OK - Now back to coin issues - the dissapointing search

FC57Coins

Last night, whilst most of you were debating the true nature of toned beauty no doubt, I was searching through over 100 modern mint sets that I've had in a box. Now, that's a lot of coins. But what I noticed was that as I pulled the gems out to look at sending them in for grading, there weren't a whole lot of them! Granted I only had time to look at the larger pieces, quarters and up, but even then there were quite a number of them, and most of them (from the 80's forward) had enough dings and nicks on them to take them out of MS65+ status. So my observation is this:

Granted the 2002 mint set is by far the worse quality of the bunch, though the Philadelphia coins were actually not that bad compared to the Denver ones which were hideous. Quality has gone up from the 60's but to still, finding those gems are far and few in between.

Bytheway - I did pluck out about 24 Kennedies that looked muchly yummy so I'll keep you guys posted about them when I get them back.

Regards,

Frank

Higashiyama

Yes, the coins that make it into mint sets can be remarkably beat up. Some of my 2001 coins look like they are treated with sandpaper. Although I find an occasional MS65, I'm convinced I've found grades all the way down to MS60 in my mint sets -- in fact, some are so poor that I wonder if they would make it into a slab at all.

Nonetheless, I have a sentimental attachment to these things . . .

presleyh

I have been quite disappointed in mint sets bought sight unseen, such as ebay sales. Particularly bad are ike dollars. Even in the mint sealed cello packs they are beat all to pieces. Out of 15 mint ikes none were worth sending in. Those things are tough to find in descent condition.

FC57Coins

Very much so Preslyh - I'm not even referring to those mint sets as they have probably been gleaned for gems by someone down the road. The ones I went through were all purchased directly from the mint. I did have some Ikes graded by ANACS a few years back and they came back MS64 and 65's I sold them for just barely enough to break even, but I was overall the quality seems to be only in the MS63-64 range for the best ones.

Frank