Silver Proof Sets--A Modest Proposal to the U.S. Mint

124Spider

None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

GaCoinGuy

For me, I think the way they are is fine. I could see maybe making the Jefferson silver on like an anniversary year.

I would love to see the mint do some Ikes in Silver on like the anniversary of his birth or something or the anniversary of release, like the Morgans.

BillJones

It would probably take an act Congress to change the composition of those coins. I also would say that the cent collectors prefer to get bronze looking coins that would match their existing sets rather than getting a silver penny.

To me, having coins with different colors makes the set more interesting.

Smudge

I would make the cent the old way instead of the zinc junk.

Manifest_Destiny

Make the cent bronze.

bsshog40

$130 right now. Making the other 3 coins silver would probably put the price about $180. NOT!!!!!! LOL

erscolo

You answered your own question. No thanks. Making the one cent piece out of copper as in the old days would be in keeping with making the dime, quarter and Half Dollar out of silver as in the older days.

MarkKelley

Put me down for a bronze cent but leave the rest the wat they are. On second thought, the silver coins should go back to 90% for historical accuracy.

Bolo

I just want it to not be $130.

olympicsos

At this point I’d say maybe do away with the silver proof set. When it was started the dime quarter and half were in the traditional .900 fine silver used in circulation and pre 1964 sets. Now that they’re .999 fine bullion, might as well replace that in the lineup with a revamped bullion program.

19Lyds

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

Glen2022

@Bolo said:
I just want it to not be $130.

I'm sure the mint would be happy to charge $150 and not change anything.

19Lyds

@Bolo said:
I just want it to not be $130.

That's what we get for the US Mint going to 99.9 fine silver for each and every coin.

Some People are simply unaware of this change. My local bullion dealer was surprised when I told him that Silver Proof Sets since 2019 consisted of 99.9 Fine Silver instead of the typical 90% Silver/10% Copper alloys.

124Spider

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

I would prefer all be silver. I'd be fine with .9 fine silver. Heck, I'd be fine with leaving the cent, nickel and dollar out, but I think it's silly to call it a "silver proof set," and include three non-silver coins that are identical to the regular proof set.

19Lyds

@124Spider said:

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

I would prefer all be silver. I'd be fine with .9 fine silver. Heck, I'd be fine with leaving the cent, nickel and dollar out, but I think it's silly to call it a "silver proof set," and include three non-silver coins that are identical to the regular proof set.

Glad you weren't around when the 1971 IKE Dollars hit the bank. They were touted to be a return to the Silver Dollar.

124Spider

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

I would prefer all be silver. I'd be fine with .9 fine silver. Heck, I'd be fine with leaving the cent, nickel and dollar out, but I think it's silly to call it a "silver proof set," and include three non-silver coins that are identical to the regular proof set.

Glad you weren't around when the 1971 IKE Dollars hit the bank. They were touted to be a return to the Silver Dollar.

I'm not sure what you're driving at!

I most certainly was "around" in 1971, though too busy, and too poor, in college to think about coins. I have all the Ikes, but I don't find them particularly interesting; they could be more interesting if they were 90% silver.

19Lyds

@124Spider said:

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

I would prefer all be silver. I'd be fine with .9 fine silver. Heck, I'd be fine with leaving the cent, nickel and dollar out, but I think it's silly to call it a "silver proof set," and include three non-silver coins that are identical to the regular proof set.

And for the record, Silver is softer than Copper and way softer than nickel which would require special press runs to keep from damaging the presses.

124Spider

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

I would prefer all be silver. I'd be fine with .9 fine silver. Heck, I'd be fine with leaving the cent, nickel and dollar out, but I think it's silly to call it a "silver proof set," and include three non-silver coins that are identical to the regular proof set.

And for the record, Silver is softer than Copper and way softer than nickel which would require special press runs to keep from damaging the presses.

I'm curious what the softness of the metals has to do with the question, since dimes, quarters and half dollars (and even the dollars) have a makeup that is not much different than the nickel.

The_Dinosaur_Man

The British Virgin Islands issued an all silver set, right down to the lowly cent. I support a copper cent, like that which was resurrected in 2009. I'd also like to see a Silver Mint Set because why not?

Tom147

@The_Dinosaur_Man said:
I'd also like to see a Silver Mint Set because why not?

I hadn't thought of that. I really like that idea, of course that would take a revamping of all the Dansco's, Whitman and other albums but as I buy blank Dansco pages for my albums and label them the way I want it wouldn't bother me.

U1chicago

There are plenty of reasons why it might not be possible but I could get behind the idea of an all silver proof set. I agree that if someone wants the normal composition cent, nickel, and dollars then they could get the normal proof set.

19Lyds

@124Spider said:

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:

@19Lyds said:

@124Spider said:
None of the standard edition of the coins in the annual silver proof set is silver; as we all know, silver hasn't been in coins issued for circulation in a very long time.

So why does the Mint only make three of the six denominations included in the so-called "silver proof set" out of silver (dime, quarters and half dollar)? Sure, those once were silver, while the cent, nickel (except in WWII) and the native American dollar never were silver.

But wouldn't it be a much nicer, more interesting, set if they made ALL the coins out of silver, instead of just duplicating three of them from the normal proof set?

Yes.

Not really. They're called 'Silver Proof Sets' simply because they have silver coins in them.
Or did you really want a 99.99 fine Nickel, cent, and dollar coin?

At todays current pricing of $130 per set, most folks would not be able to afford a set made of nothing but silver coins.

I would prefer all be silver. I'd be fine with .9 fine silver. Heck, I'd be fine with leaving the cent, nickel and dollar out, but I think it's silly to call it a "silver proof set," and include three non-silver coins that are identical to the regular proof set.

And for the record, Silver is softer than Copper and way softer than nickel which would require special press runs to keep from damaging the presses.

I'm curious what the softness of the metals has to do with the question, since dimes, quarters and half dollars (and even the dollars) have a makeup that is not much different than the nickel.

The hardness of the metals affects the press pressures. And nickel is almost twice as hard as Silver and a MOHS Point harder than Copper.
The proof press would have to be dialed back for he softer silver on the nickel coins.
As for the make up of the different coins? Dimes Quarters, and Half Dollars have only 8% nickel in the cladding whereas the nickel coin has 25% nickel for the entire coin.

It was just a manufacturing observation.

privatecoin

They'd probably double the price if they did that. Not that they aren't already a rip off at $130.

BillJones

Yes, $130 for a Proof set is hard to swallow. In 1963, the mint charged $2.10. In 2023 dollars, that price would be $21. Add to that the fact that you are getting four more quarters and one Sackie Dollar, and the set might be worth $50 to $60, not $130.

coinbuf

Bad idea imo. I can already envision the massive number of threads from people wanting to know how much their spray painted silver cent is worth because they think it is actually made of silver just like the new all silver proof set cent.

insert face palm emoji here.

Farmer_Bill

If you're going to dream how about minting .001% of business strikes dimes,quarters and halves on silver planchets and turning them out in the wild.