"Unopened" proof sets

CoinasaurusRex

What percentage of the proof sets advertised as "unopened," etc., have really never been eyeballed since leaving the mint? I have an interest in the 1955-64 flat pack proof sets, and many of these are purportedly still sealed in the original envelope. Frankly, I assume they have all been opened, and bid accordingly, but still hope for the best.

On a related note, how many of these flat packs do you think have been broken up for individual coins? Without any evidence, I guess that the number may be about half by now. That means that the early 60's sets, with mintages above 3 million, still have more than 1.5 million intact. This is more than the highest mintage of the modern (1992 forward) silver sets. Nevertheless, with prices sometimes under $10.00, it seems they can't drop much farther. (of course, they've been dogs for decades, not even keeping up with inflation from their $2.10 issue price). I think these sets will go up to $15-20 in the next few years.

C-Rex

michael

i think those are very astute observations on your part!!

sincerely michael

gmarguli

A decade or so ago these sets were $15+ and I kept hearing that so many were being broken up that the prices have to rise. Hundreds of thousands more have been broken up and the prices are down.

There are just too many of them for the demand. Few people collect proof sets. More people collect individual coins, which is why these sets get broken up.

cladking

Probably more than half of these older sets have been split up. I'd guess around
20% of fresh material is original, but two caveats; lots of coins from the cut up sets
are still pristine and being unopened doesn't gaurantee fresh. You can "spot check"
sets to see if they contain any gems and be pretty confident there are none if the spot
checks don't turn up any. Many of these sets were ignored back when they were new.
Even an opened one with a frosted gem may come into a coin shop and be bought
for bid.

relayer

I think when they sell un-opened proof sets on eBay it means nobody opened the sets TODAY.

Gemini

I agree with you these silver sets have been in the baseement too long and due for an upwards price movement.

IrishMike

Not to long ago a seller on Ebay was offering new printed envelopes for these sets. My suspicion and it is only an educated guess is that many of the sets have been cherrypicked and the ones you see advertised as unopened were reinserted back into new envelopes. I own a couple dozen and only one coin, a 55 Franklin was special. So the odds are long that you will find any treasures in these so called unopened sets.