality all looked like floor sweepings. they replaced the sets with barley acceptable coins. I think something was going on at the mint with mint sets at that time??

cladking

@krueger said:
I remember returning some mint sets in the early 80's to the mint because of extremely poor quality all looked like floor sweepings. they replaced the sets with barley acceptable coins. I think something was going on at the mint with mint sets at that time??

The '81-S SBA was dreadful. Just finding one without a long gouge was hard enough. 98% of the '80-D half dollars have a wide shallow scrape on the reverse, obverse, or both. Fewer than 1% of '84-D cents have flat pleasing surfaces. Some of these coins are just a mess.

Personally I find the some of the earlier sets even worse. Try finding a nice attractive chBU '69 quarter or a '75 t I
ike.

The scary part is that mint set quality is orders of magnitude better than the ones that went into circulation and this especially applies to the early dates. Mint sets were struck under much higher pressure with new dies and then some (minimal) pains were taken to keep the coins pristine. Finding Gems in mint sets is like shooting fish in a barrel; there's more barrel than fish but they are still hard to miss. You could have looked through bags back in the day and never found a Gem.

7Jaguars

Senor, can you share with us nubes your recommendations on "bathing" copper, copper-nickel and others? We don't hold you responsible but always like anecdotes and possibly ?? pictures of process. Shhhh, won't tell anybody....

cladking

@7Jaguars said:
Senor, can you share with us nubes your recommendations on "bathing" copper, copper-nickel and others? We don't hold you responsible but always like anecdotes and possibly ?? pictures of process. Shhhh, won't tell anybody....

I should just say it's proprietary and leave it at that but will say anyway because I want to see more of these coins survive. Even if there weren't already so few that a mass market couldn't be supported I'd want to see them survive. Wholesale prices are still increasing so it's a certainty there aren't too many.

I just cut up all the sets of a given date and separate them by denomination and mint. If fewer than 20% are OK I'll pull those out without a bath. If more than 20% are bad than they all go for a very quick soak in a dilute dishwashing liquid (~1 : 5). They are rinsed thoroughly and patted dry twice on a plush towel. If fewer than 20% are saved by this then bad specimens of the remainder are pulled out for circulation and the rest go into a solution of 91% isopropyl and acetone. Do not allow water content in this solution to exceed 20% or the coins will spot. Don't use wood alcohol. If most of the coins are saved by detergent then only the bad coins go back into the detergent but this time they are lightly cleaned using a microfiber glove. Bad coins are then separated with obvious problem coins going to circulation and the rest to the alcohol.

Eventually I'll end up with about 5% of the coins that are nice but have some sort of spotting. These I'll play around with using various cleaning agents and even ammonia but I can't recommend any of them because all of them will destroy some of the coins. I can usually save about half of these but keep trying until they are all destroyed.

This method was developed largely by the need for efficiency and to do no harm. Other people might find means that work better for them. I still have a lot of coins in safety deposit boxes that will need cleaning.

cladking

The above method works best on coins damaged by mint set packaging. While it affects many other coins it is less effective on most others. I have a particular problem with proofs and use an entirely different technique on them,.

7Jaguars

Thanks, Sir! Aha, well then will give it a go. I have had come world copper nickel issues that looked like crap and responded not to alcohol or acetone or combo, or to vinegar but did mildly so to dilute ammonia surprisingly. I then had a VERY valuable copper nickel coin of some vintage and used this method which worked partially and did improve it.

cladking

@7Jaguars said:
Thanks, Sir! Aha, well then will give it a go. I have had come world copper nickel issues that looked like crap and responded not to alcohol or acetone or combo, or to vinegar but did mildly so to dilute ammonia surprisingly. I then had a VERY valuable copper nickel coin of some vintage and used this method which worked partially and did improve it.

I have had a lot of bad luck with ammonia. I use the good stuff but it often seems to leave the coin "cleaned". It removes most problems but usually strips the "pristine" right off with them.

I'm always careful with copper but the process works well for taking off mint set tarnish.