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Coin Week 1973 Ike Article.

cladkingcladking Posts: 28,631 ✭✭✭✭✭

This is another pretty good one.

https://coinweek.com/1973-eisenhower-dollar-a-collectors-guide/

The 1973 mint set briefly got above $50 many years ago and was over $20 for a long time. I couldn't afford them so often looked through dealer stock for nice Gems. It was amazing how few there were. They weren't being picked over in those days, there just weren't more than a very few even in grades as low as nice clean MS-64. Both the Philly and Denver are usually scratched up.

This mint set has been dismantled extensively but the Ikes were usually saved and very few turn up in the circulated coin distributed by the FED. Total attrition is probably only about 30-35%.

These coins (P&D) make an interesting contrast to thew '74 Ike. The '74 mint set had a higher mintage but it has never been protected by a high price so all the coins from this set tended to go into circulation. Ikes made for circulation in '74 (especially the philly) tended to be very low quality so the sets provide the lion's share of the Gems which are only a little more available in the set than the '73. The '74-D in the set is more common in Gem with nearly a 2% incidence as produced.

It's interesting that today the number of intact survivors of these two dates are similar somewhere around 25-30%. However, the '73 packaging is very stable and only 10% of the clads are tarnished. The '74 packaging is less stable and 30% of the coins are bad. The two sets often sell for similar prices now days!

The '75 set is the one to watch because these have high attrition AND the packaging is highly unstable so more than 95% of the coins are hazed/ tarnished and many are completely ruined. This especially applies to the philly dime and Ike. The Ike was low mintage and most have to come from mint sets. Quality is the lowest of all moderns so even nice chBU is very difficuilt to obtain in the set or anywhere else.

There are some moderns made worse than the this philly coin but their problem is strike rather than marking and retained planchet flaws (chicken scratching).

Tempus fugit.

Comments

  • sellitstoresellitstore Posts: 2,862 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very good specialized information.

    Thank you for providing the education.

    Collector and dealer in obsolete currency. Always buying all obsolete bank notes and scrip.
  • percybpercyb Posts: 3,322 ✭✭✭✭
    edited August 26, 2024 2:01PM



    Thanks for posting. Love the Ikes. I have a collection of them including 1 73 S.

    "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." PBShelley
  • Mr Lindy Mr Lindy Posts: 1,086 ✭✭✭✭✭

    1973D Mint Set Only Issue Ike $ struck on incomplete punch planchet.
    1 of 2 known by me & other one is slabbed, no longer in OGP



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