Some '68 Mint Sets.
cladking
Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
I finally dug down through safety deposit boxes to find the "20" best I has cherry picked up until about 1990. These were pristine when I wrapped them in plastic and put them in a humidity controlled box. The Denver packets weren't too bad. About 6 or 7 are still pristine which is pretty remarkable. Most of the others weren't too bad. The Philly packets are all dark (tarnished). A few of the S mint cents are good but the Philly's have carbon spots.
Most of these will clean up OK but I have a lot of trouble with the Philly dimes.
Tempus fugit.
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One day I will open some packed cartons which contain mint sets I got many years ago. Not sure what I will find. I expect they will look much like when I packed them away, but there could be surprises. Decades of storage and a few moves, even a cross country or two. Cheers, RickO
I'll be interested to hear the answer. I saved a bunch of mediocre 1969 mint sets in the original five set packaging like the '68 set to sell when the price went up. Of course they weren't sealed but when I got them out last year to ship they were all dark.
I'm not sure what it takes to keep them nice but steady (low) humidity and storing them upright seem to help.
People have no idea how tough these sets have become. Most had already been destroyed before they all started tarnishing 20 years ago. Even if one has a pristine set he might be best advised to get the coins out of it. There just might be a huge premium for nice sets in ten years but how many do you have to save to have any make it so long? I'll be cutting all these '68 sets.
By the by all the earlier clad sets are continuing to come under buying pressure. Curiously this applies almost equally to dates that are usually good and dates that are usually tarnished (like the '68). This seems to imply either buyers are just seeking intact sets regardless of condition or that demand for all of the singles is increasing. I am seeing a lot more sellers for singles. These are usually at retail pricing. Perhaps, collectors are learning it's hard to find pristine mint sets so they are buying singles (most of which came from tarnished mint sets and cleaned in acetone). The current conditions are quite unsustainable but it's hard to predict what will break down first and what the effect will be. One thing is sure; collectors will always seek coins for their collections and no amount of tarnish will stop them.
@cladking... They are just stored in large, moving cartons.. still in mint packaging. Now I am getting curious.... will try to get it on the schedule. Cheers, RickO
Here are a couple boxes I have. I checked only the nickels and halves. On half has wide machine doubling. Want to trade? Yours would need to be unopened boxes.....not that I wouldn't trust you..............
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
Wow! Very nice looking Kennedy!
Aerospace Structures Engineer
I use to give away these and other high grade coins from mint sets I had no interest in. Added them to coin orders years ago when I had a coin list sheet through a free ad in the Coin World periodical. But that was years ago!
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
I just finished phase 1 of cleaning these. Almost everything survived even most of the '68 cents which I assumed were carbon spotted (only 5 were). I lost a few of everything but most came out fine. There are 8 Philly dimes in phase 2 which is soaking in acetone/ isopropyl for several days. None are "bad" but these have white spots. I found "3" spectacular Philly cents and a Philly chGem PL dime. There are two chGem Denver dimes and one veryGem FB. There are also two chGem Denver quarters and a chGem DDR Denver quarter. Rounding it out is a chGem half dollar. ...No DDO Philly dimes but these are tough in high grade.
This is highly atypical for so few sets but these are cherry picked from thousands of mint sets I had looked at up until 1990. All of the other coins except the rejects are typical Gem.
One of the dimes in the soup is a nice PL I don't expect to survive.
You wouldn't want to "trust" me.
I have never sold a chGem for less than $12 or a FS/ FB for less than $2. I always warn trading partners that I remove Gem and better as well as most varieties.
None of my sets looked as pristine.
I'm always amazed when I see a pristine set and wonder how they exist.
Safe deposit boxes are probably poor places to store sets.
You've likely seen your share of mint sets and hopefully had some success with finding examples similar to the following two coins. The first came from Bill Fivas, the 2nd, from Bern Nagengast. The number of years between them and myself likely exceeds 100 years of searching for a 1968-D with a nice strike, condition and steps.
And then there's this very unique find from Bern. I like to think there are a million years of searching behind this coin by 28,000 collectors over the last 55 years.
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
I was just amazed by the quality of the '68-D's in this bunch. In addition to the 20 best sets I also had another of the 15 best '68-D nickels from the assortment I cut. I don't remember how many but they probably represented a couple thousand sets I cherry picked. There were no FS of course but there were a couple coins just a hair's breadth away. There were quite a few with nice three steps. I know this "sample" is not at all representative and can't figure out how they got together this way.
This date come very very nice sometimes. But FS are pretty unlikely. I had none gradable of this date. The closest is an MS-66 that could go PL with 2 1/2 steps plus. There are a couple MS-67 but this would barely pay the grading fee. There is a 66/67 PL half that might go in. It's as PL as they come (probably) but it might not grade.
It just astounds me that despite nice attractive coins being so scarce that even when you find one head and shoulders above the rest there might be no money in it. Coins like Gem 1968 nickels are very tough even without Full Steps but the demand is almost non-existence. There is so little demand nobody seems to notice the entire supply is tarnished now. There's not even much demand for typical quality coins.
Perhaps.
One of these days I'll have to sample sets from other sources for comparison. The sets pictured above are the first pristine sets I've seen in a very long time.
I don't know why safety deposit boxes would be worse though.
Banks don’t control humidity and they use carpet and industrial cleaning chemicals in vaults and out in the main bank areas.
There are a couple MS-67 but this would barely pay the grading fee.
PCGS has graded six (6) 68-D nickels as a 67. NGC 59 with one as a MS-68. I'm inferring most NGC coins aren't PCGS 67s from this data. So, I would expect if you have a PCGS-67, it will cover the grading fee, comfortably.
PCGS has graded 957 68-D nickels as either a 65 or 66. Some potential duplicates presumably from the 338 66s. NGC has graded 872. This number isn't low, except compared to 1933-1964 US coinage.